Multidots

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the principal at Blue Fusion Creative and Marketing Group. We do creative services, marketing services, consulting, graphic design, websites, app development, and video multimedia production. On the marketing side, we work on marketing consulting and marketing communications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Multidots?

We've worked with Multidots on several projects. From web development, we've had clients that needed new websites built from the ground up or to update their existing site. The challenges have varied according to the client needs.

As a specific example, we had a client that wanted to develop their website for an early achievement program. It was a site that served multiple functions with specific users, including special education teachers, coaches who worked with the teachers, administrators that worked in public schools, and parents. We needed to develop a website capable of addressing those different audiences in a way that would set up vertical pathways for each of the audiences going in so that the information was customized for them.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

For this project, they developed a website that used parallax scrolling as a way of presenting the information. We set up the website with four distinct pathways that were all password protected. For instance, if an administrator wanted to view their side of the site, they'd have a password registered, and would have a unique set of information available to them.

What is the team composition?

It varies, but generally, there's a team of 4-7 members assigned to each project. From time to time, I'll interact with one of the co-CEO's as well.

How did you come to work with Multidots?

They were originally referred to me for an app development project. After looking at their website, doing some due diligence, and an initial consultation, we initiated the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested approximately $250,000 – $300,000 thus far.        

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in February 2019, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

All of our clients have been extremely satisfied with the work. Recently, I was speaking with one, and they reported that their site traffic increased by 400% after their revamp and relaunch. We've won multiple awards for our work with them, too. Their projects are always delivered effectively, on time, and within budget.

How did Multidots perform from a project management standpoint?

We've developed a very strong working relationship with them over the years and their project management is always excellent. Their capabilities have always been clear, and they have great communication skills. There are a few project managers there I've worked with consistently, so whenever we start something new, we always launch immediately. I know who the team I'll be working with is.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really know the WordPress platform, and their ability to find solutions when we are hit with challenges is phenomenal. They've developed unique solutions that are now part of the WordPress community as well, and having that knowledge as a resource available to us has been invaluable.

I've been in marketing for over 25 years, so I know what to look for and they really stand out against other vendors. They have the capabilities, the team, and the responsiveness to meet the challenges that they're presented with.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

They always have the constant challenge of staying on the cutting edge, which they succeed in, but with that in mind, there's always something that can be improved. There are always small errors in any project, with any vendor, but there's no glaring issue they could improve on.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our organization provides training services and leadership organizational solutions. I’m an IT manager here.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Multidots?

We had a project connected to our mobile apps that utilized WordPress and the Ionic framework. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Multidots has worked with us on two mobile applications using WordPress and Ionic. They implemented the requirements we set out. They worked on the details together with us and entered the content into the apps. Multidots took care of the technical documentation, testing, and some UI and graphic design as well.

The app has reporting, signing, and recording functionalities that work according to the flows we provided.

How did you come to work with Multidots?

We were looking for a company that could work with both WordPress and the Ionic framework. Multidots presented themselves as a professional and well-organized company with a good solution from the very beginning. They were communicative and showed a willingness to collaborate. (Later on, they also delivered what they promised.) We negotiated a price that worked for us, so we started the collaboration.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in November 2017 and is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We’ve kept track of their turnaround time, the number of bugs reported, and response time.

How did Multidots perform from a project management standpoint?

When it comes to our collaboration, they have good communication. We get regular follow-up from their side, including updates on the project status and meeting minutes capturing the most important items. They handle testing, but we’ve given feedback as well. 

They use their internal project management system, which helps a lot in our communication. We have access to the system and use it for communication, updates, and a file repository.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s the communication and the diversity of their skills that stand out. If we ask for items beyond our original scope—integration with Power BI, for example— Multidots can find skills within their team and provide us those services.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s always important to remain aligned with the client and the client’s needs as a project proceeds. But Multidots is strong at that already.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a global technology company, focused on the body and its application and implications in the apparel industry. We help brands make clothes fit better, have efficient and sustainable processes, and train their people better. We are the science behind the art of fit.

As the Creative Manager I oversee all creative and marketing projects and also manage the website.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Multidots?

We hire Multidots for various web development projects from something simple as creating HTML email templates to larger projects such as customizing the front-end and CMS of our company website.

What were your goals for this project?

We were involved in various projects along the way but our overall objective is to provide a better web experience and communicate better with our potential customers.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Multidots was recommended by a different agency. We started out working together on very small projects and as out trust for Multidots grew we started taking on bigger projects

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Multidots assists with almost every aspect of web projects. We share our ideas on visual layouts and functionalities for each project, discuss realistic solutions and Multidots plans and executes the development side of the project.

What was the team composition?

The team composition and size seems to be fluid depending on the nature of each project. Point of contact when requesting a project has always been the same.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Each project has improved the experience the visitors on our website, and knowing we can always consult and work with Multidots we are able to make updates or launch new web projects without a hassle.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

They are very good at communicating the overall timeline for the project, and the progress. Also very responsive with any kind of queries.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Responsiveness. Multidots reacts very quickly to clients requests. How they manage very urgent projects in a timely manner is most impressive about Multidots.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No. Not at the moment.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a consultant with Ventrix Advertising. I lead our content marketing and SEO efforts. We build organic media websites in the higher education industry. The goal is to deliver high-quality information about colleges and universities to potential students.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Multidots?

We’re a startup wing of Ventrix Advertising. We needed part-time development help that wouldn’t break our budget. That’s really hard to find locally.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Multidots provides high-quality development in a flexible arrangement. Currently, they’re building and managing two WordPress websites.  A lot of their work for us is PHP-based, but they also use JavaScript, HTML, and CSS. There are others but I don’t have intimate knowledge of all the languages their team uses. Whatever we need to make our websites fully functional, they create.

What is the team composition?

Regularly, we collaborate with two primary developers and two part-time teammates. They also have project managers who they collaborate with to make sure they’re meeting our business needs. At times, we’ve worked with up to six or eight teammates. We had a special site launch a few months ago. The project involved a larger team, about eight to ten people because we had a tighter deadline.

How did you come to work with Multidots?

I’ve worked with Multidots for years. At my previous place of work, we hired Multidots for the very same reasons. I worked with them for six years and was pleased with the level of service provided: how well they did with communication and the quality of their development work. When I started a new venture at this company, I decided to go with Multidots too.

How much have you invested with them?

Between our various site launches and ongoing development needs, we've invested about $56,000 with Multidots this calendar year.

What is the status of this engagement?

At this new company, I started with Multidots in November 2018. The collaboration’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

Overall, the results are mostly qualitative but we get a really great return on investment. The only metrics we look at are publishing deadlines, which they've always hit. If there’s an issue, what I really like about Multidots is their excellent communication. They’ve told us about tradeoffs. For example, their team has explained that they could build a feature but it would be at a higher cost or reduce the amount of effort on another project. They’ve met expectations across the board.

How did Multidots perform from a project management standpoint?

They use Teamwork and we use Asana. In Teamwork, we’ll discuss what happened during the day; For example, here’s where a project stands. From a micro-standpoint, we’ve used Asana. Their team’s been flexible with our system. They will go back and forth, receiving guidance and feedback from our editors. Their team has been pretty good from both a macro and micro standpoint.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Multidots has been honest and transparent. That’s one of the biggest benefits of working with them. I can tell you till the cows come home about the quality of their products. What I value is they have the ability to break down a project and give us what I think are accurate estimates on time, cost, and energy. I’ve worked with other people who will either lowball costs or won’t give you an accurate timeline in order to elongate an engagement or contract.

Are there any are as they could improve?

By and large things have been great. Time zone is the biggest challenge. To have someone who’s working our hours, that would be an ideal scenario.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a music discovery mobile application trying to connect users in the music streaming world like Apple Music, Spotify, SoundShare and Amazon Music. I'm the chief operations officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Multidots Solutions?

Multidots helped us create an iOS app and worked very closely with my partner and me to come up with solutions to our problems that we had in the past with current APIs and roadblocks that we run into.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

My partner and I created the blueprints and sitemaps. We gave them everything that we had, and they gave us back a more detailed sitemap and blueprint of how everything would work. They suggested other features and activities that we could put into our app that would make it more innovative. They really helped a lot with the design, structure of the app, and had the layouts for each page. The app is going to be available for iPhone.

They’re doing most of the programming right now. We are actually going to have them build it web-based. We were discussing the other day about marketing solutions, but we haven’t gone too much into detail yet. My partner and I are pretty extensive in the marketing and social media platforms. We know a lot about marketing towards specific targets, so I don’t foresee them working with us in the marketing.

How did you come to work with Multidots Solutions?

We were actually recommended to them by a family friend. He had built an app through them and suggested that they did good work and were very trustworthy. We contacted him and sent them everything that we had. They got back to us immediately and gave us a business proposal and everything.

How much have you invested with Multidots Solutions?

I would say $50,000–$60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been talking with them for a while, and then we started to come up with the plan for our app in March 2016. The app launches in a month. They're currently doing some work on the backend, and we’re waiting to do QA testing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The general response has been excellent. They always get back to us at any time. Our time zone differences are 12 hours behind, but they always get back to us whenever we need them. They always keep us updated.

How did Multidots Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

They're always on time for every task, meeting, and discussion that we have. They always get back to us right away. When we wake up in the morning at around 8:00 or 7:00 AM, they're still working from their 8-hour-day, and they always get back. They have their own system on their website where we can discuss all the business documents and tasks. We also use Skype.

What did you find most impressive about Multidots Solutions?

The reason we went with them was because we were recommended by a family friend and had seen the work that they had done for that particular app. It was actually well-drawn out. When we gave them all our blueprints and they gave us back a site map, it was very detailed. It was very good work, compared to a lot of people we got estimates from. The cost for a US-based app developer company was a lot higher than what they were asking for.

Are there any areas Multidots Solutions could improve?

No. They're really on top of their game. They have a lot of things they’re working on, but they definitely do a really good job with what they do.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a cofounder of Aurafy. We are building a music-discovery app which will integrate with the main streaming services, including Apple Music and Spotify, and generate a newsfeed based on what the user is listening to. It allows people to follow their friends and discover new music through their influence.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Multidots Solutions?

When we first came up with the idea, my cofounder and I drew up some sketches and ran them by Multidots Solutions’ team. They are helping us build our product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Multidots Solutions has helped us work through what was and wasn’t possible with our app, and structured our UI and other elements.

The team is comprised of 14 people, including two iOS developers, two API developers, four UI designers, and QA testers.

How did you come to work with Multidots Solutions?

We were looking for a development team through our friend group, and weren’t able to find anyone. My parents have a friend in the business, who referred us to someone who had used Multidots Solutions for developing their app. We got in touch, and everything has been smooth since that point. They’re responsive, and the feedback was great.

How much have you invested with Multidots Solutions?

The cost of Multidots Solutions’ work has been between $50,000 and $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Multidots Solutions in mid-March 2017. It’s estimated to be done on July 3rd. We’re currently working on some of the more difficult functionalities of the app.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We haven’t been able to test the market fit for our product. There is a brief demo online, but it’s not something we’re pushing to users yet. Compared to other applications on the market, ours is definitely comparable or better. It’s exceeded our expectations.

How did Multidots Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a backend system through which we can all collaborate on the project. That’s where we do most updates, and talk about what’s going on. There is a time difference, but Multidots Solutions has gotten back to us right away, as soon as they can. They gave us full feedback and bounced ideas based on what we were trying to implement.

What did you find most impressive about Multidots Solutions?

This is the first time I’ve worked with a company like Multidots Solutions. They’ve been very transparent, taking part in video calls with us over Skype. I always thought that the process would be a bit shady, but Multidots Solutions made it easy for us to get the things we needed and talk about different scenarios for upcoming work.

Are there any areas Multidots Solutions could improve?

Not so far.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an online custom cabinetry design and sales house. We sell nationwide to Costco members through their e-commerce platform. I am the general manager of the company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Multidots Solutions?

We needed to build a new website for bringing us up-to-date, providing mobile responsiveness, and allowing us to replicate it for different product lines. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Multidots Solutions has developed our lead-generation e-commerce site. While we don’t have any actual transacting functionalities, there is a custom shopping-cart module which Multidots Solutions created in order to allow us to sell samples to the Costco e-commerce platform, as well as provide free samples. We have a very robust lead generation tool with two-step generation and authentication functionalities for information collection. It includes a last-step questionnaire which was custom-built by Multidots Solutions.

We started with WordPress in order to give our marketing team ease of access in creating custom pages once the website was finished. Multidots Solutions has created four custom modules, including our lead generation planner, functionalities related to our doors, and a specialized gallery with pricing functions. Multidots Solutions replicated our local databases in the custom WordPress modules and gave them a graphical interface which users find quite intuitive.

Much of the work was at the implementation level. We have in-house graphic designers; being a design firm ourselves, we like to have things exactly as we want. Multidots Solutions did have some input in this area when they felt that their expertise could be best-served. This included smaller details like button placements and so on. We have actually gone with their suggestions and appreciated Multidots Solutions’ engagement in the process, even though we didn’t outright hire them for any design or layout services.

We have worked with an overarching project manager for the whole project. Multidots Solutions also assigned different department managers at the business analysis phase, who learned about our business. We’ve spent about 35 hours in discussions about the many facets of our company, and Multidots Solutions had a designer mocking up parts of the customer flow.

Multidots Solutions assigned WordPress developers for the frontend and backend of our platform, as well as a QA team. We have been in contact with the project lead, as well as with the resources themselves, through weekly or biweekly meetings. Multidots Solutions stayed late in order to synchronize with us, and we got up earlier since they’re based in India, and we’re on the East Coast. We met with the project manager, technical leads, and individual members of the technical team when required.

How did you come to work with Multidots Solutions?

We did a search for WordPress developers, both domestically and internationally. We had used another Indian team in the past, but their quality of service and communication had gone downhill over the years. We knew that we had to make a change and interviewed 10–15 companies. Of the ones we spoke with, only Multidots Solutions had heard of us before. When we initially sent our contact form, they actually put a team member on a research job, looked at our website, tried to figure out what our business was, put together a list of suggestions for what could be done to our website based on their understanding, and looked up the leading players in our industry. We felt that through Multidots Solutions, we would be getting a partner who wanted to understand what we did. For India-based as well as international resources, Multidots Solutions is on the higher end. They earned us as a customer, even though they weren’t the cheapest by far.

How much have you invested with Multidots Solutions?

The cost of Multidots Solutions’ work was a little over $50,000 in total. For perspective, a domestic company in New York City wanted to charge us $50,000 for just the discovery work.

What is the status of this engagement?

The first full month of development was in November of 2016. The site was launched in February of 2017. We have identified which elements work and don’t work and have made changes. Multidots Solutions has been responsive in offering us a 100- to 200-hour maintenance and incidental development package. It gave us an idea of what we’d be spending on small changes upfront. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

All I can provide is subjective feedback for now. It will be difficult for us to disentangle what was gained from Multidots Solutions’ work since we have taken on a different type of web advertising campaign that’s concurrent with the launch of the new website. I think that they’re both playing a role. Because of the way in which we implemented lead generation, compared to the old website, we have fewer leads, but they’re all higher-quality. On the old website, anyone who registered was a lead, but they didn’t necessarily fill-out project request forms. On the new website, we have a soft registration at the beginning of the project request and a hard registration at the end, even though it’s not made evident to users that it’s a registration process. They’re providing piecemeal information, and we’ve found that the people who are willing to go through that whole form are also more willing to talk to us on the phone.

There has been a little bit of trepidation in our company. The changes we’ve made have reversed some conscious decisions we’d made at the management level, relating to how we presented the product. Some of our designers and members of the sales department have pushed back, but Multidots Solutions has been great with retrofitting some of the old information into the new site in a way which looks seamless and intentional. Overall, the results have been positive.

How did Multidots Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

The project itself ran a bit over budget, mostly due to midstream changes put in place by us. Multidots Solutions gave us honest estimates on any additional work, and they’ve mostly come under those estimates.

We communicated mostly over Skype, which allowed our side to be mobile, while also keeping costs down. We could have screen-sharing as well as face-to-face meetings, which is very nice in cases where we aren’t meeting the development team but still want to have a connection. Our development team lead got married during the project, and he sent us photos from the wedding. They’re all a bunch of good people.

What did you find most impressive about Multidots Solutions?

A far as India-based resources go, communication is everything. Multidots Solutions seems to have an almost native-speaker grasp of the English language, which is very helpful since that’s the only language I speak. At the same time, if they don’t understand something, they’re not afraid to ask. There have only been two or three issues in the entire development of the site that I could positively attribute to miscommunication. When we explained things again to Multidots Solutions, they understood us. During my past experiences with developers, I have had trepidation around the communication. From a business standpoint, we never want to say that we’re not communicating properly, as far as resources are concerned. Multidots Solutions is aware that there will always be technical difficulties with the communication tools and that language barriers will always be present when using an outsourced resource. They really try to make these drawbacks as painless as possible. Even with the technical team leads, it was as if we were dealing with people who had been speaking English their whole lives. That shows me that Multidots Solutions is hiring people for an international audience, versus choosing the less-expensive resources who may not have those skills.

Even when it came to competing with domestic companies, Multidots Solutions went out and did the legwork before we talked to them. In my book, that’s huge. Everyone involved in our decision-making put Multidots Solutions in high esteem before we even paid them a cent. When we performed the business analysis portion of the work, no other company offered something similar as a standalone optional fee. It was either required, with a cost of $20,000 or $30,000, or not mentioned at all. Multidots Solutions’ offer was for around $1,000. They found out everything that could be found out about our business and performed market research.

Are there any areas Multidots Solutions could improve?

It would be tough to say because when we’re developing a solution, we have an idea of what it should be. No matter if it’s written down or simply explained, it’s often our own fault that it doesn’t get done as it should. There were two or three occasions when something wasn’t communicated properly. Could Multidots Solutions have done better? Probably, but things like this are bound to happen. They’re not avoidable situations, and I think that if someone did figure out how to avoid these things, they’d be the only one. It’s an iterative, creative process.

On another note, we don’t keep many holidays in America, but they have them all the time in India. It’s actually tempting to go work there.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Multidots Solutions?

We had a very good outline for an idea of how to develop our graphical assets, and we thought that our internal team could cover all of this. It turned out to be our biggest bottleneck, though. We had some pressure to start the production of the website sooner than we were ready to. If the client is looking to start a similar project, they should make sure that all graphical and copy assets are in-line.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am one of the partners of CaliCodeFactory, a web engineering and app development company. We mainly approach clients for engineering services. We don’t provide design, search engine optimization, or search engine marketing.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Multidots Solutions?

We were looking for resources in order to scale and service the projects we had coming in. Our core services revolve around B2B relationships. We work with agencies that offer design and marketing but are missing the engineering components. We come in for either white-label services or as the actual engineers, working directly with the clients.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Multidots Solutions has worked with us on WordPress and Magento development. They have assigned project managers, developers, and designers. Our team has fluctuated between five and 10 different individuals. Both projects were front-to-back full development, from the HTML and CSS presentation layers to the middle PHP tier and the backend SQL database creation.

How did you come to work with Multidots Solutions?

I found Multidots Solutions through a business relationship who was utilizing Multidots Solutions for a number of websites, both for maintenance and development. They had a good relationship and stated that Multidots Solutions provided quality work and communication.

How much have you invested with Multidots Solutions?

The cost of Multidots Solutions’ work averages $1,000–$2,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Multidots Solutions around June or July 2014. We have an ongoing partnership. I’ve worked with many different companies and ended those relationships due to a lack of ownership and poor quality, but I’ve never found a reason to stop working with Multidots Solutions. They receive maintenance and full development projects from us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

One of our measurements is their ability to adhere to a schedule. Quality is reviewed by our in-house engineers, and Multidots Solutions has followed the proper coding structures of the WordPress and Magento frameworks.

How did Multidots Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been following project management better than any other third party we’ve utilized before. Multidots Solutions has performed well in terms of accessibility during Mountain Time. They ensure that there is an established schedule and signal any deviations. We receive responses in the morning for any after-hours communication with Multidots Solutions. We mainly use Basecamp, but also Zoho Projects.

What did you find most impressive about Multidots Solutions?

I was impressed with their understanding of client services and the subjectivity of technology development. It’s not all about the coding itself, but also about communicating problems and understanding the politics involved. There is an exchange of queries in terms of where we’re going and what we plan to do, as well as good reactions to problems.

Are there any areas Multidots Solutions could improve?

More design capabilities would be an improvement. However, this is a subjective area. Multidots Solutions may not see a need to expand the component, but they could become more of a full-service provider.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Multidots Solutions?

Start with small engagements. Establish a process of communication and project management. Then, with each successive deliverable or milestone, add more complicated tasks.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

ProducerTech Ltd. is an online learning technology company primarily focused on the music sector. We offer online courses through a Magento shopping front. I am the technical director of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Multidots?

We needed to find someone who could support us on a long-term basis and had a broad understanding of the technology which we were using.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Other developers had made a mess of our Magento implementation, so Multidots' first task was to audit our site thoroughly, making sure that any changes made by the previous developers were in-line with Magento standards. Some core files had been hacked into, but Multidots managed to make the site clean again, while also making security patches and other modifications to our system.

How did you come to work with Multidots?

I came across Multidots' website after a Google search and found their website to be authentic and clear. They had a good policy of dealing with clients, packaging services in a way that would be right for us. We would be able to buy ongoing support from Multidots as-needed, without getting tied into long contracts.

How much have you invested with Multidots?

The cost of Multidots' services has been under $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Multidots is providing ongoing security patching and development. We have the flexibility of an ad-hoc technology partner which can be used when needed and also have someone that we can trust.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The biggest result we've seen is that our site is always up-and-running. We have the security of having Multidots in the background for us. If one of our own developers is ill or on holiday, we can fall back on Multidots. Because they operate a multitude of Magento sites, Multidots will often know about a problem that we'll come across before we get to it.

How did Multidots perform from a project management standpoint?

Multidots has updated its project management in the last 4 months. This area is tricky, in my experience, given that we need to spend a lot of time working it out. I find the new system to be good, allowing me to look at particular tasks and see results. Multidots assigns someone straight away for any task we put in, which is good in the case of urgent situations.

What did you find most impressive about Multidots?

I've used similar companies, but Multidots is the first one which feels like a proper support partner with all the right things in place.

Are there any areas Multidots could improve?

Multidots' original management system was not very good, but the new one is much more usable. They've progressed on their side, always expanding the developer team and updating systems.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We have been working with mobile technologies for the past 9 years, developing apps. I am the IT director of the company. I manage and run all of our projects, turning specifications into products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Multidots?

Multidots has delivered mobile e-commerce platforms (apps with payment integration) for our company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our apps allow sales people to deliver information using CRMs [customer relationship management systems] on tablets and mobile phones.

Multidots has also worked on backend administration applications, allowing the team to manage the apps' data. Multidots also wrote a push notification messaging system for children's nurseries. Working on both frontend and backend tiers is quite useful in mobile applications. Most of our solutions have been bespoke.

Multidots has developed algorithms for code, but most of our work is based on standard libraries. We have worked on a credit card recognition system for secure trading. It allowed users to scan credit cards and integrated with third-party libraries.

As a backend, Multidots used MySQL and PHP, native Swift and Objective-C for iOS, C# for Windows, and Java for Android.

Multidots assigned up to 8 developers for our work, usually 2 per application, as well as quality assurance, a project manager, and a person who oversees all the activity, making sure that everything is running smoothly.

How did you come to work with Multidots?

When outsourcing, the most important thing is to look for experience and communication. We weren't hitting the marks with our previous developer. I had small interviews with Multidots' team, ensuring that they carried the same values as our company in terms of ethics and high standards. We were dealing with an Indian-based company, so communication was also important.

How much have you invested with Multidots?

The total cost of our work with Multidots was between $50,000 and $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our collaboration started around 3-4 years ago. We continue to work with Multidots on an ongoing basis. They're a key team for us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The success of our projects is measured by the uptake of the apps: how many users they gain. There are chairmen, CEOs [chief executive officers] and directors who have loved the product developed by us, and there was a 60% increase in usage over the old system. Depending on what we apply it to, a lot of the technology developed by Multidots was successful for its job.

How did Multidots perform from a project management standpoint?

Multidots uses an online project management tool. It's simple to use, and it's important for us because we keep an electronic trail of completed tasks and milestones. The best way of looking at a project is through an Agile system that allows working through an application, changing it, and scaling it up or down. If the process isn't well-documented, we open ourselves up for failure, but Multidots is good at preventing this.

What did you find most impressive about Multidots?

There is a certain standard which is expected in Western Europe, and Multidots is very good at matching it, compared to other providers in India who missed it completely. The high quality and expertise employed by Multidots came across quite nicely. People have to be picked carefully. The fewer the mistakes, the higher the client satisfaction; this is how we've been able to maintain success.

Are there any areas Multidots could improve?

We always have to put ourselves in front of the client, which means that when implementing software, small changes or goodwill gestures after something going wrong should not be billable. The problem with outsourcing to Indian companies is that they want everything to be billed.