New Peak Solutions

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the manager of communications and creative services for a healthcare technology company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire New Peak Solutions, and what were your goals?

We were in need of evolving and redesigning our SharePoint intranet associate portal with a desire to improve navigation, better incorporate the company brand, and introduce new tools that improved associate experience. Following the redesign, we explored continued development opportunities through improved search functionality, app development, library and list development, and more.

This ongoing relationship has been one that has benefitted our company in distributing content, communication, and information to associates in a timely and appealing manner.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We developed and presented a business case to our leadership and vetted several potential partners over a three-month process before selecting our partner and launching the work.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

• Project charter
• "How Might We" fact-finding
• "I Need/Want/Wish" sessions with users
• Research known SharePoint experts
• Initial request for information from potential partners
• Calls/fact-finding to share project scope
• Reviewed proposals
• Reviewed references
• Partner decision
• Phase 1: An early win (intranet portal redesign)
• Phase 2: Creating a better work tool (managed services, search, metadata, policy creation, additional training and documentation)
• Phase 3: Infinity and beyond (continued development - e.g. app development, library/list creation and deployment)

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Typically, we worked with one person from New Peak Solutions; although at times we would bring in other members of the team for additional conversation depending on the particular piece of the project/phase.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We have been able to launch all deliverables/phases identified with New Peak Solutions over our multi-year working relationship. We have seen significantly increased engagement within our associate intranet portal, and we have been able to launch new tools that have empowered associates to easily access and download information they need to do their jobs.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

New Peak Solutions has been an excellent partner. They obtained comprehensive requirements through requirements gathering in a very efficient manner. As we moved through an agile development cycle, they were adept at adjusting and pivoting as needed to meet our needs. Their process and deliverables were great. They have skilled people and mature processes, and we really enjoyed working with them. We have a continued working relationship now and would use them again, as we find them to be a very professional partner.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We had a single point of contact with standing meetings to ensure projects and phases were on tracking; and additional working sessions were scheduled if needed.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

N/A

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Communications/Training Manager in the IT department at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge, MA, a 227 bed hospital with mulitiple affiliated practices. One of my roles in management of of the hospital employee intranet.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire New Peak Solutions?

Mount Auburn Hospital has become part of a larger network. We needed to redesign our intranet to match the branding with that network. We were also seeking increased functionality such as a graph section, a scrolling announcement section, a news and events calendar section and a better organization method for our various pages.

What were your goals for this project?

Please see above. Again, rebranding, new functionality and better organization of pages and sites to make finding specific information easier for our users.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We researched various vendors online and narrowed it down to 3. We had informational interviews and sought presentations from all 3. In the end New Peaks' presentation impressed us the most. Also, there pricing was very reasonable.

Describe the project in detail.

New Peaks listened to and comprehended our vision in regards to design and functionality and brought it to life. We went from a lackluster site to a site with pizazz. We are able to display various reports on numbers (such as patients signed up for our patient portal) via graphcs. We can highlight important sections of the site in our scrolling section. We have a news and events calendar section where we can showcase upcoming events important for the employees to know about. In addition, our pages are now organized in categories (i.e. administrative pages vs. clinical pages) in alpha order by department or topic which makes it easier for our users to navigate. We also have a direct search box.

What was the team composition?

We worked with 2 main individuals at NewPeaks. Eugene was our main contact/ project manager. Adam was the designer. Both were very responsive and readily available when we had questions.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our employees were very grateful and frequently expressed their happiness at this update. Our site before was no contest for what it is now.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective. As stated above, Eugene and Adam were very responsive and made themselves available at every turn. They continue to be available when I have questions about technology or functionality of the site

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The stellar result of the project for the cost. Again, they were very reasonably priced. And their work is very high end. The end result of the site was even more than I expected.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No. One thing I would point out is that the actual timing of the project was Sept.. 2018 through Dec. 2018. For some reason, the time period section on this site wouldn't let me scroll past June. I found the time period very reasonable given the amount of work that needed to be done, which was significant.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work in the IT department of an intellectual property law firm in downtown Chicago as a senior application engineer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with New Peak Solutions?

The attorneys working for one of our bigger clients were maintaining data in a remedial way, and we wanted to gather the information electronically in a database format. So we hired New Peak Solutions for coming up with a solution.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

One of our obstacles was that the product had to be simple. Initially, the plan was to have some of the people in our firm maintain the data for the clients, but we saw the potential for the program to be either moved or accessed by the client down the road. For this reason, we had to design it in a way that would make it easy for the attorneys and the client to use, so we wanted a simple product that could be handled by anyone regardless of their technical skill level. It was simple data, but it was important for the client.

We also wanted an easy way for the attorneys to access the information and maintain it on a regular basis. The database also involved lookup tables and information with many-to-many relationships. 

We gave New Peak Solutions’ developers a layout and showed them how everything was related. They came up with a database structure and handled the CRM integration. Overall, they worked on two separate projects for us for the same client, one which was a web project and the other a mobile app. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with two people from their team, Eugene (Partner, New Peak Solutions) and Adam (Director of Custom Development, New Peak Solutions). Another member was involved in database design. We had meetings with Eugene and Adam, provided a preliminary structure for the data to be maintained, and showed them how the attorneys were initially maintaining the information, namely through Word documents. 

How did you come to work with New Peak Solutions?

I know Eugene from a collaboration at a previous firm, which we both left to do other things. While I stayed in the legal industry, he went on to start his current company, which I found out about from a colleague. Two weeks later, my manager approached me about this project, and even though we were working with another company at the time, I saw it as a good opportunity to onboard a local partner that actually did have a legal background.

How much have you invested with them?

I don’t remember the exact amount but the two projects combined had a cost of around $16,000–$22,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started speaking with them around February 2015. The web application project is complete for now, and we’ve been using it for close to two years. It’s working well, but we need to add new fields, so I’m sure we’ll do more work with New Peak Solutions for that. The original development took around a year, much of that consisting of waiting for feedback from attorneys. That was record time, considering the complexity of the project and that the source data was quite scattered.

The mobile project app only took us three months to develop and it just had an update done. Its structure is basically complete, but we may need new additions in the future. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The client loved the platform, and that was the biggest win for the project. New Peak delivered exactly what we were looking for. Our client had a vision of what the data should look like and how it should be structured on the mobile app. They came to our office for a demo and told us that the final product was exactly what they wanted. It was simple and structured exactly as intended.

The web app is used more by our attorneys for maintaining data on behalf of the client, and they absolutely love it. It’s simple for them, and they use it all the time for handling the data they need. They no longer have to maintain the information in a document. We were literally using binders, and now we have a SQL database. 

How did New Peak Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

Both Eugene and Adam are developers, but as far as the is project went, Eugene focused on the project management side, and Adam was more involved more with development, so I corresponded more with him for technical questions.

The project didn’t have a strict deadline, but they were on-target with the 4–6–week deadline they set. They presented demos to the attorneys and the work was 90% done on the first try. We communicated through email and set up calls from time to time. They also came to our office from time to time when the attorneys needed to be involved.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a professional and personable team that has the required knowledge we needed and understood what the expectations and end-goal were.

We could’ve searched the market and found an application compatible with our needs, but those usually come with a lot of features that we really wouldn’t need. This is why we went the route of building a custom solution, and New Peak Solutions delivered on that 100%. They understood exactly what was needed for the project and what they had to do to design the database and UI to make it simple yet effective for attorneys. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have nothing negative to say about them. Whenever there was a delay, they were proactive in fixing the issue and were responsive whenever I came to them with something. Whatever they’re doing, they should keep doing it.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

If a client is looking for a basic solution, and don’t want to adopt a product that could take a lot of time and resources to implement, I recommend going to a group like New Peak Solutions for a simple, custom solution. Many companies prefer not to do this because of future support, but I don’t see this becoming a problem with New Peak Solutions. They’re responsive and responsible, and they really understand what the client’s looking for.