Orases

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a DevOps engineer and web application developer at a company that offers a sports rating platform. Users can upload videos of their sports highlights on our platform and have their peers rank them. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Orases?

We needed help to develop our mobile app’s algorithm feed, which is the algorithm that displays videos on the app’s home feed.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Orases has designed, developed, and implemented our mobile app’s home algorithm using Node.js as an environmental tool. Orases has also used AWS Lambda functions, Amazon Elastic Compute Cloud (Amazon EC2) to host the code, and Amazon MQ for pipeline communication. 

At the beginning of our engagement, we had several meetings with Orases’ team to discuss the project’s technical requirements and objectives. We then moved on to the development phase, where Orases worked on the algorithm’s main functionalities and fixed any errors within the development cycle. After this, Orases enhanced the algorithm, implemented it in the app, and resolved any live production bugs that didn’t come up during testing.

Orases conducted straight-up user testing, where live and beta users gave us feedback that we used to progress in the development. During the final phase, Orases enhanced the algorithm to cater to our users better.

The algorithm's main functionality is it suggests content for users to keep watching based on their content consumption within our app. For instance, if a user watches a lot of hockey videos, the algorithm sources similar videos from our database that the user may like.

Moreover, Orases has also offered us key insights to design our suggested followers algorithm, which is the one that displays suggested accounts for users to follow. Additionally, Orases has helped with the app’s architecture and figured out how we could communicate two servers with each other.

We still have a technical support agreement with Orases, where they offer us maintenance and troubleshooting services for any bugs that come up. Orases also assist us with the app’s hosting since they have access to our hosting environment.

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked mainly with three teammates from Orases: a project manager, a lead developer, and a lead business analyst. During the development phase, Orases had a bigger team of developers working on our project, although I didn’t talk to them directly.

How did you come to work with Orases?

I believe we found Orases through a referral. However, I wasn’t part of Orases' hiring process. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Orases in March 2022, and they launched the app’s MVP in April 2022. The project's development phase has finished, and we currently have a consultancy agreement with Orases.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our main metrics for this project have been the integration and unit tests that Orases ran during the development phase. In software development projects, we test individual functionalities of the algorithm by using other code. 

Overall, Orases’ development team has met the project’s goals and release dates.

How did Orases perform from a project management standpoint?

Orases meets deadlines and stays on budget. We use Jira and Confluence for project management. 

We communicate with Orases through Slack and Google Meet. We’ve had different frequencies for meetings throughout the project: in the early stage of the development process, we had weekly meetings. Then, during the production phase, we had biweekly meetings and then just monthly meetings to enhance the app’s algorithm.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m most impressed with Orases’ knowledge of software development. They’re very communicative and open to discussions. Overall, Orases has done a great job. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything for Orases to improve. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend customers start the engagement with Orases having a business requirement to expedite the process. If they’re looking to build five-star software, they need to have their business requirements before going into development. This will help the development team to have a clear understanding of the work they need to perform on their end.

Once they achieve this with Orases, the process should be smooth after.  

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a media and entertainment company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Orases?

We were trying to integrate one of our custom apps for supplier management into our main financial record system. We were previously taking care of our financial tasks manually by our account receivable team and ourselves, and that was taking a significant amount of time.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Orases did custom software development for us. They focused on helping us integrate an existing custom app into our Oracle financial system of record from scratch. The main functionalities we asked for were the ability to incorporate and manage our existing and new suppliers within our organization, including their address information, tax statuses, invoice attachments, and any other tax forms.

In terms of technologies, they used API integrations, payload to pass and distribute data, and security encryptions.

What was the team composition? 

We worked with two members of Orases’ team, including a project manager and a developer.

How did you come to work with Orases?

Orases was within our vendor ecosystem because they worked with another department ar our organization. It was natural to reach out to them because they were already a trusted supplier for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $75,000–$100,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June 2022–January 2023.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product that Orases created will help us get huge cost savings and enable us to relocate resources to other tasks since the platform will now automate some of our data integration processes. The system will also help us improve the accuracy of data management and alert us whenever an issue arises. Moreover, Orases understood our design perspective, which they translated into the development efforts, and were good at testing the product. Overall they were a top-notch partner.

How did Orases perform from a project management standpoint?

Orases’ project management was outstanding. They led a communicative process, asked us questions whenever they didn’t understand something about the development process, and were always willing to help us whenever needed. In terms of tools and communication, we used emails, Zoom standing meetings, and phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Orases’ communication skills and turnaround times were great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I didn’t think there was anything they could improve on.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Systems Control Manager for an agricultural nutrition lab with 3 additional branded locations and an additional 40 contracted locations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Orases, and what were your goals?

Orases was hired to provided a new, innovative Laboratory Information Management System and Client Ordering system to replace our current outdated system. Our goal is to have an innovative, technologically up-to-date and client friendly system that is dynamic and allows in house management.

SOLUTION

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

We had previously contacted Orases (many years ago) and came back to them due to their reputation and adaptability to our needs.

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

Orases designed and delivered a complete LIMS system that allows our company and clients to work with a web based, secure system. We worked with a discovery period as well as discovery meetings weekly throughout the course of the project.

We also worked in 2 weeks sprints with sprint review meetings at the end of each sprint. The key deliverables are a fully functioning, web based, laboratory information management system that is a SAAS capable product, yet fully dynamic to our needs.

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

There have been from 3 to 5 core people at a time on the project. Typically 2-3 developers, a senior developer and a project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're continuing to outline feature requests and updates so we are not live at this time although the product is delivered.

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

Although we have changed many development team member and project managers, we've maintained the same senior developer and the transition in staff is always smooth with no delay due to staffing changes. We used Basecamp and Slack for communication and file sharing as well as RedMine for sprint planning and review.

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

The most impressive thing about working with Orases has been their ability to adapt to our changing needs throughout the course of the project.

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

The quality of work, the promptness with communication and the ability to come up with innovative solutions has been amazing with this team. We could have done a deeper dive on discovery, but having started in January of 2020, the closing of companies made this difficult.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

In American Kidney Fund, we provide grants to low-income patients, do research around kidney disease, and provide kidney education. We’ve also partnered with a number of organizations for clinical trials and research regarding emerging opportunities for assisting our patients. As director of IT project management and enterprise application, I manage a lot of our IT products and business initiatives.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Orases?

We wanted to find a partner to help us implement an off-the-shelf solution for our grant management process, as well as a payment merchant service so that our payments could go out automatically.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Throughout our engagement, Orases has become a strategic partner for us. They’re responsible for developing and implementing our grant management application, one of the most important applications for our company. We adopted using their platform as part of our application, which got us an 80% off-the-shelf and 20% customized solution as a result.

Currently, Orases acts as our management and support team. They manage our application, support it, host it on AWS, and make changes and enhancements to it as needed.

On this application, users can create a profile and go through the process of submitting a grant application. Based on the financial and insurance information they fill in, we evaluate them and decide if they’re eligible for the benefit or not, according to our internal rules and requirements.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 1–3 people from Orases. We generally work with the same individuals, so the tenure at Orases has been very solid, preventing a lot of turnover situations and providing us with high expertise team members.

How did you come to work with Orases?

We went through an RFP process, looking for a vendor that could help us with our project. The companies to which we launched the RFP, including Orases, were a mixture of companies we found on Google, my own contacts, and referrals.

We shortlisted 6–8 vendors from the RFP process, narrowed them down to three, and ultimately selected Orases due to their great bid. From the moment we met, we really liked how they worked. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $500,000–$1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2018, and our engagement is ongoing. We’ve had a tremendous partnership with Orases, and we’ve been using our new application since 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The application we used before was extremely slow. However, the one implemented by Orases has improved speed, response time, usability, and interaction capabilities, making it very user-friendly and intuitive. Thanks to our new app, our internal staff also has more flexibility for handling certain procedures, such as sending things back to patients and providing them with responses to their questions. Overall, Orases’ work has increased our productivity and efficiency across the board, being very helpful for both our internal staff and outside parties accessing and submitting grants.

How did Orases perform from a project management standpoint?

Orases uses a mixture of agile and waterfall processes. Every year, we have a scheduled discovery time, where we do a discovery process on a number of enhancements that our business requires. Additionally, we schedule our launch plans. Thanks to their great work, all of our projects are usually on time.

We use Basecamp to manage the project, and we have Zoom, Microsoft Teams, and Google Meet team meetings. Additionally, we use a tool to submit issues and requests.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Orases’ consistency, experience, knowledge, and skill sets are very solid. As I said, they’ve been a key strategic partner for us, both to take us where we are at and where we want to be in the long term. They’re very dependable and more than capable of handling our requests.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Orases can further improve their offering and become more than a custom software development company. It would be a great opportunity for them to expand on project management methodologies, showcasing best-in-class training offerings to their customers and adding value to their services.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for an IT leadership and advisory firm that offers fractional CIO services. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Orases?

I work with Orases for our client in the highway transportation and maintenance service industry business. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our client needed a customized app that could help them identify issues in highway maintenance, such as broken guardrails, lines that needed to be paved, potholes that needed to be fixed, and others. Orases helped create an app where the client could enter those details — with pictures — into a database. Through it, the client could schedule services, personnel resources, and equipment to address problems. Upon completion, the client could then send everything to the Department of Transportation through the app. Ultimately, the team’s deliverables were a desktop app for the management team and a mobile app for the field people. 

When I came on board, we revamped the product development process, which was a little looser than what I would describe as best practice. We met with Orases and talked about the process we’d use going forward. At that time, Orases was in phase two of the development lifecycle. We then defined requirements, built a product roadmap, and broke the requirements into a release schedule. Based on the prioritized roadmap we built, we had four releases a year.

Orases also did integrations with our back-office systems. Since the app had to run for mobile devices, we integrated it with Samsung devices in the field. On top of that, the team also did performance testing. The app software was also connected to the weather app for us to know when the weather was good or bad. The app also had account upload and download functionality for invoices, documents, and pictures. It could categorize captured metadata into pictures so the client could be searched easily. For equipment management, the app lets us know through geo-location services where equipment was in the field at any given time. 

At present, Orases hosts the app and is responsible for database administration. They also handle the care and maintenance of the app. 

What is the team composition?

We work with an account manager, who has been with us from the start of the development phase. Meanwhile, the team is composed of one architect and an average of three developers depending on the size of the release. The architect is responsible for the overall app design, while the developers write code and test the app.

How did you come to work with Orases?

Orases was already selected by my client before I came on board. They went through a standard RFP process, and the client vetted a couple of other vendors while looking for a partner. Orases had the willingness to change and adapt to new processes. They were also collaborative and flexible, plus the quality of their work was excellent. Those were the reasons the client continued working with them. 

How much have you invested with them?

Our client has invested over $1.25 million dollars in this initiative. 

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in June 2017, and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The digitization of the work process has made a tremendous impact on our client’s business in terms of the size of staff it takes to run the initiative. The efficiency, quality, and timeliness of our customer’s work also improved. 

Moreover, we haven’t had any catastrophic outages. For context, we’ve picked a scenario that benefited both the client and Orases in terms of bug fixes. Specifically, we’ve agreed that if we discover a bug within 60 days of release, Orases will fix it for free. As a result, they’re incentivized to improve the quality of the release so bugs don’t emerge and we get a better product.

Qualitatively, Orases is highly collaborative in their approach in that they integrate and fashion their solutions to the platforms that we already use. They’re mindful of such things and work with us in architecting solutions to ensure that the client’s requirements are met from a platform and testing perspective. 

How did Orases perform from a project management standpoint?

Orases has managed the project well. We have weekly scrum and check-in meetings where we get information on our progress, budget, and target completion dates. Simply put, we get everything we need for project management on a regular basis. Apart from that, our team has great communication with project managers, and we know what’s going on in our process. We also know what issues are being addressed and what obstacles we’re running into so that the team can address them quickly. Overall, I’m truly pleased with the project management processes. 

In terms of tools, Orases uses Redmine as their project tracking tool, requirements gathering solution, and bug notification system. Then, they give us access to their Jira board so that we can enter tickets and check on project status. Overall, we approach the project as a team composed of both Orases staff and our internal IT staff. Redmine is our primary communication channel. We also use video meetings and occasional emails back and forth to clarify things if they have questions. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

From a technical perspective, they’re great. On top of that, they’re willing to adapt and work with clients to modify financial arrangements to meet those clients’ specific needs. Overall, I’ve been in the software development industry for about 30 years, and I rank Orases in the top 10 organizations that I’ve worked with in my career. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Orases was the one that convinced our client that they needed firms like ours to help them with product management; they didn’t have one when I came on board. In retrospect, Orases could have done that sooner. 

At the same time, I understood that they were in a tough spot as they tried to help the client, especially when the COVID-19 pandemic happened. They knew the client had to bring in a product manager, though it took a while for the client to realize that.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open and honest, and tell Orases what you’re trying to solve. Think about and agree around KPIs that will benefit both your companies. They’re in the business of writing software, and they want to do it as efficiently and effectively as possible. Meanwhile, you want quality code that is extensible. There’s a middle ground between those things, and you should have an agreement with Orases in terms of how you’re going to measure success as a team. They’re highly adaptable and open to those kinds of conversations. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

National Public Radio (NPR) is the head-end of the public radio system for the US. We provide nationally broadcasted content and support a thousand or so public radio stations. I am the director of content production systems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Orases?

We have a news production system called NewsFlex. It is used by producers and editors to write and collaborate on stories as well as work across divisional teams for editing, preparing, and planning these stories. On that platform, they could also link to our audio playout system. 

We’d recently extended NewsFlex to a number of stations as a web platform working off of our on-premise server infrastructure. However, we decided that we wanted to build a version of it that could provide better support and scalability as we expand over time. It was going to take 2–3 years for our internal software development team to build it out, so we hired Orases to speed up that process of moving NewsFlex to the cloud.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our goal was to make the story creation going on in these hub stations transparent and visible to other stations. We mostly worked in Node.js and Orases took on some modular work that our internal development team handed to them week after week. 

Orases tended to what we call “tenancy”, which allows multiple stations to be live at the same time on the same software platform. Their team helped us build a custom set of permissions that let users either see or not see what other stations are doing, depending on their contractual relationship with those other stations. These permissions also defined what they could see from NPR’s headquarters team and what ours can see from theirs. 

What is the team composition?

All of the developers that were brought on were senior developers. For the bulk of the time, we were working with three people but that number varied throughout the project. We also had a QA early on in the engagement whom we swapped out for a software engineer midway through. 

How did you come to work with Orases?

This predates me, but we contracted them for a similar project years earlier. Orases helped us build an enterprise-level asset management system that currently runs live in the background and is connected to all of this work. 

How much have you invested with them?

Our budget was $375,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

This project lasted from January–September 2021. We completed everything in that very fixed, focused timeline.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Orases consistently hit their targets, helping accelerate the pace of our internal software developers. They integrated well with our team, our Slack channel, and our daily stand-up meetings. 

How did Orases perform from a project management standpoint?

Apart from Slack, we used Jira and Confluence. Orases worked in our ticketing system. 

Their project manager and I would connect multiple times a week to check in on how things were going. We also held a formal meeting every two weeks to do budget burn rate and project check-in. That sequence helped us feel that we had enough eyes on the project 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their flexibility was the biggest thing for us. They weren’t super comfortable with embedding their staff into ours at first since it would cause them to lose a bit of visibility into what their contractors are doing. However, after working closely with Larissa (Director of Client Engagement) and Kat (Director of Operations Logistics) to define how we would need to work, they came around eventually. In the end, all of us could say it was a really successful model. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, everyone was super happy with how this project turned out. There wasn’t any point where we felt that we weren’t getting what we needed from Orases. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Understand what you want as an organization and state it clearly before going into the project. As it was in our situation, agreeing to a certain work model beforehand will help you avoid communication missteps and frustrations. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

A2LA is dedicated to the formal recognition of competent testing and calibration laboratories (including medical laboratories), biobanking facilities, inspection bodies, product certification bodies, proficiency testing providers, and reference material producers. I am the Director of Marketing and Communications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Orases?

Our website was outdated and we did not have the skillset internally to redesign the site.

SOLUTION

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

Orases was the original designer of our site and were the natural choice for the redesign.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Following a series of discovery conversations and meetings, the SOW was developed and weekly meetings ensued. We met with the front and back-end designers to thoroughly discuss our must haves and wish list which would help us stay on budget.

The graphic designer walked us through many different styles/themes to hone in on the final look and feel we wanted to achieve. They were spot on every step of the way and walked us through any possible limitations that might come from our choices. Being able to consistently see the test site made it easier for us to tell if they were on the right path.

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

We worked with 4-5 Orases team members throughout the process retaining the same project manager, artistic designer, programmer and SEO specialist, WordPress programmer and developer, and development project coordinator.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The Orases team documented everything every step of the way utilizing a project management platform. The final look is much more on-trend and simplified for visitors (and staff!) to more easily find what they are looking for.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The Orases team is well trained in communicating with clients which made the workflow seamless. Every milestone was delivered early or right on time. If there was concern that our changes would impact delivery, they were very clear in communicating it.

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

Having worked with them in the past, it was nice to see that their dedication to customer service was still top-notch.

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

There are always things any company can improve upon. However, with our experience specifically, there was nothing we would change...especially since we finalized the project early!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and executive director at The Hatch Project, a business consulting company. We help entrepreneurs and business leaders with new products and businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Orases?

We needed their help in developing our web application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I’m currently working on my doctoral dissertation, and there’s an intersection between my studies and what I need for my company. My methodology requires a data collection tool, which aims to help entrepreneurs who are eager to start a new business.

Orases fully developed a mobile-friendly web app to address my data gathering needs. I relayed my project requirements to their team, and they implemented development and design solutions based on those. We haven’t launched our app yet, but Orases completed all their tasks according to our project scope.

What is the team composition?

I worked with one project manager and a business analyst from Orases.

How did you come to work with Orases?

I found them online while looking for potential local agencies to work with.

How much have you invested with them?

I spent $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The development project ran from June–July 2021. We have another project underway, but we haven’t officially started that yet.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t have any quantitative metrics to share yet since we haven’t reached the go-live period. However, I could confirm that Orases was a knowledgeable team that delivered a well-curated and sophisticated platform. Their understanding of my requirements was highly evident in the quality of the work they produced.

How did Orases perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Basecamp as our main communication and project management channel. Orases had commendable project management skills — they asked the right questions and brought productive insights to the table.

Additionally, we were kept in the loop throughout the process. They were a professional team committed to delivering on-time and on-budget solutions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their experience and expertise were highly evident during our partnership. Orases consistently followed a streamlined approach, and they allocated their resources well to maximize their team’s productivity.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I personally prefer in-person meetings, but I know that times are different now because of the pandemic. After all, Orases did their best to meet me halfway on this matter.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Orases is a responsive and professional team, so you only have to prepare a clear outline and be straightforward in identifying your needs. They’ll surely take it from there.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and one of the co-founders of a software startup. We combine advances in machine learning with materials science.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Orases?

We needed to build a backend platform that would allow clients to interface with our hosted neural network.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

In general, most of the project involved building a standard SaaS platform. We needed to be able to create different organizations and users within those organizations and allow the users and organizations to have different levels of access to our products. On our end, we needed our team to be able to perform administrative functions on the platform and to be able to access all the machine learning data from our clients to help us continue to optimize our solution. One of the more nuanced parts of the project was enabling users to interact with our neural network through the platform. This network was built in Python, while the platform was built in PHP.

What is the team composition?

We worked directly with one project manager, two software developers, two scrum masters, and one quality assurance professional. They also helped us build a WordPress website. For this end of the project, I worked with another member of their team.

How did you come to work with Orases?

I did extensive research on potential companies for this project, combing through reviews and reaching out to several firms. When I spoke directly with Nick (President), he clearly understood exactly what we needed. His team was happy to work within our tight timeline and budget, acknowledging the future value of the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $50,000 with them to date.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since December 2020. We just finished this project and now have a monthly contract with them to make any software improvements we need.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We needed them to deliver a product that works properly and interacts easily with our neural network. They did this with relative ease. We also wanted to see some of the other functionality of the platform built out to our liking. They kept us in the loop for the entirety of the project so that the end product would meet our exact specifications. Thanks to them, our clients can upload files to pass information to our neural network and then get a response displayed in a user-friendly format. I really enjoyed working with their team, which is why we chose to continue to work with them.

How did Orases perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very clear and put together timelines well in advance. Their team is proactive in flagging any potential delays, even if they end up overcoming them. Communication was really important to us as well, and they’ve been extremely responsive. They provide instant feedback at all important junctures. During the initial project, we had meetings twice a week with their entire team, which kept the engagement on track. We used Redmine and Basecamp as project management tools.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They prioritize development skills and communication skills equally to ensure their solution meets your needs. Right when I submitted an inquiry on their website, Nick reached out to me. Their project managers maintained constant communication with us as well to make sure we stayed on track.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Within the confines of our project, they had difficulty providing a clearly defined scope early on in the engagement. We went through the master service agreement and statement of work at the beginning, but more clarity in this stage would have helped us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear about exactly what you want to be delivered from early on in the engagement. You’ll probably be working with Nick at that point, but make sure the message is translated to the project manager you end up working with. With their communication skills, this clarity should help you avoid any budget-related headaches later on.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the accounting manager for NextDayDumpsters. We rent open-top, roll-off dumpsters and trash containers that you see on construction sites, but we mostly focus on residential and small- to mid-size contracting environments.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Orases?

Our biggest struggle was that the software systems available to onboard customers and developing our routing information didn’t fit our needs. When I started seven years ago, we had six drivers on the road, which was manageable, but now we have 18 drivers, and we need a more complex system. The solution had to distribute orders amongst the drivers and contain routing capabilities, which will allow us to take on more customers, routes, and deliveries.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Phase one started with removing us from our current system while still collecting the necessary information from customers. Essentially, we wanted to get rid of the fluff in our process. A big issue was moving us away from physical paper. Initially, we had one person dedicated to entering paper orders into the electronic system — they moved screen by screen through a customer’s first name, last name, billing address, and site address. It wasn’t as simple as it should have been. This phase also included devising a way to send the information we input down into our routing platform.

We launched the Phase One product in July 2020.

The question for phase two was: how do we use this information to generate more business? The beginning of phase two involved clean-up and bug fixes, as well as implementing changes our service representatives asked for. Additionally, we devised a system to reach back out to our customers. Until this point, we hadn’t done any sort of remarketing. Now, we’re reaching out to customers with questions about their experience, what aspects of the interaction we could have improved, and any next steps that they want to take.

We’re at the beginning of phase three right now, establishing what its focus will be moving forward.

What is the team composition?

We started out with three people, and then we brought on a new project manager because our initial resource had to transition off. The switch was easy; our previous manager ensured their replacement was on the same page as we were. The remaining team filled in any other blanks. There’s also been another addition, so that brings the total to five people.

How did you come to work with Orases?

Our owner would have a better idea than I do, but I believe we found them through a business entrepreneur group. They connected at a time when we’d already gone through a couple of CRM systems and none of them had worked. We realized we’d have to do so much custom work, even with the existing platforms, that starting from scratch with a company like Orases would be easier.

How much have you invested with them?

If I had to give a number I’d say it was around $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from March 2019–July 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Because everything used to be on paper, our customer service representatives now joke with me that I can take the printer away. The transaction between the customer and our service representatives is much easier than it used to be. By the time we’re off the phone, we’ve charged their card and input all their information into the system. We’ve removed the need to call people back and correct information.

Now, if we ever have to pull customer information from our old system, no one understands how we put up with it for so long. Our former data entry resource has an entirely new set of responsibilities because our representatives can handle all that work while they were on the phone with customers.

We expected some transitional pains, as everyone was used to the old way of doing things, but what we expected to be large issues didn’t materialize. In fact, those aspects turned out to bring the most relief.

How did Orases perform from a project management standpoint?

We set up our meetings at the beginning of every week, as well as what we would be discussing: early in the week we talked about possible issues with their imminent deployment, and later in the week we discussed the content of the next sprint.

Communication took place over a number of systems, including Basecamp, where we sent general messages to everything, and Redmine, which we used post-launch to log any bugs or feature requests. At most, they took 24 hours to respond to messages.

They also set up a priority system, and they respond quickly to urgent requests.

In terms of being on the same page, we never felt like they didn’t understand us. Even when we changed project managers, the experience was seamless. There was no starting from the beginning there.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Nick (President) and everyone on his team care deeply. We have a standing monthly call with him to touch base on how things are doing. He asks for feedback to funnel down to his team as well. Nick isn’t just worried about the transaction, he and everyone at Orases is invested in what they're working through with their clients.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We communicated any bumps in the road to Nick and his team, and they addressed everything, even some lacking communication at the outset. There isn’t anything we haven’t addressed.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t get caught up in how you believe the software needs to function.

When we went through our billing system, Orases presented a solution that was three steps where the old process was ten steps. When we objected, saying that they couldn’t cut certain parts out, they explained how their improvements would simplify our work.