People10 Technologies Inc.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work for FLSmidth(service provider for cement and mining industry) as the Head of Digital Business , Software Delivery

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire People10 Technologies Inc., and what were your goals?

We had hired people 10 for the web development of PDM and Uptime go application that is used by Cement plants for managing and monitoring data related to cement production.

SOLUTION

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

We had selected the vendor based on their technical expertise in industrial automation

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

The development has been running for more than 5 years now, were the requirements are given by FLSmidth , based on the People 10 come up with UX and architectural design, which after review is approved for development, the project is being executed in agile mode, so there are reviews done once in 3 weeks to track development progress, technology used is Angular and Node JS,sql, deliverable is the web/mobile application that after UAT is deployed to customer sites

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

Currently there are two senior developers and a Account manager who helps to manage the contract

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

PDM /UTG application has 100+ install bases across the world used by Cement Customers, the product has matured over the 4 years now so its ready to be sold as an enterprise application to big Cement Customers like Shree Cements and Ultra tech

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

We have adopted agile process so there is a team in FLSmidth that works along with People 10 and has scrum ceremonies planned together to ensure deliverables are at par on quality and time.

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

People 10 has supported has at times when the business of FLSmidth has not been good so we had to go on and off in the engagement. They have stretched and put effort to meet our timelines and now see a prospective business for PDM/UTG in the future.

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

I believe the performance and quality of the application can still be improved to reduce issues coming from our customer directly

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our organization manufactures doors to supply wholesalers and big-box retail outlets. I am the Chief Information Officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire People10 Technologies Inc., and what were your goals?

In preparation for an upcoming ERP deployment, we anticipated a reconfiguration of how transactions flow from the present manufacturing system to the accounting system seeking to redirect that flow to the ERP system. A redesign of the applications that facilitate this was required and we sought to not burden our internal development team.

SOLUTION

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

I received a call from Nisha Shoukath introducing her company. She did a great job showcasing the capabilities of her team and I just happened to be entertaining the possibility of engaging a second external development team.

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

There were four aspects of the development project. These involved exporting invoices, purchase orders, receipts of goods, and inventory adjustments from our current in-house designed manufacturing system preparing the data for import to a Sage accounting platform. Each type had its own set of expectations, process steps, and file formats to adhere to.

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

We requested 4 developers, a project lead, and a test/audit resource.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have not yet deployed the toolset but we are continuing to test. There were a few elements we had planned to add to their work after the design was complete and we are moving through those processes now. Once deployed, we are expecting this to allow the accounting team more efficient processing will afford the technology team an easier time deploying the solution to a user.

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

The primary communication tools were a daily meeting between their team and our internal project lead and their documentation of tickets into our existing Jira platform. Their team was led by Mohit Juneja and his style was very compatible with our expectations - that being a steady calm approach to the project.

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

The team was adaptable to the work environment we provided which was centered on the Azure platform. They maintained a steady workflow and communicated project status effectively.

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

There are no specific complaints about this organization. This was the first time we had engaged an overseas team to handle development work and three issues quickly became apparent. The first was that communicating and understanding one another was initially difficult as we verbally laid out our plans. This led to far more written documentation and detail than we had planned which was the second burden to endure.

Lastly, the time zone difference afforded only our morning hours conduct meetings and align resources which required a shifting of other planned activities. All of these differences were expected going into the project but their magnitude was greater than anticipated. We adapted and were able to overcome these issues.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the President of a Chicago based company that invests in software projects mostly in the blockchain space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire People10 Technologies Inc.?

We hired People10 technologies for building our cloud infrastructure initially. The goal was to create a seamless interface for our mobile and web users to interact with server side. In both cases, we did not have in-house cloud and frontend engineers as most of our staff has been working on core blockchain code.

What were your goals for this project?

The initial goal of the project was to create a cloud architecture to support our web and mobile interface. We achieved this goal and then moved on to the second phase of the project ie. creating the web application interface for integrating a KYC solution.

SOLUTION

How did you select People10 Technologies Inc.?

The present CTO of the company was my classmate during my college years. For a new project that we were invested in, we wanted to ramp up talent fast and couldn't have gone through a lot of processes to decide. I trusted the relationship and was confident that he could deliver my requirements.

Describe the project in detail.

first phase : A solution architect to design our cloud architecture as per our initial design. Vendor was responsible for understanding the overall architecture of the problem statement ( which we provided ) and create a right fit solution on the cloud. second phase: To assist and integrate an external solution to our application interface. The person assigned to us was expected to work with this third party vendor to integrate it to our software.

What was the team composition?

Cloud solution: Team consisted of a senior cloud architect and a junior architect who worked together for a couple of months. Decentralized KYC solution: This consisted of one team member who worked closely with other teams working on other projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Overall, we are satisfied with the delivery of the project so far. After the initial teething issues the team has settled down. We have good feedback from our partner companies who were working with one of the resources that we hired.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We used trello, notion and now stack for handling workflows.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They had the right resources we were looking for during the beginning of our project, when we didn't have the time or bandwidth to hire resources full time. Thankfully, people10 rose to the occasion and helped us hire the right people.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I think their team is very efficient, probably an area they could improve is during the initial onboarding phase, communication could have been slightly better. Other than that, it has been an excellent relationship with their team so far.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Batanks, a social media company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with People10 Technologies Inc.?

I’m a startup and needed someone to develop my mobile app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed my mobile app for Android and iOS. The app helps people organize social gatherings and small events for groups of more than 2–3 people. It consolidates communication when back-and-forth through email or on WhatsApp becomes too confusing.

What is the team composition?

There’s a team leader, a QA person, three Android developers, and two iOS developers. I directly engaged with everyone on the project.

How did you come to work with People10 Technologies Inc.?

I used to work with the COO.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent roughly $12,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2020, and it’s an ongoing project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project is still ongoing, but we’ve made excellent progress so far. They respond positively and proactively whenever there’s an issue or concern. They’ve made thoughtful suggestions for functionality based on best practice since I’m not a developer. I prefer to refer to their expertise.

How did People10 Technologies Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication is great. We utilize Jira, work in sprints, and hold biweekly calls with the entire team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s difficult to say because I don’t have anyone to compare them to.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should continue being proactive and anticipating solutions in light of emerging concerns.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s very important to have frequent meetings at the beginning of the project to get to know each other.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CIO of an insurance product company writing for both the federal program and a number of private carriers as well.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with People10 Technologies?

We were taking on a new project to do a direct-to-consumer website, which was a brand-new venture for us. We have done a lot of work with agencies and other companies but didn’t have the bandwidth to handle this project along with all of the operations we were already running, so we started looking for a third-party to help us out.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The process focused on creating a responsive design and experience for the customer while integrating with a lot of fairly complicated APIs with our system on the backend. We’re also used to dealing with agents who understand insurance, so they helped us to translate some of that jargon to a consumer so that they could understand our product.

Their team built everything in AWS, and with that engineered the ability to scale so that we could partner with real estate sites and other existing sites to help them offer insurance quotes.

What is the team composition?

We had a project manager, a business analyst, and a number of developers and engineers working on the project behind the scenes. There were about five in total who we interacted with throughout the work.

How did you come to work with People10 Technologies?

There was another initial project that we had been working on, and for that, we went through a very rigorous vendor selection process so that we knew we would end up with a partnership that we could build into a long-term relationship.

They were one of the final choices but not who we went with in the end because of the fit of the project. When we got to this project, however, it was an easy decision because we knew that we were ready to work with them and confident that it would be successful.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started around March 2020 and we are continuing to expand and improve the functionalities since launching the product.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The work that they’ve done for us so far is great. People have really enjoyed and been responsive to the designs and layouts that we’ve implemented. Even on the more constructive feedback that we’ve received, their team has been nothing but rapid in hearing and implementing those changes, or coming to the table with suggestions of their own for how we could continue improving.

How did People10 Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

We use a Microsoft Teams channel to communicate for the project, and they’ve shifted their hours to help manage the project more effectively. We have a scheduled meeting at 11 AM our time every day which their team joins very late at night for them, and even into the early afternoon, we see their activity and the work they’re producing for us, which helps tremendously.

Even when we ran into potential roadblocks, such as a delay in our initial time estimate for the project, their flexibility and collaborative attitude was a highlight. We asked them what we needed to do to get back on track for production and had an open dialogue about it, and in the end, were able to reach a compromise where they added a few more people to the team and we removed a couple elements so that we could stick to that timeline.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I have been very impressed with their availability to us despite the time difference between our teams and the willingness to respond quickly to all our requests that demonstrates their commitment to the project. It was always clear that we were an important partner to them and that they wanted us to succeed in the long-term.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I really don’t think there’s anything they could be doing better. We all have experienced difficulties with this new working from home environment, but I don’t think there are any issues we’ve run into that I would attribute to their team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that you have a dedicated point of contact on your side who is focused entirely on making sure success is the only option. As long as you are putting the effort needed into the relationship and both teams are maintaining honest, open communication, you’ll be able to resolve pretty much any issue that you might run into throughout the process.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior vice president at Quimdis GmbH, a sourcing and distribution company that is divided into three segments.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with People10 Technologies?

We needed a more interactive way for salespeople and customers to get information. In the case of an urgent requirement, we needed a way for a salesperson to be able to immediately take the order. We already have an ERP system and just needed an app to link to it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

People10 Technologies developed both an iOS and Android app for us. The app is usable on iPads, tablets, and mobile phones. Our salespeople can use the system to see if an item is in stock or will it will be in stock, what the price is, and if the customer has previously purchased the product. The app links to our ERP and can take data from the system. It updates automatically and can be accessed both on and offline.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 3–4 members of the People10 Technologies team but we had one main point of contact.

How did you come to work with People10 Technologies?

Their team did a roadshow in Europe and presented their company and services to all of the companies invited by the Chamber of Commerce. We had a good interaction with them and they were friendly so we decided to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested about $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with People10 Technologies ran from March–August 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The feedback from the sales team is very promising. Working with them has saved us a lot of time. Customers are able to order our products faster because they get a quick response. Our response time is no more than four hours, as opposed to 2–3 days before. People10 Technologies were professional and well experienced with ERP systems and mobile apps.

How did People10 Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team provides constant support and wonderful communication. People10 Technologies responds quickly to our emails and always has an answer to our question. We’re extremely satisfied. If we need to hop on the phone with them, they are always willing to. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The communication and speed at which they were giving solutions were impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they were great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re a fully professional team. They never came back asking for an increase in cost and stuck to what they said.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of an engineering, procurement, and construction company that operates in onshore and offshore. We have big operations in the Middle East, as well as various other parts of the world, including the US.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with People10 Technologies?

Since we’re growing, we had a lot of requirements. Most of the jobs, related to project controls, were repeats. We were too small to handle and manage the projects we were getting, so we began looking for a solution.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

People10 Technologies assisted with the automation of many of our project activities, such as logging manhours. Their software tracks and analyzes all of the data automatically. It was a broad concept, starting from the estimation and ending with execution and evaluation. I believe they used JavaScript.

What is the team composition?

Nisha (COO, People10 Technologies) led the technical team during that time. A team of our end was put together to help their team understand our needs. We also communicated with a project manager and finance person from their Indian offshore team.

How did you come to work with People10 Technologies?

We reviewed at least five large, well-known companies and came across People10 Technologies. They had a standardized product that they were willing to tailor to our requirements, without any difficulty. After their team made a presentation, we saw that they were proactive and hungry to get the job. Because of that vigor and their expertise, we felt that they would be the right partner. People10 Technologies also grasped what we needed much faster than their competitors.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $100,000–$130,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with People10 Technologies 4–5 years ago, and the engagement took around two months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our team was happy with People10 Technologies’ performance. We were able to get more control over our data. Every project costs money, and we want to align our budgets with estimations. We use People10 Technologies’ software to track our activity daily or hourly, which gives us a lot of control and enables us to act immediately. We can also monitor and evaluate past and future projects, which is helpful on the project management side.

How did People10 Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

People10 Technologies grasped our services and delivered impressive solutions. We used phone and email for communication, and their team came on-site a few times for meetings. We had long hours of teleconferencing, and everything was recorded in the project book before implementation.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team is full of good and capable people. We’re happy with the way they worked with us, and I’m pleased to recommend them to anyone who needs a similar service.

Are there any areas they could improve?

People10 Technologies delivered upon our requirements. I couldn’t comment on their current team, but we had no issues during our engagement.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It will be difficult if clients don’t know what they need. Some companies can understand requirements in a straightforward manner, but some can also make value additions. For the last part, open your hearts and tell them what exactly is required. Some elements can be added without too much cost.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Driftwood Factory handcrafts pieces of furniture to order ensuring they fit perfectly. That is an entirely better experience than what you’ll find at the box stores. We cater to commercial and individual customers. I am the Co-founder and Managing partner of Driftwood Factory.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire People10 Technologies Inc.?

We needed a dynamic CMS website to showcase our products in specific categories and later to have payment integration.

What were your goals for this project?

The main goal was to have a central location where our client can view our work, have a product portfolio, a catalog from which they can select their customization options, and to have payment gateway integrated with our online store. We wanted this setup to help move our inventory.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

People10 was recommended by one of our client as we were having a very basic website at that time. We spoke to people10 and gave them our requirements. They came back to us with a proposed solution which we found interesting.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project consist of 3 parts:

1. The CMS website
2. Online shop
3. Payment gateway integration.

We had a limited budget and a very strict timeline. They were able to meet our requirements and was able to stick to the budget and timeline.

What was the team composition?

People10 assigned 2 dedicated resources from offshore who were in touch with us. The Senior Developer took all our requirements and translated it into visuals from which we selected the best one we liked. Though we made them incorporate a lot of last minute changes, the team accommodated it all.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We got great feedback from our clients about the new online portfolio and the webstore. We are now able to move the furniture in stock much faster and now easier for us to use google adwords to promote our products.

Payment gateway integration was a big help. Earlier, our clients had to pay the deposit via bank transfer. Now, they are able to pay via credit card and we instantly get the confirmation.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The Senior Developer was in charge of managing the project. yes, It was a small project. But he was able to communicate the requirements with us and back to his team who were successfully able to develop and deliver on time.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The flexibility to accommodate all our last minute changes. Their creative developers can think outside the box to provide interesting solutions. The fact that they were able to stick to our budget and the really short timeline.

Are there any areas for improvement?

It would have been amazing if People10 was percent locally in the middle east. We could have used their services more often.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of information services (IS) within the IT department at Princess House. We're a direct sales organization for healthy cooking, eating, and lifestyle products, which we deliver via distributors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with People10 Technologies?

As a typical IS/IT department, the demand for our services always exceeds our resource capabilities. We needed a company to supplement the need for tech services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

People10 Technologies works as a complement to our IS team, enabling us to scale resources up or down on a project-to-project basis without having to hire somebody full-time. Instead, we contract for the duration of the project. Their team helps maintain and support applications that we don’t have the capabilities to maintain in-house.

We’ve used their workbench and expertise in various projects. First, People10 Technologies developed native mobile apps for both iOS and Android with e-commerce capabilities. Their team built a content management tool, which enables us to deliver changes on a weekly basis. The app safely coordinates business transactions such as applying payments and reviewing orders. With the platform, we’re able to manage our more than twenty-five-thousand sellers.

Later, we contracted People10 Technologies again to revamp our corporate website using AngularJS. They integrated the platform with a content management tool and a personalization functionality. They’re currently building a database service for the whole web application.

What is the team composition?

Our primary point of contact was their CEO, but we also work with a lot of technical resources. A total of six to eight teammates worked on the mobile app.

How did you come to work with People10 Technologies?

We were trying to build our mobile app about five years ago and were looking for an offshore partner. A colleague recommended People10 Technologies.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $500,000 with them in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began our partnership in 2014, and continue to collaborate with them on certain projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The mobile app sped up our business processes, which made it really well received by distributors. We’ve seen a complete increase in profit on the site and a gain in revenue from their team’s expansions to the e-commerce solution.

 How did People10 Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

To communicate, we’ve used Jira, Slack, and Zoom, as well as phone calls. Whenever we’ve had an issue, they take care of it right away. Their team has always listened, making changes to accommodate us. For example, they changed their shift to resolve issues we’d been having because they’re twelve hours ahead. I’m very happy with their performance.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their flexibility is honestly their greatest strength. If I need something, they’re able to come up with resources on a short notice, providing options for solutions within a maximum of a week. They’re a great technical resource.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They struggle with turnover and that can be a step-back on projects. Sometimes it takes their team a while to grasp business concepts, which isn’t uncommon for an offshore vendor.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Spend time educating them on business processes to build a solution that better matches requirements.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a crisis management technology business. We have an online crisis management tool and an emergency management app. I'm the managing director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with People10 Technologies Inc.?

We needed consistent, quality development of our tools. We hoped to complement our existing development resources and wanted to change our codebase to Angular. We relied on People10 Technologies Inc. to help us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They worked on several releases for us. In a major release last year, we revamped a whole host of existing tools and created new functionality for our front-facing product. They also helped rebuild a communications gateway for SMS and email, which is a critical element of what we do.

They just finished a whole new compliance dashboard for one of our products, and they participate in various other projects. Other development work includes QA automation tools, and they also manage and provide additional developers. They play an important role in our product life.

We do all the design ourselves, but they offer input in that. They've built all our user interfaces and backend, but we have a UX designer in house.

What is the team composition?

We currently work with a team of two, which we will scale up to five in about a month. The team has been as large as seven or eight and varies based on how many concurrent projects are running at any given time.

How did you come to work with People10 Technologies Inc.?

We've worked with other development companies in the past, but our previous experience wasn't great. I don't remember how we found them, but their approach, quality, and their level of talent made them a good choice for us. We've spent time with them in their office, and we have a very good relationship so far. Their costs are higher than the companies we worked with previously, but they deliver good quality outputs.

How much have you invested with them?

I don't have an exact number at hand, but our total is somewhere between $200,000-$1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

I believe we started working together in October or November 2017, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don't track formal metrics, but we go through regular project management cycles to review their work. Our internal team very well receives the code.

How did People10 Technologies Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They are very disciplined, and we're very happy with their project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They manage expectations very well, and they have a good grasp of business requirements. The quality of development and the investment their people make in the relationship are very good.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't have any criticism for them at all. They're a really good partner.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They're very easy to work with, so I don't have any unique insight to get the most out of a partnership with them.