PiServe

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing and business development head of a robotics company. We make robots and IoT products, and we also focus on R&D.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with PiServe?

We hired PiServe to help us with research, prototyping, and frontend development for one of our products.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked with PiServe for around a year. During the initial six months, they helped us with R&D. We gave them a wireframe after getting the approval for the project, and they started working on the project based on that.

After R&D, we collaborated to make the prototype screens, and they developed the front end of the software that ran the robot. This part of the project included designing the HDMI tab of the front end.

As the product was a robot for moving materials, the customer needed to locate where the robot was and where it needed to go. Thus, PiServe integrated a control panel to locate it using Google Maps. During testing, we gave them the coordinates of a robot, and the system located it very well.

The UI developed by PiServe made the product more attractive. If a user needs to go to a particular place, they mark the spot in the UI for it to be easily accessible, making the process easier overall.

In addition to development, PiServe helped us with design work too. They gave us a brief insight into marketing, how the product looked, and how approachable it was to the market.

What is the team composition?

We worked with around 8 to 10 people from their team, including a project manager, some frontend developers, a design director, and an operations person.

How did you come to work with PiServe?

We looked up PiServe on the internet after a friend referred them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent roughly about $10,000 on the entire project.

What is the status of the engagement?

We began working together in January 2019, and they delivered the project in January 2020. We divided this project into modules. PiServe delivered the first module, but we still need to finish two more modules. However, we haven't started the next part of development due to COVID-19, which caused a shortage of electronic materials to upgrade the hardware.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As this project was around robotics, we don’t have any measurable qualifiers to share. As for qualitative feedback, PiServe performed very well during R&D, according to our criteria.

During the testing phase, the product worked perfectly. Although we encountered some issues and bugs, they responded very promptly and fixed them quickly. Additionally, they were very open and cooperative when making UI/UX designs changes.

How did PiServe perform from a project management standpoint?

PiServe managed to deliver the project much earlier than we had projected. We thought that R&D would take one year and development another six months. However, they delivered the whole project within a year.

We didn't use any project management tool because we were dealing with hardware, so most of the work was in person. We continuously tested the product, and we had Scrum calls if needed. We also had Scrum calls every morning to check on whatever task needed to be done on that specific day.

What did you find most impressive about them?

PiServe’s expertise and knowledge in this field were impressive. Their employees seemed eager to begin R&D from the start, and they delivered a great product. The fact that they delivered the project much earlier than expected was another valuable asset of them.

Are there any areas that they could improve?

I don't think there was something they could have improved on; their work was impeccable.

Any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to express your needs and ideas clearly. Then, leave the rest for them to handle because they’re focused on giving the best results to their clients.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are one of the biggest construction and facility management company in the UAE. I work as a Senior HSE Engineer in the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We wanted to develop an Asset Management software for our company. Being managing a lot huge facilities in the UAE, asset tracking had become a nightmare for us and everyone was manual. We wanted to develop a software to handle all these.

SOLUTION

How did you select PiServe Technologies and what were the deciding factors?

We went for an open bid and a lot of companies applied for it. PiServe got selected considering their technical quality and price. Our IT team had previously engaged in a small project with them and they recommended them extremely well.

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

They started with a requirement gathering here in our company before covid and it had to be moved online later. They shared the documents and asked us for approvals, it had detailed explanation of each sections, work patterns, program flows etc. Then they started sprints, it was new to us, initially we were not happy with that delivery because we work in a different format, but finally they delivered everything on time. We used Drupal and mobile apps were build in reactnative

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

10 people One PM One business analyst 4 software developers 2 interface designers 2 QA engineers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Before implementing this solution we were 100% depended on paper and manual efforts. Adding an asset to an excel sheet and manage it. Work orders placement etc have become a nightmare for us as we grown in size in the last decade. Once implemented, our overall workload went down a lot. People have a lot of time doing their actual work instead of doing the manual works. Productivity have increased huge. Software they delivered made a big impact in our company.

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

They used sprints and agile. Communication we added them to our MS teams and jira was used for project planning. Timelines were communicated in meetings and MS tools.

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

They stood on our shoes and tried to understand our problems. As a customer they delivered exactly what we needed.

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

This sprint project management was bit difficult initially to understand and they expect us to know it. When onboarding a customer, they should give a small training if it allows their budget. But once we went in for a few months with it, everything went fine.