Polontech (Jira, Confluence, Agile, ITSM)

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of Speech Processing Solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Polontech?

We had a self-hosted JIRA instance that wasn’t up to date, so we needed to sort everything out and optimize our workflow and migrate everything to the cloud.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The first step was data analysis, which included finding how many projects were in there, how much space they used up, and making suggestions for merging projects or deleting them. After that, the second phase involved reshaping the workflow — we defined the workflow with Polontech and then implemented it. The third phase was the migration to the cloud.

What is the team composition?

I only worked with one person—Alex (Atlassian Experts Team Lead).

How did you come to work with Polontech?

We found them on Upwork. We interviewed several people but Alex was the most knowledgeable in terms of JIRA, ITIL, and HR processes.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $18,000 USD.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in September 2020 and ended in March 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The final objective was to have the process accepted by the team, and they were very highly rated. Alex excelled at explaining the scope, what needed to be done, and dealing with people. It was amazing to me that Alex really listens and made his own suggestions that really brought value to the project and made it better.

How did Polontech perform from a project management standpoint?

Excellent. We didn’t use any project management tools to communicate because we didn’t have a huge team involved.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really understand our business needs, project management, and more. They didn’t only implement tools, but also provided training and will tell you how to do things.

Are there any areas they could improve?

For the sort of project we did, no. Everything was perfect.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust them and let them make suggestions.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I manage the Business Applications team at a software enterprise company. We have a large implementation of Jira/Confluence, with various instances used by multiple teams in the company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Polontech (Jira, Agile, ITIL)?

Our company used the consulting and development services of Polontech. We worked with them on several projects on Confluence and Jira, development of macros/add ons, upgrades & maintenance work, new functionalities and business processes, and more

What were your goals for this project?

Create stable instances , and enusre that the business functions are satisfied with their use of the system, and their work is being made more efficient

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We reached out to several vendors in the field of Atlassian development/consulting and were delighted to see the level of service they provide, the professionalism, the dedication, and the quality of the work

Describe the project in detail.

We had several projects running with Polontech in the last few years: implementing Jira Service Desk at our company, seperation between public and internal spaces, development of macros and add-ons that can help the business, and more

What was the team composition?

We were worked with a project manager and several developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All the projects that we executed with Polontech were executed on time and on budget- the level of service, and the responsiveness was always very high despite them needing to work under extremely tight deadlines and an enormous amount of pressure. In addition, the systems implementation was done in a way that it is easier to maintain and support, less periods of down time, more customer satisfaction

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow is extremely effective. Our team was in continuous contact with the project manager and developer, during the project implementation and go live.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was extremely impressed with their level of knowledge of the capabilities of the Atlassian products, they are both very technical oriented butalso process and business oriented

Are there any areas for improvement?

We were very satisfied with their work!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work on the business applications team at a large software company, managing Atlassian applications, mainly Confluence and Jira.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Polontech?

We hired Polontech to help develop solutions on Confluence. When one of our in-house development and IT employees left, we hired Polontech to support those areas since we were already happy with their services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Polontech has worked on both internal and customer-facing software, providing development and maintenance on the applications. They’ve mainly worked on Confluence and Jira on the application side. 

They’ve also been managing server infrastructures and databases, providing consulting and minor development and implementation tasks. On the database side, we use MySQL, Nginx, and Windows software; most of the implementation is done in-house. 

We had a project creating a product documentation site, including version and language control. They created a mechanism to support the business process for product localization. They’ve also worked on the UI/UX of the site using PHP and HTML.

What is the team composition?

Most of the work is done by two people from their team. 

How did you come to work with Polontech?

We followed a recommendation from a friend within the industry. Polontech stood out in terms of professionalism and they execute quickly and to a very high standard.  

How much have you invested with them?

The cost has been $40,000–$50,000 per year, so around $200,000 total, so far. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Polontech in November 2015 and our engagement is ongoing. We began with ad hoc work, but now we have them on a contract. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve learned best practices about implementation and business processes from them, which is awesome. I love working with them and I’d recommend their services to anyone. Whenever there is a new feature or security breach, they let us know and manage it.  

How did Polontech perform from a project management standpoint?

In terms of project management, they allow us to manage most things and they work with us on it. Since we mostly manage it all, I’m not sure if they provide full project management service but they’re very organized. They update statuses and let us know when we can communicate, QA, and work on bugs. The process works really smoothly and there have only been a few occasions when they didn’t meet our time estimates.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re great people and very professional—they’re practically part of the team. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I really can't think of anything.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Communication is important. To make sure there are no doubts, just talk to them about it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Smart Parts is an Internet retailer. We sell consumer electronics and home accessories in Europe, Asia, and the US. Amongst other duties, I oversee large IT projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Polontech?

We wanted to limit the number of support agents and distribute the workload evenly. Also, we wanted to track all customer requests and raise the customer satisfaction rates with this solution.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Polontech analyzed the existing business processes and proposed a solution for our service desk. We started with ITIL consulting, analyzing and improving customer support and satisfaction processes. Then we created a simple analog of Atlassian JIRA SD. The help desk automation system processes email requests from customers (front-office). The system then creates tickets for support agents who use the web interface to further communicate with the clients. Our solution is also integrated with JIRA and Zendesk, expanding the capabilities of the solution to a great extent.

How did you come to work with Polontech?

A business partner recommended Polontech to us. We also contacted several other consultants to compare the Polontech proposal against.

How much have you invested with Polontech?

We’ve paid approximately £100,000 [~ US $125,000] for their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project was completed in less than 2 years. It was around February 2015 to September 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Based on recent surveys, our customers are much happier with the services they’ve received. The solution also helps make the overall management transparent. As a result, the efficiency and performance of our team improved as well. We use the solution on daily basis and we are very happy with it. When we modify our work process, Polontech reflects these changes in the solution as well.

How did Polontech perform from a project management standpoint?

I personally rate their project management very highly. They encourage us to use the solution by creating tickets for themselves in our JIRA. Polontech provided a dedicated person who was working for us about 60% of the time. Other consultants and DevOp specialists from Polontech were available to help with different aspects of the project. It’s worth noting that they were quite flexible and adjusted to our project management framework.

What did you find most impressive about Polontech?

At Polontech, they are very well organized and determined. They don’t just create a solution, they make sure it delivers and works in our business environment. They dig deep and create the whole IT infrastructure with service catalogs, knowledge base, etc.

Are there any areas Polontech could improve?

Nothing major comes to mind.

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

The client should be willing to change and adapt; the team should be ready to embrace new tools and techniques. Polontech will do the rest.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Digital Intelligence Systems, LLC (DISYS) is a global staffing and IT consulting services company, with core capabilities in staff augmentation, application development, business intelligence, cloud enablement, enterprise resource planning, infrastructure support and testing. DISYS is headquartered in McLean, Virginia, with offices and delivery locations worldwide.

I am the project manager and technical leader.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have built a number of technical domains including mobile applications, JIRA instances, and JIRA plug-in development. We have recently a JIRA upgrade with help of Polontech with respect to data migration. 

How did you come to work with Polontech?

I found their profile online and started a conversation with them. We had a couple of meetings and we gave them a desk project to start with and based on the results of that pilot project, we continued working with them.

How much have you invested with Polontech?

We’ve spent (approximately) over $50,000 in total with Polontech.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since 2013 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did Polontech perform from a project management standpoint?

They are professional, technically sound, and savvy. We can reach them on weekends and they respond quickly. They are independent in managing their own team. I get frequent updates through JIRA or email.

What did you find most impressive about Polontech?

They excel in UI design and helping improve the vision and objective of the product. We give them an idea and they come up with unique suggestions which make sense and improve the overall product or project. Everyone can code, but only a few companies can help make you feel better about the product/project.

Are there any areas Polontech could improve?

The way they translate our requirements into the technical solution is different and we like that. They should continue on to develop and support mobile applications. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The business is a small garment producer and retailer in Sweden and Denmark. They sell clothes online only. I was the chief technology officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Polontech?

The first part was development for Atlassian products. We were using Atlassian products extensively on an advanced level, and we didn't have anyone internally to do customize them, so we found Polontech to help. The second part was where Polontech helped us with maintenance on servers, computers, Exchange accounts, Active Directory, and Windows and Linux management.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were having our own hosted version of Jira, so they set up the dedicated server and configured everything. They connected to Jira with the Active Directory to share the same users. They also helped us a little bit with the process, because we had, and still have, a distributed team with developers in different countries. That may stress how important organization and workflow are. Polontech helped us set up the roles in Jira and the boards because we were using a few Kanban boards and Scrum. Those boards had some specific flow.

They basically helped us improve our workflow all in relation to Jira. In relation to the servers and maintenance, specifically with the business, even though it’s a small company of 30 or 40 people, we had approximately 400 computers plus printers and some other peripherals in different places in our own network with its own firewall and servers. All of this currently is maintained by Polontech. The servers are based on Windows Server 2008, and some of the servers that we have outside of the office are Linux-based. We also had this continuous integration server. They didn't set it up 100% on their own, but they support us with their Linux knowledge, Active Directory, and Exchange. While I was there this summer, we were preparing to switch to Office 365, and they have done a great job of moving all the data between our own instances of Exchange to the cloud. But then, we decided to postpone it in order to wait for some business processes to finish.

How did you come to work with Polontech?

I was working there for four years, and for the last three years, we were working with Polontech. They were still there when I left, as far as I know. It’s beneficial for both sides.

They found us. The first contact was with our co-owner. I asked him a year ago how he found Polontech, and he said they contacted him first, so they were proactive in that respect.

I started working with Polontech in 2013 or so, I can’t remember exactly.

How much have you invested with Polontech?

At the beginning, it was a little bit more, especially when we set up Jira and the whole flow. With time, we came up with a balanced invoice, which was normally between €1,000 and €2,000 [~ US$ 1,250 and $2,500] per month, depending on the load and how much help we would need. At the beginning, it was a little bit high, at least for a few specific months when we were stacking the whole environment together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven’t measured any particular metrics. I cannot come up with any numbers. At the beginning, we were getting tickets in different systems, including email, but then Polontech put all of them in one channel so people could send an email to IT, and that email would be parsed and posted as a ticket to Jira. All these different communications from different angles, they were blended in one place. Polontech did that, but I cannot provide any metrics, unfortunately. They did help us, that’s for sure.

How did Polontech perform from a project management standpoint?

I have met one of the owners once. We had a dedicated person who was working for us about 60% of the time. In cases where some specific knowledge was required, I know he was invited to use help from other parts of their company. Our main, everyday contact person was one guy who was also a DevOp. He created tickets for himself in our own instance of Jira. We didn't use their system; we used our system for this.

What did you find most impressive about Polontech?

The company is small and the IT department consists of five people, and there are 30 or so salespeople who are not IT-related. In this kind of environment, it’s really hard to do the support. There’s no documentation and nobody knows much. Victor from Polontech had to contact the records collector to get as much data as possible, then get back to me or some other guy in IT, get more data and investigate everything. He has done a good job in an IT-unfriendly environment because to collect information and do something useful with it is really complicated.

Are there any areas Polontech could improve?

I guess I’d just address Victor’s personality. In my opinion, he was not always proactive with solutions. We didn't limit Polontech in any way in terms of money or how much they worked. For example, there might be a case where there were no tickets for him to address, and he could have taken the initiative and done some improvements on his own, but that rarely happened. Even with all the improvements that needed to be made in the system, we would need to ask him, “Can you do this? What do you think we can improve here?” And then he would suggest something, and we would give him the task. He was too passive, in my opinion.

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

The client may need to be proactive in suggesting tasks for Polontech.