Practia

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

ZonaTecno is a company in Uruguay founded in 2007. We’ve had considerable growth in the last years and included a growth project. Within this growth project, we got a good job done to our website. We invest a great deal in digital media. One of our main focuses is to work on our online site and generate a larger e-commerce site.

I’m Zona Tecno’s Chief Executive Officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Practia Consulting?

When we started working with Practia, we had a very different online platform from the one we have today. We felt the need to renovate this platform and update it. The objective was to provide a great user experience and for it to stand out among other e-commerce websites. We contacted Practia and started having conversations, reviewing options and developing project phases. The first phase was developed in 2014 and then we had a second phase in 2015. We are currently working with them.

First, we asked for a website analysis and design and functionality proposals. They submitted their proposals and we accepted them. We later worked with them in constant changes to always be updated on our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I’m not the most appropriate person to speak about the technical aspects of the project but we first contacted the person in charge of the project and told them about our expectations. After this first instance, we were in contact with 2 developers basically. One was our point of reference and we always had interaction to review the progress. We continued working with him and they proposed to start working with a graphic designer and a web designer, who did the aesthetic proposal in parallel to the developers.

How did you come to work with Practia Consulting?

We had a referral from a previous business I used to work for. They told us Practia Consulting could be a good option. We contacted other companies aside from Practia Consulting, and in that moment we felt comfortable telling them our ideas, seeing how they interpreted these and their initial process of understanding and projecting our work together in the future.

How much have you invested with Practia Consulting?

A little bit over $100,000 and we are currently working together. We’ve had two collaborations and now we are working on adjustments. The digital part is agile and we’re constantly trying to incorporate new tendencies and personalities.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our collaboration with Practia Consulting continues.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In terms of functionality, we've received lots of positive feedback. We focus on functionality so that the user has a good customer experience. We believe that the previously mentioned is achieved because of our users' positive feedback. They find everything they’re looking for on our website and that the information is complete.

Many times our users doubt if our information is correct and they are surprised when they realize that all of the information is correct, valid and that the text is 100% updated with our main billing system, stock and sales. This allows the client to buy from the web with ease since the information shows what’s currently available. They accomplished these functionalities to improve the user experience. In this case, we use the website and other systems in our daily operations to be able to be updated and avoid stock or information problems. This is one of the positive aspects of our site, aside from its usability. It's practical, intuitive, and feedback is very positive. Since we did these series of changes, we have managed to increase online sales 400% directly from the site and it continues growing. We believe this trend will continue.

How did Practia Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

We continue working with them because we feel really comfortable. They are very responsible and they really comply with the timelines they set. This is very important. Especially here in Uruguay, it is very difficult to work with companies that deliver what is agreed on. This is a plus.

What did you find most impressive about Practia Consulting?

Three things: communication is great because we feel comfortable. It’s difficult to be in this community and be calm, knowing that they are actually understanding you. If they don’t understand you, then they ask until they get what we expect from them. Responsibility and compliance, for us, is one of their strongest points. The partners show lots of confidence in themselves and they deliver a sense of confidence, ability, and knowledge to bring our ideas into reality.

Are there any areas Practia Consulting could improve?

No, we've had a good workflow. No critical aspect to improve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your organization and your position.

Plan Ceibal is a non-profit organization. Ceibal started as the USA's One Laptop per Child implementation, delivering a computer to every child that needed one. It has been growing over the years. Plan Ceibal is closely attached to education and technology. We have been able to give a laptop to every public education student. Additionally, we have been able to bring internet connectivity to them. Now, Ceibal is focused on delivering content through this infrastructure that has been developed. Now we offer different types of content, for example, the adaptive math platform we have. Students are able to do exercises based on their results. The system offers different exercises that adapt to the student’s needs and responses.

We also have different programs like Plan Ceibal in English for example, through which we offer classes to students through video conference tools. Remote classes are offered with teachers that can sign up in any part of the world, for example, The Philippines. This has also been a successful case study. We have robotics classes and we work hard to help provide services now that the platform has been implemented. My position is Web Development Lead. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Practia Consulting?

We’ve had a portal developed with Sharepoint since 2 or 3 years ago. When I started at Ceibal, there was another company called ARCA that was developing it. Particularly, here at Ceibal, we are very pro open-sourced technologies and open software, and we do not have human resources with expertise in .Net or Microsoft technologies. The difficulty we were having lately was on maintaining a portal for new functionalities. We had a contract with ARCA, who developed our original portal.

We decided to change and started collaborating with Practia. It’s been a good experience. Particularly, they have been able to resolve issues that had been previously considered to be unsolvable. They have provided a great deal in this area where we lacked the technological knowledge level. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We always had a project leader. At some point, we had a web designer and a developer working together. The team has always been two or three people. They have basically worked with Sharepoint and SQO [software quality optimization]. I have a direct API [application programming interface] for the user side.

How did you come to work with Practia Consulting?

At Ceibal, we’re strict with our buying processes. We had different types of bids; public bids, international bids, and price competitions depending on the amount and characteristics of the offer. In this case, for example, we had asked for 3 budgets. One was ARCA, our previous company, and UBT. Based on the company’s expertise and proposals that were submitted to us, we ended up choosing Practia. It’s a highly transparent process and there are audits for the process.

How much have you invested with Practia Consulting?

We have a one-year contract ranging between $15,000 and $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have an ongoing collaboration and we have a monthly maintenance service. We have been working with them for a year and a half, since early 2015 until March or April 2016. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The Ceibal portal is highly utilized. We have around 400,000 visits per month. The system is altered very few times. In terms of performance, it is very stable and that is something that our users value greatly, particularly our internal users/clients who upload the content to the portal constantly. It is an overall robust system.

Practia Consulting has always been very efficient and has found solutions to problems which a previous provider considered unsolvable. In this sense, they have given us a great hand. They started with a diagnostic to have an overview of the situation at the moment and we had downtimes 2/3 of the time. Their diagnostic was very professional and they delivered a very detailed report of all of their findings, such as links’ saturation and lack of disc space or resources that we needed to assign in terms of memory, for example. In technological topics, we had a JavaScript overload on our main page, which made our site slower. They delivered a very professional report that was very helpful and was useful to have a more stable portal.

How did Practia Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

In that sense, they were highly professional. Always clear with their resource allocations. In terms of timing, as with anything, there are some aspects that take more time than others, but everything was well managed. I don’t have any suggestions for this area. In some occasions, I was the one who caused delays and they insisted in retaking some of the topics. There was lots of creativity on their side.

What did you find most impressive about Practia Consulting?

Technologically, they managed the tool very well. As I mentioned, other providers couldn’t solve specific issues and Practia’s expertise, technology skills, and dedication to the project allowed them to find a solution. Their ability to solve things speaks well of their technical skills.

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

The service has been very professional, including their productivity providing solutions even when I couldn’t attend them because of time issues. I think this speaks well about their work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We sell software services and products, as well as consulting services. I am the Operations Manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Practia Consulting?

Basically, we started with SharePoint and .Net development. Our objective was to have customized developments for final clients such as intranet, web development of different kinds, etc.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

There have been many people involved. We’ve been assigned a maximum of 10 developers per project and it has fluctuated. Generally, 2-3 developers as a minimum. It varies.

How did you come to work with Practia Consulting?

I knew and had worked previously with many of them. I even studied with several of their people and knew about their quality of work.  

How much have you invested with Practia Consulting?

More than $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve had different projects. Our objective is that when we have peak demand, we use Practia’s developments. We manage locally, but they do the development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Overall, it’s really good work. We are very satisfied with them. We’ve worked 4 years with them. As with every project, there are problems, but while collaborating with them, we’ve always been able to find solutions. They have never abandoned us. There are always going to be problems in software development, and we have found solutions. Overall, we’re very satisfied. They have good resources and knowledge of .Net and SharePoint in particular. We continue working with them.

How did Practia Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve seen them evolving since they started until now that they have worked deeply with Agile methodologies. We see more efficiency and control over the project at hand. It avoids deviations. They are organized and methodical.

What did you find most impressive about Practia Consulting?

The most important thing for them is their focus on advancing the project and solving the client’s final issues. They are valuable in this sense. I’ve worked with other companies that haven’t had this focus in developing a good product for the client.

Are there any areas Practia Consulting could improve?

Sometimes, it is not the right development or there have been deviations, as with any project, there’s always going to be room for improvement. But they have a highest success rate than others in the same line of work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the IT Systems Manager at UPM, and I am responsible for management of the forest plantations’ business units.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Practia Consulting?

We have two important projects with Practia. One of them is related to the management of clients and producers with selling points on the field. We had a Microsoft Access platform and migrated it to SharePoint. One of the biggest projects we had this year was the RP forestall platform migration, using Microsoft.net, basically.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

During this project, aside from the resources allocated to project management, they have involved 4 developers. The project had different phases but we will start the new application’s support phase next month and we will involve more of Practia’s resources.

How did you come to work with Practia Consulting?

We were constantly evaluating local providers, and comparing the different options that we had at a local level. Practia was one of them. We started with a small project and we were convinced by their work. After a large request for proposal, they were selected for this important project - the RP Forest.

How much have you invested with Practia Consulting?

This project’s cost is around $300,000. The other one was a smaller project of $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The first phase of the project ended this month and it is continuing its course until May 2017. We are starting the support phase of the first implemented module.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They developed one of our first projects using the Scrum methodology and it has been beneficial. Other used methodologies also improved the test case.

How did Practia Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

They are very organized from a project management standpoint and they have supported us a great deal in planning and following up on our project. Status reports have been as expected. We have also adapted to our company’s templates and Practia’s internal standards, in terms of project management.

What did you find most impressive about Practia Consulting?

Their communication, implementations, and good knowledge of development platforms are most impressive.

Are there any areas Practia Consulting could improve?

In requirements gathering, there is always a missed requirement because of lack of user knowledge or miscommunication of specific requirements. But this is something that every provider can miss.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for DUCSA, the biggest fuel distribution company in Uruguay. The company has other services like gas distribution. We have loyalty programs as well.

My role in the company is Systems Architect. We hire many external providers, such as Practia Consulting. I’ve been working in information technology for 15 years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Practia Consulting?

They have a great deal of experience in Sharepoint. We had never worked in a Sharepoint project. We first had a strong Sharepoint training with our developers in order to have control over our deliverables and know what we were talking about.

After we got to know them, we redesigned the overall appearance and reengineered DUCSA’s extranet for our clients. We migrated the extranet system to Sharepoint and added new services that didn’t exist before, such as a client loyalty program. We also added other services, functionalities, and technologies such as AngularJS and Bootstrap for our extranet to be responsive.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had 5 developers assigned to this project.

How did you come to work with Practia Consulting?

I knew Practia Consulting from projects they had previously developed for other companies. The network in Uruguay is small and I had positive reviews of their work.

How much have you invested with Practia Consulting?

The initial project cost was around $50,000 per year without taking the trainings into account.

What is the status of this engagement?

This first part of the project started around April 2015, and lasted a year and a half. We have identified additional requirements that we would like to include and we will keep working with Practia Consulting in the future.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our clients’ response using our extranet was favorable. There were no errors. It was truly a success.

How did Practia Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

Whenever personnel issues came up, they assumed responsibility and worked through it to find even better qualified personnel for our project. They absorbed this extra cost and we value this.

What did you find most impressive about Practia Consulting?

They kept great posture as they developed our project and kept a good relationship with us. Their graphic design capabilities are very good and they are very flexible in terms of our suggestions.