Praxent

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the senior vice president of strategy for Benefit Harbor. We are a digital technology platform providing employee benefits for employer groups. We aggregate employee benefits for employers to offer to their employees and for employees to self-serve the administration and election of their benefits.

My role is to map out the overall business strategy for the next one to three years. I make sure that we are headed in the right direction from an industry, profitability, and sustainability standpoint.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

We engaged Praxent to help us create a modern and attractive UI and UX for our employee self-serve client portals.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our first phase was research, and Praxent was tremendously helpful in pulling together competitive reviews, industry reviews, and information that pertains to the best practices for UI/UX. 

They did research to determine what we currently have in place and what we want our future stage to look like. We created a customer roadmap, and now we’re working on the wireframes. We’re in the process of doing internal and external interviews to get their feedback, and then we’ll have a second review.

Once we complete that, we will go from our low fidelity wireframes into a more high-fidelity wireframe, and we will add more graphics and colors. Once that is done, they will actually provide us with the design elements that we need for our internal developers to create the frontend of our backend system.

What is the team composition?

We chose them because of the team they brought to the table. It would be impossible to hire someone that has the breadth of knowledge that this team has.

We have people who are designers, project managers, interviewing specialists, research specialists, as well as best practice specialists. 
How did you come to work with Praxent?

When I was doing my research, we looked at Clutch and the top 15 UX and UI agencies in 2018. I interviewed about six vendors based on what I found on Clutch, and Praxent was head and shoulders above the others that I interviewed.

I signed an NDA with each of the six vendors, went through a discovery call, and provided them with a demo link to our site. We asked them to go through that site with no instructions or assistance from us so they would have the same experience as our end-users. 

We asked them to provide us with a presentation giving the highs and lows of what they see on the site. Praxent was by far the most thorough and most prepared.

How much have you invested in them?

We have invested around just shy of $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in August of 2019, and the work is still ongoing.
We started with a 12-week research phase, and when that was up, then we started the design phase, which is projected to go through to the end of March or April. Following that, our third phase will be an ongoing upkeep phase.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As far as quantitative metrics, we don’t know yet because we haven’t released our new UI/UX. I would be surprised if, in the first 12 months, we didn’t have at least a two to one ROI. 

In fact, it will likely be better than that because our UX was really bland before this. Now, it is legitimately night and day. When the UI/UX is released, it will absolutely be a completely new experience that will be worlds better.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

I cannot say enough good things about their project management, reporting, and communication. We’ve had a great amount of input into the process, which I have really appreciated. 

As we go through the project, they make sure I’m fully aware of everything they are working on, everything that is expected of me, and all the required resource planning. 

They are believers in overcommunicating, even on sensitive things. They make sure they are bringing their expertise to the table for exactly what we have hired them to do. If I decide I need to cut a corner or take a different path, they make sure that I am thinking through all the potential risks. 

Outside of that, we have a weekly project meeting where I know exactly where I stand on the budget and completion of the project. They do a great job of making sure that there is never a question of where you are in the process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their two high points for me are the synergy and preparation they bring to the project. Their synergy as a team is fantastic — truly is exponential in comparison to others. The other impressive thing would be their preparation.

They are always prepared in advance with great detail, but also a great amount of simplicity. They are very concise in what they provide you and the direction is always very clear.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would have been helpful to have a discussion earlier in the process around systemic alignment. They work on Apple, and we work on Windows. Now that we are further along in the process, we are finding there will be a bit of a translation issue with the design elements. They are doing the work using Sketch, and we are doing it in Adobe. If we had been aware of it months ago, we might have been able to take steps to avoid that.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Listen to them when they tell you there are potential pitfalls. They have been right every time, and they have been very helpful. 

Outside of that, don’t shortchange yourself. If you are really going in on a project, go all in and get what you know you need. Fully utilize the team as a resource.

Initially, we decided on less research than our initial plans. But, after talking it through, we had decided to go with the full research method. Those 12 weeks made a huge difference for us. We felt good about the preparation we brought to the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of operations for a travel management company. We specialize in finding lodging for members of hardhat industries—like construction crews and oilfield workers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

In addition to belonging to a niche market, our company is in a unique position because the majority of our reservations don’t go as planned. We needed a flexible reservation system that could handle everything booking to billing while being receptive to last-minute changes and variations.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Praxent developed a booking platform from scratch. The website allows permissions for not only our employees but our clients and vendor partners, so they can access the site to manage reservations. It’s a dynamic platform that provides CRM, account management, and a billing system, all in one.

They utilized Python, Flask, and SQL Alchemy on the backend. Other technologies they used included Heroku, AWS, and PostgrSWL.

What is the team composition?

We initially interfaced with a project manager who managed a team. There were quite a few working on the platform at any given time, but as we became more fluid in our communication, we eventually worked primarily with one developer and a QA analyst.

How did you come to work with Praxent?

We were working for a local provider, because we anticipated that it would be a very interactive project. Our initial impressions of their website and their professional presentation had a large impact on our decision to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We first started working with them in July of 2017, and we’re wrapping up the project soon.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve spent somewhere between $1.5–$2 million dollars.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re now able to run a much leaner team because the platform has automated many of our administrative processes. While we don’t have hard numbers at hand, the amount of user errors that people experience has been drastically reduced.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

We somewhat struggled with the communication in the beginning, and after working together for some time, both of our teams realized that our collaboration was lacking. We then implemented in-person meetings, which significantly improved our engagement.

After everyone was on the same page, we were able to increase velocity and reduce the number of team members on their end. Their methods of communication and use of project management tools, like JIRA, were very streamlined. We’ve taken note of their communication processes and successfully implemented them in our own team, which was a major takeaway.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We stood to learn a lot from them, beyond the product that we were paying for. How their company is structured—and in particular, their sense of community—was imbued with positivity. They were well-organized and well-spoken. Interacting with such a company really made for a positive engagement.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would encourage them to improve their onboarding processing for new clients. They could work to achieve effective communication before jumping into the logistical or technical side of the project. They should ensure that the project manager they choose is a good fit, both in terms of personality and communication, for that specific customer.

I’d also urge them to properly introduce JIRA to their clients. While Praxent might be used to the tool, a newcomer might not be familiar with it. It was a big learning curve for us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d encourage prospective clients to gain an extremely clear understanding of the project at hand. Don’t be afraid to ask questions along the way. If you’re a prospective client, make sure to do some research and get caught up on some of the language that you’ll be using.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the sales manager for a protein snack company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

We were trying to understand how to evaluate our retail operations, and we need help building an app to do this.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked with them to develop an iOS and Android app that would allow any team member to do an evaluation of our retail execution. It started off as a pen and paper concept. 

We tried to leverage the fact that everyone has a mobile device and then tried to create the easiest, most simple app possible. We trusted that they would use the top, best in class platforms. They went with what we drew and built it from there. 

The app incorporates geolocation. Using this feature, we are able to review how the shelf looks and if we’re getting the proper placement and fill rates. These “store checks” get uploaded straight into the cloud. Then, we can review them through an access portal. 

Tagging features allow us to start identifying different issues or metrics at the point of retail. We also trained a machine learning model so we could see if we’ve achieved our goals as a sales organization. The machine learning model runs every night, and it takes all the executions of retail and it decides whether it’s compliant with our initiative and mission that we have.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a dozen people at one point. In the beginning, there was a lot of heavy lifting, and then it got scaled back to two to three folks working on the project.

How did you come to work with Praxent?

I went through a pretty heavy RFP process and vetted out a lot of different vendors. 

I liked Praxent because the majority of their team was developing products in-house and in-country. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2018, and the work is ongoing. We still turn to them for a lot of support on this app.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They helped us build a tool more focused on what we actually needed versus what we originally wanted. We’ve launched the app globally within our organization, and all teammates use it. 

We’ve been able to create a network of information about how retail is being executed on a global scale. At any time, we can go into this platform and time travel anywhere around the world.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve done an excellent job of working around my personal hectic schedule of work. It didn’t matter where I was, they were always flexible and understanding. 

The planning process was very thorough. We did several in-house meetings and a lot of brainstorming. They came back with an excellent scope that was within our budget. 

Also, they kept up with deadlines and expectations. They always monitored to see if something was out of scope. There were no surprises. Everything was communicated well to us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team displayed hospitality and patience. They really did a lot of handholding and walked us through the process since it’s a different type of technology. I was very pleased through the entire process. 

There were points where we didn’t agree on things, but they saw the long-term relationship and not just the short-term results. We’ve decided to develop more work with them because of the relationship we have with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They only use Slack, email, and their work phone for communication. But, I’m so used to using WhatsApp. This was definitely an inconvenience at times, but I got used to using Slack.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re looking for a cheap vendor, don’t go with Praxent. If you’re looking for the best, they’re definitely the best. 

It comes down to how you define your ROI and what kind of product you want. We wanted something that would function no matter what, and we intensively bug tested it. Pricing-wise, there are much more competitive bids, but they didn’t have the history or the recommendations that Praxent had.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Austin Capital Bank. We have a FinTech division, which is what we engaged Praxent regarding.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

We have a software platform that powers a financial service product, which we have on the market. We hired Praxent to review the platform and its UI/UX. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Praxent reviewed our product and verified that the platform was scalable, well-designed, and well-architected. They also provided a host of beneficial and useful UI/UX recommendations. 

What is the team composition?

Our product manager was Kelly (Client Partner, Praxent). 

How did you come to work with Praxent?

I’ve known Tim (CEO, Praxent) for years; we’re in EO together. We interviewed a couple of different companies and went through their proposals before settling on Praxent.

How much have you invested with them?

My company spent $40,000–$60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June–August 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We wanted to have a third-party opinion that what we’d built was indeed well-architected and scalable, and Praxent provided us with that independent verification. They also had really good UI/UX suggestions and feedback, a lot of which we’ve incorporated into our product’s customer interface.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

It was a very well managed project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I found that they delivered on what they said they would deliver on.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Praxent met the needs of the engagement. They did what they said they were going to do in the agreed-upon timeframe and budget, which was great.

Any advice for potential customers?

Clearly define the objectives and the timeline upfront. If you do that, they will manage those objectives.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the community partnerships manager at the world’s largest nonprofit breast milk bank in Austin, Texas. I manage the marketing strategy within the organization. I think about ways to expose our work to new audiences and ways to motivate donors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

There was low awareness in our area, and we were having trouble receiving support from mothers that could potentially donate. We approached Praxent with our idea, sharing data about why and how people support our nonprofit. We asked them to find a creative solution to expand that number and increase our success locally.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Praxent completed a design sprint for us. In six days, four members of our team worked with five from theirs. The first few days were spent in a room for seven or eight hours a day. Our teams brainstormed creative solutions for our problem, thinking about the big picture.

After that, their team worked independently for two days to develop a prototype. We had talked about different ways to get the word out to mothers within the community about our needs. Our teams agreed upon a mobile solution that offered a two-minute quiz that users could take at home. The quiz tested if a user was a good fit donor, while also relaying information about our work. The two-minute quiz was then tested on day four with five users.

On the final day, the team at Praxent shared the results, making their final recommendations for how we move forward as an organization.

What is the team composition?

We had designers, strategists, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Praxent?

Their team actually reached out to us. We entered a summer program through a design school here in Austin that was offering to complete pro bono work for nonprofits. While we weren’t selected, one of the leaders at Praxent heard about our work through the application process and wanted to offer support.

After he received permission from other leadership, they offered the design sprint pro bono. We had a couple of exploratory calls where it offered to me that they were offering real value. Compared to other agencies I’ve worked with, the team at Praxent didn’t plan on wasting our time with testing new ideas and staffers. While their design sprint system was new, it was completely fleshed out. We were happy to accept their offer.

How much have you invested with them?

It was done pro bono, but we would’ve spent around $41,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with Praxent took place in July 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The prototype received positive feedback. Everyone from our side that participated even came back to the office with pages of new ideas. Some of which we implemented the right way. Most importantly, our team agreed that the prototype was worth investing in.

After the design sprint, we engaged with another vendor to build the solution from scratch. It launched a few weeks ago. We’re currently promoting it through digital ads and tracking the results through Google Analytics. Initial results have been positive. We’re tweaking the wording and ad targeting, but the click-through-rates have been high. People aren’t leaving the quiz right away. About 10% of users are contacting the milk bank and asking to become a donor, which was the ultimate goal.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management style was one of their strongest areas. I’ve worked with a lot of projects and have even been one on a few projects. I was incredibly impressed with their organization. Their team is intentional and thoughtful about time and activities.

The assigned project manager seamlessly led us from one activity to another, looking at the problem with potential solutions our staff never considered. Not to mention, they walked us through two long and intensive days in a conference room. The days never felt long or dragged. Our time was used effectively.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Aside from project management, the design sprint that their team curated in-house is higher quality than similar efforts I’ve done with other agencies. Each activity is thoughtfully-designed to get people to think outside the box. We didn’t look for the easiest solution but found new questions to ask and new ways to answer those questions. This is ultimately how we came up with an idea that has effectively benefitted our organization.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, no. I wish that they were more reasonably-priced, so we could afford them regularly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend engaging with Praxent, but only if your team is ready to dedicate time and think outside of the box. The client needs to bring decision-makers to the table, for it to be effective. The decision-makers need to be engaged, focused, and creative. They also need to be willing to be questioned and communicate what they don’t know.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former executive director at Keller Williams Kids Can, a national nonprofit educational organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

We needed scalability for our new educational program. Our team needed to be able to educate and onboard our volunteer trainers. We wanted to provide a tool for them to create events, generate marketing pieces, register, and make orders to deliver materials. This digital system would do as much of the work as possible. Nothing in the marketplace was adequate for the complexities of our specific strategy of digital delivery.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided full-scale development from the frontend consumer interface to the backend. They built a technology platform from scratch. The core function is an event management system. However, it doesn’t only organize events, it also allows us to onboard the volunteer trainers from all over the country. Many of the students enrolling were under 18, so it was typically the parents who were doing enrolling and donations. We needed a system that could handle the many variables. Sometimes a student would book the event and sometimes the parent would do it for them. Sometimes somebody else would donate to cover the expenses for others, or just donate outright. Because of these moving parts, Praxent developed a custom solution in Symfony for us.

Uniquely, all of the trainers were Keller Williams agents. They built a gateway for prospective trainers to accept the role, watch training videos, and read and download materials. Upon completion, they were able to create their own event and sent it out to the general public, and students could register and donate on that link. The platform needed video integration. It also had a very versatile database that we could make available to any trainer so that they could download the training materials, documents, and PowerPoints. We were also able to categorize the system—if you wanted to teach high school, you could go into the high school section. There was also a location for students where they could see the videos and other content.

What is the team composition?

There were 4–5 people at peak moments. After we got past the first release, we were able to trim that down. They were very flexible. When we needed more people, they were able to bring people in. They also worked with us to manage expenses.

How did you come to work with Praxent?

I called around to people that I knew. I met Kevin (Managing Partner, Praxent) and I liked him because he was able to speak my language as an entrepreneur and as a non-technology person. He really understood what I wanted to do. He was also able to communicate with our technical team. I then met their team and they listened to what I wanted. They brought back a presentation and how much it was going to cost. Even though they weren’t the lowest, I chose them because of their understanding of the vision of where we were going.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $500,000 in about 24 months of working with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2015 and the work is ongoing, though now is more maintenance. We created the original platform to easily accept a new curriculum, new phases without any substantial investment.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The platform pretty much managed everything. Events could be started and people would be getting trained and thousands of kids being taught all over the country. The platform also continued to have onboarding for instructors. The website automatically delivered materials. Very little hands-on work was needed.

While we were building the first iteration of the website, we were still designing the content. When we fully launched in September 2015, we had zero trainers at that moment. Within 1.5 years, we had 380 trainers and taught over 11,500 students. They’re still using the platform now and have added new curricula and events tools. After I left, KW Kids Can had only one employee running the entire system by herself for a year, proving that we could deliver an educational product across the country with minimal labor.

They added a few really cool features since I’ve been gone, and I'm very proud of what we built. It’s an excellent platform that allows them to run the business with minimal human interaction in the system, educate young people all over the country, raise money, and communicate the message of unlimited potential.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

We had a few hiccups here and there because we were moving very fast. There were times I needed them to slow down to manage the expenses, giving us time to determine our immediate goals as it relates to the site. We had a high level of conversation to make sure we were in the right spot. They used a system that allowed them to say where they were at and what they got done today. Quarterly, we’d look at everything that was on the roadmap and decide when it’s a deliverable and when it has to be done.

They were really good at prioritizing and getting things put in the right place. They were also able to tell us what would take longer than other tasks. They offered to put another person on it or we could wait an extra month. They were also really good at navigating speed versus investment. There were things we had to redo because maybe they didn’t come out exactly the way we planned it, but that’s normal when building something that intricate and large. Most of that was cosmetic and not operational or process-oriented. I have pretty high standards and I was completely happy.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They did a really good job of listening when I had something to say. I’m not a technical guy, so I talked to their project manager about what I want. If I needed to be really clear about the expense versus the deliverables, they did a good job of interpreting that and really meeting me in a place where we needed to be. I liked that they’re honest and candid. I’d rather work with someone who tells me the truth.

Are there any areas they could improve?

In the beginning, they had some communication processes that I felt took up a lot of time. They had meetings where there were three people in their office talking to us for an hour. At $180 per hour per person can be very expensive. After a few weeks of that, I talked to them about it. They came up with a different process that worked better for me. However, they weren’t ready to shift into that other process until I flexed a little muscle and told them I needed them to do it. I respect the fact that there were some things they didn’t want to change. Eventually, there are some things they were willing to change because it made sense after they heard me out. Eventually, we really ironed it all out and got moving very well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very clear upfront. They’re not cheap, but they’re very good. Take your time. Before signing the contract, be willing to really get clear about what you want. After they present it to you, take a step back and make sure that’s what you want. Once we got going, we were going full blast.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a firm in the reproductive technology space focusing some of our attention on software. We’re the preferred software solutions provider in the fertility industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

We were trying to identify a partner with experience in our space and complying with regulations. For our backend development project, we needed someone with solid tech skills.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed the backend of a development project, providing us with documentation and fully-functioning code at the end of the engagement.

What is the team composition?

I worked with the managing director, a backend developer, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Praxent?

For the past 15 years, I’ve been working with development shops across the country, so I’m good at identifying strong talent and partners. I interviewed many shops and decided Praxent was easily one of the strongest for backend development. That encouraged me to hire them. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in January 2019, and our work with them is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Between the quality of their work and the ease of collaboration, the team did a fantastic job. In my 15 years of experience, they’re one of the top firms I’ve dealt with. However, it’s too early to give any specific metrics at this point.  

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

Their managing director and backend developer were major strengths. The project manager was also very on top of things and provided us with good documentation. The team was great about following up in real time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re honest, technically strong with backend development, and always deliver strong results. Praxent impressed me so much that I referred them to a friend how runs a very large company. While I can only speak to their backend work, I know they’re credible, reliable people.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There isn’t anything I can think of. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Treat them as a partner instead of a service provider. Make sure to stay open to feedback because they bring a lot to the table.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the strategic marketing project coordinator for the top reverse mortgage subservicer in the country.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

Our company services over 30 mortgage lenders and reverse mortgage lenders. Praxent was tasked with designing a customer portal to give our borrowers more access to their own accounts. That way, we’d avoid overwhelming the call center.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The average age of our lenders is 75, so we wanted to make sure that we create a platform that they could easily navigate. Praxent helped us talk through what features our borrowers would most likely use and how much information should be provided. We discussed how to meet the needs of our unique borrowers while staying within our set budget and timeline. Since, we’ve developed the design and agreed on all the features for the first round of development.

We want to onboard our new CIO before jumping into the backend plans. But, we’re pretty set on which technologies we’ll be using, so Praxent will be helping us kick off development pretty soon.

What is the team composition?

So far, we’ve worked with five or six of their team members, including Deana (Principal Product Strategy, Praxent) and Kelly (Senior Delivery Lead, Praxent). There’s also a technology architect, 2–3 designers, and a couple of backend architecture professionals.

How did you come to work with Praxent?

I worked with them in a prior role at a different company and knew they’d be a good fit when our IT department found them again. They built a portal for my other company in the past, so I was confident that they could offer the best solution this time. We liked that they were local, but their approach to development and team structure was most important to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $50,000 in the first phase of development with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began the project in March 2019, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Metrics won’t come until after development, but everyone here has been very pleased with their work. As part of Praxent’s process, they provide a click model in the first phase, which is essentially a shell showing how the finished portal will look and feel. We’ve circulated that here, and everybody is excited about moving into development with it.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re the easiest company we’ve ever worked with. The whole team is always in sync and easily stays on top of our tight timeline and budget. There have been no surprises whatsoever.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve always listened to our feedback, incorporating minor changes and suggestions into their work. Even given the adjustments, Praxent consistently finds solutions that keep us on schedule and within our budget.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’re really satisfied with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Come in with as many questions and ideas as you can. Then, rely on their expertise to help weed through it all.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Greg Stewart (COO): I’m the COO of a startup called Bungalo, which is part of a larger business called Amherst Residential. Amherst partners with institutional investors, helping them buy, rehabilitate, and manage single-family homes across the country. Within their organization, Bungalo sells high-quality pre-owned homes directly to homebuyers.

Ben Gammon (VP of Product): I’m the VP of product.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?

GS: Amherst had a lot a useful infrastructure geared toward buying and maintaining real estate for institutional investors. However, they lacked the experience to translate that into a consumer product. We wanted to leverage their technology to create a web platform that catered to homebuyers. Our goal was to make it as easy as possible to purchase a single-family home through our software.

BG: I joined the team along with our other co-head of product to design the platform, but we didn’t have any internal engineers to handle the build at the time. So, we conducted an extensive RFP to find a local partner that could support the development for the first phase of our web platform from scratch. We wanted a team that could work in the trenches with us on a day-to-day basis.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

BG: Our product consists of two sides: a listing platform that showcases refurbished homes and a transaction platform that provides consumers all the necessary tools to traverse the homebuying process. With our software, users can purchase a home online from start to finish in a fast, seamless way.

GS: Initially, we spent a lot of time mapping out the consumer pain points when buying a home, outlining the products and services we wanted to create in response. With that research, Praxent worked with us to scope the project and prioritize the tasks involved. We knew we wanted to get a product to market within six months, so they helped us narrow down our requirement list to the most impactful core features.

Once we established the technical details, their engineering team created a prototype for internal stakeholders to review. We also tested it with the market, collecting feedback from both prospective and existing homebuyers. Then, the team locked down the product and built the first phase of our platform from scratch.

BG: There were numerous moving parts; it’s a complex product that draws data from legacy technology, including internal sales and marketing enablement tools that needed to speak with the new platform. Additionally, we engaged an external branding agency to design the site while simultaneously establishing an in-house engineering team. Praxent navigated between all parties, keeping us focused on our top priorities and delivering the product within schedule.

What is the team composition?

BG: Praxent knew from experience exactly what resources we needed to achieve our goals. They assembled a flexible team with complementary skills, including a project manager, a UX/UI specialist, four frontend developers, two backend developers, and a team of product owners.

How did you come to work with Praxent?

GS: We were looking for a local development firm that specialized in consumer-facing software. Not only did the team need to be big enough to support growth throughout the engagement, but they also had to have completed an equally complex and relevant project. Since we’d already put together an extensive list of how the platform might look, we wanted to understand how a vendor would prototype and execute our product.

Out of all of the candidates, Praxent stood out by far. They were invested in the pitch process and brought strong presentation materials outlining their approach. It was a thoughtful solution that was customized to our goals.

BG: Not to mention, they had rave client reviews and highly relevant experiences. I appreciated how they drew parallels from their past work with what we were trying to accomplish. Since we wanted to use the existing Amherst infrastructure to create a new platform, it was great that they could accommodate both tech stacks.

What is the status of this engagement?

GS: We started working with them towards the end of Q4 2017. By March 2018, we completed the prototype and launched the platform by mid-July 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

GS: It was a fairly elaborate engagement, and I have nothing but praise for Praxent. Since going live, we’ve sold five homes with the platform, and five clients have given us perfect Net Promoter scores (NPS). It seems our product is resonating with our consumers.

From a quality perspective, the system hasn’t experienced any downtime nor major issues. We caught all the minor bugs during the QA process, so there haven’t been any surprises post-launch. Recently, we’ve hired a senior CTO, a head of engineering, and a head of QA who have all been impressed by the quality of the platform.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

GS: Considering all the moving parts, this was a project management masterpiece. Besides our group, there were other internal tech teams, outside consultants and branding agencies, and a new engineering team who were touching the project on a daily basis. Praxent did a great job of keeping us organized.

Every week, they gave us an updated dashboard about how many hours they’d spent, if we were on track, and where we were at risk. Not only did this ensure a transparent process, but it also allowed us to effectively budget our expectations. We assigned story points to each feature, looking at the effort involved at a granular level and translating them into monetary terms. It was a tough task, but they were mindful of our threshold and managed to deliver under budget.

BG: We developed a strong rapport, too, particularly with their product owner who was the liaison between our teams. He had both the technical ability to manage their developers and the foresight to keep to timelines. We’re looking to emulate that role internally because we had such great success with their project management. In addition to coming up with unique budgeting methods, they made sure that we followed agile scrum rituals, using modern day tools such as Jira and Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

BG: The body of work they produced under our circumstances was no joke; they did a fantastic job. Although we had so many stakeholders with varying cultures and priorities, Praxent’s team was helpful in mediating between our partners. They displayed a nuanced project management approach and made sure that we got what we needed. They’re a growing business that exerts a high level of professionalism.

GS: They were critical in getting our product out on time, and I never had to guess about project status. If we had any concerns, their senior-level staff responded promptly, remaining open to constructive criticism. It always felt like they were working in our best interests.

Are there any areas they could improve?

GS: No, nothing specific stands out. There are always challenges on projects of this magnitude, but we would resolve everything together. They really felt like part of the team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

BG: If you have a clear understanding of what your objectives are and what kind of output you're seeking, then Praxent is the right group to reach out to. They can fulfill any role needed to execute the project, providing a small, nimble team or scaling up as necessary.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder and CEO of a company that provides a document managing/scheduling SaaS for members of the healthcare and insurance industries.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Praxent?

We hired them to help us migrate our legacy software to a new cloud host.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a company that could make our transfer seamless, with no downtime. We also wanted to optimize our legacy code for greater speed and stability, as well as reduce our ongoing maintenance costs.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We performed extensive online research and conducted interviews. We were impressed with Praxent’s past projects, breadth of technical resources, reasonable and transparent pricing, and high ethical standards.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

They oversaw our entire transfer process. At the outset, they provided a technical assessment, then helped us migrate our legacy software and optimize our older code. Based on the success of this project, they also transitioned into working with some of our clients on a large-scale API project.

What was the team composition?

We worked with our project manager and multiple developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They kept us up and running throughout the entire transfer process, which was our main goal.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We kept in touch using Skype and Jira throughout the process. Our project manager did very well at ensuring that we had access to skilled resources throughout the project. They were also responsive in the face of additional changes or requests.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Not only did they have excellent leadership, their staff genuinely cared about our project. It always felt like they wanted to help us reach our desired outcomes.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

No. They are technically well-versed and are committed to doing an outstanding job.