Red Hawk Technologies

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of community development at a nonprofit social service organization. We help lift families out of poverty. Our group provides various wraparound services to families in need while helping them move to a path of self-sufficiency. I oversee all of our grant writing, fundraising, marketing, and media relations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Hawk Technologies?

We hired Red Hawk for their development services. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve done two projects with Red Hawk so far. In the first one, we’d received funding to create a transportation program and an app that would help people reserve rides while we logged their usage. The fund provider didn’t give us the full amount of money we needed, so we only had a third of the budget necessary to make the app. Red Hawk worked with us even when we didn’t have the full budget. Matt (Partner & CEO) and I had conversations about what we could do with the amount of money we had. We brainstormed to come up with a useful product we could afford. Our teams worked together on setting up the app and maintaining it. 

At present, we continue to pay them annually to maintain the app and keep it updated. Apart from that, we’ve also engaged them to create an app for our headstart preschool program. We’re rolling out features in phases because of cost issues; we don’t have the budget to do everything all at once. 

This second app is for Android and iOS devices. Parents can use it to view their children’s attendance records and behavioral notes in case anything happens in their classroom. Moreover, the app lets them see what their child has eaten for breakfast and lunch. We’re in the process of adding a feature where we can keep track of when the children are due for a vaccination, eye exam, or dental exam. The system will then send parents reminders so that they can stay updated on their children’s healthcare needs.

Apart from development services, Red Hawk supports us by giving back to the community; they sponsor and participate in some of our fundraising events. 

What is the team composition?

Beyond Matt, I also work with their COO, project manager, and several other team members who handle the app development. They handle all of our backend needs. In total, 6–7 people have been involved in our projects.

How did you come to work with Red Hawk Technologies?

I asked my part-time contract person to reach out to companies that developed apps and ask them to send us bids. Red Hawk was the only local company that called us back; two other companies also came back, but they were located elsewhere in the US. Ultimately, Red Hawk was the only team willing to make things work with us despite our budget limitations. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested a little over $300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the partnership in January 2018, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve rolled out the headstart program for parents in all of our locations. It currently has 405 children enrolled in the program. Overall, I’m 100% satisfied with Red Hawk’s work, and they’ve exceeded my expectations. The team has done more than just create our apps — they’ve engaged in our programs and are giving money back to us. Not all of our partners do that. 

How did Red Hawk Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Red Hawk’s project management skills are good. They stick to timelines, and their project managers keep everything on track. Their resources manage our projects thoroughly. The only times they don’t meet timelines are when they’re waiting for things from us.  

In terms of budget, the team sends us information every month about our billing details, including how many hours are in our contract and how many hours we have left. Red Hawk keeps us updated on these things, and we use the information to forecast and plan what we want to do with them. Their resources are great at telling us how many hours our projects will take. This way, we can determine what we can get done in a year and what to hold off on if necessary. 

To communicate, we have biweekly calls with their team. Beyond that, we communicate through emails a lot. Our teams also use Google Meet for video chatting. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their project management style is strong, and their knowledge is impressive. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Discounted prices would be nice. That being said, they’re doing everything we need them to do.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you have ideas, don’t be afraid to ask — the Red Hawk team will find a way to make your ideas happen. Don’t assume that some things can’t be done. Look into the team and give them a chance to work with you. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the director of business analytics in the project management office of AdvancePierre Foods, a food service company for commercial kitchens.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Hawk Technologies?

Like many other companies, we were trying to help our salespeople work more efficiently, improve their close rates, and provide them with feedback on how they could make better decisions. Our goal was to integrate our salespeople with our core enterprise and database systems, ultimately working within our own CRM system.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Red Hawk helped us develop the system integration we needed. One of our requirements was to have a very intuitive frontend experience and an easy-to-use system to improve our sales process. They developed this tool with custom .NET coding. They might have used AWS for its backend, but it was a platform-independent tool.

As part of our service, we help commercial kitchen operators overcome challenges related to their menus, like adding items to them, teaching them how to cook them, providing them with ingredient options, and providing them with the costs associated with that item. Thus, the tool that Red Hawk helped us build allowed our sales team to sit down with our clients and walk them through how our service worked.

After walking them through that item addition process, the tool also allowed our representatives to print a PDF proposal with ingredient statements, item information, and more.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Matt (Partner & CEO), a project manager who gathered our requirements and acted as the Scrum master. Occasionally, I also got to talk to one of their developers.

How did you come to work with Red Hawk Technologies?

I’m very passionate about business process improvement. Thus, I was speaking to a colleague of mine from our sales team about the challenges that he was running into. From that conversation, I gathered enough requirements to start a project.

Red Hawk already had a role within our company because they were managing our website. From working with them, I learned that they had other capabilities, so I reached out to Matt and talked about how their team of talented developers could help us with the system integration we needed.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around £200,000 (approximately $250,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together on this particular project in 2016. We kicked it off around March of that year, and it was a six-month project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Red Hawk provided us with a game-changing tool. Before having this tool, our sales representatives had to log into our ERP system, go over the spreadsheet, and perhaps look something up in the product catalog — it was a very inefficient process. After having this tool, they could help clients very efficiently, quickly generating proposals for them.

For example, one of our sales representatives was competing against many of our competitors to win a large RFP that the Walt Disney Company launched for Disneyland. Using this tool, we were able to hand them our proposal quickly, and they were impressed with its professional quality.

Overall, our sales representatives were blown away by this solution because it solved the main challenges they faced daily. It was an exceptional tool.

However, the following year after releasing the tool, we got acquired by Tyson. Although they were impressed by the solution, they did things differently, so we ended up shooting down the project.

How did Red Hawk Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Red Hawk performed as expected. They worked in an agile environment, so their project management was great at managing expectations and determining the amount of work to be done on two-week sprint cycles. They always kept the work flowing.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was very impressed by Red Hawk’s work quality and delivery speed — they were an exceptional team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very collaborative and open the dialog. I really enjoyed working with them by allowing them to push back on me. I explained my vision and let them challenge it, which ultimately led us to develop a better product.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of Unity Financial Life Insurance, a privately owned life insurance company. We also have a sister firm called Unity Funding Company, an assignment funding business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Redhawk Consulting, LLC?

Redhawk has done two projects for us. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Redhawk has developed a smartphone app for both iPhone and Android for Unity Financial Life Insurance. It allows agents to calculate premium rates based on products and other specifics. Meanwhile, for the funding company, they’ve built an administration portal that allows users to submit and track requests. 

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with a few developers and their c-suite members.

How did you come to work with Redhawk Consulting, LLC?

Redhawk referred to us by our other service provider. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $80,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2019, and the engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re using the administration portal that Redhawk has created for almost everything we do on the funding company. It has worked flawlessly since day one and continues to be useful for our entire business. Meanwhile, the smartphone app development has just wrapped up last month. 

How did Redhawk Consulting, LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

Redhawk’s project management is great. Their deliverables are on time; their process and our overall experience have been positive. To communicate, we use emails and phone calls. We receive excellent and constant feedback.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re a small company that doesn’t have the technical expertise for these projects, and Redhawk has been able to talk to us in layman’s terms. They’ve guided us through a solution that’s an excellent fit for us without all the technical jargon. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We usually interview and recruit more than one vendor for our projects. If you also do that, Redhawk should be on your list. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive at a manufacturing company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Manufacturer of identification products

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Red Hawk Technologies to accomplish?

• Customer Portal

SOLUTION

How did you find Red Hawk Technologies?

• Referral

Why did you select Red Hawk Technologies over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Red Hawk created a customer registration portal for our lost pet recovery tags. Customers who received our tags could then add their contact information so that the activated tag could be scanned and used to return a lost pet

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

A customer portal that allowed for consistent and user-friendly registrations

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Organized and responsive. We didn't feel like we would have to follow up to see things through

What was your primary form of communication with Red Hawk Technologies?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Local developer talent

Are there any areas for improvement or something Red Hawk Technologies could have done differently?

Some very small tasks had costs add up relatively quickly. I understand there are roles and testing, but some things seemed more expensive than they should have been.