Red Rock Tech

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of Brevco Services and we’re an IT consulting firm. Our primary clients consist of large international organizations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Rock Tech?

My company grew significantly over a short period, so we had to augment our approach to processing payments and other HR-related tasks. I hired Red Rock Tech to develop a supplier portal that could manage our influx of consultant data and HR files.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Red Rock Tech initially interacted to gain an understanding of our expectations. We communicated our general idea for the software and they designed its wireframes. Then, they built the system and executed what we envisioned. The finished product is a web-based tool that’s used internally but is also available to our business partners.

As a large consultant agency, we contract our suppliers through a complex system of B2B and B2C business agreements. The software Red Rock Tech developed makes it possible to manage the funding for each our engagements without being overcharged. For example, say we have a consultant purchase order (PO) for 220 days or $150,000. We use the system to issue a consultant the PO. That resource invoices their work in response. Once the invoice is approved and payment is fulfilled, the system will automatically subtract that amount money or time from the actual PO. If this process is done manually, mistakes are bound to happen.

Conversely, our suppliers can access the system through their own portal and can find information linked to their contract. This includes the status of their invoices, how many hours they’re obligated to provide, and how long until their contract expires. That saves our HR team a lot of time because they don’t have to answer logistics questions from each of our suppliers. They’ve also implemented a client view that lets customers access the system to see which suppliers are allocated to them. That transparency allows each client to see how their suppliers are being paid. It’s also useful when communicating project information.

While those features are incredibly useful, the system’s automatic billing and payment functionalities are critical aspects of this project. We’re responsible for paying out 100–200 different contracts and the new software enables us to export the payment files and upload them to the bank for one massive transfer. This process further eliminates mistakes and facilitates productivity.

What is the team composition?

I only communicated with an assigned project manager. I can’t speak to the number of developers that worked on the software.

How did you come to work with Red Rock Tech?

One of my managers had worked with them in the past. I asked that employee to find software developers for this project, and she recommended Red Rock Tech along with one other candidate. We interviewed both firms, but Red Rock Tech seemed to have a better grasp of what we needed. After being reassured that they have a positive track record, I trusted my employee’s judgment and hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

This project took place from 2017–2018. The development process took roughly eight months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Red Rock Tech delivered a web tool that enables our HR personnel to check time sheets and approve expense reports quickly. The billing functionality allows us to process up to 300 different payments with a click of a button. It would take several hours to create each payment manually and then another resource would have to double-check the inputs for mistakes. We don’t use a payroll agency, so this software is vital to our day-to-day operation.

How did Red Rock Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

I communicated with their project manager via email and Skype conferences. He’d walk me through his team’s progress while I gave feedback and requested specific design changes. He kept the project well-organized through its completion.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re professional and offer a competitive pricing structure. I appreciate that they accomplished what they set out to do and delivered the system on time. Their project manager remained responsive and available to answer my questions even after completing the project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Like any company, they could benefit from implementing project management software to track their progress. However, I worked closely with the project manager and didn’t find it necessary to use additional technology during this engagement. I always knew what they were working on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It helps to start any project with a detailed idea of how the end product will look. However, Red Rock Tech helped us fill in the blanks and refine our vision. They’re willing to offer advice whenever asked.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a business manager for GLOBAL Technologies, based in Paris. We are an IT and telecom consultancy. I am responsible for all business with government organizations, such as NATO and the U.N.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Rock Tech?

We had a contract with the United Nations Volunteers (UNV) program, and they required PHP services to upgrade their website. They needed an updated recruitment tool for UX purposes, as well as a manageable backend for admin tasks. Additionally, the work had to be accomplished in bulk packages, not within a set schedule. As we don’t have in-house software developers, we needed an outside IT company to meet these demands.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The client had sent us portions of the project at a time, which we then assigned to Red Rock Tech. They added UX features to the front- and backend of the site. Their team also applied their PHP services to develop a search tool on the backend.

What is the team composition?

We had a dedicated project manager who was our main point of contact. We also worked with their senior developer, who remained in connection with the client throughout the project.

How did you come to work with Red Rock Tech?

Though we considered several other companies, we liked Red Rock Tech’s extensive portfolio in full spec PHP development. On top of that, we needed a company comfortable with a lack of rigid scheduling, and their team appeared to have the flexibility. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in July 2014 and wrapped up in October 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Every completed package that we submitted to the client was approved; there were never any requests for changes. The project contact at UNV was satisfied with the quality of the work and the communication from Red Rock Tech.

How did Red Rock Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

Red Rock Tech was very proactive and detail-oriented. Since their team worked remotely, they prioritized gathering all the necessary information to avoid miscommunications.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their flexibility and availability stood out to us. They had a high level of professionalism that translated into the quality of their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They occasionally struggled with meeting our deadlines because of the irregular nature of the work. There wasn't a strict schedule with our client, which made it difficult to create an estimated timeline for Red Rock Tech to follow. Although it was a struggle to keep track of timeframes, we knew their team was working day and night to meet deadlines as best they could.

Any advice for potential customers?

The best way to work with them is transparency in what you need and what your expectations are. Additionally, they are a very relationship-focused company, so building a personal relationship with them can lead to more open communication.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a process improvement manager at a multinational building management systems company located in Romania. We help to design, implement, and maintain building management systems for energy consumption.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Rock Tech slr?

Our employees used to log their work hours in individual spreadsheets and submit them via email to one coordinator. We hired Red Rock Tech to help us replace this system with an automated web/mobile app that would be more secure and accurate.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Since our employees work on multiple projects, we wanted to accurately count how many hours were devoted to different project tasks. We needed our app to track variables like travel, programming, design. We also wanted to track how our employees were devoting their time, how many days off they’d taken, and so on. Red Rock Tech incorporated all of these features into a prototype app for web and Android. They also imported all of our old spreadsheet data so we could use that to test the features and catch bugs.

Once the initial version was built, we found a lot of other utility for the app and continued developing new features. They ultimately helped integrate the app with our enterprise resource plan (ERP) system so we could monitor all of our projects in one place. The new features and integrations allowed our project managers to plan a week or month’s schedule in the app, assign employee tasks, and filter data for viewing or exporting reports. All of the app data then gets imported into our ERP system automatically so other departments can access it.

What is the team composition?

Our in-house project coordinator dealt with their project manager. We didn’t really communicate with the developers themselves.

How did you come to work with Red Rock Tech?

Their offices are located in the same building as ours. We knew they could do the job.  

How much have you invested with them?

The cost was around €25,000 (approximately $29,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from November 2016–January 2017. We still reach out to them from time to time for development requests.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Once we started using the app, it became clear that our previous data had been inaccurate due to employees making errors. The app eliminated many of them because we customized the menu options to prevent people from selecting the wrong billable hours categories based on the project type. For example, users can’t log programming work on a maintenance job, given that there’s no programming involved in maintenance. Now that our data has improved, it’s helping us plan our team’s work more effectively. This has been critical for us since we’re a small company and we want to avoid wasting our HR staff’s time.

How did Red Rock Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication was excellent. We didn’t define all of our requests from the outset, but they were flexible and understanding anytime we proposed a new idea. In addition, their team made adjustments whenever new needs became apparent during the course of the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate their flexibility. We were developing our ERP system at the same time as this app, and they began as separate projects. Once we decided to integrate Red Rock Tech’s app into the ERP, we discovered a lot of things we hadn’t even known we’d like to build. Their team was flexible, innovative, and advised us on how to make our ideas work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It felt like we waited a long time for new features, but it’s possible that we were impatient and eager to try them out. Personally, I didn’t understand how much work was involved. Even with the wait time, we’re very pleased with what we got.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I can’t think of anything right now.