Right People Group

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a retail optical company, so we run optical retail stores. We operate 230 stores in Denmark and Sweden. We sell spectacles, contact lenses, contact lens fluids, sunglasses – all kind of visual correction equipment. We have 100 stores in Denmark and 130 in Sweden. I am the director of IT [information technology] and supply for Synoptik.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Right People Group?

We've used them for different things, but the common thing is that we've hired software developers through them. We were hiring a consultant with specific development competences, and he or she was here for some time and did some development tasks for us under our management. This has changed this year [2016] because we've decided to outsource our software development to Right People. In that connection, they took over a couple of developers that we had employed ourselves. We order a development task with them, and they find out which resources to use.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we were using it for the body shopping, we were describing a specific profile that we needed with mainly characteristics on competences within development tools and stuff like that – maybe experience from a specific industry. Their services there was to listen and understand what our demands were for a specific consultant and then present normally three different candidates depending on how difficult it is to get the competence. What we used them for is for our point-of-sale systems in our retail stores. They are part of the team that's maintaining and developing that system further.

How did you come to work with Right People Group?

They called me presenting their services. I've worked with Synoptik for seven years now, but I actually came across them before I came here. I worked as a management consultant before where I also had some inquiries on specific consultants. I never did any deals with them back then, but then I knew them already when they approached me. We took some meetings, and we tested them out for a specific case where we also had other body shopping consulting firms in the loop. They just came up with the right consultants.

How much have you invested with Right People Group?

For yearly purchasing from them it's probably 2 million or 3 million kroners [approximately $241,000 or $362,000].

What is the status of this engagement?

We are continuing to work with them with the contract we made with them where we also outsourced our development to them. We've made a longer contract with them. Before, it was based on a contract per consultant. Now, it's more a frame contract working for a longer term.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

You can't judge it that way because they are adding extra resources to our own organization. How we measure if we're satisfied with the quality or not, that's whether they are actually functioning in the teams. Of course, in the end, you would measure if we have more errors in the software they developed than our own people, but we're not able to detect that, so that's a bit difficult question for me to answer specifically.

How did Right People Group perform from a project management standpoint?

So far, they are quite good. This is part of the new outsourcing deal that we've entered with them where they are providing project management services. I think that works quite well. So far, I'm quite satisfied.

What did you find most impressive about Right People Group?

I would say there are two things that I think makes us prefer to work with them compared to other body shopping firms. One is that they are very good at picking up what the needs are for us – even on a very limited set of information. I guess this is because they already know us and somehow they profiled what kind of customer we are. Of course, we are also talking to the same guy, so that also helps. They are quite good at picking up what we need and for sending the consultancy candidate that fits that. The second thing is that they are quite competitive on price without you having to sacrifice on quality.

Are there any areas Right People Group could improve?

No – not really. They've met my expectations, so I'm quite happy about the collaboration.