RNF Technologies

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Through PoliceAbuse.com, I do a lot of pro bono work, including serving as an expert witness for clients. I assist people who have been victimized or abused by the police. I do this by either pursuing cases in court or by having them investigated by the proper authorities. I am a retired police detective and currently work as a licensed private investigator.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with RNF Technologies?

I needed an app for the policeabuse.com website, which is currently within the top 3 results for "police abuse" searches. I receive a lot of traffic from people looking for services and reporting misconduct and felt overwhelmed. We ultimately made a complaint form to process issues quickly. Many of my clients, especially the low-income ones, don't have computers, only phones. A mobile app would allow me to take complaints, interact with clients, as well as receive and send information. I initially hired a different company that was terrible. They wouldn't talk to me and didn't do anything like I asked. Even when I could get something done, fixing issues would require a fight from my side. As a result, I lost a lot of money.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

RNF took a project that was crashing, turned it around, and gave me the confidence that the work could be done as requested. RNF delivered everything on time while also remaining personable. I never felt that I was talking to a tech person. RNF broke things down to a level in which I could understand what services I was receiving. RNF also helped me avoid approaches that were not consistent with industry standards. Some features I wanted would have been catastrophic.

The app allows citizens to automatically record audio and video, uploading content directly to my website for investigation purposes. It has improved the speed and ease with which I deal with clients. I can receive evidence from their folders directly into my system. I run a YouTube channel through the phone and can publish material directly to it.

We had a disgruntled employee who hacked the webpage, taking it offline. RNF not only worked on my app but assigned technical support for the website, getting it back online within 24 hours.

One goal I have is to establish a chain of communication directly with the Department of Justice. Everything created by RNF within the app has given me a wide reach to my target population and allows me to direct information to the most important government agency that can assist the people too.

How did you come to work with RNF Technologies?

I don't remember if I found RNF through an email or if they contacted me, but they proved to be incredible.

How much have you invested with RNF Technologies?

The initial scope of the app was $11,000, but I expect to expand the budget to around $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with RNF around one year ago, and I plan to keep working with them for at least another 2 years. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don't have a lot of money to throw around, especially after investing a lot into the other version of the app. Because RNF met every goal with a good-looking and technologically functional app, each of the 14 reviews we received after releasing it on the market was 5 stars. The only bad review was from an old client, unrelated to the app. As such, I decided to expand the scope of the app.

The delivery of my services has quadrupled in speed. My client satisfaction with our work, based on what's been reported to me orally, has increased as a direct result of the app. Clients with whom I have ongoing relationships can message me directly through the app, and I can reply to them without using email.

How did RNF Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

I give RNF high marks in this respect. I was never in the dark and have always known what's going on. RNF is the only company I've used that can put me in touch with someone within 24 hours if there's a serious problem. RNF never started the work until I fully explained it and they had a chance to explain it back to me, determining if it was doable. RNF met every date ahead of schedule. I was made aware of any delays, and when RNF finished, they gave me an opportunity to look at the work. I was given well-defined contractual terms, always understood what I agreed to, and the fees were always reasonable.

What did you find most impressive about RNF Technologies?

What I appreciate the most about RNF has more to do with the level of integrity and character of their team. One person stood out through his brilliance and communication skills. RNF gave me the confidence that they cared about my work. My line of business focuses on people who can't afford to defend themselves. RNF talked to me about how we could best make the app benefit those people, instead of only focusing on business. This isn't something that can necessarily be taught. Whoever selects RNF's staff is doing a good job of finding people who know how to communicate and engage at a level beyond dollars and cents.

Are there any areas RNF Technologies could improve?

I wish I could provide something to balance out my feedback so far, but there isn't anything. I wrote a letter of appreciation to RNF, which isn't something I normally do.

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

Clients with a serious idea, who have a good strategy and plan mapped out, will save money in terms of the dialogue with RNF. I thought I knew a lot until I was taught about the real-world environment. RNF slowed me down and helped me come up with a better product. If a client wants to make the best use of RNF, they should engage the company's technical expertise. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the president of a fairly young company. We develop online apps, mainly casino games on social media. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with RNF?

I knew the look, feel and interaction type I wanted for our games, but we needed programming resources. We were working on a complicated project involving animations and a good understanding of poker.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Based on our ideas, RNF provided development and graphic design for our games. We have completed 1 game and have another under development. The first 1 was a casino poker game, which involved animations and various dialogues encouraging the player to start a game. Its scope was fairly complicated, given the high number of variables associated with poker hands. For example, different players have different strategies. It's a revenue source for our company, with chips being sold inside the app, but we also wanted to use the game as a marketing tool and have casinos actually install the game on their floors. As such, I wanted the game to play exactly like the one that would be found inside a casino. As an example of a complication, certain poker hands needed to elicit responses from our animated dealer. Plus, they needed to make the game immersive for the player and educate them on the game itself, bringing congratulations for good hands.

How did you come to work with RNF?

The company was recommended by a mutual friend. I'd heard that RNF develops its own games so I looked up their products. I remember talking to other people in different US locations who seemed kind of vague, some of them promising they could deliver the scope of work even though they didn't fully understand it. We approached some freelancers as well as companies that didn't treat us like an important prospect. I was introduced to RNF's president, who recognized that we had the potential for growth and liked the idea we had. RNF genuinely seemed excited about the prospect and didn't blow me off. The first impression was good and so were the subsequent ones. RNF's president promised to deliver a product I'd be happy with, which I didn't hear from anyone else. The programmers on their team kept to that promise. RNF also had reasonable pricing, less than other companies and on-par with freelance developers. I didn't necessarily want to find the cheapest option, but RNF offered better value.

How much have you invested with RNF?

The cost of RNF's services has been between $50,000 to $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our first project with RNF in July or August of 2014. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This was my first project and I wanted it to look good. RNF gingerly walked around my ego and made their own suggestions on certain areas. I learned to trust RNF. Some of my descriptions were kind of nebulous, but when RNF came back with the designs and programming, everything was good. RNF had a real ownership of the project and figured out ways of making it better.

RNF did a good job with the casino poker game, completing the specifics we were looking for and bringing in new ideas.  Our first game has been launched and it's doing well. We've been demoing it to various casinos and have received positive feedback. It's a game that they may want to put in one day. I haven't done any advertising for the app except for some social media content, but people are playing it. The numbers are lower than I'd like, but it's understandable. 

How did RNF perform from a project management standpoint?

As we were nearing completion, I had some dates and goals to hit. RNF assigned a project manager who was extremely responsive, letting us know what was going on for every step of the way. 

What did you find most impressive about RNF?

The thing which stood out to me more than anything was a willingness to please. RNF wanted me to receive exactly what I wanted and stuck to the price we agreed on. Had I dealt with someone else, they would’ve probably become exasperated with me.

Are there any areas  RNF could improve?

RNF moved a little slowly. I was running another company at the time and didn't keep any deadlines. Once I dedicated myself full-time to this project, I noticed that it took a lot longer than 3 to 4 months, which was what the timeline should have been. RNF required a learning period. Plus, they should have let us know that it could take longer to complete. At the same time, what makes RNF a good company is their willingness to please and friendliness, which is why I'm still working with them.

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

RNF is extremely easy to work with. However, they need to be made aware of timeline expectations. The client should be upfront and ask to be told the truth. One of our problems came from RNF's willingness to please, which led to some unrealistic goals.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our website sells Buddhist and Hindu antique sculptures worldwide. The site features around 2,100 pieces and is the largest of its type. When we started out, we bought most of our items overseas and sold them in the US; now, 95% of what we buy comes from the US and Europe, and more than half of it is sold back to Asia. The market has changed dramatically. Items can range from a couple of hundred dollars to a few thousand. 95% of what we sell is online. The site has been running for 16 years and is based in Silicon Valley.

I am the owner of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with RNF Technologies?

Our original site had been custom-built in 2001 and was becoming unstable. No one wanted to work on the language it was developed under, and I was looking to build a new version. I had 120,000 photos on the old site and had great difficulty in finding someone who could take on the responsibility of moving all those photos, guaranteeing that they'd be indexed properly and that any broken or wrong content would be fixed.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

RNF Technologies initially worked on my original site's SEO. I was considering selling at the time and was also using pay-per-click ads. I decided that SEO could be a better way to go. I didn't even know initially that RNF had a web development offering.

We have discussed the possibility of building an app companion for the website, which could also work as an auction platform. After committing to the app, RNF Technologies found a way of including that auctioning functionality into the main site as well. It came with an additional cost, but we concluded that it would be much better to feature the app on both platforms. It could permit doing auctions in a much more robust way and partnering up with auction aggregation sites.

The thing that RNF Technologies was willing to do, as opposed to the other candidates, was to build a report including item thumbnails, selling and buying prices, year of purchase, origin, and so on, in one big page. Others proposed building a spreadsheet but said that it would be impossible to have a thumbnail in it. I needed this functionality because I have at least 1,000 items with the same name; the only way of differentiating them is through a visual representation. RNF is still working on it, but they're committed to finishing the task.

We were going to host the site in the US, which would have been much more expensive once we launched the more robust version of the site. It required a more powerful server, given that milliseconds can be important in the final bidding for $10,000 items. Users need completely equal access, even if one is in China and the other is in Germany. After talking with RNF, we've agreed to have them host the site and guaranteed the same seamless experience in terms of speed and lack of delays. RNF is closely monitoring the site's performance, they're making tweaks to speed it up even more, and they're charging me less. If RNF can't measure up to what I can get in the US, they know that I'll switch the service within a year. I receive 24-hour, 5-day support from RNF, and it's been going well. We have been putting a system in place for early-morning contacts and so on. The attitude of RNF in terms of wanting to make the site work has been wonderful.

How did you come to work with RNF Technologies?

RNF Technologies was the only company that was willing to take on the migration work and repair any damage. Also, other companies were looking to build the site in very simple languages, while RNF Technologies was willing to do it in Magento. We wanted to have a data-rich platform, giving us the ability to add up the inventory and sales on a yearly or quarterly basis. I wanted to know what the average sale price was and sort everything by cost, country, or material. In order to do this, I needed to have everything under a fairly robust database. No one else was willing to build the site for an affordable price.

Along with their willingness to move my 120,000 photos, RNF’s commitment to building my reporting feature is what led me to choose their company. Working from India also meant that labor cost was lower.

Not everything was perfect, and we needed to fix a few hundreds of pictures, but RNF did it without complaint. This wasn't made to be our problem in any way.

How much have you invested with RNF Technologies?

The initial web design cost was around $10,000. By comparison, a friend who built a similar site had spent around $30,000 working with a European company.

The cost of my app and auction platform was $15,000 while integrating the auction functionality with the site had an additional $5,000 cost.

The overall cost for RNF’s services was around $30,000, but I've ended up with a much bigger project than initially planned.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with RNF Technologies in June 2016 with SEO and we continue with the process. Putting up a new site comes with a dip in traffic, and we didn't want to lose too much of it. The website redevelopment was started in July and finished in October.

We have launched the website 2-3 weeks ago. It's working well, and we're now getting rid of its final bugs. The auction site and a working prototype of the app should be completed within a couple of weeks. We already have a working prototype of the auctioning platform and are working on the terms and conditions as well as the messaging associated with it. Our goal is to run our first auctions in January 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

RNF Technologies has done a good job in terms of SEO. We monitor our 50 keywords closely and haven't lost any ground after switching websites. In fact, we've managed to move ahead a bit. RNF’s web developer is working closely with our SEO person. They can talk to each other, making sure that the content on my blog compliments the SEO. Different components can dovetail together.

I am looking towards selling my entire site along with its 2,100 items within the next 2 years. I think that the additional $20,000 I've put into the development will more than come back to me due to having an app and auctioning platform as part of the offering.

How did RNF Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

RNF Technologies made a point of assigning us one contact with whom we meet for one hour twice a week over Skype. If we needed to meet more often, he was open to it and generally replied to emails right away. We've set up some checklists for bugs on Google Docs sheets. We discuss the action items in our meetings and structure them well. We haven't dealt with many people under our contact.

His boss has spent a bunch of time with us, trying to get to know our business and asking questions. He wanted to match my personality style with that of our future project manager. Having worked in the mental health field for 30 years, I agree that the different working styles people have need to match. I can be very demonstrative and emotional, getting upset easily at times; I'm very attached to my website. The person we were hooked up with was a good fit. We even got into heated debates at times, which from the outside looked as if we were angry at each other, but we weren't.

We always mentioned that this is because of how much we cared about what we were doing. Our manager is 24 years old, while I'm 60 and remind him of his father. We both care about the work, and RNF’s principal did a good job of matching the project manager with me. Especially since we're so far away, it was an extremely important thing to do. If that match had not been done well, it would have been problematic. He is extremely bright and wants the work to come out well. I promised to send him one of the pieces from my collection as a way for him to remember our work together.

What did you find most impressive about RNF Technologies?

Many people to whom I've talked about their work with companies in India have felt that they were lied to and ripped off. RNF Technologies may have overcommitted at times, but I never felt that someone in their team lied, was dishonest, or did anything except trying to provide us really good service. If RNF was not able to do something, it was out of good intent.

There are cultural differences and language barriers when working with people from other countries, but if I was to do the work over again, I would do it again with the same people. The bonuses have definitely outweighed whatever took extra time or communication.

I had a spreadsheet with the locations of my entire inventory, which needed to be manually introduced for each item. We talked about this in the beginning, but I don't think that RNF had a clear idea of exactly how much manual work would be involved. They still went ahead and did it all. Fortunately, the project ended up being much better, so the extra work averaged out. Even so, RNF never came back trying to get another $500 or $1,000 from us. RNF Technologies stuck to the original agreement. 

Are there any areas RNF Technologies could improve?

When we first started working with RNF, our contact had mostly worked with much more technical clients than me. He had usually dealt with companies that had IT staff to assist in rebuilding websites and other tasks. Our manager didn't understand that I had no understanding of even the terminology that an average 16-year-old would know. I grew up in a world with dial telephones and was completely illiterate when it came to technology. He needed to talk in a different language and dumb things down. We had some miscommunication in the beginning, due to assumptions he was making about what I already knew, but we did get to a place of understanding and things got a lot better. I don't think this is unique to him. He was young, and I was one of the first non-technical people he'd encountered.

The website is a technical product, so this type of language was actually necessary. It was a real challenge for him to bridge this gap. He had to educate me, and I had to educate myself.

I worked as a social worker for many years and built the website as a side-business. It grew on its own, and I started working on it more after retiring. Most of the other projects our contact had were with companies with technical staff. I had similar issues with all other companies I approached about building a website, and I even had trouble deciphering their offerings.

When there's a problem, I want to have it fixed right away and get a hold of RNF’s rep; but when working across the world, there is a logistical challenge. He usually gets back to me early the next morning, and the problem is generally fixed within the same day.

We have kept the 90-day target of the website as well as all other deadlines, so I have no serious criticisms for RNF Technologies. All-in-all, the collaboration has worked surprisingly well. It would have cost me between $75,000 and $100,000 to do the same kind of work in the US.

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

It may be specific to me as a non-technical person, but it's important to be clear about what it is the client wants. We talked with RNF about our auction platform and added another $5,000 to our budget for it, putting the work on the shelf until we finished the actual website. RNF first showed me what the platform would look like; basically a modified Magento platform. I thought it was terrible, but there was no way for RNF to have known this because they had never been involved in the auction world and were simply utilizing the newest Magento module for the purpose. I spend a couple of hours per day at online auctions and understand how they need to work in order to be effective for my purposes, but I never explained this in detail. RNF was also unclear about what the auction solution included, and we only figured out that the two didn't meet until it was way late in the process.

Fortunately, we had a good enough relationship with RNF in order to take what we had and turn it into something good. Our contact was willing to put in the extra work in order to redo letters and customizations, so we will end up having something which is fine for my purposes. Sometimes, you don't know what you don't know until you do it once. RNF Technologies was actually willing to give me back my money, but we all agreed that it would be better for everyone to put in some extra work and make it right. I felt that our contact learned from the experience, and he will work better the next time doing something similar, as will I. This is not a complaint, but rather a wrinkle.

98% of clients' interaction will be with the project manager, so it's important to find the right person.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Lifephoto builds software applications for consumers, enabling them to upload photos and use them on printed products like photobooks, calendars, planners, or gifts. We handle the manufacturing, acting as a turnkey solution in the photo market space. We have built our company from scratch over the last 10 years.

I am the owner of the company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with RNF?

Around 18 months ago, I was looking for a supplier who could revise the website by updating its technology. When we started the project in 2002, the technology was a lot different. I had spent a few resources on developing the site and its e-commerce strategy, but as browsers changed throughout the decade and mobile devices emerged, we could no longer maintain a staff for updating the application. I needed someone who could make the transition towards a content management system, creating and supporting a responsive website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

There are numerous content management solutions on the market. I was familiar with Magento, as was RNF, so they put together a proposal for taking my old site and transitioning it to a Magento CMS. They had an old website to work with and created a new UI and CMS for it, including graphics, text, and marketing elements. The transition to the Magento platform was extremely intensive, in terms of the information being moved from the old site to the new. We also asked them to set up a dashboard for our marketing department.  

How did you come to work with RNF?

RNF had reached out to me on a couple of occasions, so I decided to give them a shot when I needed to rebuild the website.

How much have you invested with RNF?

The cost of our transitioning project with RNF has been around $20,000. I find the price to be completely reasonable, compared to what I've paid historically.

What is the status of this engagement?

The proposal process started in April 2016 and took about 2 months. The go-ahead was given in June. We plan to make the site live within the next 30 days. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

From my experience, RNF did a fantastic job with the transition to the Magento platform. The site is easy to update from a marketing perspective while its functionalities tie in on the backend for the production process. We are able to receive orders from the web and create products on-the-fly, sending them out as XML production files.

How did RNF perform from a project management standpoint?

With a manager working with RNF, we could have accomplished even more work in a short amount of time, but I let them run with it. RNF is a self-motivated and conscientious group. From the hands-off perspective of a short-staffed company, this is great.

What did you find most impressive about RNF?

I appreciated the level of professionalism and ease of communication offered by RNF. They responded in a positive fashion to everything.

Are there any areas RNF could improve?

The timeline was 1 to 2 weeks longer than I'd have wanted, but it was a lot of work. Any issues are probably more on my side than on RNF's. Given how complex the project was, I'm surprised it didn't take another 6 weeks.

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

We provided a good map to follow, but I couldn't speak for creating a new website. Aligning tasks and managing the process going forward would be important. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We're an online vendor of specialized night vision equipment, optical products, and night vision illumination products. We are 100 percent online, no bricks and mortar, and all sales are generated through organic search engines.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m the director of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with RNF Technologies?

We were attempting to move the company from a 100 percent pay-per-click program, which was incredibly expensive, to a higher percentage of organic search. We had dismal organic search results, and we wanted to improve that. We focus mainly on Google.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

We gave them a list of primary search terms to run with, and their responsibility was to generate an organic plan to move us up in the rankings on each one of those terms. The results were that they achieved the goals in every case, and every search term subsequently moved up substantially in the rankings to the point that we reduced our pay-per-click program to zero. We are now 100 percent organic.

What was your process for selecting RNF Technologies?

It has been a long and painful process to find a good partner like RNF finally. We went through a series of SEO firms prior to RNF. Each had a series of promises that were made and, unfortunately, promises that were broken in every case. We went through these bad experiences for more than two years, trying to enhance organic optimization.

When RNF approached us, the one key element that they pitched that nobody else pitched was their guarantee. They came in with a guarantee of performance that if we took them on, worked with them for a three-month contract, and if we didn’t see a definable threshold of improvement during that three-month period, all of our money would be refunded. We would shake each other's hand and move on. That was the kind of commitment that I had always looked for from an SEO firm, and they were the first ones that actually agreed to that approach. We never had to take them up on the guarantee because they hit and exceeded all their thresholds.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

It wasn’t tremendous. When we initially approached them, we were looking at about $600 to $650 a month. That was compared to a significant multiple of that number that we were paying every month on PPC, pay per click. We were able to shift those savings to RNF.

When was the latest milestone completed for that work?

The work continues to move on. They continue to do our organic search optimization. We're moving on to the next phase of website redesign, which they’re also doing for us. They’re going to redesign it in 2014. It should have been in 2013, but the delays have all been on our end, not on theirs. I’m hoping that by early 2014, the new site will be up and running.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

In terms of improved performance of the website, that wasn’t the metric we were most interested in. The metric we were most interested in is how much we're paying for our marketing campaign, which is pay per click versus organic search optimization. We easily reduced our monthly expenditure by a multiple of five times. The actual clicks and performance of the site has remained constant. We weren’t looking for a massive upsurge in performance. We were just looking for a massive reduction in actual marketing costs.

The performance improvement that we'll be looking for will be on the website design. We've had enough confidence in them on the SEO side that we’ve charged them with the responsibility of changing the website. That’s where we'll expect increased top-line performance.

Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

Communication is the number one thing. The RNF team actually cares about your company. They are rational, and easy to do business with. A lot of their technicians are in India. We wouldn’t know, aside from a bit of an accent. We have regular Skype calls with them, and work through issues, questions, or problems with them, and the communication has been very good.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think RNF Technologies could improve upon or that you might do differently?

At this point, no. There isn’t anything I can point to and say I would do anything massively different from what we had done before. Any blame should be aimed at us, and that’s only because we have slowed down the speed of the website development, but that is our issue and not theirs.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Kerten, a private Equity company. I am working as Vice President - Technology, BI & Strategy

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire RNF Technologies?

Website development, functional requirement document for a platform, Wireframes

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I floated an RFP

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Website development, functional requirement document for a platform, wireframes

What was the team composition?

WordPress Developer Designer Project manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It really helped us pitch our case

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Harman, who was managing the project, was responsive & provided timely updates. Very professional & provided support beyond expectations.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Project management

Are there any areas for improvement?

If i have to, they could improve turn around time