Siam Computing

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Interim CMO for this Project of TC Rock Consulting

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Provides interim leadership, recruiting, and subject matter expertise services in the areas of branding, marketing, consumer experience, retail, and sales

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Siam Computing to accomplish?

• Get new website launched
• Increase conversions
• Meet tight deadlines

SOLUTION

How did you find Siam Computing?

Referral

Why did you select Siam Computing over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Siam Computing were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

We were looking for a new dev partner to handle our ongoing development needs for our consumer-facing Shopify website. We had extremely tight deadlines in the beginning, and we were asked the Siam team to make 50+ changes to our existing site to help to optimize conversion rate while our new site framework was being developed. Then, the team was tasked with implementing the new design and ensuring it was optimized for ease and organic search.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Increased conversion rate Met or exceeded all deadlines

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

Their PM was stellar. They were operating around the clock and ensured our needs were responded to quickly and accurately.

What was your primary form of communication with Siam Computing?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The mix of kindness, professionalism, and exceptional talent. That is hard to find and at extremely competitive pricing!

Are there any areas for improvement or something Siam Computing could have done differently?

My only recommendation is to possibly have pushed back on our demands a little more complicated; I think being firm with boundaries, as long as expectations are set up, is OK. I was often concerned that our asks were sometimes unreasonable, and I worried about Siam's team and didn't want to see critical members get burnt out.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Trustee of Altius Foundation

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Altius Foundation is a registered NGO working in the field of school education since 2007 with the objective of providing transformational interventions in education that target specific areas of concern in school education.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Siam Computing to accomplish?

• Creating a learning platform that lends to providing content in multiple language and formats
• To be used by users with and without internet connectivity
• Capable of working in low cost devices that will used by the users
• Capable of pushing data to and from cloud using mobile hotspot and at a click of a button
• Provides flexibilty for expanding content in width and depth

SOLUTION

How did you find Siam Computing?

Referral

Why did you select Siam Computing over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Company values aligned
• Understood our requirements and were willing to provide customised solution

How many teammates from Siam Computing were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Siam Computing was engaged as a tech partner for our I wanna learn project. The scope entailed them to build a learning management portal to facilitate students to learn mathematics and take up exercises, quiz, assessments and view the scores. also want to build an Admin panel to manage the users, class, board, learning content, practice content and reports. deliver the learning platform in online and offline format and syncing user data to cloud instantly or on a periodic basis

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Usage among multiple users across various geographical locations and system configurations.

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

This was a project that was quite different from what they had worked on until that time.At the Foundation we did not have staff having knowledge of software development. this meant Siam had to undertake the role of transforming our vision into a format which can be used easily by users who are not tech savvy. Also, during the course of the project we enhanced the scope based on user feedback and requirements. 

Siam did a fabulous job in understanding the needs and providing solutions. We had a timeline to catch - school re opening and Siam did a meet up to our requirements and delivered on time and provided quality support.

What was your primary form of communication with Siam Computing?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Ability to understand user needs and provide a clear picture on the importance of the need towards the project and propose how to execute it. I was happy with their willingness to explore unfamiliar territories and their strong and committed core team.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Siam Computing could have done differently?

Documentation and communication.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

HLJ Creative is a boutique web design and development firm. We also provide branding, online marketing, and social media management.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Siam Computing?

The majority of our work with them has involved web development. My skills and core competencies are in the area of design, and I needed to have a company with a focus on programming and WordPress development. This proved hard to do in South Carolina, especially at a reasonable rate.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The majority of our work involves Siam Computing taking my Photoshop designs and converting them to WordPress sites. They develop any custom functionalities and plugins. We’ve also worked together on Magento e-commerce platforms. The programming skills of Siam Computing’s team are not limited to one platform.

My portfolio includes a variety of project types. We don’t simply use a canned WordPress theme for building a blog. It might have three displayed articles within a section of the homepage or feature custom post types. We will display certain information on the homepage, and allow clients to keep things updated without needing to have programming knowledge.

We are working on another real estate site with custom listings which don’t interface with the MLS [Multiple Listing Service]. We also have an insurance company with a client portal. People are able to login to a certain area and see the benefits that their company has access to. The portal interfaces another app, one built by the client. It was fairly complicated, but Siam was able to handle it.

For a casino and travel company, Siam Computing used a customized plugin in order to display all the available trips. We have a custom photo gallery plugin and a membership lookup for a bar association, which accesses a database of 2,000 lawyers. All of this work is custom — there was no existing software for these specific needs.

How did you come to work with Siam Computing?

I met Khuzema, their CEO, serendipitously, through a connection. His aunt was the administrator of my children’s daycare and introduced us when he came to the US for a visit. We tried a few projects together and had a lot of success and client satisfaction. My skill sets merged with theirs in a complementary fashion. We’ve had a great working relationship.

How much have you invested with Siam Computing?

The cost of Siam Computing’s work has been of $58,000 since 2012.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with Siam Computing on June 18th, 2012.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Of the work that I do, 60% of projects involve Siam Computing. Therefore, 60% of my success is related to them. Although clients don’t meet Khuzema and his company directly, and many won’t know them at all, they do appreciate the end result.

How did Siam Computing perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve worked hard to develop a systematic process for delegating and completing tasks. We use Basecamp for project management, where put together task lists and check them off when they’re completed. This was implemented at their suggestion, and I ultimately decided to get my own Basecamp account. Everything is documented, and we can always go back to checklists for billing and efficiency purposes.

I receive invoices on time so that we don’t get behind on anything. Siam Computing has been flexible in conforming to systems which work well for my business model, which is good. Many providers want it done their own way.

Khuzema comes to the US often, and we have dinner and talk about the direction of our companies. We make sure that we’re growing together, and I consider him to be a critical part of my business. Siam Computing allows me to build anything at half or a quarter of the rates we would get with a local company, which gives us a competitive edge with the bigger ad agencies in the area while still producing the same quality of work.

What did you find most impressive about Siam Computing?

One of the most impressive things about Siam Computing is that they’re never afraid to give anything a shot. Even if the result is not perfect the first time, the team is open to constructive feedback. Whenever I raise a concern about timelines being met or the accuracy of the code versus my original designs, Siam Computing takes the feedback as constructive criticism and makes efforts to fix whatever the issue is. This is a big deal because it means that they’re not just robotically working through tasks.

Siam Computing will fine-tune our processes, making us more efficient. They’ve grown with me and conform to my business needs.

Are there any areas Siam Computing could improve?

Like any growing business, they shouldn’t take on more than they can handle. Siam Computing needs a growth strategy in place because, as more websites are built, there will be a larger need for support. Therefore, they have to manage human resources and anticipate this growth. Siam Computing has done this, and whenever employees had health issues, projects were never delayed by more than one week. Turnaround is still key, and client needs have to be anticipated faster.

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

Be as clear as possible in terms of instructions. With every project we start, I will provide all the required information, including Photoshop files, site content, credentials for hosting accounts, and so on. I have everything organized on my end so that when Siam Computing’s team goes in, there won’t be a lot of back and forth. The more organized the person requesting the work is, the better Siam Computing’s result will be.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the vice president of Lighter Side of Real Estate. The company is a publisher of different media formats, mostly social media content (articles, memes, videos). We create promotional media on behalf of real estate agents to grow their businesses. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Siam Computing?

In the beginning, our revenue model involved t-shirts and other real estate apparel and articles that we would post to social media. Some of them would go viral, traffic would come back to our website, and we would monetize the traffic via Google AdSense and other revenue streams. We knew that we wanted to keep expanding, and we started to get more popular. We needed to create a membership platform where we could start offering a service to paid members, allowing them to share content without Lighter Side branding on it. We used that as a hook, giving members the ability to put their own branding on the content. When someone shares an article from our site, their own branding will be on the sidebar and header, kind of implying that they produced it, but not really. We needed this solution built from the ground up. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Siam Computing built a custom portal for our company, from concept to implementation and launch. There were 5 people from their side assigned to this task, working pretty much full-time. We worked with 2 web developers who specialized in JavaScript and PHP, a frontend developer who took care of CSS and other layout elements, a project manager, and a quality checker.

We built APIs that allowed people to share content from our platform (which is behind a paywall) to various social networks, making it look like they were making the posts themselves. In other words, if someone shared an image from somewhere else, they would in fact be sharing a link to that image on Facebook. With the API that Siam Computing built, users are able to post the image on the social platform. We have a permission system which allows our platform to post on users’ behalf.

We offer the same service for Instagram, LinkedIn, Pinterest, and Twitter. Siam Computing developed a mechanism for posting to profiles and pages, based on their rich understanding of how the platforms work. We’ve been very satisfied with this setup.

We are using about 10% of a basic WordPress theme, in terms of overall site structure. That by no means took away from the customization work done by Siam Computing.

I served as the project lead, and the work was setup in a custom way, bypassing the theme altogether and setting up a custom code base on CSS, PHP, or developed templates which could be scaled and replicated for multiple pages.

How did you come to work with Siam Computing?

The owner of our company has a friend in South Carolina who built websites for attorneys. He had a friend who relied on Siam Computing’s owner for backend development work. I had gone through Codable, which is a middleman service between clients and experts in different web development areas. I was definitely not satisfied with my experience there, nor with a few Craigslist contacts I found. We did look into other solutions, but, since Siam Computing was within our shoestring budget, they fit like a glove. We have matured alongside each other.

How much have you invested with Siam Computing?

The cost of Siam Computing’s work has been approximately $70,000–$75,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Siam Computing in November of 2015. The initial phase was centered more on strategy. We’re still deep into the work with Siam Computing. This is not a situation that would allow us to just pull the plug. We’re heavily invested in each other.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’d be hard-pressed to say that we would have gotten to where we are now without Siam Computing’s help. They had an integral role in the launch of our platform. The budget was met, and they were willing to go above-and-beyond and remain flexible with our needs. They are attentive and personal, adapting the situation according to our needs.

How did Siam Computing perform from a project management standpoint?

Siam Computing’s owner acted as our project manager and main contact. He has bent over backward more times than I could count, and he’s also been extremely focused during challenges like unforeseen bugs and expedited timelines. Before we had 5 full-time people working on the site, he was able to pull in an entire team and have them work on our project rapidly when we needed. The people who jumped in hit the ground running. Whatever he did to prep them was solid.

We largely used Trello for project management. We also had weekly and biweekly calls on Google Hangouts for screen shares and things like that. Every so often, we had a group-wide meeting, but Siam Computing’s principal usually took all our information during calls. I never had a problem with his notetaking, and he never missed a beat. This was huge, especially when dealing with complex, deep projects which have many moving parts. I was always impressed by this ability and tried to learn it myself.

The principal came up with a structure for Trello which would keep things running properly and turned me onto a project management style called SWOT [strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats], which was better for more enterprise-level situations rather than our smaller operation. Our needs were speedier in going from concept to development and launch, but Siam Computing has used it extensively. Their ability to manage projects is phenomenal.

What did you find most impressive about Siam Computing?

Their know-how is a given. Siam Computing’s developers are good, and their quality control is in place to clean up after the engineers who have less experience with UX design. Before presenting anything to the client, Siam Computing will catch issues that could have slipped through the cracks. I know about this added layer because I’ve kept an eagle’s eye on the whole operation, but a client putting their trust in the company can rest assured that things will be handled the right way. Siam Computing will circumnavigate a situation before presenting it to the client and will fix any missing elements. We’ve been working together for a while, and Siam Computing’s operation has stepped up the game significantly. It’s been interesting to evolve alongside them. They offer dependability, reliability, and the willingness to put in long hours if needed.

Are there any areas Siam Computing could improve?

Things are good now, but a while back, English being a second language for many of the developers led to a few issues. It’s not fair to mention this since, nowadays,  their principal and the QA people have very good language skills. It’s is no longer an issue overall.

I would also say their graphic designer(s) could improve. Although, to be fair, I haven't reassessed their designers since a year ago. I would definitely use someone else for graphic design. I don’t know how Siam Computing has advanced since a year ago when we tackled that, but I’ve been doing all the design myself and through working with a few people in the US.

The struggles through which we’ve grown together mainly involved communication. Before the quality layer was put in, I would be doing that a lot, which was our main discrepancy. Other than that, Siam Computing runs a solid ship. 

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

I can’t think of any specific advice to give, but I would definitely recommend Siam Computing. Siam Computing will offer a stable environment from the first contact. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder of BEING at Full Potential

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Human Potential Development

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Siam Computing to accomplish?

• Develop online assessment portal
• Backend analytics tool

SOLUTION

How did you find Siam Computing?

Referral

Why did you select Siam Computing over others?

Company values aligned

How many teammates from Siam Computing were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

• Develop online assessment portal
• Backend analytics tool

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Platform for Human Potential Development 
• Analytics platform

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

Yes, generally projects are delivered on time or delays are communicated proactively. I have a dedicated project manager who communicates with me on day to day basis. She is very effective at relaying the project needs to the technical team and when in doubt will bring the relevant people together to ensure we remain on the same page.

What was your primary form of communication with Siam Computing?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Their commitment to supporting founders and entrepreneurs. They are a strategic partner at the design stages, not just a project executer.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Siam Computing could have done differently?

I believe there is more synergy potential between our organizations. We have explored this on several occasions but haven't moved beyond sharing of intentions. I hope in the future we will be able to manifest something more concrete that advances our joint interests.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Digital Strategy of a healthcare company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Our company is a Quarternary care Multi-speciality hospital chain

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Siam Computing to accomplish?

• To Build a Patient Engagement App

SOLUTION

How did you find Siam Computing?

Referral

Why did you select Siam Computing over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Good technical Team

How many teammates from Siam Computing were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

It is a patient engagement app built for patients of our hospital to book appointments, maintain their PHR and perform video consulting.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Deliverables were of good quality and the Siam team worked collaboratively with our team.

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

The team responded well to our needs and established a collaborative atmosphere. There were some personnel changes in the middle of the project but those were handled reasonably well by the Siam team to ensure that the final deliverables were of good quality.

What was your primary form of communication with Siam Computing?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Company is communicative and flexible with changes. The team has good people and works collaboratively with the client.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Siam Computing could have done differently?

There should be more up front transparency on resource changes. The team also needs to be more aggressive with deadlines than they are right now even if it means pushing their customer a bit.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Senior Director of Delivery of Total Performance Consulting

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Provide technical consulting services in software development, testing and performance.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Siam Computing to accomplish?

• Build web applications from scratch.

SOLUTION

How did you find Siam Computing?

Referral

Why did you select Siam Computing over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Siam Computing were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Siam helped us build out our CleanTrack application by starting with a Discovery phase, building our wireframes, and then the actual web application and we got it out to market in time and within budget.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The application was built to the Product Owner’s vision and they delivered within time and within budget. No big surprises which is important as an entrepreneur on limited budgets.

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

The project management team was very communicative and organized. They delivered my product on time.

What was your primary form of communication with Siam Computing?

Virtual Meeting

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

I appreciated their excellent customer service and how they catered to my needs and were very responsive throughout the process. They were also technically strong which of course is very important for a technical project.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Siam Computing could have done differently?

Overall I think they are moving in the right direction in how they are building their company.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Product Manager of Global Sound Institute

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Product development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Siam Computing to accomplish?

• Improve online program and coding.
• Manage hosting services.

SOLUTION

How did you find Siam Computing?

Referral

Why did you select Siam Computing over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

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

• Evaluating and improving on existing coding and working together to implement new functionality. 
• Testing the functionality and pushing updates through. 
• Assessing existing UI and usability of webbased program and giving points of improvement and ideas for more user-friendly experience.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Having improved functionality and new functionality implemented in the program. Having smooth and fast running webbased program.

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

Very punctual and thoroughly addressed to our needs. When not able to make goals this is communicated in a timely fashion and handled professionaly.

What was your primary form of communication with Siam Computing?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The value/cost balance is very good. They are very willing to help in any area and give great input for new ideas.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Siam Computing could have done differently?

There were some difficulties with setting up a good system for handeling finances for both sides. There were issues that delayed the start of our agreement that could have been avoided. But this has to do also with communication, which is sometimes difficult because of the time difference but also because of language differences during online meetings.