Softeq

BACKGROUND

Could you briefly describe your organization?

We’re one of the leading IT [information technology] manufacturers in the world. We create high-tech products: Laptops, desktops, servers, and storage. We also offer software solutions. 

What is your position?

I’m a generalist salesperson for [our company], which has laptops, desktops, workstations, retail point of sale, digital finance, and printers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenges you were attempting to address when you first approached Softeq Development?

The challenge that we had with them was that we didn’t have enough IT resources to be able to create the software that we needed for a product we were working on. Softeq was our fix. They had the developers we needed to deliver a viable solution. 

I also worked on another project with them for Walt Disney World, which was a translation headset that would enable guests at Disney World to walk around with a headset, and it would translate the words of the different shows that they were actually watching. We hired them because we didn’t have the expertise for that particular project, but our customer wanted to have it done, and they wanted to go through us so they could leverage our brand.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of work delivered to you during the course of the relationship?

Their primary role was custom software development. They did work on some of the visual design, but we implemented the changes we wanted in-house. They played more of a consultative role when it came to design.

How did you select Softeq Development as your solution partner for this endeavor?

We performed some online research. We interviewed several companies for this project, but I don’t remember who they were exactly. I was a part of the selection team, but the engineering folks were the ones who actually went out and vetted their capabilities.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback you’ve received that would demonstrate the effectiveness of their work?

Unfortunately, our product was way ahead of its time. That product was conceived before we had Internet with wireless keyboards. The project itself was considered a success, but the product never took off. It really underscores the variability of the marketplace because the product itself functioned exactly as we’d hoped.

We did receive a lot of feedback from Disney World, and they were very pleased and ordered quite a few of those. I can’t remember what the numbers are now. That project went extremely well. We were very impressed with what was delivered to us.

When working with Softeq Development, is there anything you’d consider unique about their approach or development methodology that distinguishes them from other vendors?

I think the aspect I liked the most about Softeq was that they were extremely reliable. Anytime we needed them for support, they were there. They would bend over backward to make us happy. We were pretty hard to work with sometimes, very demanding with our time schedules and technical requirements. They put the time in. If they had to bring in more people to help them get things done, they’d do it. Overall, I was very pleased with them. Since I haven’t worked with them in several years, they’ve probably changed a lot of their methodologies from what they had before.

BACKGROUND

Could you briefly describe your organization?

I work for a Japanese electronics manufacturer. We primarily sell hardware components, but we also deal with Intellectual Property [IP] for various software solutions.

What is your position?

I’m a sales manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenges you were attempting to address when you initiated the relationship with Softeq?

We were in search of a partner to help us with some custom programming. Specifically, we had some IP that needed to be implemented into one of our solution packages. We didn’t have the capacity in-house to complete the custom build, so we went searching for developers that had the expertise we needed.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of this project in greater detail?

They threw a number of their engineers at understanding our object code, and then built an application around it. It took them a number of months to do it, but the deliverable was a working demo that we could show to potential customers. We provided the conceptual design, the specs, layouts, and things of that nature. Softeq was responsible for the actual development. We worked alongside their engineers for weeks on end going over the actual development and deployment.

How did you select Softeq as your solution partner for this endeavor?

At the time that this particular project was organized, we were working closely with another service provider. According to these other guys, Softeq was an exemplary development partner with a solid track record. The other vendor recommended Softeq highly, and we trusted their opinion, so we did our research and decided we should indeed approach Softeq.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in monetary terms? 

We invested somewhere in the range of $40,000.

When was this project completed?

It was completed probably two years ago, but we retain them for ongoing support and ad-hoc Web duties.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback you’ve received that would demonstrate the effectiveness of their work?

I don’t have any metrics to really share with you. What I can tell you is that they absolutely helped us better display our unique value to potential customers. The successfully developed and deployed application has worked extremely well. We’ve used it already for some very successful first meetings. Overall, I’d say that the users that have used the app so far have been very impressed with it.

When working with Softeq, is there anything you’d consider unique about their approach or their development methodology that distinguishes them from other vendors?

I just think their flexibility is outstanding. The CEO there, Chris Howard, is very open to figuring out ways to approach a problem from both an engineering standpoint and a business standpoint. Softeq has a talented team of developers. We didn’t run into any issues when we were moving from the planning and design phases to the development and deployment of the application. In terms of comparing them to other vendors, I’m not sure how helpful I can be. These folks were only the second team of developers I’ve worked with. They’ve definitely performed better than the previous developers, but I’m not sure what I’d consider really unique. I just think they have higher quality people there, you know? They have some very nuanced technical knowledge that they draw from. We’ve really benefited from that.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We are a content marketing agency. The focus is on mobile first applications and digital magazines for some of the world's biggest brands. We build things, and we have a big editorial and design staff to fill it with great content that drives engagement and stickiness from people. Some examples are companies like EA. We do one of the biggest digital magazine apps called “The Sims.” We have millions of downloads for that.

We do a news app for Android, which we make content for. We build the product. We specialize in entertainment: Games, movie, and music journalism.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m the CEO. I run the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Softeq?

My chief operating officer and I found Softeq. We received a recommendation through a partner firm. We were working with another firm in San Francisco that was building an application for us on Android. They were getting expensive, and they were struggling to find enough time for their small team. They recommended we talk to Softeq, and the COO and I had the initial conversations. We gave them some initial work, and they did very well. We produced more work for them.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

We have multiple projects going on with them, including Web builds, the CMS [content management system], to app builds. There is a variety of work going on. In January, we will launch a global magazine in multiple languages for a large Belarusian gaming company. They're helping us with translation with their translation team. They are quite useful for us.

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

Each project averaged about $20,000 per project, which would have cost about $70,000 to $80,000 per project here in the United States.

When was the latest milestone completed for that work?

We have an ongoing relationship. It doesn’t stop with one project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The company in San Francisco built the app for us already. It was getting very expensive. There were numerous optics that we wanted to refresh, update, and relaunch with Google. It was a dangerous project because it was working with other people's code, so there were many opportunities for problems. Softeq were good, and they didn’t nickel and dime us, which is a common problem. They gave us a flat quote from the start, and they stuck to it. They delivered on time.

The app updated successfully, and we had approximately 100,000 downloads within the first month from Google Play for the new app, which was received quite well. The app has 500,000 readers, the new app was one of the Google picks, and it was promoted. It was a major accolade because they only choose about six every two weeks. It was picked as a top news app. We designed the app, as well as the look and feel of it. Softeq did the backend work, and made sure it worked. It continues to work very well, and there are continual updates because Google changes things frequently. They help it improve, and they fix things when needed. There are no fixes that result from anything Softeq did wrong. Some things needed to be changed and updated. They’ve done a very good job.

We're doing a Web build with them right now, and we did another app for internal use. They deliver on time and on budget.

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

What is unique is that I was talking to them about other parts of my business, such as needing games journalists who speak Russian and English fluently who can help translate the magazine. They have a team of people who helped us with that project. They managed that process at a good price. They went beyond what I expected from an IT [information technology] company. They are proactive in finding issues. I work with companies in India and China often, and they tend to take exactly what you say as rote. They do exactly what you say and don’t think out of the box. Softeq identifies problems up front and give you several solutions to help it work better, faster, or less expensively. They have a smart team.

Their quality is quite good, and their costs are competitive. We were concerned about the time difference, but they work late hours. The COO has a call with them at 8 a.m. to 9 a.m. a couple times a week. They’re very accommodating, because that is 7 p.m. for them. They bend over backward to manage their clients in the U.S.

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

Not really. There are always issues when you’re onboarding a new company as you get to know and understand each other and how you work. I’ve met the team in Minsk. They’re always available.

There was one time when a couple members of the team went on holiday, and there wasn’t a good handover. That’s a minor issue, and it was fixed immediately. It was a communication issue, but I wouldn’t hold that against them. There is nothing major. They’ve been a great partner.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We are the largest manufacturer of discrete graphics chips for PC. During the last three or four years, we have gotten into the mobile chip business with our Integra line of processors that are used for devices from Google, Hewlett-Packard, Asus, Acer, and other big names in the PC and Android tablet space. We’ve got more experience doing computer graphics than any other company on the planet.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m the general manager of mobile games, overseeing the relationships and the markets, marketing, business development with the different game companies that make games for mobile products. The products are for Android tablets, phones, or set-top boxes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for the work with Softeq?

Going all the way back to my days at Sony and Atari, we’ve used Softeq on and off as a contract developer for special projects, game development, ports of games that we’ve licensed from other companies. We needed a software development house to do an adaptation for specific hardware. Recently, for some of the screen savers, as well as different utilities that we needed for our Integra tablets, we contracted Softeq to do that development work.

SOLUTION

What was your process for selecting Softeq?

As a general rule, we entertain proposals from two or three different companies that we think are reasonably suited for the project, that have been referred to us by other partners, or that we’ve come across at trade shows. The selection process is based, almost in this order: Quality of work, likelihood of being able to get the project done on time, and our tertiary criteria is usually cost. As long as it’s within a reasonable ballpark and budget.

The bottom line is, especially in the mobile space, getting a project done in a timely manner because things move so quickly is really a critical consideration nowadays. We’re almost in a mode now that Softeq has a project in flight for us all the time because they really have never failed us in coming in on time. That is pretty rare, which is why it’s almost a no-brainer for us at this point to keep doubling down with them.

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

There is a bit of a challenge because we’ve granted to them a number of different projects. One was $7,500, another was $12,000, another was $50,000, and the next one was $9,000. So, if you want to take the average of those, the median is around $25,000 to $35,000. Softeq doesn’t shy away from the bigger projects, and they don’t have such an ego that they would turn their noses up at a $7,500 project.

Is their work ongoing?

No. We don’t have them on retainer. By coincidence, they finish a project, and we usually have another one. A lot of times, it’s from different groups. Right now, they’re finishing a project for our mobile marketing people. At the conclusion of that, it turned out that our G-Force PC graphics group needed an Android wallpaper done because the marketing side of our firm is well aligned with many of the PC gaming companies. They did such a good job on the one that, internally, one group referred Softeq to another group.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I can’t go into the specific project details, but we had a review a couple of weeks ago. For the last five projects with them that they reviewed, they are five for five with respect to coming in on time and budget. We tracked their milestone completion during the course of the project to see if they’re delivering their milestones on time. We also track overall project completion. Their milestones are consistently within seven to ten days of the delivery date, with reasonable enough communication that it’s never caused huge issues. For all five projects, they completed them on schedule.

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

The one thing that’s really nice about them is they don’t just take orders and follow. However, one of the things that works well with Softeq is that they have a collaborative element where they will actively question what you are asking for. They do a pretty reasonable job of wrapping their heads around what you’re actually trying to accomplish as opposed to the engineering task at hand. One project that we’re doing right now is a B2B asset ingestion portal. We’re putting up a portal with the third-party software developers that we work with, and we want to feature their games on our website. It’s a portal for them to upload assets to, with a description of their game, and so on.

One of the nice things about working with Softeq is that they point out ways that we can do things better, and that has added to the quality of the work. In some ways, we’re getting a little free design advice out of them, rather than just doing everything exactly by the book.

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

I can’t really think of anything off the top of my head. When we did our internal review of them a couple of weeks ago, everybody at that meeting was hard-pressed to find any negatives. Internally, they’re one of the few contract programmers that we’ve ever given an A rating to.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We're a global sportswear manufacturing company with tens of thousands of employees.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m the digital innovation lead for our athletic training group.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Softeq?

I had a previous history with them. In all of my research jobs throughout the companies I’ve been worked with, my strength is proof of concept. This was a forward-looking proof of concept project that demonstrates some sort of upcoming technology that will be in the marketplace six months to a year from now. I tried to do a proof of concept on development kits, or the latest technology to show upper management what is coming. PowerPoint decks just don’t do it. You really need to have it running on a tablet or a smartphone to give them a feel for what it's going to be like. This is true across all the companies I work with.

Softeq came to my attention because it was highly referred by colleagues at Nvidia who have known their principle [CEO Chris Howard] for 20 or 30 years. They said, "This guy's good. You’re lucky if you can work with him." He's expanded into Belarus, which was a plus for us because I felt they were more protective of Internet protocol than some other countries. In India, there's a lot of job hopping.

I started working with him at Nvidia. They did a great job. They were on time, under budget. They over-delivered. It was great. If you asked them to do a little bit more, they did it and added some extra features for no extra charge because they were under budget. They did a fixed-price bid, and said they didn’t use up all the hours and asked if we wanted anything else. That kind of honesty and integrity in service has been fantastic, and their price is great, too. It's competitive with any other overseas outsourcing firm. I found them to be a fantastic partner to do these proof-of-concept projects with, for the past two years.

SOLUTION

What was your process for selecting Softeq?

A colleague at my last company recommended them, someone I trust who's been in the industry for years. He's a senior guy who I asked about my proof-of-concept needs, and he said they were great professionals. He told me I would be lucky to work with them. That’s how I got engaged with Softeq.

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

Each engagement is under $100,000, but we've clearly gone into the hundreds of thousands with them at this point. Projecting forward, if things go well, we will hit the seven-figure mark in the new two years. I don’t know what the percentage of their resources that we're taking, but they always seem to have enough for what we need.

When was the latest milestone completed for that work?

We have multiple projects going with them. They each have stop dates, but we always roll into something new. I think we have two or three active projects with them. One ended, and we're starting another one now. We have two others that are active. It's a constant engagement with them. We have a master service agreement with them, and we just send them the work. We're on number 10 or 11 at this point. They’ve been fantastic.

They work across our company, it's not just my division. I work across the company. I have a home base in one particular part of the company. I help each division with their technology needs looking forward in terms of what they want to present to the customer. I brought Softeq with me every step of the way, and they’ve done multiple projects throughout the whole company. I have a lot of trust in them.

Have you been able to meet with them in person?

No. But that's a goal for 2014 because we may elevate them to a new level of service inside of what we're trying to do. That requires an inspection. We may go over there sometime in 2014 because we need to install our IT equipment at their office with our IT people.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

For me, their team lead just gets it. I only have to tell him once, and he totally understands what I’m trying to tell him. We have very good communication with him. He turns around and explains it to his people in Minsk. The Minsk engineers speak English good enough so that we can communicate, and Chris [Howard, Softeq’s CEO] jumps in to clarify when he needs to.

In terms of communication, even though they’re overseas and Russian is their second language, and English is their third, the communication is better than what I’ve had even with Indian outsourcing firms. That’s one thing I’ve noticed that has been great. The stability in the workforce has been a plus. We’ve been working with the same people for the last three years. We don’t have to bring new people up to speed, and it's always the same folks.

I think that combination, especially the stability, has garnered a lot of confidence within our group. We can keep working with them. We know the team. We’ve built a working relationship with them through emails and telephone, and we’ve sent them a thank you gift – things like that. Softeq puts in the extra work, and really tries to build a deep relationship with their clients. By the end of our project they were anticipating what our problems and needs were going to be, and this allowed us to move much faster. That’s what makes them special compared with other firms that I’ve worked with, where you’re always  working with new people each time.

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

If they could explain the QA process a little but better, that would have helped us out in one instance. Perhaps they can be more proactive in showing what their software development process is. They may have assumed that I knew more than I did. That could be it, and could be their standard working process, that they explain it a little bit more. Maybe that’s something that they could be a little bit better at up front.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We provide asset tracking solutions to major brands and retailers globally.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Softeq?

We hired Softeq to build our custom firmware for our sensors and provisioning app.

What were your goals for this project?

The solution needed to implement firmware on a large number of sensors in a reliable manner.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We interviewed many potential suppliers.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We provided the proprietary business requirements and they implemented them.

What was the team composition?

2 developers were involved as well as a project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've shipped millions of asset trackers.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We worked well together to deliver the solution in a timely manner.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their responsiveness to issues and concerns is great. Additionally, they have deep technical expertise.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There are always areas to improve.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner and CEO of JDisc. We are a software company focused on network discovery software.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Softeq?

UI Redesign

What were your goals for this project?

Find a new design for our UI to make it easier for our customers to use our software

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We are already using recources from Softeq

Describe the project in detail.

Goal is to redesign our fat client software and create an intuitive to use web based user interface with a modern design.

What was the team composition?

I was working on the team to provide details about the functionality and Dmitry was working on the team from Softteq to do the actual design.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We got a pretty cool design proposal with a professional looking user interface.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We were in close contact with Softeq (usually 3-4 times a week)

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They have skilled employees that quickly understand our needs and provide an excellent solution.

Are there any areas for improvement?

It was a bit difficult for Dmitry to understand our complex domain (highly complex data centers and their components).