Software Planet Group

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Xenon Partners is a private equity company specializing buying and selling SaaS companies. I'm the CTO of one of these portfolio companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Software Planet Group?

We hired a number of senior software engineers to augment our software development team.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal of the project was maintain and enhance our current software platforms.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

N/A I wasn't personally involved in the selection.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The team was involved in all aspects of development, working in Java and Rails.

What was the team composition?

The team consisted of three senior developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The team successfully implemented features for customers and web site improvements that improved our SEO traffic.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We performed the project management.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The team is always very willing to work on any part of the technical stack. The engineers are very proactive and diligent.

Are there any areas for improvement?

none, my experience was very positive.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I run the technology and engineering team for a large multinational hospitality company that owns and operates restaurants, nightclubs, day clubs, and a few hotels around the world. My team handles internal software apps, web applications, websites, and mobile software.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Software Planet Group?

We were looking for more resources and we didn’t necessarily want to commit to full-time hires. A partner like Software Planet Group would allow us to work with their resources as we need to throttle up or down, which often happens dramatically here.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They individually tackle software development projects for us. At this point, they’ve handed the whole cornucopia of web development projects: iOS, Android, browser-based, cloud computing, data warehousing, etc. Originally data warehousing was a challenge, but we climbed that mountain together. The team operates very independently, using their own project manager, HR management, and sometimes even translators to smooth out miscommunications. 

They focus on both internally and consumer-facing projects. We originally assigned them to an operations software for our venue operations teams. At the time, we were running into trouble with the iOS ticket check-in system for our nightclubs, which I personally built. They nimbly built the in-house software, adding significant new features and functionalities. So, I decided to keep them on for bigger projects like our customer-facing ticket store that processes millions of dollars a month. Software Planet Group also created a software that allows club hosts to drag and drop reservations onto tables. These are all custom developments, built specifically to be integrated into our legacy code.

What is the team composition?

We’ve scaled up and down in the past, but we currently work with four developers and one project manager. There are also several people working in the background, including consultants and translators.

How did you come to work with Software Planet Group?

At the time, I was a little flush with the budget and overhired contractors on the freelance market. I ended up keeping the highest performers, and their developer was incredibly productive. They’re the only company I’ve continued to work with over those six years.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $1,300,000 over the course of our partnership.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have an ongoing relationship that started in May 2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In my book, Software Planet Group has never failed a project and drives success for our company. Everything they do is mission-critical. For instance, if our ticket store when down for just a few hours, it could cost hundreds of thousands of dollars. We rely on them to stay on top of things like that. 

At our organization, they’re known for being insanely productive. If we give them an assignment, we know it’ll be completed on our end before we’re even ready to review it. That’s really why we keep coming back year after year.

How did Software Planet Group perform from a project management standpoint?

They manage themselves. I never have any complications with communicating or management because I’m able to be very hands-off. Their team truly works in agile scrum developments—they self-organize. Everything is handled on their end, and it's only a matter of approving their work for me. 

Despite their independence, we’ve learned a lot from them about organizing sprints through Jira and other project management tools. Working with them has been easy because of their willingness to use our preferred communication channels. We typically collaborated over email, which we suggested. Not all contractors will accommodate a client’s communication styles, but they never hesitated.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Even when we cycle developers in an out of our project, their team knows our business so well that I don’t have to worry about training them. They deliver so much success without requiring hardly any management on my end. As stakeholders, we’re not dealing with any fine details. This is the ideal way of working for us. It’s a very simple, clean relationship. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

About five years ago, we had communication issues with one of their developers, but the problem was completely corrected as soon as we gave them feedback. That was the last time we had the slightest complaint about them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communicate your goals clearly from the start, so they can better deliver exactly what you need.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We launched our first communication services over 20 years ago and back then we specialized in services which helped businesses to reduce customer abandonment and increase sales. These days we still provide similar technology, but we’ve also developed a huge range of other services designed to improve businesses’ internal and external communications and speed-to-answer.

Because we believe that effective and reliable communication is the cornerstone of any successful business, we employ highly robust, fault-tolerant, Service Oriented Architecture (SOA), across our network. We have a proven track record of delivering outstanding services and solutions in line with strict SLAs. I'm one of the senior managers overseeing the further development of our offering.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Software Planet Group?

We were looking for experienced development candidates that could not only develop and enhance our services, but those that could drive discussions with senior personnel within the business in regard to trade-offs, best practices, and risk management. Moreover, they would also have the ability to think strategically about business, services, and technical challenges and take advantage of the efficiencies, cost savings and quick innovation available in cloud communications. SPG ticked many of these boxes.

What were your goals for this project?

Continued development of the network, but also provide ongoing detailed reviews of services, disruptions, metrics, detailed pre-launch planning as well as working with the customer account management team on solving operational and tactical issues for clients.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Software vendor selection can no doubt be a stressful and time-consuming process, especially for senior managers who already have an extensive task list in a fast-paced environment. As this was a critical task for us, we took our time, did our homework and keep the goals in mind at all times. Most importantly we looked for recommendations from individuals who had worked intimately with SPG previously, on successful projects, over a prolonged period.

We then handpicked available individuals within SPG that were ambitious, intelligent, and intellectually curious. Furthermore, as we are a small business with limited personnel and time, we needed self-disciplined problem-solvers, who were respectful and straightforward with all their colleagues.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

SPG would be responsible for the coordination, management, and delivery of all technical work streams and project actions.

What was the team composition?

Assembling the right combination of people to form a high-performance development team is difficult, therefore we have a mix of people who have various levels of experience, various personalities, etc.  Most importantly for us, they are generally all hybrid types, capable of focusing specifically on areas where the projects need the most work but can handle additional tasks if and when the need arises. Further, they were also capable of hitting the ground running and working in an agile environment.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

No specific metrics to share at present.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We have our own Project Manager / Scrum Master who orchestrates the day to day, however as previously stated, all team members are also self-disciplined.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

All team members are self-starters and disciplined. They are dedicated to delivering quality, demonstrable code - no cutting corners.

They are very well managed from an SPG perspective.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is always room for improvement with even the very best teams, however we are generally very pleased with the word to date.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Academic Sequitur is an innovative online tool to help researchers stay up to date on new literature. Our users create a "research portfolio" specifying their interests, and we alert them when a new paper matching their interests is released. I am the founder and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Software Planet Group?

We had a very basic version of the website set up with very few features and no way to accept payments from users. The website was buggy and couldn't handle a lot of traffic. Essentially, it barely worked, so we knew we needed help to make it function as desired.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a stable website that could reliably and securely accept user payments. We also wanted to implement about a dozen major features to improve the user experience. We needed someone who was familiar with Java, TypeScript, SQL, and neo4j. Because the website is at the core of our business, it was essential that this project be carried out flawlessly.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We looked for developers on Upwork. We considered dozens of other candidates, including individuals and other companies. Software Planet Group stood out because of their extensive experience, excellent reviews, and the responsiveness of the management.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

I provided the vendor with basic instructions about the features I wanted (including the text of any emails), and they took charge of coding and testing them. The features were numerous. Examples include sending subscription reminders to those with expired subscriptions along with a few articles the user missed; generating author recommendations based on the authors in the users' portfolio; adding various subscription options; and improving the appearance of the user interface. Along the way, the vendor also implemented numerous performance improvements.

What was the team composition?

I mainly worked with a full-time developer and project manager, but there were others from the company who periodically stepped in to provide additional expertise. The project manager handled communication with those individuals.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I would not have a business without the work this company did. We now have hundreds of users, including over 80 paying ones. The website works well, and our users are happy!

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We communicated via email, Slack, and Skype. The project manager was very responsive on all these channels, and I never had trouble getting a hold of them. Language was never an issue and neither was the time difference.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The project manager not only supervised the developer and others who helped along the way but got involved in the project himself, checking out the data, suggesting improvements, and more. They seemed to genuinely care about the product.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I really can't think of much they could improve. We did have a few instances where problems were not caught by the developer and later discovered by me, but I think it's hard to avoid 100% of such cases.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a performance manager at Nokia. We’re a global telecommunications company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Software Planet Group?

After our company merged with two other organizations, we had four separate ERP systems. We wanted to measure our total supply chain and its performance, so we needed to establish a common reporting platform. We hired Software Planet Group to help us develop a data warehouse system to streamline our processes.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Software Planet Group is developing a big data warehouse for our company, consolidating our four ERP systems into one. Initially, we were using several tools to track registrations, customer data, product information, delivery metrics, and cycle time. Now, we’re moving toward a single Oracle-based data platform that’s connected to a reporting tool. The system is accessible via desktop devices. It’s not designed to provide fixed analytics but allows our staff to create a customized report using the platform. We’ve finished the first phase of the project, and we're currently working on the next one.

What is the team composition?

We work with a team of about seven people, including IT project managers, architects, and developers.

How did you come to work with Software Planet Group?

Our IT department had worked with them previously, and they were happy with the experience. I wasn’t heavily involved in the selection process.

How much have you invested with them?

I’m not sure.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March 2017, and it’s an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m highly satisfied with their performance. So far, we’ve consolidated two of the ERP systems, and the solution is live. The Software Planet Group is running the KPIs and assisting with target setting as we move through the project. Once everything is complete, we won’t have to spend time on manual reporting—we’ll be able to access all of the data we need with a single click.

How did Software Planet Group perform from a project management standpoint?

The team is extremely punctual. They willingly make changes at our request. They’re much more accommodating than other companies I’ve worked with in the past. Overall, Software Planet Group is flexible and supportive. In each area that we lack the knowledge or skill to come up with a solution, they provide complete support. The team has a positive attitude, eagerly approaching challenges. It seems like nothing is impossible for them. They’re an extremely helpful partner.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re perfect. Their team filled any gaps in our internal project management approach.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of any areas of weakness. This is the best experience I’ve had with an outside vendor. They’re smart and competent.

Any advice for potential customers?

I recommend partnering with their team.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO of Iron.io. We develop cloud and on-premise DevOps solutions. Two of our flagship solutions are IronWorker, a workload processing system built with Docker, and IronMQ, a fast-messaging queue built with Golang.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Software Planet Group?

We needed a vendor to help us migrate our operations from one public cloud to another for two separate projects.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to complete the migrations and the necessary testing within a specific time frame.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

A trusted source recommended them.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We provided Software Planet Group with Terraform code and custom script to inform their migration process. After a bit of research, strategizing, and benchmarking, they moved our systems from AWS to Google Cloud Platform. We worked closely with them throughout the process—from planning to execution. They followed the same process for both projects.

What was the team composition?

They provided a project manager and three developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work was successful across multiple key performance indicators (KPIs). It was a well-researched project and significantly decreased our monthly costs after it was completed.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

They provided daily updates with high-level information about the changes they were making. Consistent communication ensured we stated on target to meet our deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They’re technically proficient, delivering eloquent solutions to all of our problems. They’re a team of clever, critical thinkers.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I can’t think of anything that I would’ve changed about their service. They were absolutely fantastic.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of an AP and AR automation company. We work for clients mainly in the hospitality industry, like corporate kitchens.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Software Planet Group?

We’d recently acquired the company from its founders, so there was a lot of technical handover in that process. We tried running the software in-house, but we soon decided to outsource our integration and support needs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Software Planet Group took over our software needs for our newly acquired company. They helped us understand the systems and update some of their critical components. Primarily, the team’s role covers integration and maintenance. We have high-demand customers, so we needed to customize and modify the software to accommodate their needs. If there are any errors, a resource from Software Planet Group will handle it.

Currently, their top priority is providing support. They provide dedicated resources to correct any of our issues, update our systems, and maintain their performance. As a second priority, they develop new features for the software. We’re not focused too heavily on that right now.

What is the team composition?

We have a project manager who leads a team of developers.

How did you come to work with Software Planet Group?

We’re part of a larger organization that owns multiple companies. When we decided to look for a vendor, we asked the other companies from our portfolio for recommendations, and they’d had positive experiences with Software Planet Group.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent about $30,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2018, and it’s an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Having a single resource dedicated to our product is extremely beneficial. The Software Planet Group team understands our business, and they take the time to thoroughly investigate and research any challenge they run into. We don’t have many resources to dedicate to software maintenance, but their team is still extremely supportive and helps us keep our customers happy.

How did Software Planet Group perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great. Every developer sends a daily summary email to our key stakeholders to share their progress. They’re helping us set a series of best proactive for our internal developers in terms of project management. The team is dynamic and collaborative. We use GitHub to manage task boards and share information. There’s a scheduled developer meeting each week to discuss their work and solve any problems. Additionally, they have a very strong command over the English language.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re able to scale their team quickly. In most cases, we just need to complete the work quickly, so we’re happy with whatever resources they provide.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They have a high staff turnover rate. Many of their resources work part-time, so there’s a lot of variety in the availability of individual resources.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the co-founder and COO of Scedule, a mobile app that is designed to help businesses automate their meeting schedules.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Software Planet Group?

We hired them to develop our iOS and Android native apps for our core product service.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to engage users with a product that has high coding quality, interaction with our API, and simple software architecture. We wanted the capability to add new features to our app in the future.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We selected Software Planet Group out of 20 suppliers that applied to our request for a proposal. They were transparent throughout the interview process, allowing us to talk to all members of their proposed team. We also had an outside IT consultant help us through the selection process. In the end, SPG had the best price to quality ratio.

Describe the project in detail.

We contributed user stories, feature descriptions, user flows, and user interface designs. SPG estimated based on the user stories, improved the interface designs and took care of development. They built the iOS version with Swift and the Android version with Java.

What was the team composition?

Our team consisted of a project lead, project manager, senior developer for software architecture and API decisions, iOS developer, android developer, QA tester, and designer. The designer was only needed at the beginning of the project, while the QA started a bit later with testing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They finished the project on time, but project costs were 15% higher than initially estimated. We felt like a team with SPG and are happy with what they achieved with us.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Communication and project management were fluid and great. Both sides were very engaged and kept a constant stream of updates, even bad news was communicated early. We worked in weekly sprints and had continuous communication in Slack directly with the developers.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are unobtrusive and have the power and knowledge to fulfill your expectations, despite their lack of marketing.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They could have a more detailed approach and a better overview of software documentation, like a handbook, to make it easier for developers to work on the project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO and co-founder of a next-generation concert ticketing service. We focus on helping midsized venues and artists sell tickets while reducing their risk.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Software Planet?

We were looking for a nimble, cost-efficient engineering team who could help us develop customer-facing projects.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We generally work on month-long projects with Software Planet. One of our largest ones involved building a creation flow from scratch related to the events we host on our system. This system was designed for different sets of users.

How did you come to work with Software Planet?

We looked high and low for good engineers and found Software Planet after extensive searching. By search, I mean we literally tried out at least 20 engineers and teams by giving them short projects. We found Software Planet to be the best of the lot by a country mile. They were the best solution for the range of cost.

How much have you invested with Software Planet?

We've worked with Software Planet for 40 months, which is indicative of the cost range.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Software Planet in January 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Clients don't compliment us on the quality of an engineering product, but rather complain when it doesn't work. In general, our clients have been happy, mostly because we provide good engineering. We've been really happy with Software Planet and wouldn't change much. Overall, we're very pleased.

How did Software Planet perform from a project management standpoint?

Our CTO and co-founder managed Software Planet’s team from our office. For the money, Software Planet's team has been great. I've worked with faster engineers during my career in Silicon Valley.

Are there any areas Software Planet could improve?

Hiccups always arise, but Software Planet has been responsive. There were a few language issues, but they are typical for offshore work. We can't expect engineers to catch typos in the software. We have to QA carefully and push a little on the delivery times, but Software Planet is great. I wouldn't have given this review otherwise.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company started off by providing US tax reporting services, and we've moved on to global tax reports. We take raw data from clients and convert it into a format that can be used by regulatory agencies. I am the head of architecture for the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Software Planet Group?

We were working with a very old IBM technology, and it was nearly impossible to find experienced contractors for that particular format. For a while, we worked with a company that built printers and the software around them, but they didn't have the availability to help us for a whole year. That forced us to go looking for another supplier.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Software Planet Group initially developed a solution for converting financial data into ASP printing language files.

On a particular project, we were using 3 developers from Software Planet Group's team, working hand-in-hand with our own staff in Argentina. I typically keep a total of 6-7 people from Software Planet Group's team occupied with constant work. We use a mix of resources; the majority tend to be developers, but we also work with more senior architects from Software Planet Group during the inception and design phases. Because we work in an Agile fashion, some developers are also in charge of quality assurance. The majority of them are developers, with varying degrees of expertise.

How did you come to work with Software Planet Group?

I posted a job on what was oDesk at the time, looking for contractors from all over the world. Software Planet Group didn't claim that they knew exactly what the project entailed, but rather had an analytic approach. Software Planet Group offered to study the problem, find available material and come back to us with a realistic response. Every other contractor that bid on our project claimed to be able to get the job done in a week, which was clearly not the case. I appreciated Software Planet Group's honest approach to a very complex and risky project. They proved to be very resourceful even within that phase, finding many information resources about our format, which I didn't even know existed. Software Planet Group shared all of this with me and offered a way for approaching the project, so we came to hire them.

How much have you invested with Software Planet Group?

The total cost of Software Planet Group's services has been between $300,000 and $400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Software Planet Group 4 years ago, with one resource. We have been adding people to our team every year since then. We have been working with Software Planet Group as an extension of our development team, and we have 4-5 projects running at this time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our first project with Software Planet Group was a big hit for our company, convincing us to expand the relationship. I had no internal people who could develop that solution, even though we have a large team in Argentina. The project itself was critical for a partnership which we struck at the time. Our partner told us that generating those print files was essential for continuing the collaboration. I don't think that there were many other groups which could have achieved this, so if it wasn't for Software Planet Group, we couldn't have continued our successful partnership with the other company.

How did Software Planet Group perform from a project management standpoint?

Software Planet Group is very serious in this regard. They respected their commitments and worked efficiently. Software Planet Group rarely had to allocate extra hours. Rarely will there be a day, or week, in which we can't see progress from Software Planet Group's side. I cannot recall a time when there was a delay.

Software Planet Group is very good in terms of project management and subscribe to my idea of keeping things simple. They use Trello for project management, which allows us to see what stacks are being worked on, ask questions, and collaborate with the team. We also have Skype for corporate accounts and have assigned Software Planet Group company emails as part of our policy. We also use Upwork for recording the work done, but I don't rely too much on it anymore. I work with Software Planet Group based on trust.

What did you find most impressive about Software Planet Group?

I'm big on keeping our projects lean, so I haven't required complex processes on Software Planet Group's part. They've adapted to our needs and shown deep knowledge at an organizational level about their team's technical capacity. Software Planet Group never gave us a resource that would under-deliver, and even changed members proactively whenever they didn't perform up to standard. Software Planet Group did this on a couple of occasions, even with people who were working well enough, in my opinion.

Are there any areas Software Planet Group could improve?

It's tough to tell, overall, for the whole company. There may be some individuals that are more or less open to the needs of the client, but as an organization, Software Planet Group is a well-oiled machine. They're very capable software engineers, able to provide strong ideas. As a part of the process, we've had to convince them at times that our ideas were good. Software Planet Group is also an honest company. Whenever they saw that our approach was not the best, they told us in a very polite, educated manner.