SOLTECH

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I lead Precept as the CTO. We’ve been in ministry for over 52 years in 190 countries with 90 languages worldwide. As a ministry, we utilize inductive Bible study techniques to allow people to read God’s word and understand what God is saying to them through the Bible.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SOLTECH?

We wanted to start a digital transformation within the organization. Specifically, we wanted to reach a new generation with our products. To do this, we needed to build an application to teach and meet people where they are in their journey in life so they can have their own experience with God.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially looked at SOLTECH to build the app for iOS and Android in a technology stack that could be extensible and standardized to develop our future products off it. First, we completed extensive research on the marketplace and the group. We wanted to connect and help them understand the business case.

SOLTECH has been able to process the project; they understand the data and the application we want to build. We’ve presented them with our high-level architecture and some rough base code.

Currently, we’re doing a staged rollout to ensure the systems will operate with the volume we anticipate.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with eight teammates. However, we’ve transitioned into a continued maintenance team, going from eight to two people to support the app.

How did you come to work with SOLTECH?

We went through a complete round of research. First, we selected ten vendors and built an internal scorecard to drop them down to five. Then, we did a technical and functional RFP; we discussed it with those five vendors and reduced them to three. SOLTECH was one of those final three companies.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $1.8 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began our partnership in September 2022, and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our senior leadership team and board of directors are very thankful for SOLTECH’s engagement. They’re a very intentional partner; they listen to us and are flexible in their approach to help us achieve our objectives. Overall, we’re thankful to be on their team.

How did SOLTECH perform from a project management standpoint?

Linda (Project Leadership) is a solid project manager. She’s helped us ensure we keep the lines of communication open and stay as close to schedule and budget as possible. In fact, we’re very happy with the budget side. We’ve had some things come up, but SOLTECH’s team has stepped up and done a phenomenal job of delivering.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review? 

Johannes (Application Architect), Daniel (Project Lead), and Renso (Solutions Architect) have been very helpful.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Every one of their team members practices active listening, which is a lost art. Active listening is crucial to understanding and empathizing with what we’re trying to do as a business. SOLTECH understands our goals and where we want to move forward with the product.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Although they’ve brought creative solutions to the table, we’d like to see the options sometimes. However, we know the project was time-boxed and compressed, so maybe they do this in regular practice. Due to the time we had to work through the project, we didn't have the option.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You should know where you want to go upfront. You want to make sure that they can be focused and deliver what you need. They will have questions that need to be answered, things that will come up, and the need for solutions. If you’ve tactfully relayed a direction to them, they’ll be solid partners.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Chief Information Officer of NetSoft, Inc.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Our company is a Laboratory Information System vendor selling our own custom software.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire SOLTECH to accomplish?

• Help us redesign and rewrite our legacy software for the cloud.
• Help us find high quality candidates for employment.

SOLUTION

How did you find SOLTECH?

Online Search

Why did you select SOLTECH over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location

How many teammates from SOLTECH were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

SolTech aided the NetSoft team in a complete re-design and re-write of their legacy IntelliPath application. SolTech aided NetSoft by: 

1. Creating a visual design (wireframes or comps) for the key user interface screens of the application that are easy for users, both non-technical and technical, to review and understand. The design will also include specifications for non-visual features like underlying business logic and external system integrations. 
2. Recommending underlying technology that would best fit the application 
3. Creating stories that the developers could use to create each module in the application 
4. Assigning SolTech developers to the project to complete the stories as needed to supplement NetSoft staff

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

SolTech provided a detailed scope of work that outlined each step of the project and reported back to us as each step was completed.

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

SolTech did a great job of keeping the project moving and making sure that they met the exceptions for each step of the project. They met with us every day to track the status of the project and made sure that everyone, both SolTech and NetSoft resources, stayed on track and discussed and resolved any blockers that were encountered during the process.

What was your primary form of communication with SOLTECH?

Virtual Meeting

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

SolTech is very pleasant to work with. They are a large successful company that had experience in large complicated projects like ours and had the ability to complete such a complex project with excellence. Their developers are extremely professional and very conscientious about doing their work with excellence and on time.

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

No, we were very pleased with SolTech and their work.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP of Strategic Management of Seed Company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Facilitate Bible Translation around the World.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire SOLTECH to accomplish?

• Increase Velocity of current team
• Identify talent for long term hire

SOLUTION

How did you find SOLTECH?

Online Search

Why did you select SOLTECH over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit

How many teammates from SOLTECH were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Assist our in-house Software Development Team in building and scaling several i software applications and integrations.n-house

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Increased production output from the Software Development team
• feature releases and continued build-out of the software.

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

We did not utilize their project management team but rather contracted Senior Developers and UI/UX designers to integrate into our team. However each of the team members brought in has

1. fit our technical needs,
2. fit our culture and style of working and
3. increased both the technical competencies and velocity of the existing team.

What was your primary form of communication with SOLTECH?

Virtual Meeting

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

The stand out most impressive thing about SOLTECH is that they listened and learned. They took the time to understand what our needs were as an organization and then worked to determine how they could assist with that.

They were not trying to "sell" us a pre-determined package or service that aligned with them but strove to meet our needs. Throughout the whole process, they've continually communicated, asked questions, and made adjustments. SOLTECH's service is extremely impressive!

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

Honestly, there is nothing I can think of at this time. Each time any issue came up it was quickly addressed and resolved.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the SVP of Human Resources of OneTen

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

OneTen’s mission is to hire, promote and advance one million Black individuals who do not have a four-year degree into family-sustaining careers over the next ten years. We take a skills-first approach, focusing on competencies, in an aim to close the opportunity gap and ignite potential for generations to come.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire SOLTECH to accomplish?

• Hire a three critical IT roles
• Fill the positions as quickly as possible
• Identify candidates that align with our company culture and mission

SOLUTION

How did you find SOLTECH?

Worked with them previously in another role

Why did you select SOLTECH over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned
• Great experience from working together previously

How many teammates from SOLTECH were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

We need to hire three positions for our internal IT department. Director of Information Technology, Managing Director of UX/UI and Technology Quality Manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Time to fill and quality of hire

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

They were very communicative and delivered strong candidates quickly. They were also very open to feedback.

What was your primary form of communication with SOLTECH?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I love how personable everyone is; makes my job so much easier and they really work to build trust.

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

No; everything was above and beyond expectations.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the international project manager for Mercy Ships.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SOLTECH?

We were having challenges in finding the right biomedical technicians. Part of our job requirements includes that each candidate must have previous biomedical experience within a hospital and is willing to travel.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SOLTECH handles our IT staffing needs. They’ve helped us identify and screen potential candidates, coordinate interview processes, and facilitate all the initial employment paperwork. They’re also in charge of the initial onboarding process.

What is the team composition?

We work with three people from their team.

How did you come to work with SOLTECH?

We searched on the internet for companies that could help us with our staffing problems. SOLTECH was one of the names that came up, so we reached out to them via their contact page.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $60,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in June 2022, and our engagement is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve hired two resources, and they’ve been a great fit for our organization. Overall, SOLTECH has done a good job of identifying qualified individuals quickly.

How did SOLTECH perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management style is great. They’ve done exactly what they said they were going to do. Also, their communication skills have been excellent, and no unanticipated issues have come up. We interact through phone and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their responsiveness is impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve on?

I can’t think of anything. We’re extremely happy with their services.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just be open and honest about your needs. SOLTECH will do the best they can to meet your needs.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Easy Vote Solutions, a company that provides software solutions to the elections industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SOLTECH?

We were looking to supplement our existing development team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SOLTECH works closely with our team to discover requirements, create wireframes, and walk through the development process. In each step, they provide us with updates through documents and demos of the apps, and essentially bring in expertise that we don’t currently have in-house.

They’ve released software for both iOS and Android, but I’m not sure about the technology they utilize to build our products.

What is the team composition?

We mainly work with a solutions architect, a couple of UI designers, a project manager, and developers. We also interface with the CTO

How did you come to work with SOLTECH?

Our former CTO had a previous relationship with SOLTECH and after meeting with them, we decided to move forward with them on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in March 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I can’t provide any customer satisfaction metrics at the moment but internally speaking, the staff is thrilled with the new product, and we think that our customer base is going to be very accepting of it.

How did SOLTECH perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform well from a project management perspective. We get update reports every Friday, which contain everything they’ve done on the project. They would also hold product demos every week to show us the features and functionalities they’ve implemented.

In addition, the communication between us is very proactive and thorough.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed with their professionalism, development expertise, level of customer service, and transparency.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any constructive feedback on them at this time, as we’ve had a positive experience working with them so far.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise you to be consistently communicative and have one person from your staff dedicated to driving the project with their team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a director at a company that provides application-type software for use on the Internet.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SOLTECH?

We hired them to provide coding for software requirements that we had defined.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SOLTECH provides us with custom software development. They’re working on software that provides secure and unhackable storage space in the cloud. I give them the requirements for what I want to do, and they put a package together, including design and coding. 

When they finish an iteration, their QC department goes through their work and sends it to us. We then put the package in a user acceptance test environment and report our findings. From there, they have one last cycle of correction for each iteration. 

What is the team composition?

We work with a director and a project manager. 

How did you come to work with SOLTECH?

We found them through research. After interviewing several companies, we ended up choosing SOLTECH.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent $400,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve designed an acceptance test that we’ll use to measure SOLTECH’s success when they complete the project. 

How did SOLTECH perform from a project management standpoint?

They deliver a little bit ahead of time. Although we set up budget expectations, sometimes we require changes, and those expectations shift. We usually communicate through email and phone calls. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We appreciate that all of SOLTECH’s team is onshore. Moreover, they have an excellent work ethic and are very knowledgeable in their field. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything they need to improve. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would recommend that you start with a very detailed list of requirements.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Director of Enterprise Applications for a medium sized manufacturer of residential and commercial water heating products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SOLTECH?

My company experienced a data breach last year resulting in a loss of reporting capability. We reached out to Soltech to provide us with PowerBI developers and a data warehouse architect to recover our reporting capability comprised of over 100 reports and dashboards.

SOLUTION

How did you select SOLTECH and what were the deciding factors?

We have enjoyed a long standing relationship with Soltech. Our relationship is such that Soltech was our first call when IT staff augmentation is needed as well as for permanent personnel. Soltech provides us with talented, capable, enthusiastic team members who onboard quickly and produce great results.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Our initial step was to recover the data in the data warehouse. Then we reviewed and prioritized the reporting based on the needs of our business team. The Soltech team then met with the relevant business team members, documented the requirements, built and tested the reports

How many resources from the SOLTECH team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We had six team members from Soltech comprised of 5 developers and one architect.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We planned on recovery of the reporting over 6 months and we were able to accomplish that goal.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow between our teams is seamless, and their communication is great.

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

Twice during the project, the developers were replaced. Again, this was accomplished with ease and nearly seamless for the project.

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

While this was a difficult experience for the organization, Soltech eased the recovery process and enabled us to pursue other projects while the reporting function was rebuilt.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of a startup in the legal writing field.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SOLTECH?

We were looking for an organization that could support us in programming and developing an application. Our career field isn’t technological, so we didn’t have the same type of outreach for software development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We went through everything with SOLTECH during our initial communications. We discussed all the deliverables in detail and how they could assist us in our different opportunities. Then, they gave us a complete breakdown of all the available options and set up the design. They used Code Locker.

The app is a Microsoft Word add-in; it primarily uses a Python and Ruby on Rails codebase. It integrates with Microsoft Word and allows for certain legal writing features, such as writing specific tables of content, tables authorities creation, legal citation creation, ID storage and association with tables of authorities, customized page numbering for specific court features, intertwined page numbering, and the creation of pleading or case headers.

What is the team composition?

We’ve primarily worked with four people. Ann (Business Development Director) is essentially the client communication outreach coordinator. Scott (Project Lead) is the manager; he oversees the developers. Finally, we have a senior developer and Prince (Software Engineer), who is more of an associate developer.

How did you come to work with SOLTECH?

They were a complete hiring coordinator. They screened individuals for us, provided us with LinkedIn’s relevant experience, and so forth. We met with them to ensure they were a good fit for the project and that we could work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $125,000–$150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began our partnership in November 2021, and it’s still ongoing. We’re currently exploring the possibility of either maintaining or hiring the team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

SOLTECH has completely developed the MVP. It’s user-ready, so we can list and launch it on the Microsoft App Store, which is the best metric.

How did SOLTECH perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management has been perfect. They allow us to be as involved as we need. For example, we can access the daily sprints or anything else if we want to. However, we don’t need to because Scott takes care of everything so we don’t have to worry about it. Instead, we provide feedback, testing, and overall guidance on the project. We say what we need for the MVP, look at specific features, and detail how we would change them or possibly delay them.

We primarily use Jira for project management. For communication, we mainly use Zoom, emails, and phone calls. We have weekly meetings via Zoom, and we occasionally do more if necessary. Since the feedback is usually a couple of pages, we didn’t establish a Slack channel.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Right off the bat, their ability to take the project from the ground up is outstanding. They were one of the only companies we talked to that could go from initial designs all the way to MVP launch and even do employment placement afterward. We didn’t rely on them just to build something; they could find our own programmers and developers.

Also, one of the biggest compliments I’d give them is that they were absolutely transparent on pricing. They initially gave us the exact range of what it would cost and the breakdown.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re pretty good at everything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Reach out to them and see what they can do.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

The non-profit Brain Tumor Network provides free oncology Nurse navigator services to brain cancer patients seeking second opinions, clinical trails and other support services. I am a board member assisting on various operational initiatives.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Soltech, and what were your goals?

We contracted SOLTECH to stand up the Salesforce platform for our patient relationship management and workflow processes. Our goal was to create a platform for complete visibility into patient's medical history and easily interact across our unaffiliated network of medical institution resources. SOLTECH also customized a clinical matching protocol leveraging clinical trials.gov for easy navigation within Salesforce.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

SOLTECH was one of several firm recommended by our Salesforce contact. Their program schedule and cost were competitive and key programmers brought unique familiarity to our use case based on prior experience with other organization.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

SOLTECH worked through a thorough project scoping phase working with nurse navigator to identify requirements, optimize user interfaces, migrate data from a legacy system, integrate third party tools such as Conga and conduct training.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with one primary Salesforce platform developer, two software developers for the clinical trial matching algorithm and a project manager. SOLTECH management was engaged and readily available as needed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Primary measurable outcome was a timely successful launch of the Salesforce platform.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Weekly project status meeting tracked open issues and performance to budget.

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

They have excellent Salesforce knowledge with particular familiarity in our industry field. Good knowledge of Salesforce support tool and add-ons. Excellent senior management engagement.

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

Training was somewhat unstructured but given the relatively small size of our user base, placing a lot more effort into refinement probably would not have been productive.