Solved

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior bridge design engineer at McCall Engineering Ltd. Our consulting company manages bridge evaluations for the transportation industry across the province. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Solved?

We needed to develop an app to track the overloads that travel across British Columbia. We have a contract with the ministry of transportation to issue approvals for haulers to travel across the province.  Routes can include up to 20 bridges with different crossing restrictions. We’d been getting complaints that haulers weren’t complying with these regulations.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Solved developed our app to send relevant crossing restrictions to haulers’ smartphones when they approach a bridge. It indicates their crossing speed and exact timestamps as they enter and exit. Based on how they cross, it sends information that shows whether they complied with the rules. They’ve completed the Android app and have offered to build the iOS version when we’re ready.  

They also developed a web page with a portal where we can enter information. We can create accounts for all our clients, including the government. Once they’re set up, haulers receive a text message and email with a link to log in and complete their profiles. When users travel, the GPS system assigns them an ID we can track live on the map. Employees from our office can assign crossing restrictions and send approvals. 
 
What is the team composition? 

I coordinated with one project manager from Solved. We communicated on an as-needed basis. 

How did you come to work with Solved?

My nephew who lives in the UK talked to Solved and introduced me to their company.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent £50,000 (about $65,700 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January–April 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I was very impressed by how accurately Solved interpreted our requirements. Our needs were so unique we’d been a bit skeptical that they could deliver. We were delighted when they succeeded within 3-4 months. The software is very slick and functions exactly how we wanted. While users might feel frustrated the app lets us police behaviors they used to get away with, the ministry is definitely happy with the outcome. 

Even though we’re still in the process of fully developing our app, we’re already seeing the benefits. We were pleasantly surprised with all the extra capabilities. We only asked Solved to address one specific challenge, but their final product solved many other overload and oversight problems. It even specifies clearance issues when a vehicle is too tall for an underpass. Being able to track haulers has eased our concerns about bridge compliance. 

How did Solved perform from a project management standpoint?

It was a seamless process. The project manager was highly experienced. We Skyped and shared screens to communicate. They even offered to visit us to give a presentation on the work they’d completed.  

At their proposal, we held a webinar which worked like a charm. Within an hour or two, they walked us through the entire software. It has so many features that I was impressed by how much they accomplished within such a short time span. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Solved is very professional, and the quality of the work they’ve done is remarkable. They offered a very reasonable cost compared to the competition. Despite my reservations, they grasped all our problems and translated a solution into a fully developed app. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I reached out to Solved through word of mouth. If they were more visible online, it would be easier for potential clients to find and reach them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

For any project to be successful, it’s critical to communicate your needs. I admired how receptive Solved was to our demands. They asked us clarifying questions to pinpoint exactly what we meant. Once they fully understood our problem, they came back with a prototype that displayed it outstandingly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior principal of a small service provider company. I handle one of our large contracts with a payment services company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Solved?

We needed someone who was qualified to help with frontend migration and understood the new technologies involved.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We primarily needed them to update an existing platform that was running on the Google Web Toolkit. We needed to update it to a more thin-client approach using Angular.js, which our in-house team wasn’t familiar with but was withinSolved’s area of expertise. They fleshed out the initial architecture and approach, then assisted with the implementation.

When we first started the project, we thought we’d only need Solved to consult with us regarding the Angular integration. Based on my previous experience with frontend projects, I wanted to ensure that we got our approach right from the outset to avoid major delays or unforeseen problems. Solved did some proof-of-concept work initially and provided us with a tangible example to look at so we could decide if we had the correct approach.

Based on the quality of what they provided, we ended up bringing them in to help with development as well, in case we ran into any major technical challenges. The platform they worked on is a frontend to a fulfillment service that doesn’t have any external interactions for the users. We built a platform in front of that one in order to give external users the capability to interact directly with the platform via a web service interface.

The project was a phased implementation, replacing an existing platform with updated technologies. We ran both systems simultaneously, then migrated the technologies to the new platform piece by piece. The whole process took around two years to complete.

What is the team composition?

We handled the project management in-house and worked directly with a couple of their developers.

How did you come to work with Solved?

We already knew of their owner and their reputation for frontend work. Once we had a project that suited their expertise, we approached them and asked if they’d like to undertake the work.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost was between £100,000–£120,000 (approximately $130,000–$155,000).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in early 2015 and wrapped up in 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their expertise allowed us to bring in a kind of business we wouldn’t have been able to handle otherwise. Not only did they provide us with great consulting, but they also helped us all the way through the implementation as well.

How did Solved perform from a project management standpoint?

The process was remarkably smooth. Even though we’d initially hired them to help with proof-of-concept, they went a step farther and developed something we could actually use—and with a reasonably good turnaround time, considering that they were squeezing it in around other work. They did well at responding to us in a timely fashion.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Our initial contact was quite knowledgeable, not only about the technologies involved, but also from an implementation perspective. This is something I’ve found lacking with other contractors. The team at Solved gave us a lot of confidence in their abilities early on, which motivated us to bring them in as more than a consulting partner.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s a small company, but they’re growing quickly had have picked up some larger, impressive contracts recently.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Our initial contact there was someone we knew, so the early stages of the project were more informal. This isn’t indicative of their professional abilities; they work hard and are quick to turn things around.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an IT project delivery manager for Mastercard.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Solved?

At the time, we wanted to replace all of our existing applications with a single platform that’s fully responsive.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Solved built a customer-facing portal for selling our cards. The technology stack included AngularJS, HTML, and CSS on the client side, with Scala and Play Framework on the backend. Solved also did integrations with our APIs at the time. Since then, our internal team has started to decommission other components and integrate them into Solved’s architecture.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two developers and two testers.

How did you come to work with Solved?

We manage a list of outsourcing providers, and Solved was the most suitable company on the list for this job.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around £70,000 (approximately $95,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Solved from April–December 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Solved did an amazing job in terms of scalability. They helped us design the whole application the way we wanted it. Overall, the portal is doing well. In fact, we’ve gotten positive feedback from users.

How did Solved perform from a project management standpoint?

Our contact is an efficient person. He was there for us whenever we needed it. We used Fusion Projects for task management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were quite punctual in meeting deadlines. Plus, the team was welcoming toward changes in the requirements.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they were fine.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Solved is a capable company, so I believe clients are in safe hands.