Spiralogics

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Product Owner at a consumer electronics firm. Our product ecosystem—including our app, wearable, and sports sensors — empowers athletes to sustain peak performance with real-time glucose data.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We are a new company building out our tech ecosystem. We needed Quality Assurance engineers to test our mobile applications, hardware device, and website.

This project required specialized talent to:

• Quickly learn our brand and scientific and physiological concepts
• Understand, test, and communicate requirements for partner SAS integration and code encryption
• Produce a final, premium product on a tight timeline across multiple languages and regulatory requirements.

SOLUTION

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

We chose Spiralogics based on past projects and cost estimates. On a previous project, we worked with and experienced their team's professionalism first hand.

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

Their Quality Assurance engineers utilized multiple technologies and platforms to test our mobile applications on:

• Both iOS and Android
• An integrated hardware device
• Website.

We started with a vision in October 2019, delivered the first iteration in July 2020, and launched the beta version in September 2020. The final products will go live in December 2020.

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

We started with 2 Quality Assurance Engineers, eventually scaled up to 4, and will likely increase that number going forward.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Through our trial program, our partner athletes all rave about the design and functionality of the app. A very complex undertaking has been made simple and flawless. See for yourself: https://www.supersapiens.com/en-US/products/

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

We had daily standups with the QA team. They met all timelines, no matter how tight. Communication was very efficient even across time zones—we utilized video calls, Slack, and email.

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

They took the extra effort to learn:

• Brand guidelines
• Design requirements
• Language style
• Industry-specific jargon
• Concepts

Their over-communication with our team ensures that everything stays on track.

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

The only criticism (not even major) is that the whole QA team knew the brand as if they were on the founding team and still requested permission to log certain bugs/hotfixes.

Early on, I appreciated this, yet it got relatively annoying since I knew we were completely aligned on the project and they did not need to get clearance on minor things like that... extremely happy that this is my only 'negative' feedback.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Todd Furneaux, CEO of AdKaddy. We give our users a new consumer email address to help organize their consumer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Spiralogics?

We hired Spiralogics to rebuild our app from a hybrid base to native applications. We have since staffed up with them to build out a team that has executed all technology builds for the company.

What were your goals for this project?

Move from a hybrid application to native applications as well as continued sprints to build out additional features and functionality in the app.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Interviewed multiple vendors in Atlanta and Off-shore.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We have multiple frontend engineers, backend engineers, and QA's that round out our entire engineering team for AdKaddy.

What was the team composition?

We have multiple frontend engineers, backend engineers, and QA's that round out our entire engineering team for AdKaddy.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Spiralogics brings incredible speed, organization, price, and expertise to deliver projects that go above expectations. This pace and professionalism has helped us move faster and deliver functionality in a greater way to our user base.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management is impressive from the very beginning and going through highly effective communication until each project is complete. They have extensive experience to help guide us on what resources are needed to be successful.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their pricing is highly competitive and their engineers are extremely effective. I am impressed by the quality of talent for the price.

Are there any areas for improvement?

none that come to mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re the Archdiocese of Los Angeles, which is the Catholic Church here in LA. We encompass nearly 10,000 miles, including the counties of  Los Angeles, Ventura, and Santa Barbara. I work with the Department of Catholic Schools as the deputy superintendent of elementary schools. There’s a superintendent of all of the schools, and I focus specifically on the elementary schools. There about 214 schools, 50,000 children, 4,000 teachers, and 215 leaders who run those sites.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Spiralogics?

We hired them to create a platform that would serve as a digital database for qualitative and quantitative data collection and aggregation.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The goal was to create a repository of some key demographic information within our organizations. Academic, testing, and financial information would also be stored there. In addition to those metrics, we wanted to include qualitative data that would include things like calls from parents and other systemic information.

That way, we’d have a one-stop-shop for everything that was going on within each of our parish school sites for our team’s access. Their team was crucial in our meeting that goal and figuring out that information for ourselves. 

What is the team composition?

I was working directly with a CEO and lead programmer. There were about four people working with us directly, but I know there were much larger teams providing the development and coding work in the background. 

How did you come to work with Spiralogics?

We identified about six entities that could build a piece of software like this from the ground up. After that vetting process, they seemed like a good, honest team that could fly the plane as we were building it. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $75,000–$100,000 on their services. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in August 2017, and our collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t have many statistics, but our team had embraced this technology in our workflows. We’re continuing to build and utilize the solution. 

How did Spiralogics perform from a project management standpoint?

We had weekly or as-needed check-in calls. In addition to that, we used the G-Suite to create collaborative sheets. That allowed them to clarify their capacity to undertake certain projects. We would discuss those changes in our calls. Overall, it was a nice workflow.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

They allowed us to feel our way through the project. They didn’t demand that we knew exactly what we wanted from the start. They offered us a lot of flexibility with our goals throughout the project. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have anything specific. Some of the features we tried out weren’t great fits, but that’s all part of the process. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s a safe and intelligent endeavor to review and vet what you find in the contract. There will always be some gray areas with what’s included and additional within your spending with a company. Be forthright and thoughtful in outlining what you want in additional pieces ahead of time so you aren’t surprised with the cost later.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of education technology for a religious institution in Los Angeles. We work to serve close to 270 Catholic, non-public elementary and secondary schools. We cover three counties, the Los Angeles, Santa Barbara, and Ventura counties, and we serve close to 80,000 students. The function of our office is to ensure viability, sustainability, and growth for all of those schools.

My particular job is to articulate a vision for utilized technology to support student learning and growth. That is, to engage in strategic planning, both at the organizational level as well as the individual school level, to handle training and professional development in pursuit of those goals and that vision, to procure funds, resources, etc., and to conduct assessment and evaluation of activity of our initiatives.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Spiralogics?

Our organizational challenge was ensuring aggregation of the key data points as they relate to the key areas of operation for our schools. We have a number of different data sources that we use to inform and support our relationships with our schools. But, we wanted to have some sort of storehouse and platform that allowed us to aggregate the most salient data points in order to support schools. In addition, we wanted to be able to power schools to report and share those data points, to drive continuous improvement with various stakeholders.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were looking to develop a BI [business intelligence] system to aggregate those key data points. We wanted to make sure that it aggregated from a couple of different databases, that it was able to do so on a regular basis, and that it was able to generate reports using the aggregated data sets. Right now, they’re preset data points and display types.

We also wanted the ability to support new users at different permission levels, and we wanted to make sure that the platform had a responsive design so it could work across different platforms and devices.

We also wanted to be able to run reports on a per-school or multi-school basis, and the scope of that, the reporting, should be variable.

What is the team dynamic?

I interacted with the CEO and the head honcho at Spiralogics at the start of the project, to get the collaboration process going. He handed me off to their CTO. After that, I had weekly calls with the CTO and one of their off-site developers. Both of them were awesome at being responsive and flexible.

How did you come to work with Spiralogics?

We found Spiralogics through Google, so it was organic.

How much have you invested with them?

I believe we invested around $18,000 for the development costs with Spiralogics. We did have some costs to other developers for other parts of the integration.

What is the status of this engagement?

The product is finished. I think the work started in October 2015, and then we finished around May or June 2016. It was about a seven- or eight-month process. A lot of the timeline just had to do with my own capacity to meet the requirements they were looking for in terms of getting everything up.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Spiralogics asked us questions that helped challenge, refine, and make the product that we were seeking to develop a lot better, so we were really happy with the responsiveness, the support, and the expertise.

I don't have any hard, quantitative metrics that speak to the impact of the app on key performance indicators. But what I can say is that, in terms of the qualitative sense, we really took the lead on this among other systems of Catholic schools and non-public schools across the nation.

There have been a number of articles and presentations on this in Catholic education circles across the nation. That piece has been huge in terms of leading the pack. I think in our local community, a lot of our funders and the philanthropic organizations that work for Catholic schools spoke highly of the one specific reporting functionality that we developed in conjunction with them. I think that impact has been huge in terms of a qualitative sense, and in how they feel the app is usable and how they’ve been able to consolidate those key points—it’s accurate, it’s clean, it’s accessible.

All of those things I think are the immediate impact. As a central office, we’re working to ensure our own competency in using this new app, so we hope we see down the line that we can trace it to specific KPIs.

How did Spiralogics perform from a project management standpoint?

I found them highly responsive, and we communicated mostly through email. We had weekly telephone calls on Tuesdays. We were able to keep the project moving from there and hit all of our deadlines. I felt that there was a great level of communication and adequate levels of project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I thought that Spiralogics was efficient. That was what I really appreciated, just in terms of trying to balance my own projects versus working with them. I found them efficient, they were responsive, and the work was good. I really appreciated that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything they could improve. It was my first experience working with a development company and it was a positive one, so much so that we’re looking to work with them again pretty soon.

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

I think future Spiralogics customers should really think through the processes. One thing Spiralogics was good about was saying, “Think about your different kinds of users, your different kinds of processes and actions you’d want them to be able to do with whatever the development project is. You really want to sit down with your team and flesh that out.” Because we came in with a lot of detail, it’s been great.

For our second project, we’re building the plan a little bit more as we fly it, and it’s a little more difficult. So customers should really know their end users, really know the processes, and work with their team to scope them out. That makes it a whole lot smoother, because obviously you know your system, you know your processes, you know your line of business more than any development company really will. So to come in with that ahead of time is super important.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The Atlanta Area Returned Peace Corps Volunteers is a non-profit association.

I am the membership chair for the association. I manage our member database, send out reminders, and so on.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Spiralogics?

We needed to design an online database that would allow us to manage memberships. At the time, it was a rather uncommon technology. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Spiralogics created the database that helped us interface with a WordPress site. They also made the necessary links.

How did you come to work with Spiralogics?

I found Spiralogics through a personal relationship.

How much have you invested with Spiralogics?

Our initial cost was small, given that our database manages around 1,000 entries, with 1-2 tables.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Spiralogics 8-10 years ago. The bulk of the work happened at the beginning of the collaboration. We have had an ongoing relationship for updates and small modifications. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It was a successful engagement, without question. The database is being used until now, with only minor modifications that came with web browser changes. Over the years, we have been able to keep up with our membership. There are around 250 active members at any given time, with a turnover of a third or a half of that number. The database has made it easy to keep up with the constant inflow and outflow of new members in our system. It has also made it possible to maintain email contact, track dues, monitor membership expirations, and so on. In addition, Spiralogics built an easy way for us to back up data. Regardless of what happens online, we always have a failsafe system.

How did Spiralogics perform from a project management standpoint?

I liked working with our contact from Spiralogics. He was easy to get along with and there was no pushback. We simply got the work done.

What did you find most impressive about Spiralogics?

Spiralogics's team is easy to work with and are nice people. I can't judge technical capabilities very well, but the system has certainly served our purposes.

Are there any areas Spiralogics could improve?

Not from our perspective, unless Spiralogics offered services for free.

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

I advise clients to relax, put the work in Spiralogics' hands, and have it completed.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We provide case management for work compensation claims and a series of other support services to insurance providers.

What is your position?

I'm the vice president of case management.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Spiralogics?

We were looking to develop a custom documentation solution that would allow my case managers to document their work with injured workers more efficiently.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

Spiralogics was the primary programming partner of a company we had hired. They executed the vision that I had from the technical standpoint. The other company will be maintaining this software, and Spiralogics will always be in the background for changing any feature in the future. I don't know the exact number of developers involved. I didn't work directly with Spiralogics. When I would have an idea, and they didn't have an immediate answer, they'd get someone from Spiralogics on the call to talk it through.

How did you come to work with Spiralogics?

We found the other company during a conference. We were specifically looking for software development. Spiralogics was brought in subsequently to attend all our kickoff events and development meetings. They'd been vetted out by the main company, and any issues that came up were handled between themselves based on my concerns. Spiralogics were a wonderful company to work with.

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

We never paid Spiralogics directly.

What is the status of this engagement?

The work is complete. The kickoff meetings took place between June 30 and July 1 [2015], and the software was launched five months later.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The software is live at the moment. The quality of work has been far superior to anything I've seen. Out of the four software projects I've been involved with in my career, Spiralogics has stood out for their timeliness on goals and fixes. They're extremely consistent.

There was realistic level setting. If my team and I came up with an idea that could not come to fruition as I saw it, they would not string me along and explain things thoroughly. They'd propose reasonable alternatives and allow me to decide the best course of action based on our circumstances.

How did Spiralogics perform from a project management standpoint?

We had daily and weekly phone calls between our primary company, Spiralogics, and me. The weekly meetings included our local IT [information technology] and claims department. Face-to-face meetings were rare and were usually for the purpose of sketching out general ideas and brainstorming.

Is there anything Spiralogics could have improved or done differently?

There isn't. This is by far the best company I've partnered with in my many years of doing similar projects.

For anyone looking for a partner that will help him or her create a vision, Spiralogics is an excellent choice. If you explain what your business is, you can almost see their minds working on creating it. They help visualize your vision. They don't give you a "no" answer in any circumstance, they give you an alternative, and you can make your decision as the end user.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We are a third-party insurer more than anything else. We do claims insurance, worker’s comp, liability, and so forth.

What is your role and responsibilities?

Director of technology.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Spiralogics?

We were purchased a few years back by our parent company. At the time, we were focused on worker’s compensation cases more than anything else, but we needed a system to integrate into our parent company’s existing system, a claim referral system. We needed to be able to receive referrals from our parent company and work those into our system, so we were building a whole new system called Case Works. Spiralogics helped us put that in place. 

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

It was development work and we needed to be trained. We purchased proprietary software. They assisted in the customization aspect of it to make it fit what we needed it to do. Since then, they’ve served in a support role, as well as monitoring and overseeing the database. We don’t have any plans currently to stop this work. We meet weekly. We’ve gone through three different enhancement phases and, as we go forward, there will be things that we want changed in the system on a regular basis and we use them to get those enhancements in place. 

What was your process for selecting Spiralogics with which to work?

We put out feelers and our parent company referred them to us as well as one of the people that they had used in the past. It was between them and two other companies that we were going to use for this particular project, and we selected them. They provided the most cost efficient way to get things done.

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

I would have to look at that as I don’t have it here in front of me. It was a fairly huge project, at least $2 million to $3 million and that wasn’t including the software. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of the project?

The projects have all been successful in the end.

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

We weren’t tracking anything as far as metrics. We have a project plan that we use effectively now and all the projects that we asked them to do for us are included on that list. They provide the actual cost for what it would be to complete a project, big or small. I approve them or disapprove them based on cost and the time that it’s going to take to complete things. As far as metrics, nothing formal is in place.

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

I find that they’re really responsive. I can make a phone call and if it’s not answered right then, I get a response back within 10 or 15 minutes at the most. That’s the biggest thing. There are times when things are put in place or something is rolled out during the day and it gets promoted to production and it’s not functioning properly or you see something wrong with it after our initial testing if there are some additional problems that may occur, you can just pick up the phone and Spiralogics gets on it, whether they rollback the project or it gets fixed right there on the spot.

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

No. Nothing at all. I know that things happen during programming and enhancements on a regular basis, the fact that I can get those things corrected almost instantaneously is really important to me. Anything I can’t handle on my own, I can always look to them to make it happen for me. No regrets at this point at all with Spiralogics.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We are a consultant-based firm that works helps clients process the work opportunity tax credit available to medium and large businesses across the U.S. We also have a waste brokerage arm and do work in state and environmental tax credits as well.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Spiralogics?

The work opportunity tax credit is a very administrative, heavy tax credit that has some tight time frames around being able to submit paperwork into the state department of labor agencies.

There’s a 28-day deadline. Our industry has changed in the last few years: previously, state agencies would only accept manual paper forms. New laws have come into effect where they now accept e-signatures, so our entire industry has shifted from a paper-intensive industry to now one where almost all applications are filled out and submitted electronically. So, we’ve had to build out that infrastructure in a very short period of time, Spiralogics has done that for us.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

They had to manage the database and the data that’s in the system. They had to work with our team to create the processes on our Web service, based on what our processes are here internally. They created a new system from scratch.

What was your process for selecting Spiralogics with which to work?

The owner of our company had done some prior work with them and was familiar with the owner of Spiralogics.

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

We’re probably over $400,000.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of the project?

It’s an ongoing engagement to the extent that we continue to try and refine our processes here in our business, and then have them integrate those into the software. So, it’s complete in the sense that it’s fully functional, we utilize it every day, but it’s going to be an ongoing engagement probably for some years to come, as we try to continue to create improvements. 

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

I can tell you for the vast majority of our clients we’re real time in receiving the applications as opposed to getting paper copies mailed where it would take two weeks, sometimes more than a month, to receive them through the mail. It’s sped up our ability to process the paperwork here much more efficiently.

We are now able to integrate the system directly in with our partners that bring us the business. That’s probably the biggest impact on our business, from the sales perspective. We used to have independent sales agents going out and trying to solicit business. We now have these large referral partners that bring business to us, and we’re now easily able to integrate into their systems and tap into their client base that way. That’s completely changed the face of our company during the last six months to a year and moving forward.

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

They are our go-to guys to get this type of work done. I’m not only very comfortable with Spiralogic's technical abilities, it’s the ability to get the job done in a timely fashion that is so unique. They’ve been very proactive in a very short period of time while becoming very knowledgeable about what our business is and how it operates.

As far as explaining what we need out of the system, they’ve been able to not only take those ideas quickly and implement them, but it’s very much an interactive process with us on the business side and them on the development side as far as helping us improve our processes.

They often serve as business analysts who help us improve our business processes. They’re not just writing the code that produces the software, they are very actively involved in the business aspects of that. They also have dependability and reliability. Issues come up, and I can always get into contact with them, their response times have always been great.

Just overall, I couldn’t be happier. When you’re happy with what you’re getting, why go anywhere else? They get the job 100 percent done. I’ve worked with other people in the past where the project might get 90% done, which is 0% done as far as I’m concerned. I get a finished product and it’s a finished product that I can use, that I want, that’s exactly what I asked for, and there’s support backing it up.

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

I’ll be honest, I’m not sure there’s much right now that I feel that they could do much better. I’m very satisfied with the product and services they’re delivering for us.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We are a medical case management company. What that means is if somebody gets injured on the job, the insurance company or self-insured employer will contract us to manage the case for [him or her].

Our nurses will go with the injured party to all the doctor visits. If they need transportation, we arrange transportation. They sit in with the doctors to make sure that they’re getting the appropriate care, and that the doctor isn’t just writing prescriptions or more physical therapy visits than what is necessary.

For a specific type of injury, we know how many physical therapy visits typically get the injured party back to work. We want to make sure that the doctors and hospitals don’t over-treat employees and cause the costs to be higher than necessary.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am director of IT [information technology]. I’m in charge of all IT-related systems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with Spiralogics?

They developed our core operating system. We went from doing everything on paper, hand typing, or handwritten forms, to having a complete system that manages our medical case management position.

We’ve been with them for 10 or 11 years now, it’s gone through much iteration, and they’ve developed along the way. One thing about Spiralogics is they understand our business model. We are able to bounce ideas off them, and they will tell us whether it really makes business sense to do that, and they show us why. They really understand the business side, not only the technical side.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

They provide design, front-end and backend, consulting, and training. They’re full service for us.

What was your process for selecting Spiral Logics with which to work?

That was prior to my tenure with the company. I think the owner of the company brought in three or four different groups and told them what he wanted, and Spiralogics had the best vision.

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

It goes through the whole gamut of hours, depending on the size. We’ve had up to eight-month complex implementations, when we’re dealing with one of customer’s systems and getting their development team to work with ours. It could be as small as 10 to 20 hours per month, we’ve done all kinds of implementations with them. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of the project?

Currently, the work is ongoing. They’re more of a partner than a vendor. There are no plans to end the partnership.

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

The biggest statistic is on time and cost. Their timeliness is impeccable. I can’t say that anybody is 100 percent, but they’re right at 99.9 percent on time. We have never exceeded budget with them, their cost when they quote is pretty much dead-on.

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

They’re our development group, and we have a managed service group that is a third party that we utilize as well. The difference is that they do what it takes to correct any problems, to make sure the system is running top-notch. They’re not necessarily going to charge us for every single phone call. They’re more interested in making sure the product that they’re providing is the best out there. The truly are a top-notch group.

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

Nothing comes to light.