Synaptiq

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive of Loudoun Test Prep

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

SAT/ACT Prep and Academic tutoring.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Help automate our proprietary GroupSmart process by analyzing years of student's test scores.
• Optimize our GroupSmart process using any results found in the above analysis.
• Provide any other recommendations to further automate our grouping prodess.

SOLUTION

How did you find Synaptiq?

• Referral
• Business contact.

Why did you select Synaptiq over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Synaptiq were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

We had the challenge to automate our GroupSmart process, which groups students in small-group classes based on diagnostic test scores. This was a very manual, time consuming process that becomes more cumbersome with more students. We employed Synaptiq to help analyze years of data to see if there were any trend we could take advantage of that we could not see ourselves. 

In addition, we provided much more additional information on each students, to see if other factors could help us group our students better. Using machine learning and the "effectivness" of the classes we had created, Synaptiq helped us realize how to use our own data to create "better" groups for our students.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Over the last few years, our grouping process has become much more accurate, with many fewer students having to change classes due to misplacements. We also learned that below a very exact score, group classes didn't make sense for students, so we were able to adjust our product offerings.

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

Very communicative and responsive. Synaptiq went well above expectations.

What was your primary form of communication with Synaptiq?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Extremely sharp and intelligent staff. We were always very impressed after every conversation.

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

Help more people!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Spine by Design

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a software as a medical device company focused on surgical outcomes prediction.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Create a mechanism to use computer vision to acurately pull in our imaging data
• Get a working alpha prototype of our software

SOLUTION

How did you find Synaptiq?

• Referral
• Other

Why did you select Synaptiq over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Synaptiq were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

To support this effort, five work streams were initiated:

1. Implement a DICOM processing tool to extract the images and non-identifying patient data to be processed
2. Port the pre-existing geometric functions from Matlab to Python.
3. Port the training dataset from Mimics to SuperAnnotate.
4. Implement an inference pipeline to ingest the MRI images and record the model predictions. 
5. Implement a retraining pipeline to support model improvements as new training data becomes available.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to create the alpha version of our software that we are currently using to run actual hospital data through our model. The purpose of this stage was to demonstrate that we could accurately predict the risk of reherniation with this hospital data.

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

The whole Synaptiq team was great at communication - they held weekly working meetings and communicated well with both the technical and business teams. We had a few changes that shifted the scope slightly but this process was managed well with their team. Not only did they deliver on time, our final report was great and we have detailed outline for our next steps once we have worked through our data processing with the hospitals in our pilot.

What was your primary form of communication with Synaptiq?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I found it refreshing they felt more like partners than a vendor, and they considered both our technical requirements and our business objectives.

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

I cannot think of anytime I could offer here.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Blue Bench Advisors

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We provide strategy execution and interim executive leadership for technology and operational needs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Product development and implementation for disease surveillance
• AI measurement capabilities for an ultrasound services project

SOLUTION

How did you find Synaptiq?

• Referral

Why did you select Synaptiq over others?

• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Synaptiq were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Our firm was hired to work through product development challenges with their internal team. Our client's internal team was not up to the job of identifying the data and process challenges necessary to succeed.

We hired Synaptiq as a tiger team to get us over the hump, and they shined! Creating new ways to aggregate and leverage disease information for improving health outcomes and providing epidemiologists and care managers with insights on best practices are clearest deliverables successfully delivered.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our combined team thrived! We acted as a single team to get the customer back on track. By overcoming challenges, we positioned our client to get back in good standing with their anchor client because we collectively delivered great value.

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

They absolutely completed deliverables on time! We all are true agile practitioners. Our collective willingness to prioritize and re-prioritize helped us make the right decisions and execute at a high level without feeling constrained by path dependence.

What was your primary form of communication with Synaptiq?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Innovation, creativity, and not being constrained by typical patterns or beliefs. A good example is the backend data on our main project. We were told time and again that the data model had huge performance problems.As the team looked into it, that wasn't the case. By figuring out how to avoid redesigning the backend database unnecessarily, we were able to pivot to much more value added activities.

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

Every project and organization has its challenges, and this project was no different. What I appreciate most, though, is the "growth mindset." Whenever challenges came up, we all acted like adults and addressed the challenges head on. We all take our work seriously and we're willing to be wrong. So, challenges happen. It's how you adjust and adapt that dictate the outcome.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Vice President of Technology of Healthwise

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We author and distribute patient education materials to help people understand decisions related to their own health and the health of those they care for.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Assess client's current data maturity and AI readiness
• Develop a custom roadmap (people, process, technology) for client to increase their data maturity and AI readiness
• Identify high value, high feasibility initial use-cases for AI
• Design a recommended structure for a Data Org with reporting structure and OKRs

SOLUTION

How did you find Synaptiq?

Referral

Why did you select Synaptiq over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Synaptiq were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

We've used Synaptiq in a variety of ways over the years. They've helped us look at opportunities to utilize AI and ML to gain competitive advantage. They helped us with natural language processing projects. Most recently they performed an AI readiness assessment to help us understand how we might structure and focus on getting maximum advantage from the data we have and drive data literacy in the company.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Understand gaps in data maturity - Employee surveys were very telling of challenges that leadership was blind to. 
• Recommended future next steps - Several actionable and doable next steps were provided from the outside perspective that have been helpful.

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

Synaptiq kept the work on track and focused. They kept leadership in the loop on progress and listened to our feedback. The project met our expectations based on what they had told us going into the work.

What was your primary form of communication with Synaptiq?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Synaptiq was agile to adjust to our needs as we laid out the plan for the project and our expectations. They understood our business first before trying to make recommendations from a boiler plate list. They have specialized staff in data and AI subject matters.

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

We struggled with definitions internally and I think they could have done more to create clarity. I think some of our survey results became confusing because people interpreted the questions differently.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Product of a healthcare company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Maximize the Developmental Potential for Every Child by helping parents understand their child's pediatric development and how to enhance their growth

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Create a s detecting milestones

SOLUTION

How did you find Synaptiq?

Referral

Why did you select Synaptiq over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Synaptiq were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Collect and aggregate large number of videos of children from open sources; label their milestones; create an AI model detecting the presence of milestones. For example, the milestone: 

• Sit-to-stand was able to be detected in videos using sequence of images +pose estimator. 
• Leveraged open-source software to track hands, eyes, digits and limbs to understand when the milestones were being completed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Accuracy and successful identification of milestones; large repository of labeled training data; sandbox for HITL annotation platform as a V1 of AI algorithm.

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

They were very efficient, responded to our needs quickly, and delivered full and thorough documentation.

What was your primary form of communication with Synaptiq?

Virtual Meeting

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

Values-aligned culture that really believes in our company's mission. Really felt like we were working with a true partner.

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

Higher accuracy of models, but that was data dependent on the amount of trained data we had to work with.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Chief Product and Marketing Officer of the company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Help companies overcome their HR and compliance challenges

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Build a ML-driven tool to curate elearning courses for our clients and for our internal teams
• Help us identify the internal roles we needed to maintain and grow these type of tools
• Train internal personnel

SOLUTION

How did you find Synaptiq?

Referral

Why did you select Synaptiq over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Previous experience with them

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

At a previous company, Synaptiq worked with us to convert a manual course curation process into an automated, machine learning drive tool to help our internal teams be more efficient and allow our customers to self-serve. They also helped us train our internal team to take over the tool internally.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Internal and external launch of the tool, comparable results from tool vs internal team (human workflow), feedback from clients and internal teams

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

Yes they delivered on time and joined us for marketing activities to educate our clients, others

What was your primary form of communication with Synaptiq?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

We were impressed by their ability to work side by side with us; they deliberately helped us internalize the tool after the initial launch

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

Not that I can recall

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an Executive at Snowfall Advisors

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Chronicle of Higher Education is the leading media company covering higher education.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Create the world's first ML-derived taxonomy of higher ed career and academic functions.

SOLUTION

How did you find Synaptiq?

Referral

Why did you select Synaptiq over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Synaptiq were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Us AI/ML to derive a custom taxonomy of job functions and job titles using 10 years of job board and other data. Developed a way to automatically apply job category and titles to incoming job postings.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Created a valuable product feature that drove an increase in job postings and customer satisfaction. Saved 30% in cost of manually deriving tags for job postings.

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

They delivered early and at a lower than predicted cost.

What was your primary form of communication with Synaptiq?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Synaptiq has an amazing ability to discover and understand our business and product goals. Strong and creative problem solvers, yet has incredible discipline and rigor of execution. Their culture and values aligned perfectly with our organization's dedication to serving the greater good.

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

Can't think of any.