SynergyLabs

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company provides a blockchain-based accounting solution. We've implemented different aspects of accounting and reconciliation into it, which apply primarily to the trade finance industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SynergyLabs?

We’ve been developing our platform for the past couple of years. For this project, we needed help building a specific use case based on industry feedback on how our users wanted the system to work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started working with SynergyLabs to get a custom UI based on React and other similar technologies. We already had an infrastructure in place, so they quickly helped us ramp up the features our customers were asking for. Currently, they’re building a couple of crucial components that didn’t exist in our earlier setups.

What is the team composition?

We work with two people from SynergyLabs: a frontend developer and a backend developer.

How did you come to work with SynergyLabs?

Sushil (Founder) used to be my boss, so I knew that he was very technically skilled and a great person. When he started SynergyLabs, he reached out to me, offering his services. Thus, when I discovered my UI needs, I thought that they could help me. After discussing my project with him, we jumped right into it.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent close to $10,000 with SynergyLabs so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with SynergyLabs around July 2021, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As we’re a startup, we can’t invest a lot of money in a solution. Considering this situation, SynergyLabs has helped me develop market-ready MVP solutions that we can take to market. If people like them, we then develop complete solutions. They’ve been really helpful in this regard.

How did SynergyLabs perform from a project management standpoint?

SynergyLabs uses our Jira setup, through where I assign high-level tasks to them and track them in the dashboard. Usually, these tasks can take 1–2 months to complete. Sushil tracks our progress constantly, and we hold a weekly call to discuss any blockers the team might be having, the plan for next week, and more. 

The people working directly for Sushil also reach out to me and others on my team as needed. On average, I interact with them once every 1–2 days. To me, Sushil is a knowledgeable person. If I have a complex technical question, I can just text or call him, and he’ll propose a solution.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The advice that SynergyLabs gives me, always keeping in mind my startup status, is impressive. We need to go to market fast, and Sushil’s solutions always take that into consideration. There are multiple solutions to every challenge, but he always knows how to build one really quickly. I constantly know that they’ll come up with the best solutions for my requirements.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’re working with just two of their resources, given our budget constraints. So far, there hasn’t been a scenario where I had any negative feedback. However, it would be good if they were a little bit more proactive in asking us for solutions right away instead of waiting for us, but it is not just on them, and the time zone difference between India and Qatar also adds to this issue.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Currently, SynergyLabs is working as an extension of our team, and it has worked out well. However, I think that working on fixed-price projects is better.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder and CEO of Shield, an AI SaaS provider.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SynergyLabs?

We needed help with developing our computer vision AI models.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SynergyLabs has initially formed a team of computer vision experts to handle our project. They've identified our required gender, age, and racial demographics before developing our deep learning AI models with features such as image analysis, bias detection, and image classification.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three resources, including an AI researcher, an AI developer, and SynergyLabs' CEO.

How did you come to work with SynergyLabs?

SynergyLabs' team was strongly recommended to us by an acquaintance who previously used their services. I decided to move forward with our engagement because they were a startup-friendly team with the AI expertise that we needed.

How much have you invested in them?

We've spent around $20,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our collaboration started in April 2021, and it's ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

SynergyLabs has proactively accomplished the first AI model within the first four weeks of our engagement, which has been one of the initial KPIs we've set. So far, they've already completed four models, even completing some ahead of deadlines. Their team has made significant progress in meeting our development needs, and we're pleased to be working with a timeline-oriented partner that cares about our market goals.

How did SynergyLabs perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate via Slack and rely on Jira for project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their knowledge in computer vision definitely stands out — there aren't a lot of providers that cater to this line of expertise.

Are there any areas they could improve?

SynergyLabs is a small team, and they can consider scaling up to have more streamlined operations.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Prepare a clear brief and set definite milestones to help SynergyLabs articulate your goals easily. The AI industry can be tricky since it relies heavily on research, so your main duty lies in identifying your problems with full transparency.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm IT Manager for a window furnishings manufacturing business. We have a warehouse/factory located in Brisbane Australia.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We engaged Synlabs to replace our ageing ERP system with Web based solution.

SOLUTION

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

We were referred to them via an Indian based supplier to our business.

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

Sql Server database, .Net 5, C# MVC web front end, React, Visual Studio, Atlassian Project Management tools, Github. The project was not defined to start off, we gave them an initial 'deliverable', once this was met we then specified the next deliverable, and this is how the project has been runing since inception. Very much an Agile Development approach.

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

2 developers, 1 project manager, others joining as certain needs arose.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Customers are now using the Web system to place orders directly, this has reduced internal data entry, errors, etc. 2 years on we are still engaing with them to continue development of the system. Our continued partnership is a positive indication of their excellent performance.

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

Weekly Zoom meetings with the team, Use of Atlassian Jira Software Project Management tools.

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

We have direct access to the developers, they understand when changes/bug fixes are urgent and resolve in timeley manner when asked/required.

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

There are always areas for improvement in IT development, it comes down to cost and time. I can't say that they performed poorly in any areas.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Head of Technology at Ipsaa Holdings Pvt. Ltd (brand name: ipsaa day care).

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

To develop web portal exclusively for ipsaa. Objective is have web based platform to manage student and staff details.We

SOLUTION

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

Owner personally knows director of this company and they are well versed of their capabilities based on their past experience.

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

Very first point in the Key deliverable is to provide the platform to start with the student enrollment and their fees record, secondly is to provide fields for staff management and so on.... ipsaa portal hosted on AWS cloud. It is developed on Mysql as a database or backend and Angular JS is used for frontend.

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

There were 4 people with whom we were usually interact which includes project manager, designer, 2 developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had launched the portal on time and they had completed the project on time.

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

They are excellent in their work and provided time to time status project development. They also completed the project on time.

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

They were easy to work with and they were quick to implement feedback.

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

Keep the same momentum.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

At the time, I was the CTO of a housing lending company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SynergyLabs?

We wanted to build a platform for lead generation.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SynergyLabs worked on a few products, including one for lead generation and its subsequent processes, to be used by 30,000 users simultaneously.

Being a home-loan product, it required collecting multiple data types from lead generation funnels, including personal and property information and credit behavior. As that info was collected on the backend, our intent was to provide instant loan confirmations to the user.

SynergyLabs was involved in the initial discussion on how the product would be used through the design, development, deployment, and maintenance. Additionally, the platform uses AI to predict the chances of not defaulting on a loan based on past patterns.

The technologies used are AngularJS on the frontend and Java Spring Boot on the backend. The apps were then built natively for Android and iOS, and the web version.

What is the team composition?

The size of the team varied, but I believe there were 18–20 people from SynergyLabs at peak. Sushil (Founder) used to handle our account, as well as other key contacts.

How did you come to work with SynergyLabs?

They were referred to me by a former partner.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost of the project was about $500,000 USD.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with SynergyLabs between September 2018–January 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There were a couple of things we could’ve done better, but we were able to meet our overall timeline and cost targets. The very fact that this product went on to become the industry standard speaks about our success. It required an understanding of what our pain points were, and building a technology solution that resolved those in an elegant manner.

We relied on our internal information gathering for use cases, but SynergyLabs was responsible for aspects like UI, issue handling, response time, and how well the system ramped up. The quality of the documents and the time it takes to read them should not be frustrating to end-users, and we’ve achieved just that with this product.

Moreover, we acquired more than a million users in the first three months, and the fact that we were able to cater to so many users was a real achievement for us — needless to say, it was a satisfactory engagement.

How did SynergyLabs perform from a project management standpoint?

The project went as expected and SynergyLabs delivered their tasks on time and on budget. We deployed a tool that collects usage statistics which allowed us to keep a relatively controlled work environment — the data then helps us fix issues such as screen hangs.

We had a project management tool, used Slack for day-to-day communication, and we also had a product pipeline tool that was commonly used in product development. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We liked that their top management was really good and hands-on — Sushil himself graduated from one of the most prestigious tech institutes in India. They know the tools out there, and they brought us all the available options to get things right in the first go.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There were a couple of times when we wanted to run parallel teams, in order to roll out functionalities earlier without compromising the ones already in the pipelines. We requested 5–10 additional resources for a couple of months, but we weren’t very successful there.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

They didn’t have a lot of capabilities on the UI/UX side, so my advice for people looking to work with them is to have someone available with that capability.