SysQuo Innovation Pvt Ltd

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Everyth1ng is Connected and a sub-company called Our Neighborhood. We provide a marketplace for hosts and travelers to connect and experience local cuisine and traditions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SysQuo Innovation Pvt Ltd?

With the changes brought by the COVID-19 across the world, we needed to create a market bazaar model instead of a consumer-led one. By flipping the market and adapting to the whole economy, we wanted to have community members elaborate and explore their traditions and culture. 
Our premise was that we all have to eat every night, so why not open your house to travelers and fellow experiencers and tell them the story from a local perspective? Our model would also supplement the local families’ income in these pandemic times.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

In phase one of the scope, SysQuo Innovation Pvt Ltd helped us develop a mobile app for Android and iOS as well as a website. The website is a PHP platform, and both apps were built using Angular.

In phase two, we’re gearing the website to be commercially driven, particularly in the areas where people don’t necessarily have data on their mobile phones. With a little luck, in about a couple of months, we’ll be launching in India as well.
They provide an all-encompassing offering. I’m tapping into their marketing agency, for marketing and branding tasks. They’re setting up our call center structure as well. The call center structure will be managed from Cape Town, South Africa.

I’ve given them some guidelines, and they’ve come up with some great, innovative ideas. The same thing applies to the technology components that we’re using. Our developments aren’t static. They have quite a dynamic and constantly-growing structure, so I’m quite happy with the integration of the platform. For our payment gateways, we are working with local providers as well. 

What is the team composition?

We mostly work with the CTO and the CEO. We have weekly discussions with them as well as with someone from the marketing side. I’ve had demos with the whole development team, and they’ve taken me through their process, new features, and other assets from their work.

How did you come to work with SysQuo Innovation Pvt Ltd?

When we decided to launch this particular platform, I was looking for a partner that had technical capabilities and insight into industry trends. They came up on top in our research, so we approached them.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent around $20,000 so far. Phase two will cost another $40,000 approximately.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around April 2020, and the engagement is ongoing. The mobile app has been completed and it is available on the Google Play Store and App Store.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t really have metrics on anything other than the UX. One of my biggest requirements was to keep the platform user-friendly for the clients and the local people that will be using it. It’s a new concept, and the whole point of it is to showcase the cultures of individuals from a cuisine perspective. It was important to be able to navigate easily through the platform. We wanted it to be simplistic but, at the same time, very sophisticated.

From a client experience perspective, they’ve been on the money and, so far, their work has been perfect. The team has taken on the redesign geared toward a more user-friendly UX within certain geographic contexts. They’re definitely learning on the fly. My only requirement was to be more client-centric, and they’ve hit it out of the park.

How did SysQuo Innovation Pvt Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

Technically, they’re very good. Their foresight into our project direction, input, and technical skills are great — I couldn’t be happier.

However, time-wise, we missed one of the deadlines. For phase one, time was constrained because there were many variables to juggle. I wanted to launch in October 2020, but we missed that deadline by four months. It was a bit delayed, but I emphasized timelines in phase two. They’ve now brought on a project manager as well to assist.

For project management, we communicate through Slack and Asana.
 
What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to really adapt to user life was surprising and refreshing to see. Their adaptability to new features and functions is also impressive. If I ask them to look at syndication patches or patents, they pick up the reins and do the research themselves. They work from a marketing perspective, as we begin focusing on South Africa, and are able to find the unique neighborhood features to target campaigns.

They also are almost always online, which is great. From a development perspective, they’re very dedicated — we even have had sessions on weekends! Obviously, COVID-19 threw us all a curveball regarding meeting deadlines and having available resources, but they’ve managed to keep me up to date in meeting my requirements and investigating resourcing issues.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Adherence to the project timeline could be improved, for sure.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Language is a bit of a barrier, but the core team there speaks very well. There’s some difficulty when speaking to the developers themselves, but this is common when working with a team with cultural gaps. You need to be a little bit more patient with how they’re executing and approaching the language barrier.  Have respect for cultural diversity because you’re getting their services at an affordable cost.