TechAhead

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a technology consultant firm. Within the last several years, we've focused on the mobile development space.

What is your position?

I am the chief technology officer of the firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with TechAhead?

They act as our development branch.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

We utilize their software engineers for the development of a lot of our mobile apps. We also use TechAhead for their design work and quality assurance [QA] resources. They provide testing for all of the work they deliver to us. At one point, we've used them for customizing a Magento platform, which would have been outside of the usual mobile space.

How did you come to work with TechAhead?

I've worked with a lot of offshore companies during my career. I went through a selection process, narrowing my choices to five companies. I had conversations with each of them and gave the lead runners a test project. TechAhead performed very well during that initial run. I've been using them since that point.

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

The annual cost of our development work is between $50-200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I initially engaged them four years ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I'm definitely satisfied with TechAhead. Their developers seem to be situated at a more senior level compared to other offshore companies I've worked with. The results of their app development work are generally professional. We don't encounter many issues, either bugs or crashes.

They've worked on some very high-end apps with large user bases. Many of them are used by hundreds of thousands of people. For the most part, the user feed-back has been great, and the companies they've developed for have been even more positive about their quality of work.

How did TechAhead perform from a project management standpoint?

Our communication is very good. TechAhead is vocal about explaining items and they're very responsive in addressing any issues. I would say that their development and communication skills are at a senior level. Their development timeframe, with regard to how fast they can deliver, is excellent.

I act as the project manager for the most part. The services TechAhead provides are mostly development and QA.

Is there anything TechAhead could have improved or done differently?

Whenever I have a concern with their work, I will simply address it with their managers, who resolve it immediately. If I need a senior QA resource, or if I want to receive a different status report from them, TechAhead is prompt to assist me. There's no perpetual concern that I'm flustered with.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are an app development company.

What is your position?

I am a co-owner and lead of technical development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with TechAhead?

We needed additional development resources for a project.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

We are using TechAhead for most of the development on one of our projects. Their work extends to mobile and website development.

How did you come to work with TechAhead?

We looked for well-reviewed companies with the appropriate size and scale for the work we needed. We didn't want to hire a very small shop nor an expensive company in the United States. An offshore company with good reviews and the appropriate scale was our target.

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

The total development cost for the current project will be between $15,000 and $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in June 2015. The work is ongoing. We'll be continuing work on the current project for the following month. We'll keep TechAhead on hand for future work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We're in the development stage and haven't begun any actual testing of the product.

How did TechAhead perform from a project management standpoint?

We're satisfied with TechAhead. Their work and communication level have been good. They've done what we needed them to do and have delivered on time.

What distinguishes TechAhead from other providers?

I've worked with developers from India and China and, sometimes, there can be a barrier in communication. This has not been the case with TechAhead. Our point of contact speaks good English and is usually available if we need anything.

Is there anything TechAhead could have improved or done differently?

We haven't been disappointed with their work yet. With any kind of development project, there will be bugs, so I can't hold that against them.

BACKGROUND

We are a restaurant guide in Latin America. Our app allows the user to discover new restaurants, book a table, make reviews, and post photos. I'm the CEO of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

We were making a totally new version of our app. From past experiences, we knew that making a total new app with new features and design would help us boost number of users and revenue.

Our app is very complex. It has about 70 different screens, so we built an API [application programming interface] with good documentation. We also had all the screens already designed. We started building the Android version in-house three months before so the vendor could see the same app working, and how we would like the UI/UX [user interface/user experience] to be.

We launched the Android version to measure its impact, and sessions were 30 percent up in just three months.

The iPhone app represents 65 percent of our revenue and interaction with our platform, so this was a huge project for us. The source code is bad as it has many errors and will take extra weeks to fix. The code is very patchy and terrible.

SOLUTION

To select the provider, we talked to many vendors. We selected TechAhead because we were told that they had a very experienced team and many people working for them. We felt that it was more secure for us to work with a company of 500 people than a company with 50 people.

The pricing was correct, and they told us that the project could be delivered in two months. Actually, we knew that was going to be hard, but since we had a great experience with another service provider in the past, who delivered a great product in just one week as promised, we thought they could handle it.

Since we built the Android version ourselves, we told them that the best strategy was to work section by section. Once a section was ready, they should move to the next section. We did this in-house for the Android version. With only one resource, we finished the project in five months.

The project started in July [2015] and, instead of taking two months, it took us six months and it was very painful to get the project done.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

The performance was terrible. For the first two months, we were insisting in receiving feedback and the IPA [initial performance assessment] so we could perform tests. The product they sent barely worked, and only 30 percent of the screens were made.

The reason the project took us so long was because we already have an app in the market, and it's a good app, so we could did not want to deliver a worse experience for the users.

We decided to hire an iOS developer since this experience was so terrible. He saw the coding, and told us that it is very amateur and was made by someone who learned how to code by street learning. The communications were very difficult, and the team did not read our recommendations on how things should be made.

Since their QA [quality assurance] was almost nonexistent, we decided to be the QA. They developed all 70 of the screens, and there was no single screen where we could not find an error. For some reason, their team did not follow the designs exactly. In all of the screens, there was something wrong. Sometimes, in one single screen, we could find 25 design errors. This was the hardest thing for us because we had errors that they could have avoided by following the design we sent.

We spent at least 100 hours with our team just correcting mistakes. We can share a 50-page sample documenting all the errors for the third IPA. After that IPA was "corrected," we created a 300-line Excel spreadsheet showing more errors.

Their team could be great for developing small apps with just a few screens and not much functionality. We believe that they might be able to deliver an acceptable product for a basic project.

If you are a company expecting very high standards, then avoid them at all costs. We were told that their standards were very high, and they are not high at all. TechAhead will leave you behind your competition due to their poor code.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

It’s a startup centered around a smartphone application, which connects sellers with customers in the local area and facilitates deliveries based on a bidding process.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m the director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with TechAhead?

I had no experience with programming and how to get an application to market.  

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

I did an outline of my requirements and my vision and ideas. I presented that to TechAhead and they brought that idea to reality through the programming and graphic design. They did everything from idea to conception. The contract was for development and getting it to market. This was originally developed for iPhone and then ported to Android.

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

I did a lot of local research in Australia and approached a few companies to get quotes. Then, I did a wider search internationally, and I found out TechAhead was quite highly regarded and had positive feedback. The pricing structure they presented worked for my budget a lot better than any Australian firm did.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms or a personnel work-hour figure?

It was $10,000 to $50,000

When was the work completed?

It was August 2014

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I have positive feedback from many of the buyers that are using the application. 

Are you satisfied with TechAhead’s performance?

They’ve been great. They have been willing to help me with any issues that come up. The application is functioning well.

Is there anything unique or special about TechAhead that really makes them stand out compared to other online marketing companies?

I like their customer service and the fact that there was more than one contact in the company. If someone was not available, there was always someone else to talk to. They always got back to me within a 24-hour period if I had a problem.

What advice would you give to future clients of theirs?

I would say to shop around, but you’ll probably find that working with TechAhead will get you the results that you’re after.

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

I can’t really pinpoint anything negative to say. They were a strong group.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

The company is a platform that creates social engagement for people who are learning different topics online.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I’m the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with TechAhead?

I engaged them to build version one of the iOS mobile application product. What I wanted was to minimize the execution risk. I wanted to ensure that we deliver on cost, on time, and produce a product of decent quality. The app is free for users. Our vision is to create a platform where anybody who’s learning anything anywhere can have all his or her activity on Engrami. It’s like LinkedIn for education.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

I approached them with the full design of the product. They built the iOS app and they built the back-end from scratch. Most likely, they will build an Android version for me as well. Their training will start now. They will start training now that I’m starting my own theme.

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

I looked at a lot of firms and short-listed maybe 15 firms all around India. I had discussions with five of them based on their portfolios. One thing that impressed me with TechAhead was they didn’t advertise apps that they built for themselves just to show a larger portfolio. I spoke with clients from each of the firms. That process helped me decide on TechAhead.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms or a personnel work-hour figure?

It was $10,000 to $50,000

When was the work completed?

We went live about mid-January. We are releasing another version today that will fix a lot of things. It’s ongoing work. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It is too early to track metrics because we only launched last week.

Are you satisfied with their performance?

Yes, I’m pretty satisfied. They delivered on cost and on time. I have been pleasantly surprised with their support. They exceeded my expectations on the support side.

Is there anything unique or special about TechAhead that really makes them stand out compared to other online marketing companies?

They have listened and pushed back whenever necessary. Their customer service was excellent. Their responsiveness was great.

What advice would you give to future clients of theirs?

It would be good to come into the project with the design complete. That helped me get the app done in time and at cost. Know what you want before you hire a vendor. These are not your employees so, as a project manager or founder, you need to stay on top of the whole process. If you don’t, things will slip. These firms are busy with other companies, too.

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

They could improve on the backend side. Many firms struggle with this if they have to build the back-end from scratch. TechAhead was definitely stronger on this than the other firms I looked at, but I think they can keep improving. They need to strengthen their back-end team. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

[We are] a nonprofit company registered in the Netherlands. We have a media company where we do video and audio media that is used for the sales team and also for the events that we sponsor.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I manage a team of 330 volunteers worldwide, and I develop software.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with TechAhead?

The goal was to produce an application to replace an existing Macintosh application that had been in use for about 12 years. We wanted to use iPads to reduce our equipment cost. We use the software to do presentations.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

They did a little of design and all the coding.

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

It was a recommendation from someone who worked with a company that I had been using that I was not happy with because they started price gouging. I had inquired about pricing with some U.S. companies but their fees were much higher. 

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms or a personnel work-hour figure?

It was from $50,000 to $75,000

When was the work completed?

This was a three-month project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The team that I manage uses the application. In setup, we’ve saved time and in reliability we have exceeded the previous application. I haven’t had any issues with it. 

Are you satisfied with their performance?

I was very happy with their work. The software came out better than I anticipated. I was impressed with the quality of their work. It’s very reliable. We went through a test phase and had to work out some issues but the issues were not related to quality. They were related to functionality. They were cheaper than the previous company I was using and I got better results.

Is there anything unique or special about TechAhead that makes them stand out compared to other companies?

TechAhead was willing to go the extra mile for me. They were willing to take a hit on cost when it was their issue. I felt they dealt with me honestly and fairly. I would not hesitate to use them again. I was impressed with the way they handle a project, the team they assign to it, the competency that was executed, and the quality of the product at the end.

What advice would you give to future clients of theirs?

I would say make sure you have a good rapport with the team. Make sure you have all of the specifications defined up front, you have a good specification to work to, and you have competent, qualified people to do the task.

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

We had all the usual issues that you face in a software project: timelines and communication. Communication is challenging with India because of the time difference.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We are a tech startup based in Tampa, Fla. We cater to schools, and we manage the entire student dismissal system. We digitize the whole process. I am the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with TechAhead?

We had done our research, and we had a basic BRD, the business requirements document. We needed a multiplatform application, with a Web browser, and both Android and iOS apps.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

Mobile app design and development work was the scope. It’s a multiplatform mobile app. We have an iPod component to it, and then we had iOS and Android versions as well. We have a Web-based platform, which also integrates, and we had a whole backend database to double up. So, it was a pretty involved process.

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

We were shopping around to find the best team to handle our large and complicated initiative. I did a lot of research and spent a lot of time doing due diligence. I wanted to work with the best in the industry and a vendor who had tons of experience and success. TechAhead came up in my search with having more than 300 applications on the App Store, so I went to their site and started doing due diligence on them. We went back and forth, they were very proactive, and they came back with a compelling pitch that convinced me.

I am from that part of the world, so I made a point to actually travel to India, spend a couple of weeks there, look at their structure, meet the team and see their operations. I was really impressed. Initially, I thought it might be just a hole in the wall somewhere, but they were very professional, great people.

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

Around 2,000 hours was the estimate, and it pretty much stayed in that ballpark. The budget was between $50,000 and $100,000. We had 12 or 13 people working on it during the peak time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of the project?

The final product was uploaded to the app marketplaces in July [of 2014].

Are you satisfied with their work?

Yes, they did a great job. In fact, we gave the maintenance contract to them just last week. We are working on version two, which we plan on going back to them for. Version two will be starting in a few months. When we get the funding, we will go back to them for the next version.

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

Our plan was to beta test in three schools initially. We put the word out and have been live for about a month now. We have more than 200 schools in the pipeline waiting to get in on it. So, it’s been really a fantastic ride. It’s a niche product, and a lot of people are interested in it.

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

They have a system in place, I like that. They’re very accountable. If there was something that strayed from the scope, they’re really accommodating since we are a startup with a limited budget.

They work with us and will negotiate on the price. We were on a shoestring budget initially because we just had our seed funding. We wanted them to stick to a price point. There was a little slippage here and there, but they worked with us and really pulled it together. They’re flexible.

They were willing to work with us even if the requirements changed slightly from what was discussed in the discovery phase. They wanted to make it happen because they were interested in seeing the product out in the market, and that attitude was great.

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?

They’re not proactive in actually marketing themselves, and I’ve told them that. I did a lot of work on my part to find them. I’ve spoken with those guys, and I told them they need to be out there. They do such a great job, but if I wasn’t actively seeking a professional Indian firm, I wouldn’t have found them. They’re not proactive in pitching themselves well.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

I work for a large-scale oil refinement and energy production company in Canada. We also operate over 700 consumer gas refueling stations. 

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am a project manager managing multiple projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with TechAhead?

We explored many good vendors, our whole IT [information technology] department is outsourced. In the last three months, we have worked with TechAhead in terms of developing mobile applications. We gave them a small application. We are working with larger vendors, and TechAhead is one of the small vendors.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

We gave TechAhead a small project, and we will see how it goes. So far, I don’t see any problems, and they are making good progress. Right now, they are only doing mobile application development.

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

We have a tenured process, we start by creating a scope of work in-house. Then we issue an RFP [request for proposal]. Multiple vendors come into the picture.

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

The budget is between $150,000 to $200,000.

When was the work completed?

The work in ongoing. The development is almost completed, it should be done by the end of July of 2014. TechAhead is doing the development part, and we will perform the final testing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How has TechAhead performed so far?

So far, we don’t see any problems. They completed the pilot testing. They have done well on smaller projects. They have good expertise in mobile applications.

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

Most of our vendors are from Canada or the U.S. We work with IBM, HP, and Compucom. They work in the U.S. and Canada. Personally, I think working with a small company is a bit better. If the work is not very complex, they tend to perform better.

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

There are no issues.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

My company is Kade Consulting, which has been around since 2001. We do for-hire consulting for software, architecture, business, and other things. We have less than 10 employees. Lately, we have done mostly Web and mobile work.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am the founder.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with TechAhead?

I have a few projects that they are currently working to complete. One is a mobile application and another one is a Web app.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

In addition to coding, they do graphic work, graphic design, layout, and visual design. They do some usability and architecture. For me, that's full service.

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

I used to work for a different, much larger consulting company. We worked on some very large projects and in that capacity, I worked with the founder of TechAhead and some of his team, which is how I found out about them. It was a different experience working with them compared to other companies in that region. My expectations and understanding of their capabilities were greatly improved after working with them. I kept track of them and when they started their own company, I contacted them.

Is the work completed?

We have ongoing work with them on two projects. I think both projects will be ongoing. We had a release on one project, and we picked up some maintenance with them and added a Phase 2. The other project is in the first phase. I have no plans to stop unless my client wants me to. We're moving forward.

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

The largest project was thousands of hours, several months long. I definitely trust them to do larger projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

My metric is producing an acceptable deliverable for my clients. They have done quite well.

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

When there's a vague requirement or something is not clear when working with offshore firms, that causes me to lose time. I'll typically get a question when I wake up, I'll answer it, and I won't find out what happens until the next morning. That's usually a full day lost because of the question, which is one of the downsides of sending work abroad. I try not to have that situation come up.

I like TechAhead's ability to guess what to do in those situations, and they’ll implement it the way they think it should be. They'll create the requirements and when I wake up, I get the question and something implemented the way they think it should be resolved. Nine times out of 10, it's close enough to what I want. It saves me a lot of time, and it's a good benefit to my company. They take a lot of initiative.

It's hard for me to tell whether size is related to this or not, but I’ve noticed that they will analyze things. Other companies just code to the specs when you provide instructions. I don’t put TechAhead in that category. They are full-service, and they are not afraid to tell me that the spec is not as good as it could be. They will make suggestions to make the project better. I definitely appreciate that.

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

English is not always their primary language, so you spend some time correcting simple things. It's not a big deal. I don’t mind giving them the language they need to use. Sometimes an eye for consistency is needed, but they do a pretty good job.