Techliance

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive director and founder of OurCalling. We’re a nonprofit, faith-based organization that provides resources for the unsheltered homeless community.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Techliance?

We engaged Techliance to build a native mobile application for iOS and Android devices.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The app serves as a directory for resources for homeless people. It connects them with the closest homeless shelter, domestic violence center, or food pantry depending on their location. We first provided Techliance with an architecture plan, data, and preliminary drawings of the layout and the admin interface. The team then built the iOS version first; they later developed an Android version.

Starting as a local resource, the app has grown into a national directory. Techliance created a location feature and a cron job that helps find resources in areas where the app has never been. They also built a crowdsourcing functionality that allows users to add resources themselves.

What is the team composition?

We work with Khurram (CTO, Techliance). He leads several teams behind the scenes who specialize in iOS development, Android development, graphic design, and servers.

How did you come to work with Techliance?

They came recommended from a partner, which carried a great deal of weight for us. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent almost $30,000 so far. The initial buildout cost $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2014. The first version of the app launched in July 2015, but our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our app has garnered users all over the country and even in Europe. It remains popular with our core audience, and many organizations ask us how they can build something similar. We’re working with Techliance to push a new version through the App Store’s review process.

How did Techliance perform from a project management standpoint?

Techliance excels at communication and meeting deadlines. The team is highly professional, responsive, and available; they always answer our Skype calls at any time despite time zone differences. We communicate primarily through Skype, email, and phone calls. At one point, however, Khurram visited our offices in-person, which we appreciated.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Aside from building outstanding apps, the team is highly flexible and creative. We’ve never thrown a challenge at them that they couldn’t handle.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes time zone differences make coordinating our schedules difficult. However, we’re otherwise satisfied with our collaboration.

Any advice for potential customers?

Come in with realistic expectations and a design that helps Techliance understand your envisioned product clearly. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of PhotoVision. We are a company dedicated to preserving images and videos for families, students, and travelers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Techliance?

Techliance developed our mobile app and is now helping us with some administrative backend design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided Techliance’s team with documentation of how we wanted the app to function. They created the first app using non-native code, and that didn’t quite serve our needs, so they built it a second time in native code for Android and iOS.

The app serves as a private photo-sharing platform. We sell our product through tour operators that offer packages for specific groups. The app itself includes our brand, but it will also have the tour operator’s logo throughout it. We’ve also created two other white label versions of the app for some of our larger tour operator customers.

Instead of a phone number or email, users gain access via a private group code. As the tour groups—of students, generally—go about their trip, they can upload all of their photos and share them with other users. Some users, such as teachers, have administrative powers that allow them to review the group’s content and access a messaging feature to communicate with the group at large or individual users. The app includes a mapping component that has potential as a safety feature in case a child or user gets lost—small pins appear to show each photo’s location. Finally, users can also upload documents, such as emergency contacts or a trip itinerary.

Once all the photos from a trip are uploaded, our company produces a fun video based on the group’s preferences. We deliver that video through the app, but it can also be purchased as a keepsake DVD.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with a relatively small team—a project manager and one other person.

How did you come to work with Techliance?

My internal IT staffer found them in an online search.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $200,000–$1 million. We primarily pay based on the project, but we also retain a certain number of hours from them each month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in 2012, and the work’s been ongoing since then.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our apps have been very well-received, and we don’t receive many complaints.

How did Techliance perform from a project management standpoint?

They do an excellent job of outlining the steps and timelines. They’ve been responsive throughout our engagement via Skype, email, or TeamViewer. They don’t take our ideas and follow directions blindly. They collaborate with us and make suggestions that can improve our product. I have no complaints regarding the project management or communication process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They present a really good value for what they do. And they’re always on top of their tasks. They’re very clear regarding the scope and timeline expectations, and any deviations from that are usually our fault.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think their internal QA process could be improved before they send app builds for our review. It’s troubling when my staff can, in essence, break the application when we receive it but it passed through their team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise future clients to have a clear picture of what they want, and if they don’t, it’s OK to ask Techliance for help. Give them the opportunity to help clarify the vision. Too often, people have ideas that are not practical or refined. Techliance can help with that.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the owner of a newspaper representative firm. We provide advertisements to fill remnant space in newspapers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Techliance?

I needed help in developing the firm’s website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Techliance built my original website as well as multiple subsequent sites. The original site has stayed on the same platform for the past ten years; the team has made updates and modifications since while maintaining its basic functionality. They also manage our sites and troubleshoot issues with Rackspace, servers, cPanel, and other areas.

We work with 600 clients for over 800 newspapers. On our original site, newspapers can log in, see what ads are available to run, and then update the site with the run date of the ads that they’ve chosen. As soon as they enter a confirmation number and hit save, our site updates immediately and invoices their account through a huge spreadsheet application built into the backend. 

Techliance has also built a newer, more consumer-focused website that we plan to launch within the next 3–4 months. We'll market it as a buying tool for advertisers and agencies who don’t do newspaper buying and planning full-time. Users can request rates and receive a response within 24 hours. The site will immediately email those requests out to contacts at each newspaper and integrate the correspondence into the system. It also includes a planning module where people can build their media plans with digital newspapers. They can place inserts, change the plan, modify sizes, and make other changes they might need in real time. In addition, whenever a newspaper is named, a little icon pops up in a new window. It provides the paper’s shipping addresses, contacts, sizes, and other pertinent information for agencies. 

What is the team composition?

I work with Shahzad (CEO, Techliance). He leads all of their programming and has been my point of contact for ten years. Depending on our needs, Techliance has different team members involved to handle email applications, CSV download applications, and website creation.

How did you come to work with Techliance?

Their original company was on a well-known list of fastest growing companies. I reached out to them knowing nothing else about them. A year later, they changed their name to Techliance.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in September 2009, and it is an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our clients love the site. One of our publishing partners called it the best-designed buying platform that they have seen. The company that just recently purchased my firm is using Techliance to launch the second site and a few other web projects we’ve been looking to build.

Techliance has managed all development and technology support for the past 9–10 years. It’s been a seamless process. We’ve been able to run a variation of the same site for almost nine years with improvements and upgrades along the way, and it still works great. Their excellent understanding of our industry has resulted in an extremely user-friendly site for our internal team, our clients, and our agencies. I couldn’t have built this business without Techliance’s work. They now operate on a monthly retainer to address issues as needed.

How did Techliance perform from a project management standpoint?

I rely on Shahzad who serves as my project manager for every project. He provides regular updates, and his team has never missed a deadline. For example, due to the recent sale of the firm, we needed some upgrades done within two weeks to meet our buyer’s security requirements. Techliance finished everything on time and under budget.

We use Skype as often as we use email. An email will generally lead to a Skype call for follow-up. Despite housing their development overseas, Techliance always got back to me within US business hours.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Techliance hits every deadline—which is critical whenever we land new accounts—and never goes over budget. We’ve also appreciated having a single project manager for the past nine years. Shahzad understands the industry well, which contributes to his team’s excellent quality of work. They frequently suggest ideas to simplify processes on both sites that I never thought of.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I honestly can’t think of a single area where they can improve. They’ve been a pleasure to work with.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I create highly detailed schematics of my requests and then walk their team through them. This process keeps everyone clear on direction, deadlines, and budget.