TechNeed

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Local solo practice law firm handling a variety of matters in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and New York.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire TechNeed?

Redesign and overhaul of professional website.

What were your goals for this project?

Better visuals and an enhanced user experience. Simplifying and consolidating information. Drawing better visual lines to make a more attractive space for potential clients. Establishing a better platform and call to action.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Networking and local connection.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Total revamp and establishment of new website platform and hosting as well as all content.

What was the team composition?

Worked with Craig and Brendan and web developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Impact is heavy. The website wasn't working as designed (unfortunately by me). Increase in search-ability on Google and other engines was a plus not originally thought of. Increase in ability for potential clients to contact me about matters pending is a real plus also.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Scheduled meetings and lots of input from me was very helpful. Great communication and hit all the time line goals.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was impressed by our personal interaction with the owners and their attention to the details of the project. Great time management and a successful build-out.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Would recommend to others for this and other services offered.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of WEST Enterprises LLC, which is a subsidiary of Wiss & Company. We're a hybrid accounting and business development firm serving early-stage companies.   

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TechNeed?

We hired TechNeed to help us develop a series of financial dashboards and investor management reporting for our 75 early-stage clients. Due to their consistent success on that front, we also brought them on to develop a custom reporting module.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

To start, TechNeed was responsible for creating a financial dashboard that allowed entrepreneurs to track their finances via customized charts and alerts messages. They completed that project using Microsoft-based software while interfacing with Quickbooks Online, Xero, and Visible.

During their work on that project, our company was also building a collaborative investor reporting module that could generate reports on a monthly basis. The final product would allow users to contribute their own monthly goals to stay on track.

We ran into difficulties when the company we hired for the project couldn't execute the design. So, we tasked TechNeed to rescue our project. They got it done, picking up the design where the other firm left off. Both projects are complete, and we are now rolling them out to our clients.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 2­–4 members of their team.

How did you come to work with TechNeed?

We liked their approach and thought it would be a good fit for our company. Brendan (Founder, TechNeed), is a great discovery project manager and has a solid understanding of the tech end of the business. We also liked how Craig (Co-founder, TechNeed) handled business development.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent approximately $75,000­–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in the fourth quarter of 2018, and everything wrapped up in July 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s still a little early to measure the impact, but we recently rolled out the project to four of our clients and expect 50 clients to be using it in the next month. TechNeed’s work should make it dramatically easier to manage the business, avoid mistakes, and appeal to investors.

The team also did a great job with the rescue mission project. They picked up a heavily-designed project and reworked it into a functional final product.

How did TechNeed perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very strong communicators. Prior to their involvement, we had some difficulty communicating with them through our part-time CTO. In response, their team implemented Trello. This gave us that direct line of communication and feedback between both our technical team and the customer-facing account managers. That was a big help.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re practical business people. They encouraged practical solutions to technical problems, rather than putting our business second. We’ve had issues with overdesign in the past, so their approach was refreshing. They had to get creative to successfully manage this project, and they did a great job with that.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At one point, there seemed like there were too many managers and too few worker bees. Part of this issue can be attributed to the project rescue mission they undertook.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO of KidGooRoo. We have a large selection of after-school activity providers that parents can browse, research, and register for via a single web-based interface.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire TechNeed?

We needed to develop an online registration system for after-school activities.

What were your goals for this project?

We set out to enable online registration for various after-school activity providers across a spectrum of categories, from sports to arts to academics.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

TechNeed came highly recommended by our accounting firm. Their other references provided attractive reviews as well.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

TechNeed took over development as soon as we completed the design work. They’ve handled everything from project management to backend development and frontend development. The firm has since become our outsourced development partner for the entire system.

What was the team composition?

We’re working with a project manager, a business liaison, a tech lead, and various front- and backend developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Our primary success metric was the monetization of our platform. In the first month post-launch, we’ve already matched our revenue from 2018. TechNeed continues to add features and functionality, which will only grow that number.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Brendan (Founder, TechNeed) is an amazing project manager. He keeps the team focused on features that matter and problem-solves like a master. He also meets budgetary and timing expectations, which is critical given our stage of development. Two extensively experienced members of our advisory team have given him glowing reviews as well. 

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their experience allows them to solve problems before we even know they exist. The few bugs that are found are resolved quickly, and core functionalities are always well-tested before deployment. Perhaps most importantly, TechNeed always fixes one eye on future growth, meaning we’re well positioned regarding platform stability and flexibility.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I’m a startup founder, so I wish they were more affordable. But I also wish everything was more affordable.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We offer healthcare clinicians an affordable, online platform designed for the safe and secure collection of both patient-reported and clinician-reported data.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TechNeed?

We needed someone to create our healthcare data collection platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

TechNeed developed the EASY platform. We asked them to act as partners with us because we had no IT background with respect to creating a product. We simply knew the needs of the healthcare sector, particularly the lack of ability by clinicians to gather patient-reported outcome data in multiple ways. The EASY platform needed to send surveys via email or SMS. While some data needs require a patient to be identifiable, there was a strong by clinicians to be able to collect de-identified data, and no other product was satisfying that need. Additionally, clinicians needed to be able to collect data at the point of care (POC) as well as asynchronously. All while needing it to be affordable and simple. 

TechNeed has implemented capabilities for collecting identified and de-identified data at POC or asynchronously via email, SMS, or physical mail in a HIPAA compliant environment. The platform has reporting capabilities via a dashboard that can be manipulated based on the segments of data most interesting to the user. Users can see their data in real-time and can easily download their own data from the system. The EASY platform has multiple organizational levels to allow for private practice use all the way up to a health system use.

What is the team composition?

We work with three primary teammates: Brendan, Craig, and Roman. A larger engineering team works under them.

How did you come to work with TechNeed?

We were referred to them by the Larry A. Green Center. We chose them because of their positive reviews and because they are known for working with small startup companies not just larger established companies.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $850,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in February 2020, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

During the initial creation, we had weekly status meetings to discuss progress and allow our team to provide feedback. These were critical as we modified the design to increase usability and add functionality to our initial plans. We continue to engage regularly with TechNeed to build additional functionality requested by our clients. Ultimately, they were able to create a platform that meets or exceeds industry standards for patient-reported outcome measures. Response rates are generally around 8% for patient-reported outcome measures. We consistently hit that goal, with some clients seeing response rates in the 30–40% range.

How did TechNeed perform from a project management standpoint?

TechNeed’s project management is exquisite. Although they provide us with updates when they run into snags that might impact the timeline, none of those ultimately lead to delays. They consistently deliver on time or ahead of schedule.

We primarily communicate through Zoom meetings and emails. We also have some phone calls and in-person meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their partnership is impressive. They’re invested in making this a usable product and provide a great deal of advice on what they’ve seen in their industry as working well versus not. Many times, they offer suggestions we haven’t thought of that ultimately improve the platform significantly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re lovely to work with.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the company, professional website used for showcasing my personal story, background and work history related to sport and motivational speaking engagements.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire TechNeed?

Needed to outsource entire website creative design from storyboard to implementation.

What were your goals for this project?

To give my website a new design and update to a fully responsive and easy to manage platform.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Referred through my network.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They designed, configured and launched my new website - they walked through design best practices and provided examples demonstrating the meaningful impact of site upgrades. Numerous communications back and forth on a regular basis which was appreciated and ultimately a transition, project hand off that included a drive of all source materials and explanation/walk through of how I should easily be able to maintain myself going forward.

What was the team composition?

Primary communication was with one of the founders and the web developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The sites reception has been extremely positive. It has allowed my positioning in the marketplace a best in class online presence.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Good, constant communications, flexible and organized, that moved to completion within our agreed upon deadlines [even when the majority of the time I was holding things up]!

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They delivered what I needed. I'm not a subject matter expert, I wanted to outsource to somebody that was fully capable, and they delivered a product that exceeded my expectations without me having to get too involved and in the weeds.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, I would highly recommend.