Transition Technologies PSC

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the professional services director for a global software company. I’m responsible for all the services that we propose and deliver to automotive suppliers in the central European region.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Transition Technologies PSC?

We needed technical implementation support for the development of customizations, integrations, and applications, as well as testing and data migration.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I’ve been working with Transition Technologies PSC in several areas. Many are long-term implementations of product and application lifecycle management for our customers.

They’re a strong partner whose support complements our internal resources. In some areas they augment our staff, but they also work independently on some specific projects like data migration.

We mostly use Windchill, Integrity, and ThingWorx. That’s where they have skilled resources that we can use on our projects.

What is the team composition?

The team size is based on the project, and is usually between 10-20 people. I work with several people, but I’m in contact with the management resources. I oversee quality rather than directly involving myself in all the projects. We determine the best resources to staff each project and discuss how we will address any issues. Those are the conversations I have with them.

How did you come to work with Transition Technologies PSC?

They offer what we call our Poland Solution Center, a strategic partner that our company selected for this type of work. It was a natural beginning for me because they had been defined as our partner. It’s a stable, proven relationship, which why continue to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent $2 million in the last year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together 10-15 years ago and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have skilled people that can augment our team and help drive solutions to our customers, especially those that center around data migration. Their expertise enables them to deliver very complex projects. That’s a key success factor in our transformation projects.

They give us a competitive average rate. We can use them as offshore resources. It's great for us to bring in a mix of different people and roles, some onsite and some offsite. With their rates, we can provide very competitive services to our customers.

How did Transition Technologies PSC perform from a project management standpoint?

When we do projects together, we provide the project management. They are embedded in our own teams. If they do projects on their own, it’s with a team of one or two people that doesn’t require much management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are very capable of developing Windchill customizations. We also rely on their considerable skills in data migration and setting up test management QA areas. I like that they’re flexible, committed, and proactive in their communication. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I sometimes struggle with the fact that they’re growing fairly rapidly. Due to that growth, they sometimes have a lot of people that aren’t so experienced. This lack of experience creates some issues because they’re not very knowledgeable about what they need to do and how they need to do it. They need more ramp-up time or more coaching time with a more experienced architect from our side.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

USG Engineering is a long-standing partner of PTC and have been for many years. I’m the solution architect.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Transition Technologies?

We do a lot of business where we implement new PLM and do a lot of migrations. We needed some customizations to PLM. Transition Technologies have the right skills for what we’re working on with. They are also engaging more customers at the IoT [Internet of Things] level with ThingWorx technology. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We came up with our specifications, talked to Transition, and they came up with the PLM solution that we tested. We take care of the customer side and let Transition take care of the rest. It allows us time to focus on the things we’re good at.

Another project which is currently running is in the IoT business. Our customer in the Netherlands wants high-quality, good service for their end customers. We have an IoT on ThingWorx where I can see what the service engineers are doing in the field. We’re addressing some issues up front, so they send it to the service engineer and can see more details of the machine running.

In the past, we did another project based on ThingWorx with more integration with Windchill. Together, we developed an expansion of a specific solution for a customer that would like to see the structure of the things in Windchill and printed to a printer to send out for supplies.

What is the team dynamic? 

It depends on how big the job is. Right now, we are working with one or two people. Normally one of our solution architects talks to me and we set out the highlights of the project, then later on, I discuss with their technical engineers what the details are. We’ve also had a project running with five programmers.

How did you come to work with Transition Technologies?

They have been PTC’s service provider in Poland for eight years. We were searching for someone with expertise we didn’t have. We asked PTC if they had a candidate in their network that could assist us. We started with a few small projects and found that they were good and understood what we needed. The quality is always high. We’ve never been waiting for them to meet a deadline. We have good communication and it’s been a good partnership for both parties.

How much have you invested with them?

Some projects have been a few thousand euros, all the way up to 15,000 euros [$17,650]. There were a lot of small projects this year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have been working with them for eight to 10 years.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

PLM Systems is a system integrator. We are a partner of PTC. I’m the senior consultant.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Transition?

We needed help with data migration.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They are migrating both CAT data and the data from our old legacy called AS/400. They used the Windchill Bulk Migrator. It’s a tool developed by PTC in order to migrate data into Windchill.

What is the team composition?

There was 1 on the first project and 2 on the second project.

How did you come to work with Transition?

They were introduced by PTC.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2017, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They are good. They’re really fast in problem-solving. Anytime there’s an issue, they can solve it in half a day, even if it’s an out of the box functionality. They’re really skilled.

How did Transition perform from a project management standpoint?

We manage the project. We work well together.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re skilled with this tool and fast in solving problems. I’ve never worked with someone who has been so fast in solving problems for us. Without them, our project last year took twice the amount of time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. We don’t have any problems with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am currently a senior technical advisor for KaaS BV. I am responsible for governing the cloud infrastructure for the project.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Transition Technologies PSC?

We needed help with infrastructure defining and building, and then deployment.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

A couple of years ago, we started mapping out what we needed on the infrastructure and then actually started building it. When the developers came, there was a need to use a methodology to deploy building the code and new releases, which they were involved in. They helped us out with this project tremendously and it was a huge project for us.

When it comes to the infrastructure, Amazon Web Services [AWS] is the biggest component. For the automation, we used a lot of Jenkins, as well as another deployment tool for releases. It is a new PowerShell as well, and they had to get everything in order and put together a lot of technologies.

What is the team dynamic?

I was in contact with about 4 or 5 developers, as well as 2 people who built the infrastructure and did the automation.

How did you come to work with Transition Technologies PSC?

The impression that we got was they were very enthusiastic and knowledgeable, and they fit the bill for our needs.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them on this particular project about 3 and a half years ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There was a huge pressure on this project to deliver, and it is continuous. They came up with the perfect solution. Daniel [Software Developer, Transition Technologies PSC] came up with a solution of the deployment of releases, as it was a lot easier. Another member of their team suggested we use Jenkins, and a lot of the workload was delivered using that.

To this day, both ourselves and the main customer have been very happy with it. We wouldn’t have been able to meet our deadlines or goals if we didn’t have their team doing what they did.

How did Transition Technologies PSC perform from a project management standpoint?

I usually manage from my end if it needs to be done.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They said they could do something, and they actually did it. A lot of people say they can improve something and make it more efficient, but these guys delivered on that. For me, that was unique enough.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They are innovative and are constantly improving. They will sometimes show me things they have invented within their company that we are not using, but we really should be. For example, they have a tool to automatically shut down environments based on time and need, which saves a lot, and people should be using it.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They are easy to deal with and are true to their word.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a product development firm located in Munich, Germany, which aims for digitalization in our industry. I provide service to customers in order to make better use of software and user efficiency for product development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Transition?

Transition is providing implementation resources for software development in specific service areas.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Transition is working in an offshore model to help us with particular software developments. They also handle areas of migration for enterprise systems. We have our own tools that we’re specialized in for data migration.

Transition is really strong in Java development, but also in helping us with web-based applications. They also participate in activities related to IoT [Internet of things].

What is the team composition?

We have about 100 team members for our European market.

How did you come to work with Transition?

We partnered with Transition 10 years ago. We chose them based on market research, and because we wanted to expand our capabilities to an offshore capacity.

How much have you invested with them?

Our projects range anywhere between €500,000–€20 million euro [U.S. $590,700–$24 million].

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2007.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve received comments on what they’ve contributed, and have come to the conclusion that they’re experts in software development. They’re starting to take over more responsibility for specific tasks, including migration. They’ve become a part of our team.

How did Transition perform from a project management standpoint?

Since they are a part of our team, they’ve adopted our product methodology. They also use our project management tools, and we have teams which consist of members from both groups.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are aggressive, knowledgeable, and proactive in adopting new technologies, including those involved with IoT and augmented reality. They also have a proper understanding of software development.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’re continuously improving our process throughout the long-term relationship.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the project manager at PTC Brazil, which provides digital services for manufacturing companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Transition Technologies Productions?

We needed help implementing product lifecycle management (PL/M) programs for manufacturing companies. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our business analysts collect the technical specifications and requirements for the PL/M program and present it to Transition Technologies. Transition then does configurations and development on top of our Windchill software using Java applet and Java coding to implement the PL/M program.

What is the team dynamic? 

When we first started our partnership, we were working with over 20 members of their team. Currently, we’re working with four to six people. 

How did you come to work with Transition Technology?

We decided to work with them because they are highly skilled with expertise in up-to-date PTC products. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested over $3 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in 2014, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Over the years, the quality of their work has increased. We are currently very happy with the work, and our customers are satisfied with the solutions we’ve provided them with in partnership with Transition.

How did Transition Technology perform from a project management standpoint?

We serve as their project managers.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are very impressive programmers. They understand the customers' needs and provide the best solutions for any problems we have. We also communicate well with each other. They work from Poland, while we are located in Brazil, but despite the work being remote, it’s still easy to express our expectations.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We prefer a more stabilized team, as opposed to the rotation of programmers we partner with now. And although our improvement is good, there's always room for improvement.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Savaco is an IT company active on the Belgian market. We have 3 divisions. Our IT division offers ICT Infrastructure and security for datacenters and the workplace. The Business Productivity Solutions division implements SharePoint projects for process optimization. Finally, the CAD [computer-aided design] and PLM [product lifecycle management] division implements CAD, PLM and IOT software for companies that do product development. I’m responsible for the technical teams of the CAD and PLM division and the BPS division. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Transition Technologies?

Transition Technologies worked with our CAD and PLM division. We implement software from the software vendor PTC, an American company, at the customer site and add customizations to those platforms. 

They supported us with Windchill customizations (the PTC PLM software) and implementations of ThingWorx, (the IOT platform of PTC ). The main challenge was the need for extra skilled resources in those domains. TT offered this in a very fast and flexible way.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us with several projects, implementing customization on top of a PTC platform. One of them was an IoT [Internet of things] project where we developed a business case to demonstrate the possibilities of the vendor’s IoT platform to our customers. This was an engagement of 20 days.

We also worked together on a PLM project where we also implemented PTC software. They did large-scale customization for us on that platform using 1 developer for 3 or 4 months.

How did you come to work with Transition Technologies?

We met them at a fair organized by PTC. We have in-house developers, but we wanted to extend our team and add a certain amount of flexibility to the capacity we had. They were a good fit for us.

How much have you invested with Transition Technologies?

We invested around $45000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them last year. We aligned pretty quickly as far as what we wanted and what they could deliver. I think the initial contact took us a couple of weeks, and then we were able to start a project together.

It's an ongoing collaboration, and we hope to extend it to more projects. We have some in the pipeline that we’d like them to help with as well.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

One of the projects that we did together involving building an IoT demonstrator from scratch. Based on feedback from inside the company and also from a number of customers, it was a very tangible demonstration. Customers could see how it works and appreciate the value of the solution. We were able to build this product together in a short amount of time. That certainly proved that they’re a good company to work with.

How did Transition Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They have very short communication lines, so they reply quickly. I don’t know which processes or tools they use, but I don't need to have that information. As long as they deliver the results we need within the timeframe and budget that we agreed on, I'm happy.

What did you find most impressive about Transition Technologies?

I’m impressed by the knowledge of the people on their team. We have worked with other partners before for development work, but they had to look for the right resource before we could start the collaboration. Transition Technologies can deliver a good resource from the very start of the project. We don’t have to lose a lot of time interviewing people.

Are there any areas Transition Technologies could improve?

For the moment, no, I'm quite happy.