VirtualForce.io

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of Accelery. Our startup is at the idea stage in the workplace-as-a-service (WaaS) infrastructure market. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with virtualforce.io?

We hired virtualforce.io for product development support from ideation to the build. In addition to the technical aspects of our startup, we needed help finding the right pace of innovation. Coming from a small business background, one of my main challenges as CEO was understanding the differences between these environments.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our platform is a cloud-based software or web application. It will serve as the starting point for our company. virtualforce.io offered guidance on the type of information we needed to provide, including user stories. They helped us translate our idea into a full scope. 

During our first conversation, the business development resource told me I needed a product to put in front of customers as quickly as possible. They found an economical way for me to accomplish that goal. After an initial meeting with the project team, we maintained almost a daily 24-hour working cycle for a month. They worked on development overnight. The next day, we’d review the completed tasks and continue to develop the concept.

Based on their experience in the market, virtualforce.io suggested how to achieve my value proposition. Maintaining this accelerated pace was vital. virtualforce.io completed an MVP in time for me to pitch to our target customers at an upcoming conference. Having a prototype helped me gather initial user feedback and assess demand for this type of product in the market. Right now, it’s still in a phase between a low-fidelity (low-fi) MVP and a suitable service for our earliest customers. 

What is the team composition? 

A business development professional jumpstarted the process, and the CEO participated in the kickoff call. We had a dedicated project manager and designer throughout. I’m not sure who worked on our project behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with virtualforce.io?

We hired virtualforce.io for their expertise in Agile MVP development. I considered 5-6 other options. They were one of the few vendors that support startups in the platform development market, which differs slightly from a website or SaaS product. Speaking with their business development leader and past clients made me feel comfortable they could deliver promptly. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began the project in May 2018. Our project lasted five weeks. We met my deadline for a conference during the second week of June 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

virtualforce.io’s timely delivery was key to showing the right customers my product at the perfect time. People took me more seriously when I had a low-fi MVP to show them. Based on productive feedback, we found out how to make it more useful and which types of customers were most interested. I even reevaluated my proposed business revenue model.

Our biggest success story was landing a meeting with a venture capital attorney. Going through virtualforce.io’s process empowered me to clearly articulate my value proposition. He said that once I hit the right milestones, he can open doors for me. Having this connection in place is a critical accomplishment. This was partially related to my network, so it might not happen in every circumstance.

virtualforce.io was an active and helpful participant in our business development. Many of their contributions weren't directly related to the end product, including ones I had no way of knowing I needed. The value of all these benefits fully justified the cost of my investment in their services. Most software companies only care about paid hours and maximizing the budget. Instead of jumping right into development, they built customer profiles and engaged real users first. It was mutually beneficial to focus on building my company so we can continue to employ their development services. The time they took to educate me about the startup space was extremely valuable and garnered my trust. 

How did virtualforce.io perform from a project management standpoint?

I communicate with the project manager and designer every day. I wasn't familiar with the tools we used, but they worked very well for remote development. virtualforce.io excelled at project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I most admired virtualforce.io's professionalism and expertise. I haven't worked with many other vendors for comparison but feel confident they gave me a very high-quality product using top-notch methodologies. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could offer more guidance for the non-development side of the startup process. Instating a formal process and creating content to use for marketing purposes could help them attract more clients. Most entrepreneurs and startups tend to focus on the product and solution. virtualforce.io refocused me on our customers and value proposition. Instead of existing for its own sake, they made sure my product solves a real problem.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I encourage clients to work with virtualforce.io; the sooner, the better. Especially if you're building an MVP, they'll help you progress faster than you could have imagined. If you're an entrepreneur and need a team with Agile expertise to help you develop your ideas into a product, virtualforce.io is a fantastic choice.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the director and a co-founder of a company called MIDA medical technologies. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Virtualforce.io?

We hired Virtualforce.io to help us develop a medical therapy mobile application that allows COPD patients do exercises to improve their breathing capacity and their quality of life. This app started off as my fellow co-founder's final year of university project. We pursued the project when it received a patent.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Virtualforce.io built our Exheale mobile app for Android and iOS. Using the built-in microphone in smartphones, it analyzes patient's breathing in a simplistic way. Based on the results, it provides feedback about the quality of their breath and the strength that they possess. 

We provided a layout for the design. The concept behind our product is a specific therapy we're working on with Dr. Weihua Zang in conjunction with Emory University. Virtualforce.io helped us code the therapeutic routine she created into our application. Our process focused on making it effortless for patients to analyze their breathing and receive biofeedback. The team built several features like the breath analysis from scratch. 

What is the team composition? 

Virtualforce.io assigned us a whole team of resources. We had direct contact with the team leader, Ali (Senior Software Engineer, Virtualforce.io), who was fantastic. 

How did you come to work with Virtualforce.io?

We're working in conjunction with Emory University, who connected us with Virtualforce.io. We considered a few other options, but they sent us the most attractive proposal and had experience with medical apps. We’re based in the Cayman Islands, rather than the US, and liked the idea of working with a fellow overseas company. 

We looked over some of the applications and websites they'd built and decided they were the perfect fit for our needs. After we contacted Tanzeel (Co-founder and COO, Virtualforce.io), he assigned us a team.

How much have you invested with them?

Virtualforce.io just finished the first of four rounds of development for our application, which cost around $30,000. In the future, we'll hopefully conduct further rounds to keep improving the product. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We've spent a lot of time working together. The development timeline lasted from May 2017–February 2018. Over that 6-8-month period, they helped us build up our vision into the precise application we wanted.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've received highly positive reviews from our users who have found our app very helpful. Many of them expressed how much easier our app makes the process of doing their breathing therapy from home. Since most patients who suffer from COPD are older, finding a convenient method for their treatment was the main point of creating this product. 

Currently, we’re working with our Emery University partners to find a base of people who will help us conduct a report on our product. Virtualforce.io produced a robust deliverable that helps us set that process in motion. We were delighted with the quality of their work and how well the application turned out. 

How did Virtualforce.io perform from a project management standpoint?

Working with our project manager was really fantastic. We held weekly meetings with our project manager to discuss what was working well and the changes they needed to make. Every week or two during development, they'd submit a new version of the application and request our feedback. 

Virtualforce.io was always quick to reply and stayed on top of everything we needed. Despite the time zone difference, it was never difficult to collaborate. They're used to working on a schedule that's compatible with their clients in the U.S. The timing was perfect, and I had no complaints.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Virtualforce.io gave us a high level of access while they were building our project. They set up a portal that allowed us to see every step of the process as it happened. We had the option to provide feedback during every stage of development. There was never a moment where it felt like they were building something that we didn't want or approve of. 

Our company was consistently driving the project as Virtualforce.io built around our ideas. Being involved in the process was fantastic and brought our vision of the application to life in a satisfying way. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would have been interested to interact with some of the design team. We went through Ali, the team leader, for everything. It would have been nice to be slightly more involved in setting up the application's feel. At the same time, they did such a great job that I don't have too many complaints about anything. Virtualforce.io was flexible whenever we needed them to be, and it was effortless to work together. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Virtualforce.io is located in a different country than our team. If that’s the case for you too, make sure you're able to work around potentially unusual hours. Don't be put off by the fact that they offshore. It had minimal impact on our engagement; if anything, it might have had a positive one.

Giving them flexibility will improve the quality of the application they build. Meeting regularly helped us construct our vision. Work closely with the team and offer as much help as possible. Be receptive to their ideas because they're highly skilled at building technology. Our project manager contributed to our project in a generative and useful way. He added a lot of value to the final product.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Founder and CEO for Memoria Sky Funeral Marketplace. We connect funeral industry leaders to bridge the gap between business and customers. Our vision is to provide information, options, and guidance with the highest level of transparency and compassion.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with virtualforce.io?

I was working with another company on our platform. I had a terrible experience with that first company and needed to find a new team that could help complete the project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They adopted the entire platform midway through completion. They picked up a lot of the pieces the other company had left and figured out how to move the process forward. They worked on the technology of the platform and the entire backend. They built an admin panel and made sure that all the design and development components came together properly.

We started with some intake forms and initial meetings. I gave them access to all my files and we came up with a transition plan and various checklists. We collaborated constantly to consolidate all the moving parts. They took over the project efficiently. I was so frustrated with the previous company, but virtualforce.io focused on what needed to be done and collected all the remaining assets.

What is the team composition?

I have one project manager that I work with directly. He oversees the entire team of 6–13 people and delegates tasks to everyone.

How did you come to work with virtualforce.io?

I looked on angel.co and did other web searches for different companies. I wanted a smaller company than I got in my first round. They contacted me through LinkedIn and their timing was perfect.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $30,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

They took over the project in May 2017 and the first version of the platform was up by August. I’ve given them more work and we’ve worked together since.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m very happy with their customer service and have zero complaints. We get a lot of traffic to the site. The feedback I get from other companies and resources on the overall feel, functionality, UI, design, and ease of use are all positive. virtualforce.io did an amazing job and created a user journey that never crashes.

They give me peace of mind and are a great company to work with. They’re talented and experienced and I really appreciate having their staff on hand. They work with a lot of non-technical founders and accommodate any lack of experience on our side. I never have to second guess any of the process and they’re always a step ahead of us to help us navigate trends and custom tailor the approach to fit our needs.

How did virtualforce.io perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate daily, even if we don’t have a scheduled call. I give them updates and they respond quickly with status reports. We have weekly sprints, twice-monthly syncs with them, and regular reviews to stay on the same page. They always follow up and stay in touch. The trust level, efficiency, and respect are all there.

They’re very communicative and their standards are high. They’re always overachieving and beating the deadlines we set. They’re also very forthcoming about cost. They build cohesive plans and did a lot of hard work before charging me at all. They built up a relationship with us without feeling transactional. They’re flexible strategic planners. They had a full picture of the project before instigating any financial activity.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their views, abilities, experience, and knowhow are all transparent. They actively listen and participate. They’re respectful of my vision in ways other companies aren’t. They’re a supportive partner and never hesitate to let me take the lead. As a woman in the industry, that’s rarer than it should be and very valuable to me.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think they’re in the process of expanding their skills in the marketing world. I’d love to see growth in new development areas. They’re working mostly on project management with us. I’d like to do more with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As a general rule, have a clear vision and plan.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I work for a nonprofit organization focusing on climate issues within the European Union.

What is your position?

I'm the IT manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Virtual Force?

We wanted to create an application that helps us monitor and manage our way of learning. We wanted to see how well we perform so we could learn from our mistakes. Virtual Force helped us create an application that allows us to see everything that we do, so at the end of the year, we get to see how well a project has gone, if it fails, why it fails, if it succeeds, why it succeeds, so that we can use the same successful practices and apply them later. 

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

The concept was created by us. The idea was to start by setting an objective and then start finding out what problems we faced in achieving that objective. The application then created a graphical view of how everything looks to see where there are gaps in productivity. It has created total internal transparency.

It's built with a Ruby on Rails front end with a SPO [software product outsourcing] database behind it. It requires Internet. You could potentially use it on a mobile phone, but it is not made for mobile phones, only for web, so I would say it's a web app. They did everything – front-end and back-end.

How did you come to work with Virtual Force?

We contacted various organizations and private companies via Elance and Freelance.com to try to find a developer that could create the tool that we wanted.

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

The first step was less than $50,000. Since then we've spent $10,000 on a couple of updates that we decided to apply once we started using it. The last part that we are right now implementing is once again below $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The final step has not been completed yet.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

It depends on whom you ask. Our management is very happy because the app Virtual Force developed has increased transparency, and they can overview everything that everybody does. We used to have multiple progress and efficiency tracking programs. Now that everything is in one program, everybody has access to it whenever they want. As a result, people are communicating between the programs more, maybe not as much as we wanted, but definitely more.

How did Virtual Force perform from a project management standpoint?

That's a different story. They require a lot of handholding. When you tell Virtual Force, "I would like to have a dropdown that does this," they will implement the most basic drop-down. Then, you tell them a month later, "I would like a second dropdown that works like the one you did there but, of course, with these values." What is surprising is that it will be nowhere near the quality of the first one because we didn't specifically say certain things.

Occasionally, I do small developments, and I know you shouldn't need to tell someone that something needs to be red with a blue border because the one before was red with a blue border. If I tell you it should be like that one with just the new values, I expect that you will synchronize the two, and they will be the same. We discovered recently that, within the same page, there were six different dropdowns, and they were done in three different ways. We were very surprised with the lack of consistency.

It depended on who was working with us at any given time. I was very pleased with one of the developers, Muaz. He was coming up with ideas and suggesting changes. It was super. This is the way I want to work. Then other developers would come and were like small babies.

What distinguishes Virtual Force from other providers?

I have not worked with that many other organizations on this kind of project. There are some very good guys there. Like I said, Muaz definitely knows his stuff.

Is there anything Virtual Force could have improved or done differently?

They need to collaborate more internally. Maybe they should use our tool. For example, we wanted to create a new design. We got the design from them, but internally they didn't discuss it, so the developers came, and they started implementing the old design.

They should all sit together maybe once a day for a project. Right now, there are four of them working on our project to keep up with the deadlines. If they were to sit for half an hour in the morning, and plan out who will do each job, I think it would work a lot easier for them. As a new consumer, be ready to be very specific about everything.

BACKGROUND

Please provide a brief description of your company.

Our company is a financial services company. We provide financial solutions for agriculture, specifically in the produce industry. We provide financing to produce growers and shippers so they can get assistance faster than they would otherwise without a service like ours.

What is your role in the company?

I am the Chief Technology Officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was the business challenge your clients were facing that initiated the need for this platform?

Our clients needed an action management platform for tracking shipments of produce and for managing the financing around those shipments.

Take, for example, a grower in Mexico who ships strawberries to the US. Let’s say the grower ships $8 million worth of strawberries per month to US distributors. This grower will log into the platform and report that it is shipping $50,000 worth of strawberries today. Tomorrow, the distributor in the US receiving the shipment will log on, report that it received the shipment and that 89% of the strawberries were good. The distributor can then assess the value of that shipment.

At that point, we come into the system and report that the distributor has signed off on the shipment and that it passed US inspections. The USDA prices produce on a daily basis, so let’s say those strawberries were worth $2 a pound. We then report that this shipment is worth $60,000 and that we’re going to give the grower an advance of 40% of that amount today.

We advance that money, and the distributor then takes the strawberries to the retailers it works with and sells them. About 30 days later the distributor comes back to the platform and reports how much the strawberries sold for. The distributor pays us back after taking out a commission. We take our fee, and then pay the grower the balance.

Without us, the grower in Mexico would not receive a check from the distributor for 30 to 60 days after shipping. The whole problem that our platform addresses is that when growers are shipping their goods, it is peak season for them. They have a lot of workers and expenses. Cash flow is a big problem. Being able to get some of their money sooner is a huge benefit to them. So we advance 40% immediately upon shipping, and then, after taking our fee, we give the distributors the balance. That’s our business.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of your involvement with Virtual Force in greater detail.

The website that Virtual Force built is a transaction management platform to manage the transactions between shipper and distributer. It tracks shipments, receives and accepts those shipments, and advances money for goods that ultimately will be sold.

Our relationship with Virtual Force started before I joined the company. They were extremely helpful in getting us to where we are today.

The founder of our company grew up in the produce industry. His family has been in the business for generations. He grew up learning all aspects of the business, and in business school, he came up with the mission of addressing the finance problem in the industry. He is an idea person and a business person, but he is not a technical person. He is not a software products person either.

He established a relationship with Virtual Force when this was just a business idea in his mind. He started to work with the Virtual Force team to build the platform and turn it into a viable product. Even though the agency is in Pakistan and he is in New York, Virtual Force did a great job. Through Skype and emails, they were able to take the requirements and develop the user interface and build the minimum viable product [MVP] for the platform, the initial platform that the first customers began using. Virtual Force helped take the business from whiteboard to a real product in a real business.

I joined the company about six months ago. At that time, the Virtual Force team had been working on the product for nine months or so. They did all aspects of the frontend, the backend, the quality assurance [QA], and a little bit of project management.

The long-term goal is that we bring that work in house. We still have Virtual Force people working for us, but when I started, we didn’t have any in-house engineers or technical staff. We added a few more Virtual Force developers to help with additional requirements. Over time, we have reduced that number to where we just have one; we use their QA team for ongoing testing. We now have a couple of our own in-house developers.

What frameworks or technologies were used to build your platform?

We used Ruby On Rails, JavaScript, and AngularJS. The website is hosted through Amazon Web Services’ EC2. It’s a modern technology stack.

Can you provide an estimate of the cost of the project?

We have been working with Virtual Force for about a year. During that time, we have spent over $100,000 working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I would say the biggest, most obvious benefit is that Virtual Force was able to be the technology support for the new company right from the very beginning, working directly with people in the industry to actually take the product from white board to launch. That’s the major benefit.

How did Virtual Force perform from a project management perspective?

I really can’t answer that since most of that was done before I joined the company.

What distinguishes Virtual Force from other providers?

Virtual Force's developers have been good. I have had some experience with offshore teams, and quality can sometimes be a problem. I would say in this case, we got lucky. We partnered with the right organization, and the quality has been good. We were extremely lucky that the original developer of the first version of the product was very good.

Virtual Force has been flexible in responding to various kinds of needed support. They’ve been able to provide what we needed. When we needed QA support on an ad hoc basis, their very large QA staff was able to jump in with very little notice. When we needed the help of a front-end design person, they were able to respond right away. They were able to help us and do what needed to be done. They have been very responsive, and that’s been incredibly helpful.

Is there anything Virtual Force could have improved or done differently?

Sometimes, some of the developers have been a little bit too junior for our needs. I mentioned that in the beginning we got lucky. We had a super strong developer who was the lead developer of the MVP version when there was no one else in our company who was able to assess the quality of the work at a technical level. Like I mentioned, the person behind all this is not a software engineer; he is not somebody who knows about code or code quality. Fortunately, the quality of the code that was written initially was very good.

After I took over this responsibility, I started working with a larger team from Virtual Force. I found that there were big differences in skill level and quality. Those differences sometimes translated into problems with essential issues. The only area for improvement, I would say, is that I think there were probably some moments in the past when we needed stronger talent. We sometimes got developers who were too junior for our needs.

Finally, as the business has grown, the pace of our business has increased. I think it’s much harder to rely on an offshore team to manage all of that. There’s too much happening now in the office with our larger team. You get the best results by being there. This, of course, is not a criticism of Virtual Force.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We help hospitals deliver home-based rehab programs for patients who’ve had recent heart attacks or heart failure. We help hospitals manage those patients after they’re discharged from a heart attack or heart surgery with software.

What is your position?

I am the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Virtual Force?

We had a fairly well developed Android application that we used to deliver rehab to our patients, and many people wanted it on iOS. We didn’t have the in-house expertise to build that app. That’s where we reached out to Virtual Force because they had the expertise to do that.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Virtual Force helped us plan the project to program the existing features from our Android app and incorporate new features into an iOS app. They also helped us implement the entire mobile application, including the UI [user interface] and the back-end analytics. In addition to that, they gave feedback on the new features. We’re a relatively small company, so we have a constant learning process with our customers. In that sense, they helped us think through and prioritize features to implement for the project.

How did you come to work with Virtual Force?

I picked them because they came with a high recommendation from a friend of mine who had a very positive experience working with them.

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

It was between $10,000 and $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve wrapped up phase one, and now we’re going to phase two, which is further improvements and more features that we need to implement in the app.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

It’s a relatively new app, but it’s been deployed in three hospitals right now. Because of the iPhone app, we now have about 20 patients we would not have had otherwise, and we’ll get many more going forward. Generally, the feedback has been very positive – that it’s a very easy to use and well-engineered app.

How did Virtual Force perform from a project management standpoint?

Virtual Force is a good company. We had a very tight deadline. We had to code and deploy on the day of and learn as we went along. I think it was a different experience for them, something they’re not used to, but they managed it well. In the end, we had a very stable app. In terms of project management, once they got the hang of it, it helped a lot. In the end, the result was good.

What distinguishes Virtual Force from other providers?

Virtual Force is very quick to respond to any kind of bugs or issues. They have a very good system for project management and feedback from their clients. I think that’s been the key thing. They had a daily meeting with us for two months straight, which is very good. When push came to shove, Virtual Force devoted the time and resources to meet our deadlines, which is very important to us. I think that’s been the key thing for them.

Is there anything Virtual Force could have improved or done differently?

I would say not much. This was the first time the two of us worked together, and we had to kind of iron out certain processes. If anything, I would say quality control would be one thing that they could work on. Again, I have to preface that by saying we were changing features by the day. Quality control becomes a little bit of an issue at that point. If anything, that would be one thing. We worked through that, and we have a good process in place for that now.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

WhiteCoat Healthcare is an in-home medical service. We bring healthcare to the patient's home. We offer blood draws, IV services, and we try to bring the clinic to the patient's home.

What is your position?

I am the CEO of WhiteCoat Healthcare.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Virtual Force?

What we needed to do was essentially build an EMR [electronic medical records] into an app on top of other things that we needed with respect to our business. We could probably have found other companies that have CTOs that are well versed in healthcare, but it was the pricing that pushed us to choose Virtual Force. It was an offer we could not refuse, especially as an early-stage startup.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

We have a three-part platform that needed to be interconnected: the patient platform, the clinician platform, and the admin platform. Virtual Force built up our entire patient platform.

We had our graphic designers do the wireframes and think about the whole process of what the UI [user interface] should be like. Virtual Force did the entire back-end. They made things HIPAA [Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996] compliant. They also recoded an EMR code that we got from a partner company. They were able to task that code, build APIs [application program interface] and directly access the different things we need from our partner with respect to our business operations.

In order to do something like this, you need to have a very close relationship with the product manager on a daily basis. I've worked with other developers before, but it wasn't on a daily basis. They don't give you the attention, and for something like this you need an amount of detail that is required to complete the project. You need someone to be almost full time for you. Virtual Force did that.

The patient platform is only available by web, and the clinician platform is only available by iOS app, but the app is private. It's not in the App Store. Virtual Force developed the back-end of both the website and the iOS app. They used Ruby On Rails for the patient platform and some of the back-end.

How did you come to work with Virtual Force?

Finding a developer that also understands the healthcare is not as easy. There are other agencies, but they're quite costly. It's a supply and demand issue. The reason I went with Virtual Force is their CTO was the CTO of a very well-known EMR company known as Cure MD. That attracted me to Virtual Force because I spoke with the CTO about the space.

What is the status of this engagement?

It's ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We did an A/B test for our previous platform and our current platform. Our current platform is going to be live very soon, which is the platform that Virtual Force solved for the patient side. For that side, they simplified it and made this entire long list of fields very short and nice. Insurance is now incorporated where I can check the patient's insurance eligibility in real time, which is great for the patient and for us.

With respect to the nurse practitioners and other clinicians that we use, the iOS app has been updated and is live. They love it because it can now accept and reject requests from patients directly from the app. They can put in their availabilities directly into their app. The calendar is also synced with their calendar.

How did Virtual Force perform from a project management standpoint?

Our product manager at Virtual Force is the hardest worker and incredibly fast at learning. They've been very helpful and responsive throughout the project.

What distinguishes Virtual Force from other providers?

We spent quite a lot of money on Virtual Force, relatively speaking. We're spending a lot in other operations to increase our revenue. While doing that, we were short on cash. Virtual Force allowed us to defer payment. They believe in the company that much, which means the most to me. They didn't take any equity. They deferred payment, helped us sign on the contract, and they helped us as if we're still the client without paying them. Once we raised the extra money we began to pay them back. We're continuing to pay them back right now, but we're almost done. They are willing to help you out, no matter what.

Is there anything Virtual Force could have improved or done differently?

They're very prompt with meeting times and many things. One thing they were not prompt with was the delivery date. The delivery date was always four or five days at most, possibly because there was a time difference. If there's a time difference, they should at least give us a heads up.