WaveOC

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the senior director of products and services at a software company. We develop products and solutions that facilitate electronic plan submission and review for state and local governments.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WaveOC?

Strategically, we needed to develop a product that could make the plans handled through our electronic solution available to field workers, such as inspectors, first responders, and code-enforcement personnel who work for the cities, counties, and states we serve. We decided that the application needed to be developed on the Salesforce platform, and searched for developers who were skilled in Apex and Salesforce development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We developed written specifications and communicated those ideas through wireframes. WaveOC came back and told us what worked and what didn’t. We worked back and forth to hone specifications and visual-interface expectations.

Since the software needed to be efficient and inexpensive, we gave them an idea of what we were trying to do. Then we wrote out some requirements in text and created wireframes. WaveOC went to work and came back with a proof of concept, which was their version of working wireframes.

During initial development, we talked to inspection and review teams from one particular client to find out what they wanted from this application. Through a collaborative effort, we built a basic application that could handle the fundamentals. By that point, we had a basic HTML app and one for iOS (specifically for the iPad, the mobile device our client wanted to use). Once we had deployed the app to our client for testing, we got more input from them and dealt with some of its data integration issues.

After getting requirements from customers and prospects, we used an Agile development process. Depending on what the customer wanted, WaveOC would take the requirements, turn them into something we could place in a test environment, work with it, and release it as soon as it was stable.

How did you come to work with WaveOC?

I believe we found them on Upwork (formerly Elance).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with WaveOC in 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

A few core customers are using the application now. We had a slow start releasing it to our salespeople, which is not necessarily WaveOC’s fault. It was languishing for a while, and we didn’t have a solid application with a good user experience. This has changed, but I don’t have a lot of metrics on our success.

It’s a complex application that requires a substantial commitment on the part of the customer. It’s not something you can pick off the shelf and sign up for online. It requires quite a few professional services in order to be deployed for a state and local government customer.

How did WaveOC perform from a project management standpoint?

WaveOC is based in Minsk, with a significant time difference to us, but they’ve handled this very well. We established a cadence that determines when they get things done and when we submit requirements or complete testing on our end. Our organizations have a good symbiosis around the work we do.

What did you find most impressive about them?

WaveOC is responsive and smart. They understand the environment, and they’ve also begun to understand us much better over the years. They are conscious of our business and technical needs, and they work hard. They will tackle a problem and work on it at all hours of the day and night.

I haven’t personally worked with other teams, but I’ve had a few experiences with other developers. Even though we found them through an online search, WaveOC is a true organization with an actual office. Sometimes we don’t know much about developers who work for themselves; they’re single entities in the ether. WaveOC is a real business we can work with. They’ve accommodated our requests and been easy to work with in terms of billing.

There’s a certain confidence to be had when working with them. They’re not just a flight-by-night, scrambling to grab resources from around the world, and we’re not being delegated to a resource they’ve never worked with before. This is a key factor that distinguishes them from other online resources we’ve used.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The experience we’ve had with WaveOC has been good, but it’s also been a challenge. Valery Lebedz [CEO] and his team are great people, but some were less skilled in project management. We got into some trouble along the way, but we’ve stayed with them.

There’s a reason we’ve stuck with the team, despite the challenges we’ve had. To be specific about the challenges: at a time when we were trying to communicate requirements to one of their project managers, they were not communicating in a way that helped the project. Their English skills were good, but the lack of experience we saw in some of their personnel created a challenge. It took us a while to get it back, but we did.

Given the requirements coming from customers, communication about their expectations, and WaveOC’s approach to solutions, we sometimes didn’t have enough heads-up from the team about what they were doing to address issues. We expected collaboration, but after we gave them a problem, the developers would run off to solve it and then present it to us. We didn’t get enough back-and-forth about what we wanted.

We expressed this to them after reaching a point from which we could no longer continue. Valery, the CEO and president of WaveOC, stepped in. We identified some of the issues and essentially reset our approach. Things have been much better since that time, and we want to continue using them and their development staff.

Since I had previously been tasked with marketing and strategy, I was relatively new to developing software and products. I needed to learn some things about software development management. With regard to my learning curve, we do take some of the responsibility.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Cox Automotive is a very large enterprise, with over 40,000 personnel across more than 40 brands which support dealerships and their software needs. I am their former director of IT for Salesforce.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WaveOC?

We needed a team with a high level of expertise in Salesforce to augment our current efforts across a broad spectrum. Cox Automotive changed their historically hands-off approach to a more unified model a few years ago. That meant we needed to consolidate over 22 Salesforce organizations into a single entity.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had agile processes in place already, including user stories and other standard features. They joined our daily standups, and operated as an extension of our team. They followed the expectations and existing practices within our framework and technology.

What is the team composition?

I worked personally with Valery Lebedz [CEO & Founder, WaveOC], but my team worked with several members of their team.

How did you come to work with WaveOC?

They reached out to me via LinkedIn at a previous organization I worked with about six years ago. We built a relationship over time, but their work was transformative. When I needed an organization at Cox, they were the first people I called.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested upwards of $100,000–$150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Cox started working with them around February 2016. The project is ongoing, but their contributions got us where we needed to be around November 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our velocity has extraordinarily increased. Before they joined, our velocity was around 20 points per week, which jumped to 40 points per week after they joined. That is a 100% increase for only a 20% increase in manpower.

How did WaveOC perform from a project management standpoint?

They are extremely organized, and stay on top of everything they are tasked with; however, we managed the project from our side, and they supported our internal team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their constant professionalism and the quality of their work come immediately to mind. They are congenial, genuinely sincere, and responsive. Their quality, efficiency, and accuracy are better than anything I’ve seen from other Salesforce developers. My dollar gets significantly more from them, and every single person within their organization holds themselves to an extremely high standard. This may sound like hyperbole, but if every consulting agency operated as WaveOC does, my life would be so much simpler.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have anything critical to say about them. They are a European organization, so making inroads in the U.S. can be challenging. I would encourage them to market themselves more; they’re a phenomenal organization.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO and founder of OMI. We help organizations in the consulting and development around CRM and marketing automation platforms like SalesForce, Nimble CRM and video marking platforms like VidYard. I am heavily involved in strategy and day-to-day operations with customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with WaveOC?

We were launching a new product into the SalesForce app exchange, and we needed help with that launch and certification process.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were assisting us with the integration of our 366 degrees product. They worked with our team through the testing, security, and architecture required for SalesForce.

What is the team composition?

We work with the owner, Valery Lebedz, and two other gentlemen.

How did you come to work with WaveOC?

I believe we originally connected via social media or LinkedIn. I had an interview with Valery and I could tell their competence and expertise in what they do.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began around February 2014 and is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As far as timing and delivery, they always meet expectations. Anything that has ever not been 100 percent has been resolved quickly through collaboration. Their team is very agile.

How did WaveOC perform from a project management standpoint?

They definitely receive an A for communication. We trust them with our clients, and they do a good job across our customers and our internal team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The zest of the owner and his dedication to delivering quality work is why we chose him, which turned out to be the right decision.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think so. Any comments I had would be trivial. They do a great job.