WeMakeIoT

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Owner Founder of Render Impact and Specialized Production Inc. Our company creates Digital Content for Digital Signage

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire WeMakeIoT, and what were your goals?

We wanted to develop a software solution to run on a low-cost Raspberry Pi that would playback out content easily and reliably. We have had many potential customers that could not afford Commercial Media Players which closed the door for our services. We needed a low-cost media Play with software that was easy to use to offer these clients in order for our new clients to playback out HD digital content.

SOLUTION

How did you select WeMakeIoT and what were the deciding factors?

I looked at some of their previous project and found out they had Raspberry Pi Software development experience. I took a chance with them and was pleased with their understanding of my requirements.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

I gave them specific details of what the player should do, along with rough drawings of specific screens needed. Needed was the ability to allow a tiered user privileges and playlist that allowed the user to assign content to the playlist from a cloud based storage reservoir. WeMakeIoT understood and sent me a prototype software for me to sample and I was amazed at the functionality of the demo. We hosted the cloud based software on Amazon AWS and they were fluent in working with me to set up the necessary accounts/services.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

I worked with Sheeba (Project Manager), Sooraj (Main Developer), and one other engineer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

By offering this product to potential clients, we increased revenue and converted new clients. Sheeba and her team were lightning fast as far as the initial deliverable. After that we reached back out to her team to continually upgrade the software which included better security, playlist capabilities and several user interface changes. I have to say, Sheeba and her team were prompt, professional and always delivered my requested updates ahead of schedule.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

Our company being in the United States, I thought would be a logistical nightmare with our communication... from day one Sheeba and her team never left me hanging, they messaged me as if they were down the hall, next office over. We never skipped a beat. Always available to solve any glitchs (which were mostly my lack of knowledge. haha). We messaged each other constantly and for that I was extremely impressed and gave me a sense of comfort.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Professionalism comes to mind. Always suggesting better ways to do what I waned to do. They exceeded my desired deliverables and functionality. Sheeba and I even messaged each other about our businesses and how things were going.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

None. They are an A1 Company, and I will continue to work with them in the future!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work for Connexa. I am in Research and Development and currently overseeing our IoT initiative. I am responsible for delegating hardware, firmware, and cloud software development. Connexa as a company got our start in Solar energy, but our main product line is now industrial automation assemblies. From designing and wiring control panels to manufacturing steel mounting structures, our goal is to cut down field labor on install. Our primary industry is oil and gas.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire WeMakeIoT?

We needed a way to remotely monitor the automation systems we manufacture, to give our customers access to their data and for us to be able to troubleshoot more effectively. The hardware design was already completed when we started working with Sheeba and her team so we have been primarily leveraging their expertise in UI/UX development.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed to quickly roll out the visual interface for the already existing hardware/backend service.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We made our choice because of their previous IoT and cloud experience. They had a portfolio of projects including ones that used the same hardware and a number of microservices we were incorporating. Rather than educating a more traditional software team on how to interact with our IoT devices, we were able to get to work immediately as there was already a solid understanding.

Describe the project in detail.

I have to stay vague on the exact scope but it entailed mainly UI development with a little bit of backend API development. My role was to scope the project, create testing standards, and then perform QC on the code turned in by SoftwareAssociates/WeMakeIot. Their team was immensely helpful in the project management/planning portion. They helped us to break the scope apart into smaller tasks and we were able to communicate everything effectively over asana. At no point did I feel confused as to what they were working on because we had complete transparency into their wworkflow with excellent communication. Every time we caught a bug or needed to refactor the scope, they gave us a new quote breaking down the time needed to complete each task so that we could approve it before they continued racking up hours.

What was the team composition?

We have 1 main developer we work closely with from SoftwareAssociates/WeMakeIot. We also have access to project managers and QC engineers as needed. During the early stages of development we had daily meetings with the entire team to make sure everyone was on the same page and development was proceeding as planned.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We have rolled out the project to an small test group of customers and have gotten a lot of positive feedback. The application is responsive and updates can be rolled out without interrupting usage. Communication to all of our IoT devices is seamless and the app seems to be scaling without any issues.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Like I mentioned previously, communication is a strong suit. We used asana for individual tasks and the team communicated their progress there multiple times throughout the day. Slack was used for more general questions and communication. We were able to schedule meetings within a business day if necessary. Code is being transferred via gitlab, with the normal workflow being after a new feature is added their developers will submit a merge request so our internal QC can go over everything before merging into the main branches.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We were most impressed by how similar their previous projects were to ours. We spoke with a number of software development companies that were adamant on their capabilities but had little to no experience working with hardware and embedded firmware. Even though SoftwareAssociates/WeMakeIot has not written any of our firmware it was monumental that they understood how all the puzzle pieces fit together. They genuinely care about delivering a functional product not just doing their small portion of the job.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I think the only limitations we ran into were due to Connexa's budget on the project. SoftwareAssociates/WeMakeIot had all the resources available to us but sometimes we were not able to make it fit within our budget

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the found and CEO of Kijora, Inc., a commercial building automation platform (hardware & software) that is open-source, cost-effective and extremely powerful.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire WeMakeIoT?

We hired WeMakeIoT to develop the cloud SaaS portion of the project from the ground up. This project requires intimate knowledge of not just back-end software development, but also the standard protocols used in building automation (BACnet, Modbus, etc.).

What were your goals for this project?

The project is ongoing and the goals keep expanding (as can be expected). WeMakeIoT hit every major deadline and has been great throughout the project.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We originally found WeMakeIoT via an online freelance website. They submitted their qualifications package and we realized they had experience with some of the building automation communication protocols, so it was a no-brainer to go with them.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We provided a very high-level scope of work document and since we do not have any developers on staff at Kijora, we provided little information on specifics. WeMakeIoT was able to take that information and develop a detailed work plan, timeline, and budget. I was very impressed with their professionalism and their ability to take what would be considered vague scope and work with our team to figure out exactly what needed to be developed.

What was the team composition?

There were 3 main members that I communicated with on our project (2 developers and 1 PM).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since this is the core platform and user interface to our technology, it is absolutely critical to our business. Without the WeMakeIoT, there would be no Kijora!

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Throughout the project, we touched base at key milestones and we utilized a couple of methods of communication and issue tracking. WeMakeIoT was willing to work with us on using our preferred method of communication which was very beneficial and effective.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We were most impressed with their ability to learn our industry quickly. Some of the building automation protocols and technologies are not easy to understand, but WeMakeIoT had no problems picking it up.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Any area of improvement gets provided as feedback to WeMakeIoT and they take corrective actions immediately.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company is based in Canada since 2009 and provide IoT products to agricultural industries. I am the CEO

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire WeMakeIoT?

We worked with WeMakeIoT company to improve the firmware of one of our product. Customers asked to integrate new features and we wanted to work with high tech company.

What were your goals for this project?

The project needed to to schedule irrigation scheduled online and offline and able to receive remotely actions.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

At the beginning we made some search over freelancing website and we made our selection after severals discussions. We conclude that WeMakeIoT was the best business we want to work.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

WeMakeIoT provide us challenge about our actual product, analyzing document, an improved firmware, documentations to use and setup, a good communication between both teams and high development skills.

What was the team composition?

We have a project manager who shares advancements and communications between the two teams. We use a centralized information exchange system to keep every discussion about the project. The team had access to our Git and inform us about development progress. Communication is easy by email, chat or Skype.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The big impact working with WeMakeIoT is about the peace of mind of this development aspect and keep us on others things to grow our business. While the team work in our projects, we can focus on others business development.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project has been split into iteration and we was able to review each iteration until we are satisfied

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I like the quality of the work, and the have a desire to do things well and without problems.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Seriously, I don't see any major improvement