Zoolatech

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work with the Stanford Alumni Association, and I’m the technical product manager for Stanford Magazine.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zoolatech?

We realized that we needed to redevelop our CMS for the magazine. It was pretty outdated, so we brought in Zoolatech to redefine that workflow and deploy newer technologies for the publishing platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Zolatech was essentially our technical development team. They provided front- and backend development services. We had a designer on our internal staff that provided mockups and Zoolatech handled the development.

What is the team composition?

At most, we had three key members working on the project. They provided a number of different developers that we interviewed and selected each developer for our team. We assembled a team consisting of a lead developer, a frontend engineer, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Zoolatech?

It was through a colleague who provided a contact. We were looking at other development services in our area, but Zoolatch was more affordable and provided the flexibility that we wanted. We were able to scale up and down based on the needs of the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the engagement in May of 2018 ad it ran through April 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It has been transformational. Our workflow and publishing process is completely different. We were able to integrate a number of new interface elements that allow us to tell stories in new ways. We’ve been able to invest in the platform so it can adapt to our editor’s changing needs.  Having direct control has completely shifted how we think about the digital services offered by the magazine.

How did Zoolatech perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great from a project management standpoint. We had a project manager who was the person I could talk with if we were having any issues or just to communicate on a daily basis. We ran the project using an agile methodology, so we had daily standups and retrospective meetings to discuss sprints. Having that project manager gave me a really easy point of contact if there were any concerns or if I was thinking about where the project was going.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They became a part of our integrated team. We didn’t see them as service providers—they were core team members. Having a daily conversation with them and getting to know their personalities was a great benefit. It was wonderful to see the investment they had in our project made when challenges arose. They were willing to work outside of normal hours. They’re also ten hours ahead of us, which we were concerned about at first, but they were extremely accommodating to our schedule.

They were very flexible as well. We weren’t exactly sure what we needed going into the project, and they were willing to work with that ambiguity. And still, they delivered everything on time and on budget.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they were great partners throughout the project.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take the time to interview a number of different candidates that they provide. That way, you can find the right fit in terms of personality.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are HDS Global, and I am the CTO of the company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zoolatech?

Bringing in talent to the company at speed was the biggest objective. We’re based in the Bay Area, so competing with companies like Google and Facebook for developers can often be incredibly difficult, and we reached out to Zoolatech for help.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were able to access the talent market in Ukraine through their services. They provided both recruiting capabilities and strategy, helping us to understand how to best attract talent and then putting our materials in front of a big enough pool to build the team that we wanted.

What is the team composition?

They have brought about 12 people onto our team so far.

How did you come to work with Zoolatech?

Our company interviewed about five different firms for the engagement, meeting each of them and evaluating their capabilities. Our selection process was focused on making sure they were both able to meet our requirements and also a cultural fit in terms of the values we have as a company. Zoolatech was by far the strongest and made a really good impression with us, so we decided to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

The total project cost has been a little over $2,000,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve worked together for a little over a year, starting in January 2019, and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our biggest success metric is really the ability to execute on the product. The resources we have engaged through Zoolatech work in conjunction with our team in the US, so we don’t have a way to isolate their team and just evaluate them completely independently, but we can measure their contribution through our ability to follow the roadmap that we’ve laid out, as well as the quality of the product we are ultimately able to produce. All of that has been substantially higher than we expected.

The other aspect of the work is in the rate of attrition from their side, and how well they are able to acquire developers that want to stay with us for the duration of the work. We don’t have any attrition so far, which is really spectacular for the outsourcing model.

How did Zoolatech perform from a project management standpoint?

We don’t have project management in the traditional sense since we are running an agile style development process with their team fully integrated into ours, but we do have an account manager on their side. That person has been exceptionally involved in the process, and they do an excellent job of keeping tabs on both the progress and happiness of the members of their team.

In terms of communication, we are in touch closely every single day. We make use of Microsoft teams as a communication channel and for video conferencing, we’re using Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

As we mentioned, culture is a big deal for us, and we run a culture survey twice a year that includes their team as well. They run a culture survey internally as well, which provides us with a lot of valuable feedback as well and is, in my opinion, a big part of the reason we haven’t experienced any attrition.

On a more fundamental level, that culture match has been the key to attracting talent that fits our company’s style and needs. When you’re hiring and interview a bunch of candidates that don’t work out, it can become a very negative experience, so having a process in place that works well is incredibly valuable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I really don’t think there’s anything I would suggest they improve.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the COS of MasterControl

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Leader in life sciences quality and manufacturing software bringing life-changing products to more people sooner. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Zoolatech to accomplish?

• Rapidly expand team to meet aggressive development timelines.

SOLUTION

How did you find Zoolatech?

• Referral
• Previous work experience with Zoolatech

Why did you select Zoolatech over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Zoolatech were assigned to this project?

75+

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Team members joined existing or new scrum teams to develop the key services and applications to deliver a modern, scalable set of applications. Teams committed to quarterly deliverables and executed on plans meeting the technical and product vision laid out by our executives. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Sample of metrics:

• Team velocity
• % Commitments achieved
• PR time
• Unit/E2E/Stress testing 
• Escaped defect rate
• Service/application uptime/MTBF

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Our principal contacts were extremely responsive to our needs, excelled at finding/screening/hiring high quality candidates, and true professionals. 

What was your primary form of communication with Zoolatech?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Working with Zoolatech is like hitting the EASY button: from senior management to our team members. 

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

Honestly, nothing comes to mind in this regard. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CTO of FoundryFractional, a company that provides fractional CTO services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zoolatech?

We needed to expand our engineering team and had a limited budget. We needed some quality engineering resources to help us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired Zoolatech for staff augmentation to help us meet sprint deliverables and increase our capacity. In some cases, we delegated whole pieces of our application for them to own and drive the roadmap. They owned full components of the stack and augmented our sprint team. They provided end-of-life support for one of our applications and built new modules in a new version of that application. Zoolatech is a full stack development shop. They have specialists in frontend, backend, DevOps, product, and road design.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 10–15 teammates from Zoolatech.

How did you come to work with Zoolatech?

I met Zoolatech during my days at my previous company. I had been to Russia and Ukraine many times as a student, and in my career, I often outsourced teams to those countries. I knew the owner of Zoolatech as we were peers under the same boss at one point. I was given options between different offshoring opportunities, and given that I had experience with Ukrainian offshore teams before and I knew the owner of the business, they seemed to be the best option.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent less than $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January 2016–December 2024.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They met our sprint commitments and deliverable milestones.

How did Zoolatech perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated via Slack and Zoom.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're not a typical contract shop that tries to make hours. They want to partner as if they're on the team with the same desire to reach the same outcomes, not just get hours in.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They did great.