1902 Software Development Corporation

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a systems manager at RNA (The Royal National Agricultural and Industrial Association of Queensland). We’re based in Australia and we hold an annual event that attracts about 40,0000 people.

What challenge were you trying to address with 1902 Software Development Corporation?

We have an in-house software development team that focuses mainly on our internal applications. We didn't have the resources or the bandwidth to take on the development of our external websites, so we needed a vendor to help us with those websites.

What was the scope of their involvement?

1902 Software developed our external website that features an engine and allows us to sell tickets. The team also handled the graphic design. We usually give them fairly loose requirements and they handled the full implementation. They mostly use Umbraco and C# for development.

What is the team composition?

We’re in contact with a project manager, and there are also 2–3 developers assigned to our project.

How did you come to work with 1902 Software Development Corporation?

Local Australian companies can be expensive, so we were looking for a more cost-effective provider. We’d worked with some offshore vendors before, but we didn't have much success. Someone recommended we look into Philippines-based companies. I talked to 1902 Software, and I liked their approach, so I decided to give them a chance.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent about $100,000–$120,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in November 2017 and the relationship is ongoing.

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

Our website has been quite successful, and we've sold a lot of tickets since partnering with 1902 Software. We've actually sold the same website to another show in Australia, so 1902 Software will have a chance to work with other companies like ours.

How did 1902 Software Development Corporation perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project manager is always available via email or Skype. They have a very organized process, so we can track the whole project and see our progress.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have excellent communication skills. We're happy with the quality of their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It takes commitment from both sides to make any project work, so you have to be actively involved and support regular communication.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a business unit manager for a pharmaceutical company that has offices in over 50 countries.

What challenge were you trying to address with 1902 Software Development Corporation?

We wanted to develop an application for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients that would allow them to record their symptoms and send a PDF to the hospital or their gastroenterologist. The app is meant for both iOS and Android users. Initially, we tried to develop the app with a Norwegian company, but it didn’t work out.

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we set up an advisory board of doctors and nurses who work with IBD to identify the information needed. We also asked for patients’ opinions to find out which kind of information was the most important for them. When symptoms change, patients can log into the app and enter new information. Since patient information cannot be connected to a server or CRM system, we had to make sure that information was only stored on individual phones. The patient then has the option to send information from their phone or iPad to a hospital.

After consulting the advisory board, we had a long discussion with 1902 Software Development Corporation. We also talked about how to make it interesting enough for patients while still having the necessary output for healthcare providers. 1902 Software developed the application according to our specifications and took care of the launches for us in the App Store and Play Store. We had a long test phase where physicians and patients tried out the app. We took that feedback and made some changes, followed by another test phase.

What is the team composition?

We are in contact with the owner of 1902 Software, who is familiar with our language. We are also in contact with the person responsible for the whole project.

How did you come to work with 1902 Software Development Corporation?

Our developer in Norway knew the owner of 1902 Software and recommended them. They had the expertise we were looking for.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent over $50,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

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

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

So far, they’ve met all of our expectations. They’ve completed the work perfectly and on time. We have had quite a few downloads.

How did 1902 Software Development Corporation perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve stayed within the budget, which is important. They’ve also followed the time frame we agreed on. During the production phase, we usually communicated through email and Skype. They were quick to follow up after the launch as well as during the production phase. We also had direct meetings with the owner when he visited Oslo. It was good that we had direct contact with so few people.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed with their in-house expertise.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of Empire Flippers. In 2011 we created a marketplace for buying and selling online businesses. We help buyers find passive online businesses that will bring in revenue and we help sellers offload their online businesses.

What challenge were you trying to address with 1902 Software Development Corporation?

We worked with many different developers to create our company website, and the result was a mess. The coding wasn’t cohesive, there were a lot of bugs, and there wasn’t a clear flow. Without an in-house development team, I was looking for a partner to provide the development and maintenance services necessary to improve the site.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, 1902 Software Development Corporation sorted through all of the site’s bugs and performance issues that were left over from previous developers. Then, they filled all of our outstanding feature requests and made performance improvements.

The website is built on WordPress using PHP code and has a complex theme with custom plugins. 1902 Software Development Corporation Integrated Slack and Zendesk with the platform and automated some of our internal processes, like phone calls.

The team also did some stand-alone projects. They created our conference call reservation app to help us manage three-party reservations. The team also programmed our valuation tool, which gives us an accurate estimate of the price of a business to use during our betting stage. Now, 1902 Software Development Corporation provides ongoing support and maintenance for the website.

What is the team composition?

I am only in contact with a project manager. He handles communication with other resources at 1902 Software Development Corporation.

How did you come to work with 1902 Software Development Corporation?

We partnered with multiple independent contractors or firms in the past and they either disappeared or did a bad job. To avoid another one of those situations, I did a lot of research to find the best development provider and made a list of about 20 potential companies. I work out of the Philippines, so the ideal partner would be located within the same region. I approached the owner of 1902 Software Development Corporation and after talking, I made a trip to their headquarters. I was impressed by their operation and decided to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, I’ve spent close to $200,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2016 and the partnership is ongoing.

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

With the help of 1902 Software Development Corporation, the traffic to our site has more than doubled, according to data from Google Analytics. Their development improvements and prompt bug fixes have boosted our site’s speed and loading time. Also, we’ve received great feedback from customers and some potential clients. Without them our whole website would come crashing down, they are critical to our success.

How did 1902 Software Development Corporation perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project manager is great, he is now an integral part of our team. I don’t really have to worry about the project because he handles all of the coordinating and scheduling needs on his end. We added him to our company Slack channel and we mainly communicate there. If we need something specific, we send him a private message, then he finds the internal resources to complete the task.

What did you find most impressive about them?

With their black box approach to project management, our partnership is seamless and efficient. An extremely collaborative approach often results in miscommunication or disagreements, but we’ve never had this issue with 1902 Software Development Corporation. I am confident in my relationship with our project manager. He knows the right resources to assign to our project, gives accurate timeline estimates, and even has a background in coding himself.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Aside from more affordable pricing, I would like to see 1902 Software Development Corporation expand their capabilities. Currently, they only work with PHP and WordPress. It would be nice if they offered Ruby on Rails development or could use other coding languages.

Any advice for potential customers?

I recommend clients fully conceptualize their ideas and set aside a realistic budget before partnering with 1902 Software Development Corporation. If clients start the engagement with an open discussion of their goals, then the team will be able to tell you exactly what to expect from their services.