7EDGE

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the founders and directors of AdSlate India Pvt. Ltd. We provide a buying and selling platform for the advertising market.

What challenge were you trying to address with 7EDGE?

We had a new idea for a portal application and we started building it with another company, but they weren’t able to do what we required and their company shut down. We were halfway there, and we didn’t know what to do, so we got in touch with 7EDGE. We gave our half-finished product to them.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We gave 7EDGE a brief for how we wanted to build this particular application, and they immediately suggested that we move the platform to Ruby on Rails. It’s a more modern language and they have very skilled Ruby on Rails developers. It’s also a very scalable tool.

We had a briefing session with them—attended by one project manager and 2–3 engineers—to tell them about our project and end goal. They gave their input, first suggesting a framework and explaining how the pages would look on it and other variables. 7EDGE also established a roadmap of five to six months for building the application. It was a bit complex and we were trying to solve a big problem, especially in the Indian market.

The application was a bit complex. It’s basically a media buying and selling platform and we also integrated a calendar. Media sellers have different media spaces, up to 10, all of them integrated with a calendar with which they can choose a particular time and make online payments. If one of their media slots is booked, the other nine slots will show as open.

There’s a little complexity within the booking system, as well as with the online payment system, and with the online invoice generating system. There are many online elements that have to be compliant and to make the process effortless for the buyers and sellers.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Sajith (Solution Architect and Technology Consultant, 7EDGE), and we had two engineers on the team. We initially went to meet them in-person. We had some initial dates during which we also had to explain a lot of things to them and make sure they understood. Then, we had regular calls once a week, to review the progress and see whether they had any doubts. Our communication went well.

How did you come to work with 7EDGE?

We initially did a Google search and settled for the largest company we found. After that engagement failed, we were conscious of the fact we’d already spent a lot of money and had a half-built product. We had to be more cautious about who was going to do our product. We went to a couple of references and found out about 7EDGE from someone whom I believe used to work with them.

We had a good meeting with them. Ashu (Principal Consultant, 7EDGE) was there and helped us build a roadmap of how the whole thing would work—how we’d start and how we’d close, and how we could improve the platform. That helped us a lot in setting our goals and getting inputs.

How much have you invested with them?

The final cost was 16–17 lakh Indian rupees (about $23,000 USD), including the changes the requested.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with 7EDGE from February—August 2018.

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

The final project turned out really well. We thought it’d be really complex, and there were a couple of things we couldn’t pull off, but we’re really happy with the app. It was just what we wanted. There are a lot of complex calculations internal to the app. It needs a lot of brains to come up with the right numbers. I believe we were finally able to get everything right.

How did 7EDGE perform from a project management standpoint?

Initially, we had in-person meetings with them for about a month. We opted to meet face-to-face at least once a week. This way, they’d get to know what we actually wanted, and, based on that, give us a framework of what the thing would look like and how we were going to build it. After that, we moved on to video calls.

We were regularly in touch with the engineers and we had daily meetings to discuss what had happened throughout the day, along with any issues or concerns we may have had. As the project got nearer to closure, the communication went down to once or twice per week.

They were really good and we liked how they dealt with things. There were a lot of changes made on the run, and they accommodated all of them. It was time-consuming and difficult for them to get things to where we wanted. Fortunately, their two developers helped us a lot to move things faster.

The project manager handled things very well and I never had much of an issue. When things got complex, Sajith was always there, helping us move the project forward.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have really experienced developers. I specifically appreciated one of their developers’ ability to take an idea from my mind and put it into action. He understood what we actually wanted. As a company, they’re always helpful and ready to check in on us and our needs. They deliver what we want.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I was totally satisfied. Improvements are always there, but I can’t think of any right now.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I would definitely recommend working with 7EDGE, from a commitment, skill, and project management standpoint. I’ve worked with other companies previously, and they couldn’t deliver, so I’m more than happy to recommend these guys.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work as the business head for the Vikram Sarabhai Science Foundation, which primarily focuses on inculcating science literacy within the student community. We’re based in Kochi, a small southern state in India. In our country, students study science only in grades 8–12. We plan to create science literacy within the student community, from the elementary stage onward.

What challenge were you trying to address with 7EDGE?

We hired them for Campus Field, our associate company. The intent was to work with the teaching community, which is ignored at times. I’ve worked quite a few years in the UK and Africa and always found that even truck drivers take pride in their jobs. When it comes to the teaching community in India, they don’t display that pride. Campus Field’s goal is to ensure that the teachers were provided the right training, recruitment, and consulting facilities through a web portal.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project was for developing an online portal for the consulting, training, and recruitment of teachers. The consulting part will be built in phase two. We tested the platform with another team, and 7EDGE fixed any bugs we encountered. In the end, they gave us the finished product.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Ashu (Principal Consultant, 7EDGE) and his technical head.

How did you come to work with 7EDGE?

One of my colleagues at a different company worked with 7EDGE previously. He told me that they were a young team that wanted to make a difference. I met with their director and technical head, where we discussed what our needs were.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost between 10–12 lakh Indian rupees (approximately $13,900–$16,800 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with 7EDGE toward the end of 2014, and the platform launched in March 2016.

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

Having a clear timeline and reporting structure, we found that 7EDGE gave us much more than we asked for. We gave their team a year to complete the task, but they finished within 8–9 months. After 3–4 months, we jumped into an iterative process with them.

What I appreciated about them is that they were open to fixing any bugs or making improvements after the development period ended. 7EDGE was receptive to our suggestions, providing the required output. There was little hassle from our end.

How did 7EDGE perform from a project management standpoint?

They were exceptionally good at project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I tend to make a lot of comparisons between 7EDGE and a local agency we’ve worked with. I’ve asked that other agency to learn from 7EDGE. From an output standpoint, 7EDGE is truly amazing. I can call and speak directly to their team. They’re happy to help. To date, I haven’t received a single complaint from my team about 7EDGE.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There are some improvements to make that would help users receive consultations from us. We’ve only addressed the recruitment and training parts of our vertical. Consultancy is something we decided to take up on a later stage, and we plan to discuss it with 7EDGE.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

7EDGE is fairly accurate in terms of resources, and they were able to deliver ahead of time. Each time I visited their office, their team was receptive and work on a clear network. They were transparent about the process and completion of tasks. If there were any doubts, they didn’t hesitate.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Hop Financial Solutions, a fintech startup that works in the domain of providing an inexpensive and straightforward process for people to exchange foreign money during travel.

What challenge were you trying to address with 7EDGE?

We were trying to build an MVP that would go to the market relatively quickly.

What was the scope of their involvement?

7EDGE took me through the entire process of developing the B2C product. Their team was involved in the idea stage, creating a clickable prototype, getting commercials in place, designing and developing a high-level architecture diagram, and figuring out technical requirements.

Since we’re in a regulated industry, there was a digital onboarding process for the client where various documents needed to be verified and an account needs to be created. There is also functionality for multiple payment gateways required for payment and the exchange of the money. We were trying to integrate different technologies for different modules depending on the latency we wanted. Their team used Node.js, JavaScript, Angular, React, and MongoDB.

What is the team composition?

At the peak of the development, there were 5–8 people working on the project. We worked with a few senior-level architecture people, and then the backend team became involved. Halfway through the engagement, the frontend developers came aboard. Our main point of contact was the principal consultant.

How did you come to work with 7EDGE?

I’d known and been in touch with them for a while. I liked the way their team worked, so I reached out to 7EDGE. Initially, a friend recommended them to me.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent between $20,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with 7EDGE from September 2018–April 2019.

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

7EDGE was professional in their approach, developing the MVP smoothly. They were quite critical in getting the project off the ground. It’s been working well, and the stability of the database has been excellent. We’ve hired some people internally to look at the MVP. They’ve told us it’s robust and that it can be developed further because it needs no changes.

How did 7EDGE perform from a project management standpoint?

Our main point of contact did the job well. As with any project, there was some back and forth. 7EDGE was helpful in letting us understand why things were done a certain way. Jira and Confluence were our project management tools.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were happy with what 7EDGE delivered. They got the job done without any complaints. When we wanted to make changes, their team was understanding and flexible.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There was a slight language barrier while working with a couple of team members. It wasn’t a deterrent, but they could improve in that area.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure the requirements are clear; this allows the process to be smoother at a later stage.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of a marketing and tech consulting company called iEasy.

What challenge were you trying to address with 7EDGE?

I had a client who needed an energy meter app developed.

What was the scope of their involvement?

7EDGE helped us develop native Wi-Fi enabled energy meter apps for iOS and Android. There were a lot of visual elements, including graphs that would show how much energy a household has consumed in each room (e.g., bedroom, hallways, kitchen). There was also a graph that would project the potential electric bill based on current energy usage.

To build the apps, we provided them with a brief document, which they used to come up with wireframes and prototypes. From the design work, they moved into the development phase using PHP.

What is the team composition?

We coordinated with at least three people, including the project manager.

How did you come to work with 7EDGE?

We found them through a Google search. We chose them because of their proposal and solution document. Compared to other vendors, they had a good understanding of our project.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $80,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Their work lasted from April 2015–January 2016.

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

They delivered what we needed.

How did 7EDGE perform from a project management standpoint?

The project management was about average. They used a Scrum methodology. While they could have broken up the tasks better, the sprint designing was good. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They had a good understanding of the project requirements.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’re really happy with everything they did for us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

For any client who needs clarity on what they want, I recommend 7EDGE. They ask questions and help you break things down so that you can easily understand what you need.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of Yowza Consulting Pvt. Ltd., a digital marketing company.

What challenge were you trying to address with 7EDGE?

We had a client that needed an educational web app built.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Using Ruby on Rails, 7EDGE developed a web app that allows users to buy a program and create a profile for their child. The child can use the app for after-school learning.

What is the team composition?

I interacted with one person, and there were five people assigned to the project.

How did you come to work with 7EDGE?

I worked with them previously on a project, and it was a good experience. I pitched them to my client, who liked their profile.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with 7EDGE from September–December 2016.

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

The product is seamless, working efficiently.  

How did 7EDGE perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management style was great. 7EDGE met all deadlines. We used Asana to keep track of their work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

7EDGE’s team knows what they’re doing, which helps how they approach their projects. Their knowledge of the technology they used was great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, everything went smoothly. I didn’t see anything lacking in their work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have your requirements as detailed as possible.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The Week is a weekly English news magazine published in India.

What challenge were you trying to address with 7EDGE?

We went to them for SEO services and social media strategy.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They had a clear idea of what we should be achieving each month. We had a phone call between our teams each month, to go over what they had done and what they’d be doing next. They also submitted a project report at the end of every month, with a very clear picture of our achievements.

The SEO content was generated in-house by our team, then they optimized it in terms of metadata, framing, and so on. They also made modifications on the technical side to reduce page load times.

What is the team composition?

We were assigned a project manager, with a technical architect who helped us on the website for whatever corrections we needed. The project manager was responsible for translating our requirements into technical tasks, and vice versa.

How did you come to work with 7EDGE?

They were referred to us by one of the people who’d done a campaign for us previously. We heard pitches from 3–4 other companies and 7EDGE showed the best understanding of our requirements.

How much have you invested with them?

The total was around 5 million Indian rupees (approximately $72,500 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them between September–December 2016.

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

We saw remarkable improvements in our page load times, on both mobile and desktop devices. In terms of traffic, their campaign generated an 80% improvement across its duration. We used different measurement tools, including Google Analytics, and we saw an improvement in the quantity and quality of our traffic. That includes the time spent per visit, the number of returning visitors, and so on.

How did 7EDGE perform from a project management standpoint?

They kept us up to date, and all the projects were delivered on time. There were some delays that came from our end, but they made up for those.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have very good knowledge of what they’re doing and kept us informed about what they were doing and how. We knew what to expect and how they’d be performing—it was executed transparently.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not for now. They’ve exceeded our expectations.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

They’re slightly pricier than other agencies, but I would definitely recommend them to clients looking for these kinds of services. However, there should be negotiations.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of TxtBrowser, a platform that helps people in emerging countries search for information. 

What challenge were you trying to address with 7Edge?

We reached out to 7Edge to develop our SMS queries platform for both web and mobile.

What was the scope of their involvement?

7Edge has worked on multiple products of ours, including a developer portal and an SMS queries platform for both web and mobile (iOS and Android). We provided 7Edge with a brief understanding of the requirements of our platform, and they created wireframes and a more detailed scope of work from there before going into development.

What is the team composition? 

We worked with about four people on their team, including a project manager, designer, and the CEO on occasion. 

How did you come to work with 7Edge?

We found them through an online search and decided to reach out based on positive reviews from other clients of theirs. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've worked with them on multiple projects ranging in size from around $50,000–$100,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from June 2012–2015.

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

7Edge grasped how our products should work for the end-user very well and took ownership of their work. The apps they built work great overall, and their process was seamless. 

How did 7Edge perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very organized and delivered everything on time. We used tools like Basecamp to track project progress.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It's rare for a developer to take as much ownership of a project as they were able to. Unlike other vendors, they also stuck to their deadlines and focused on building products for success. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a former product manager at Diageo. I managed a content marketing website called LiveInStyle.

What challenge were you trying to address with 7EDGE?

We needed a partner who could fulfill multiple needs, including revamping a website and CMS, helping build a nightlife product, and running digital marketing.

What was the scope of their involvement?

7EDGE built an Android app for our digital marketing campaigns and also managed some of our media buying. They worked on social media campaigns and marketed on our social networks. Other third-party partners collaborated with them to work on VR apps to help sell our products.

Beyond that, they also helped rebuild our website and consulted on the selection process for our new CMS. We’d been using an old CMS that wasn’t meeting our needs, so 7EDGE identified a few possible solutions.

What is the team composition?

We mainly worked with an account manager but also met with the head of technology as well as the CEO, when needed.

How did you come to work with 7EDGE?

We sent out an RFP, and 7EDGE was the best company that applied.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement lasted from 2013–2016.

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

The campaigns resulted in good leads while keeping costs down. The website quality improved, and the nightlife product they helped market did well. The social media campaigns resulted in an increased click-through rate and improved leads. Because of their quality of work, we preferred partnering with 7EDGE over any other organization.

How did 7EDGE perform from a project management standpoint?

Unlike many other agencies, 7EDGE was committed to delivering what they promised. They took deadlines seriously and worked hard to meet them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They took time to build trust with us and our third-party partners, showing empathy for our business needs. They were open about problems and didn’t wait until the last minute to tell us about setbacks or delays.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could’ve hired more staff to scale better.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Meet with them because you'll be impressed.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the brand manager of Diageo, an Indian alcohol brand.

What challenge were you trying to address with 7EDGE?

Advertising of alcohol is not permitted in the Indian market. Therefore, our challenge was relaying our brand’s message to the community.

What was the scope of their involvement?

My company didn’t have a particular idea of what we wanted. We gave 7EDGE a brief explanation of what the brand stands for and the space that we’d like to be in. After a few discussions, 7EDGE proposed a couple of ideas, one of which was to develop an app that would communicate with customers and bypass the ban on mainstream advertising. We approved, and 7EDGE developed an iOS and Android app that allows users to take unique selfies. They engaged one of the best photographers in India to design a special set of filters for the app.

7EDGE delivered an end-to-end solution. They considered the brief, proposed the design and layout, and then executed it once the overall concept was approved internally in the company.

What is the team composition?

7EDGE had two people from client services and a tech team of about eight people. A photographer was also involved. From my side, we had a four-member team.

How did you come to work with 7EDGE?

I was looking for an agency to handle small digital projects, and 7EDGE was local. Initially, they were responsible for managing Twitter and Facebook content; eventually, our working relationship evolved, and they began conceiving bigger and better ideas.

How much have you invested with them?

My company spent $10,000­-$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The collaboration spanned April­–October 2013.

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

I haven’t kept track of the app since I left the organization. However, the response was tremendous when we launched the app. We reached around 30,000 downloads within a couple of months, and our digital impressions went up by 100%–150%. The app helped us to become the first brand to sell a million cases in the shortest amount of time, just seven months.

How did 7EDGE perform from a project management standpoint?

They were quite good with project management. 7EDGE had teams dedicated to different areas; for instance, one team focused on understanding the brief, while another was committed to UI/UX. They were quite professional in their approach and had a structured process that covered everything, from understanding the briefs to final delivery. They met deadlines, and my team was always aware of what was happening in the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I found 7EDGE to be very forward-thinking; they had a keen sense of what the next big thing would be. The team sought to deliver ideas that would make our brand bigger and better. They were professional and easy to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they delivered on what I expected.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear idea of what you want help with. 7EDGE can definitely deliver on whatever your requirements are. Associating with them would be a really good choice.