9series Inc

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a Canadian-Indian startup working on various products and services. Right now, we’re working on a product search engine and a hyperlocal delivery system. I’m the founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd?

They’re helping us with our second venture, the hyperlocal delivery system. The idea is to help local merchants speed up local customer deliveries.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

9series is our partner in developing the entire platform. It consists of apps for iOS and Android and a web backend control portal.

We shared our idea and project documents with them. Based on those, 9series came up with the execution model.

We’re using a GPS-based algorithm to ensure that all deliveries are timely and cost-effective, with a focus on respecting customer data privacy.

We did a proof of concept with native iOS and Android apps, but we decided that we didn’t want to invest in two different sets of code as we went on. We chose Flutter, which allows us to have reusable and scalable code and saves on cost.

The aim was to build a simple UI/UX for a moderately complex application. We’re working with small shopkeepers, who tend to be busy dealing with customers. We’re using an algorithm that allows merchants to book deliveries by just long-pressing a key and speaking to the application.

The deliverers are on foot and using different vehicles, from bicycles to motorbikes. The algorithm matches them with merchants based on the requirements of the delivery, ensuring the optimal use of available resources.

The platform hooks into customer POS and e-commerce systems through APIs.

What is the team composition?

9series assigned a business analyst, a UI/UX designer, a project manager, a three-person Flutter development team, a QA specialist, and someone responsible for documentation and API integrations.

Rajnikant (Director) is our main contact. He has a tech and business analysis background, which made him the right person for us.

How did you come to work with 9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd?

We wanted a partner that could deliver a working application that could be used by customers right from the start. Oftentimes, the initial version will be quite buggy, which would have an impact on our business. We didn’t want to have too many iterations and bug fixes after launch.

We spoke to a few developers. I knew a bit about 9series’ founder, and I spoke to him. He had a very strong background in quality control, especially in app development, and that was a key criterion in choosing them. 9series was a bit higher on the cost side, but our main concern was launching a bug-free platform from day one.

How much have you invested with them?

The first agreement was for $30,000, and we’re paying them $3,750 per month right now. We’ll be spending $50,000–$60,000 by the end of 2021.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with 9series four or five months ago, and development went on for about two months. We launched the first version in July 2020, and the second version is going to be launched in January 2021. We have an ongoing contract with 9series until October 2021.

We’re currently at version 1.2, which is working in three hyperlocal geographies. We’re in a closed beta test right now, and version 2.0 is in the process. We plan to sharpen the system and add more features over the next year.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The platform is being used by about 100 merchants and is processing around 500 deliveries per day. We track metrics for onboarding and delivery times. Ordering deliveries is quick, and downtime has been almost zero, and the only instance was due to Google Cloud, not 9series.

Key metrics on the business side are our responsibility, in terms of how many customers we acquire and how fast. 9series is making sure that the app has a seamless UI/UX and is working bug-free.

How did 9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Google Workspace a lot, where 9series has spreadsheet templates for managing our APIs, work schedules, and so on. Our team isn’t that technical, so we use Google spreadsheets to give inputs to them. They used InVision during UI/UX design, which allowed us to work collaboratively.

What did you find most impressive about them?

9series stand out in terms of quality control.

Are there any areas they could improve?

9series follows UI/UX principles, and they’ve done a pretty good job, but I’ve reviewed their work with my team and found areas that could’ve been done better.

Documentation quality is another area of improvement, not that they’re bad.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

If the customer is clear on their expectations, 9series will be a great team to work with. 9series comes with a strong technical background and a strong quality control culture. They’re not a very creative team in terms of coming up with ideas and solutions, but, if the client has a clear idea, 9series is definitely able to execute it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a managing consultant at SoIT Solutions. We provide end-to-end business consulting solutions mostly on cybersecurity, digital forensics, application development, business intelligence, and business analysis.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd?

One of our clients was looking for a retirement package and had this concept of matchmaking professionals. The idea was centered around coaches and mentors with service users who’d need coaching and mentoring in a professional environment through online services. They came to us, and we brought on 9series to meet the client’s needs.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I gathered the requirements and sent the specs to 9series. They went back to the drawing board and came back with another process map. They did more mind mapping and then came up with the concept, wireframes, and mockups.

After sign-off from the client, they dedicated an entire team to implement everything. The implementation was executed through daily check-ins and a scrum methodology. They used WordPress and plug-ins.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager, two developers, and a team manager.

How did you come to work with 9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd?

We met with one of their salespersons in South Africa. We met in person and talked about their work experience. They were open about how they work and showed us their portfolio. 9series has a footprint in South Africa so we knew they were familiar with our culture and how we work so we moved forward.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested 75,000 rands (approximately $5,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement was from February–August 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They did a lot of QA so by the time the solution got to me, it already ticked off all the boxes in terms of quality. I liked that 9series did that. We had a few problems dealing with matters that were lost in translation in terms of language. Once we ironed those out, the quality was always good.

There were some spelling and tense mistakes. Obviously, English isn’t their first language so they did the best they could. I had to look out for those details but in terms of functionality, the solution was perfect. I had no problems, and I’d use them again.

How did 9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was great. We used Trello. Everything was attainable, and I could check how far along they were. The daily standups were effective. If I had any problems, I could call them on Skype whenever I needed them. There was great communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

9series took the time to understand us as a client. They built a relationship with us and it felt that they sincerely cared. What's more, there were options about cost-effective add-ons as opposed to implementing a change request from the client and then billing them for it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their content writing could be better. Perhaps they could use a spell checker. I know English isn’t their first language, but I do expect them to do better. Additionally, their rate per hour was affordable, but their hours were ridiculously high. I was able to negotiate with them though.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

9series will provide a mockup with estimated projections. However, don’t take the hours at face value. Try and negotiate on the hours because they tend to overestimate the hours. All in all, they’re good. Their team is professional, and we’re happy with the product they delivered.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

My name is Farhan Vhora, I am the founder of makemytrans.com. I am in charge of this entire project up and running. I started MakeMyTrans to create open global logistics protocol to improve efficiency in connectivity between physical transportation assets, to change the way physical objects are currently transported, handled, and supplied.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd, and what were your goals?

Initially, we wanted to build the product on our own, we had our own tech people in the house and we started making the first version of what we wanted to create. We did create the first version of our business software, but it had bugs which we were unable to solve.

Our goal was to develop best in class logistics applications for enterprise users, we had the process with us but we need strong tech capability. Parallel we wanted strategic and tech research support for testing new technologies on different industry users. We were introduced to 9 series for our high-end business software and application development.

SOLUTION

How did you select 9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd and what were the deciding factors?

After many discussions, people at 9 series consulted us on how we can strategize product development. We were made sure by the team that the process we were trying to implement in a particular product can be achieved.

We appointed them as our tech partner for the future development of company products including web software, backend development, Mobile application with machine learning, and big data assessment capability. To date, 9 series and their team handled our tech carefully and delivered with very few difficulties.

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

After finalizing our partnership, their team gathered each piece of information regarding our tech development and created a process document with multiple product design ideas. I was constantly updated by their team members. In two months they have presented our first consumer software developed from scratch, with multimodal process integration.

I was pleased because our initial users appreciated the tech interface. They have used Scipen of the project to develop the website, keyo process, and integration methodology for an organization. For that, HTML, javascript, cloud capabilities, and AWS services were used.

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

We had two managers one for web software and application, another for mobile applications. In between their team and our team, one business analyst was making the entire communication seamless. 4 Developers and 1 design guy were also part of my project team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After launching our first product phase with limited functionality, my users really appreciated the easiness of the product interface. We scale from 15% to 60% in a few months and added many other enterprise customers with our first version of the software. Some of our clients loved the design and functionality developed by the team.

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

They have added one business analyst to translate my field related information into tech-related scripting. I personally loved this process. Apart from that, I was updated by two of the appointed managers in terms of tech development, delays in work, and upcoming changes. We used Slack, Trello to coordinate the project timeline and communication.

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

9 series not only helped us in well-designed technology development but they have helped us in figuring out some of the complicated algorithms we have been trying to create. The director of the company himself used to design mathematical processes with our team and helped us to strategize the process. This really is a long way to go.

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

The product we are trying to develop itself is lengthy and required to implement critical industrial processes. It took some time for us and their team to figure out new ways to redesign and reengineer the product. It was difficult but their team has consistently provided a better solution.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of HairyUp, a barber and hairstyle mobile app for iOS and Android. The app brings the barber to the client’s location, whether it be a hotel, office, or even a gas station.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd?

They were the main developers of the app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd designed and developed my app for iOS and Android and my backend administrative panel.

Each barber has their own portfolio on the app, where they can showcase pictures of their work. They can update their calendars and make bookings there. I can use it to view payment reporting and sign up new barbers.

Clients can message barbers through the app, including pictures of their desired haircuts. We have the ability to show clients where barbers are coming from, for them to see how much the travel cost will be. There’s also a Google Maps integration.

They’ve also started building a website for me.

What is the team composition?

I worked directly with Rajnikant (Director), who was overseeing my project. A lot of the structure was broken down into an Android, an iOS, and a backend team with a lead developer for each group. They also provided UX/UI people to make the layout of the app.

How did you come to work with 9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd?

I’d tried other developers before, and I was skeptical about using an offshore team. I’d had bad experiences on another project and in getting this one off the ground.

I was referred to them by my business attorney. He specializes in startups, and their team built a lot of apps for his clients. I took a look at their work, and what sold me was how professionally-structured they were.

9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd provided me lots of documentation and information research and attested that they are doing professional work. They’ve been running with the wind, and I’ve not looked back since.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve invested around $15,000 in their work so far. I expect the total to be around $25,000 when the development is finished.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in June 2016. It took a while to get the ball rolling and for me to reallocate funds. We started working together again around a year and a half ago, where we ended up relaunching the app in October 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since I’ve planned the app out for multiple generations, I’ll be working with their team for a long time. 9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd delivered the work I requested, and I have nothing negative to say about them. We were able to get things done quickly and seamlessly.

The team did proper quality checks on the work before sending it over to me, which saved a lot of back and forth. I’ve gotten a lot of positive feedback, especially on the app’s UI design and functionality.

There were a few issues with the Android version, but their team is working on them, and it should all be done by tomorrow. This speaks to their turnaround time.

How did 9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

I worked closely with the teams. They work in agile. This environment has allowed us to get things turned around fairly quickly. If something didn’t work right, they could not only fix it but do it promptly and give me enough time to give feedback.

They’re using tools like Jira to document the work and requirements I’m giving them, but I’m not too involved with those. They use Axure RP to build mockups.

I had clear and constant communication with the project manager. He gave me a statement of work, going over the project overview, how many hours it would take, and more.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve worked with other offshore providers, and their communication is the biggest part for me. There were language barriers, or the communication just wasn’t there. With their team, I’ve always received a response. If they didn’t know the answer, the team did some research and got back to me.

The reliability of their QA and constant communication were the biggest selling points for me. I know that they have QA teams testing before it is sent to me in terms of quality of work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s hard to say because I’ve been nothing but impressed since I started working with them.

It might be how I’m explaining things, but with some requirements, it’ll take 2–3 tries before we get to the solution we’re working toward. I need to break things down a bit more clearly. This is the only thing I can see them improving.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to have requirements ironed out down to the details. We can work with the team on different ideas, but it’s important to have a base laid out.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the COO of a highly dedicated bookshop that specialises in educational books in both printed and online formats.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd, and what were your goals?

We pride ourselves in being a one stop solution and wanted to provide one platform where eBooks and hard cover books can be purchased and read. Hence we approached 9Series to assist us with the development of our own e-Reader.

SOLUTION

How did you select 9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd and what were the deciding factors?

We met with 9Series online and in person and immediately felt assured by their capabilities, honesty and work ethics. 9Series is very responsive, collaborative, and understanding with pricing.

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

We had a kick off meeting to discuss our objectives and were provided with a proposal and feature list. The app had to be developed for Windows, Mac and mobile platforms, with the ability to sync between multiple devices.

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

We've worked directly with 3 or 4 individuals. These include the Director a Project Lead and directly with a developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our app is now available on Apple App Store and Google Play Store. We were also provided with install files for Windows and Mac. Our first clients will start using the app now.

We can't ask for much more. 9Series always listens (and often complies) with changes in scope or misunderstandings taking a long-term partnership approach to development as opposed to the short term.

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

We had daily progress meetings with their Project Lead and were kept up to date the entire time. All our meetings were via Google Meet as well as email communication.

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

They listen. It's pretty simple, but they collaborate and listen so it isn't an adversarial relationship, it is a partnership to grow great software, not make them rich.

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

Nothing at this stage. Any queries were quickly resolved and handled with care and 1-on-1 attention.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a faculty member of an educational institute. It is an educational institute which collaborates with multiple partners on research and applied research-based project.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd?

9 Series Pvt Ltd provided us with complete IT (mobile and web) development support for - Pragati. Pragati is a VR-based application designed to train rural health workers using immersive, expressive, and interactive training contents on maternal and child healthcare. 9-series was responsible for web and mobile development for both the products including front-end and backend development and in some cases UI design inputs as well.

What were your goals for this project?

The goals were to provide a seamless, interactive, and engaging mobile application/service for targeted users. Also, perform modifications quickly and seamlessly based on the user feedback - to improve an overall experience of the product.

SOLUTION

How did you select 9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd?

I had earlier seen the work of 9 Series Solution Pvt Ltd which motivated me to collaborate with them. Moreover, the website shows varied work experience which was important for our service as it used a different UX design approach. The hourly cost (which is cheaper than alternatives in the industry) was affordable which also played an important role in choosing them.

Describe the project in detail.

The project scope was to design a VR and interactive video-based mobile application to train health workers. It included allowing to view VR modules created using Unity, uploading and view interactive videos, providing a feature to ask a question to doctors via voice/video recording a question, and finally to share users' learnings with peers via recording a video and uploading on the Pragati application.

We provided a UI to the team, who eventually developed the front-end UI for the Pragati app. They have developed the backend admin panel to upload new content, view user and usage statistics, and other relevant information about the application. One of the focus of the application was to enable users to see videos in low internet connectivity setting, which was well delivered by the 9Series team.

What was the team composition?

The team composed of a program manager who coordinated with us throughout the project. He initially understood the application, gathered all the requirements, suggested a set of new features, and introduced each functionality to the team. Three team members along with the program manager worked efficiently and tirelessly on this project to deliver high-quality product.

Moreover, as the project demanded quick modifications in the app based on user feedback and reviews, the team immediately worked on our modifications in a very quick timeline without compromising on the quality of the deliverable.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project was well deployed and used by more than 1000 rural health workers in order to train them. The application worked seamlessly with even a poor internet connectivity area due to a great video compressing algorithm.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The team worked seamlessly and collectively to reach the desired goals. There were constant updates, constant coordination, and feedback from the team. As everything was online due to long-distance, periodic call and significant updates were shown during each call.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Quick and timely deliverables without compromising on the quality. Affordable cost for development Constant feedback, suggestions, and dedicated effort in improving the product/service

Are there any areas for improvement?

No

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder & CEO of Intuify, a market research technology company. Over a year ago, we launched intending to change how surveys are conducted, making them not just mobile-friendly but interactive in a way the surveys currently are not.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd.?

When we launched, our goal was to develop a technology platform that sat alongside adjacent ones. In this case, our focus is on Qualtrics, the largest survey technology platform out there. It was acquired by SAP a couple of years ago.

We were looking to build on top of Qualtrics in the same way a company might build a plug-in on top of Salesforce. We had a particular business strategy in mind. I’m a data scientist and market researcher with particular methodologies in mind, but we needed to build out the actual software.

It would both modify the interactions and move the data into a backend analytics platform. The data would then be used to generate reports, insights, and product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

9series primarily developed on top of a Java and JavaScript platform. Qualtrics is a modular platform. One of the reasons we selected it is that it has a semi-open architecture. The frontend is containerized and made accessible in JavaScript and jQuery.

We developed a lot of the interactions through these containerized mechanisms, building out a lot of custom code that would be embedded inside the containers and would have to then plugin or connect with the internal APIs of Qualtrics so that we could move data into and out of data structures there and benefit from the fielding infrastructure. 

We had to pipe that data into our own backend platform, which we developed on top of an independent cloud-native environment. I believe we used the Laravel framework.

We pulled in many libraries, and we have a lot of cloud pieces focused on natural language processing. Because we use a lot of video and audio media for analysis, we have various media transfer mechanisms. Since we had to pull all of that together included cloud functions and asynchronous analysis pieces, there was a lot of data to move around. We ended up moving to Google for the equivalent of Amazon S3.

It’s a fairly modern architecture, and all of those pieces are embedded. Given how fast we put it together and the limited number of resources we allocated, it was pretty impressive that we managed to do it so quickly.

What is the team composition?

We’re working with six people from their team. One is a project manager split across a few clients, and the rest are dedicated senior and junior software engineers.

How did you come to work with 9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd.?

I’d run technology innovation groups at Fortune 500 companies, so I was pretty familiar with the outsourcing model, and I knew offshore companies that I could go to. The challenge with larger companies is their price and lack of client control. They tend to put a lot of business management people in-between the client and the software developers. I didn’t want to pursue that model. 

I did have a friend from India, had done market and used 9series for his own startup. He suggested that I talk to them, so I got in touch with Rajnikant (Director) and one of their architects. I told them what I wanted to build, and we sat down for a couple of hours to plot it out.

They offered to do a couple of weeks of prototyping to stand up a framework and show us what they could do. I gave them that chance, and what they put together was pretty compelling.

I started with 3–4 people on a short-term basis, and it became apparent to me after a few months that this was something I wanted to continue. I committed to a year with Rajnikant, and I expanded the team's scope even before the year was out, from 3–4 to six people. We had client interest, and I wanted to accelerate things.

How much have you invested with them?

Our monthly burn started at $11,000–$12,000, and it’s around $15,000 now because it’s based on resources. On average, it’s been close to $250,000 in the last 18 months.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them on a paid basis in March 2019. The full scope I initially asked for is delivered, but I’ve expanded it significantly.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

For all intents and purposes, 9series is our entire technology team alongside myself. My background is in innovation and launching new products, and I’m not an advocate of things like burndown metric efficiency charts like “we processed 22 bugs” or “we had a less than 2% bug rate”. That tends to create a situation where a software vendor will avoid launching things because the risk profile is too significant.

The reward structure is such that the easiest way not to get bugs is just to slow down the launch or not launch anything. I’ve seen that happen in large companies a lot, and I’ve fought against it.

When I engaged with 9series, the very first thing I did was to tell them that I didn’t want to follow a standard software release process, and they accommodated that. One of my criteria for selecting them was that I didn’t want to work with a company with set processes. The deal I gave them back was that I wanted to be involved on a day to day basis, and as long as they told me about the risks if something failed, it was fine.

What I didn’t want them to do was hide things from me. I’d seen that with other teams from India; there’s a certain culture there. 9series accommodated that too.

The partnership, commitment, and talent were strong from the get-go. There was just one instance of a developer not being a good fit. We swapped him over, and they were accommodating about that. On the whole, the experience is strong and positive.

We hit release dates. They dove into the cloud-native parts quickly. I gave them some complex things to work on, and 9series pulled them off. I’d have to sometimes guide them through how to actually walk through the analytics because that was outside their domain. I asked them to learn some new technologies, and they did it without complaint. They were actually quite excited about it.

 On those metrics, we’ve hit and expanded our targets. One thing that I liked a lot was that 9series was very thoughtful when I put forward specific product requirements about how that fits the market, what we needed to do, and how we needed to develop it. We built it in a scalable manner so that we could expand upon those. That’s a very nice thing to get from an offshore partner.

How did 9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd. perform from a project management standpoint?

They use Jira, which is pretty standard. I use it as well. Sometimes I cheat and, rather than entering requirements in myself, I email a PowerPoint deck and some mockups to the project manager. He’s very accommodating about that.

 The direct communication is pretty straightforward, but I don’t work well within rigid systems. 9series was very flexible about adapting to our system.

I feed them a continuous stream of requirements to meet daily. We have strategy meetings once a month to identify the next big set of things to focus on. We keep schedules loosely, but things get pulled in and out.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I like their get-it-done attitude and lack of religion about software. It’s a very practical approach. If there’s a new tool, they’ll use it, and if we want to use an old tool, they’ll let us use it. Their team doesn’t come to the table with set notions about how it has to be done.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re a young company, and there’s still a level of maturity that they’re building. It would’ve been great to start out with people who just knew the software already and understood the US market, but I do find that I have to explain certain things to them sometimes, which they just don’t understand about the business market we’re in. This is common with offshore teams. It took 3–6 months to get to a point where they really understood it.

Particularly when launching a relationship, it’s important to try and invest a little more activity to understand the business, including at the junior developer level. I don’t like teams that are very vertical, so we made a point to explain why we were doing things and what our business model looked like even to the junior folks.

I think that 9series has absorbed that, and it would probably be much faster if we were doing it again. My advice to them is to really make an effort to make sure they understand the business scope, even at the software level, so that they can actively contribute later on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clients should be clear about what their objectives are and how they want to interact. That varies partly because of personal style. I recognize that mine is different from a lot of other people’s, and their team is flexible in dealing with that.

Being clear upfront will reduce the risk of issues.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Design Italiano Srl. We are an Italian company engaged in distribution of high end products in Furniture in India. I am the Director and President of Design Italiano Srl.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd, and what were your goals?

We have hired 9series for customized software development for making quotation of Minotti brand furniture products. Their goal was to shift entire manual work of making minute quote into software - faster, better and cost effective. We had 30 people working to the job now with the quote we have 3 people doing the same job. Rest 27 people were reskilled and promoted (with higher salary) to other profile.

SOLUTION

How did you select 9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd and what were the deciding factors?

We have selected them from an online search process. Team, dedication, professionalism, open to learn and listen business processes, adptability and agility were the deciding factors.

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

Scope of work to develop an innovative and stylish Quotation and Invoicing Software. The initial challenge was to group, regroup and reregroup millions of permutation and combination for customised furniture. Key deliverables were quick, clear and error-free quote of furniture items from the galaxy of millions of combinations possible. World wide this entire process is human driven but we only do this as machine driven.

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

4 People worked from the Vendor's team. One of Project Head directly reporting to Director and others were programmers with ability to translate our needs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The are four measureable outcomes

• One person can prepare 3 quote in a day with total value of 50.000 euros. While with this software, one person can prepare 90 quotes with total value of 2 million euro in a day.
• Cost of software is less than 5 months of salary of entire staff.
• In pandemic, it avoided us any issues of working on quote and invoice part. Thus, payment were smooth and achieved 80% hike in client conversation.
• In general, it was a game changer in High End Furniture Retail.

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

Project Management style was collaborative. Communication tools were emails, phones and weekly 3 meetings. Time line was 3 months.

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

Focus on client need and ability of executing it with utmost perfection is the most impressive and unique thing about this company.

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

They must improve on their physical infrastructure. They must have natural ventilation in their work environment. Their offices should be more open which can bring more creativity. They are technically sound and substantive but they should be visually sexy also.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was CEO & Founder of a development firm that exclusively utilized outsourced development, Blast Off Apps where I worked closely with 9 series. I still do work with them on our stand alone SaaS product, the Mercury Platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire 9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd, and what were your goals?

We worked a lot with 9 series on multiple projects for my clients at Blast Off Apps and they have even helped me on the Mercury Platform.

SOLUTION

How did you select 9series Solutions Pvt. Ltd and what were the deciding factors?

9 series is very responsive, collaborative, and understanding with pricing. Our pricing is unique and they were eager to adopt it and have helped us refine the process just like they've suggested ideas for clients to help make a great piece of software and get it done in a timely manner. They are one of the main reasons I feel outsourced development can be equal to in-house development if done correctly.

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

They have worked on Social Media apps, video conferencing apps, dating app, SaaS, and many other types of apps throughout our relationship.

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

I've worked with ~5 or 6 individuals over the 5 years of engagement with their firm. This ranges from their co-founder to CTO to the actual coders working on the projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I can't ask for much more. 9 series always listens (and often complies) with changes in scope or misunderstandings taking a long-term partnership approach to development as opposed to the short term, waterfall type, development practices of outsourcing development firms that still exist.

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

We used the Mercury Platform and its MVP for this. Our product does this for the team and dramatically improved time of development, lessened misunderstandings, and grew our bottom line. Timelines were in 1-2 week sprints by and large set up by myself and other team members of Blast Off Apps (and our clients). They delivered very well, better than 99.99% of the firms out there.

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

They listen. It's pretty simple, but they collaborate and listen so it isn't an adversarial relationship, it is a partnership to grow great software, not make them rich.

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

Not really any suggestions for this part. There are always hiccups, but they handle things with care and 1-on-1 attention, so no need to nit-pick.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of two businesses. AIMS education is a medical school where we train medical techs. We have been in business since 2004. I'm also associated with an IT consulting company. 9series Solutions has provided services to both corporations. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 9series Solutions?

The primary objective was bringing all the services we offer clients online. We wanted to make sure we have the right presence on the internet through our website. For our business needs, we needed internal data systems and applications. It was a major challenge to find the right company who could understand our requirements and come up with a solution. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

9series Solutions has a local representative in the United States who works in our offices. He arrives promptly at our company every day. Initially, we started developing the AIMS Education website. We wanted a very interactive site with a functional backend with administrative tools. He spent a few hours meeting with our directors and department associates to collect the full requirements. Starting off this way helped us form a strong relationship. He coordinated with the team back home to come up with a plan for production. They designed a few options for the user interface based on our needs. 

Midway through, they started the staffing solution platform. They used ASP.net for the frontend and SQL for the backend, as well as many tools for the customizations. We asked them to use the most user-friendly technology, so we don't have to upgrade and change it continually. 

During the second phase, they’ve been building a fully functional CRM with internal workflow management for our school. It includes lead management for our admissions department to track students who inquire about our programs. Learning a school's business system is entirely different than commercial ones. We work with federal departments and have to comply with many regulations. When we ask them for specific posts to have a particular workflow design, they do a great job.

What is the team composition? 

We worked with three project managers. One was local, and two were located remotely. They all coordinated with the offshore development team.

How did you come to work with 9series Solutions?

I'm also from India, so I interviewed a few companies when I was visiting. I came across 9series Solutions through our common friend in the business who had been extremely satisfied with their services. I requested references and asked them to show me some models and real-time projects. They shared quite a few that I found impressive. After talking to them, I felt very comfortable about working together. They had a local resource who could work with us in New Jersey but still offered competitive offshore prices.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent close to $35,000 and have budgeted an additional $50,000 for the massive ongoing CRM application project. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working together since 2007. They're still hosting, managing, and maintaining our applications. We also have CRM development in progress to store students records. The website is steady at this point, and they make any changes or updates we need. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We often get verbal comments from our students about how user-friendly and easy to find the website is. Many of our 50 employees are finding it very easy to work and communicate across various departments like admissions, marketing, and financial aid. All those department heads give us frequent positive feedback. 

9series Solutions completes minor changes and upgrades without us even noticing. After using their services for almost ten years, I haven’t seen any significant updates on the user end. 

How did 9series Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

So far, I have no complaints. 9series Solutions understands requirements very well. I really feel like they are part of our company. Despite some lags due to the time zone difference, I haven't seen any significant issues. They always promptly respond to our questions. 

9series Solutions has a multi-tiered channel of communication. One of our technical staff is their main point of contact. Anytime we need to develop something new, he stops by our office to collect our requirements and requests the budget and timeline from 9series Solutions. For technical errors, we take a screenshot, create a requirement, and send them an email with all the project managers copied. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

9series Solutions has excellent communication and response times. They work just like the local employees of our school. Their graphics team creates very nice designs. They matched the website and app with our company's logo and publishing materials. When they come back with sample layouts, we never have to make many changes. Technical knowledge and design skill are 9series Solutions' major attractions. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The offshore team's response time was slower during the holiday season when everyone went on vacation. They should assign some dedicated teammates when they shut down for an entire week. If something happens during that time, we still have an available resource in New Jersey, but he's not a full-time programmer. More off-hours tech support could be useful. Other than that, I don't see any problems, though; they are very organized. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

When I started with 9series Solutions as a new client, I didn’t experience any difficulties. The local employee communicates very well. Based on my experience, it would be beneficial to video conference with the project managers to make sure they understand the requirements. Have them provide layouts of the basic structure before they move on with the assignment.