9thCO Inc.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the President and CEO of Asensus Surgical

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Asensus Surgical is a Medical Equipment Manufacturing company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire 9thCO Inc. to accomplish?

• Our primary aim in partnering with 9thCO was to improve our equipment booking process for internal departments, external customers and administrative staff. Our goal was to reduce booking overlap errors, streamline billing and increase user satisfaction.

SOLUTION

How did you find 9thCO Inc.?

• Online Search
• Clutch Site

Why did you select 9thCO Inc. over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from 9thCO Inc. were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

• a: Architect a relational database for all equipment, customers, bookings and invoices. 
• b: Develop a simplified front-end interface to enable users to perform bookings intuitively. 
• c: Create a secured admin portal to manage equipment and bookings, as well as process payments.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• a:Enhanced Engagement: the new interface reduced friction and time required to make a booking by over 80%. We received overwhelmingly positive feedback and observed a substantial rise in the number of users returning to book again. 
• b: Decreased Administration: We previously had two full-time admin support staff, constantly resolving booking conflicts and handling frustrated users. It now only requires one person, part-time, and complaints have been nearly eliminated.

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

9thCO showed commendable project management skills throughout the collaboration. They were very thorough in the needs analysis phase, and the timeline projection was within days of expected delivery. Their responsiveness to our feedback and quick adaptation to necessary changes were highly appreciated. Their professionalism and meticulous approach significantly contributed to the overall project's success.

What was your primary form of communication with 9thCO Inc.?

Virtual Meeting

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

What made the strongest impression on us was 9thCO’s ability to take complex business and data requirements, and translate them into a secure and working solution. The database was able to scale to manage tens of thousands of bookings with no performance degradation.

Are there any areas for improvement or something 9thCO Inc. could have done differently?

One area of improvement would be for the admin interface to gracefully handle mobile usage. Though this wasn’t part of our initial requirements, it would be nice to be able to easily manage the system from mobile when working remotely.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Noisy Cart, a fashion marketplace selling high-end designer brands.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with 9thCO Inc.?

We sell brands from all over the world, and to get our catalog, we often sync our website to the APIs provided by our distributors instead of manually uploading inventory. Previously, we used a clunky third-party program that caused many errors and wasn’t updating in real time. 

For example, sometimes, when our distributors sold out on a product, our site showed it as available. Then, a customer would buy it, resulting in a very poor UX. We connected with 9thCO Inc. to build a custom app to sync the distributors’ APIs and efficiently update our products in real time.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, they interviewed me to understand what my goals were. Then, 9thCO Inc. built a custom API application within our website using React, JavaScript, and AWS, among other technologies. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with Justin (President of Internet Marketing & Development), Richard (Lead Developer), Rohan (SEO Specialist & Project MANAGER), and one more teammate from 9thCO Inc., who joined our calls. Rohan was our main point of contact. 

How did you come to work with 9thCO Inc.?

Justin had worked with a colleague of mine for many years and was amazing at the development and the Google Ads sides. I’ve known him for many years, so we hired 9thCO Inc. for this project. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $3,000–$5,000 CAD (approximately $2,200–$3,700 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from October–November 2022. Although 9thCO Inc. has finished the work, they’re currently doing final reviews before closing the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our primary metric for 9thCO Inc.'s success is our customers' satisfaction. Before working with them, we had many cases where customers were buying products that were no longer available for various reasons. Now, all of our customers' orders are accurate to inventory. Therefore, 9thCO Inc. delivered everything we needed.

How did 9thCO Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They met deadlines and stayed within the budget. The team told me the project would take about eight weeks, and they were right on the nose. 

9thCO Inc. was also cost-effective. They gave us different quotes and options for how to build the product and suggested the most cost-efficient one. After further discussion, we went with the smaller solution. However, the more extensive solution is still an option to work with them in the future. 

As for communication, many of our exchanges happened through Outlook. We also used video calls. Although technology isn't my area of expertise, their communication was awesome. Justin was amazing, so whenever something wasn't clear to me, I could call him, and he'd walk me through things or get me the information I needed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I'm very busy and sometimes not good at following up. 9thCO Inc. was very patient, understood my situation, and sent me follow-up emails. Therefore, they were the perfect partner for me. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I didn't find any areas of improvement in 9thCO Inc.'s work. Overall, we had a great partnership. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust 9thCO Inc.! With us, they were honest, understanding, and cost-effective; they didn't recommend the most expensive option to make more money, which I appreciated. You can't teach that approach, but you can appreciate it coming from a business partner.