Accedia

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Product Owner Customer Service / BI of Embrace The Human Cloud

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Our company helps organizations automate business processes and connect people through software solutions, focused on digital collaboration, knowledge sharing and digital services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Accelerate development: Outsource C# back-end tasks to gain efficiency
• Enhance quality: Leverage external expertise for testing and QA

SOLUTION

How did you find Accedia?

Online Search

Why did you select Accedia over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Accedia were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Accedia has been a valuable partner engaged with providing support and expertise in various areas of software development, with a focus on both back-end and front-end technologies, as well as quality assurance and technology research.

Some of the key deliverables included:

• Development and maintenance of C# code for the back-end systems using technologies like EF, RabbitMQ, Elastic and SignalR
• Building and enhancing UI using React, Angular, HTML5, and CSS
• Actively participated in development teams, contributing ideas and solutions
• Conducting thorough testing of software components and systems
• Exploring and evaluating new technologies and provided us with valuable recommendations for adoption and implementation

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Engaging Accedia led to an increase in our development speed. This allowed us to allocate internal resources and take on additional projects that would have been challenging to tackle otherwise. Accedia's ability to upscale by adding additional high-skilled professionals allowed us to upscale faster than we would otherwise be able to do in our own geographic location. Outsourcing non-critical tasks freed up our internal team to concentrate on core product development, leading to a faster time-to-market for our products.

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

While we didn't utilize Accedia's project management services, their developers seamlessly integrated into our own internal teams. They worked closely with our own developers, ensuring timely delivery of products with the expected quality. Their communication and willingness to think of the best possible technical solution were key to our successful collaboration.

What was your primary form of communication with Accedia?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Accedia impressed us with its commitment to exceeding expectations. Their dedication is visible in their work and the administrative work-related processes; it was obvious that quality was important to them. Its strong cultural and value alignment with our company was evident in areas like leadership, openness to new ideas, and intercultural sensitivity. This really helped with team alignment and collaboration. Their highly developed business processes inspired us, and their commitment to employee training and quality and security standards helped us see them as trustworthy partners.

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

While we really appreciate the value Accedia provides, we've found their recent rate increases to be challenging. Greater transparency and lead time regarding pricing adjustments would be beneficial for long-term planning.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Product Manager of Castle Trust Bank

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

CastleTrust Bank provides services in specialised mortgages, savings and retail financing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Software development
• Project management

I've been working with Accedia since I joined in September 2022 as a Product Manager.

SOLUTION

How did you find Accedia?

Inherited through acquisition

Why did you select Accedia over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Accedia were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

It's not a project as such as Accedia have been with CTB for a few years (over 7) delivering software solutions by delivering different projects and the work is ongoing. Since then we have successfully delivered multiple projects on time and within the budget agreed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Successful, timely delivery of projects, bug free code. Pro-active participation at project initiation and through the projects. Accedia team is instrumental in delivering multiple projects across Omni business. They take a change from Discovery through to a production release.

The team is efficient, always sticks to the original timelines unless there are changes in the requirements. Where the changes occur when a project is in progress, the team is accommodating and always looks for a solution to help deliver the best outcome for customers.

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

Always on time, within the agreed timelines but always accommodating for any change in requirements or direction in general.

What was your primary form of communication with Accedia?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Very efficient, accommodating, friendly, supportive, proactive, very knowlegeable stuff.

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

n/a

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was published on August 13, 2024.

Project Manager, Retail Finance CompanyFinancial services

London, United Kingdom

201-500 Employees

Jan 2016 - Ongoing

$1,000,000 to $9,999,999

Verified

Project summary
Accedia supplemented the development team of a retail finance company to provide spot improvements and bug fixes to their retail orginations platform. They are currently working to migrate to an MVC framework

Feedback summary
The team has successfully delivered all of the product functionality they have been tasked with and has increased their capacity and velocity over the years of their partnership. Accedia communicates very frequently through Slack, helping the teams to function as one effective unit.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a product manager for a retail finance company under a larger parent organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Accedia?

We needed to expand our development resource base for some work on a product that we were conducting. The work itself was relatively small, so we decided we wanted to bring in a team rather than hire in-house for the project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They supplemented our development team in making limited changes as needed throughout an iterative process as we evaluated our customers’ interests and needs for our product. The product itself is a retail originations platform that’s built in Web Forms, which is a legacy stack that comes with a number of technological limitations.

We are moving towards an MVC framework with them, although we are taking one step at a time throughout the process. They helped with that migration, primarily in terms of functionality but with some elements of design as well.

What is the team composition?

We started out working with a team of ten, and we reduced that down to about 4–5 at the beginning of 2019.

How did you come to work with Accedia?

I wasn’t involved in the selection process that led us to our team, but they have been our development partner for quite a while now.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $1,000,000 with them over our years of working together.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our work with them started around January 2016 and is still ongoing in a mostly maintenance occasional upgrade capacity.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The main success metrics were the delivery of the projects they’ve worked on for us. Everything we’ve built together has been released and remains in the ecosystem of our products. All of their work has been done with a purpose and supported the core of our business, which has helped them to become a real part of the culture of our organization.

From a metrics perspective, the velocity of the team and the amount that we are able to achieve has very much improved over the course of our engagement together. The fact that we were able to bring them into our day to day operations as well as we have is a testament to the strength of the relationship between our companies.

How did Accedia perform from a project management standpoint?

We handle the project management aspects of the project almost completely. From my perspective, however, they did a good job of sticking to the deadlines that we laid out for them and making sure that we stayed on track toward all deliverables.

The teams communicate primarily over Slack, either voice and video call or messaging about anything that needs to be discussed in the process of the day-to-day. We had a very set regime in terms of our agile approach to the delivery, so there were regular weekly standups and every-other-week retrospectives. They did a great job of being totally open and communicative throughout all of those processes.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to learn and adapt is consistently one of the most impressive aspects of our work with them. Flexibility is an often-overlooked quality in outsourced vendors, I think, but Accedia was able to adapt to the needs of our business in all regards, whether culturally, strategically, or procedurally.

They were able to strike a really good balance between following our instructions and challenging the reasons why we made various decisions in order to help make the product the best it could be. Fairly early on into our relationship, there wasn’t much difference between the two teams because of their ability to work within the unit almost seamlessly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think that they could challenge ideas a little bit more in the early stages of their projects. There is certainly an aspect in which the people you’re working with are your clients and the customer is always right, but at the end of the day you’re building software, and that has to be a joint effort. We developed that level of collaboration over time but having it even earlier could have helped us get up to speed more quickly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Regardless of who has more knowledge of the history of the project at the beginning, you need to make sure that those people have the expertise to take the lead in supporting the new people coming on board. You also have to make sure that those joining the project are gaining the knowledge and skills that they need in order to be successful in their roles.

STAR RATINGS
Overall rating: 5

Quality: 4

Cost: 3

Schedule: 4

Willing to refer: 5

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder of an environmental services company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Sustainability and compliance data management software.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Software development and enhancements in MS Azure
• Upgrade application Angular 14

SOLUTION

How did you find Accedia?

Referral

Why did you select Accedia over others?

• High ratings
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Accedia were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

• Upgraded my cloud based Azure application from legacy Angularjs to Angular 14 including refactoring C# libraries
• Built APIs for data integration
• Modenerized the UI/UX using controls and HTML5/JS
• SQL database performance enhancements
• Created Azure functions and Logic apps
• Built new tasking/reminders module
• Built login security model using Azure AD/B2C
• Cyber security enhancements and monitoring

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Completed and fully tested tasks based on a list of requirements.

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

Each project is assigned a Project Manager who oversees project staffing, quality assurance, and communication with us regarding progress, potential issues, and staffing availability. This model is excellent as it ensures tasks are completed on schedule, and if there's any potential scope creep, we receive clear explanations and are kept well-informed.

What was your primary form of communication with Accedia?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The quality of work provided by the programmers was exceptional. They consistently strive to ensure tasks are delivered punctually and with top-notch quality, never compromising on standards. Accedia has become our trusted business partner for all our IT requirements, earning our confidence through their exemplary performance. They demonstrate a genuine commitment to our success by consistently delivering high-quality work.

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

Very minimal. We would like to see more services offered in the future like 24/7 cyber security monitoring.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CFO of an information technology company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Оur company leverages artificial intelligence and machine learning to transform the way people access secure areas usingfacial biometric control.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Being a fast-growing company means our product development needs are constantly evolving, in response to product and technology maturity, enterprise clients’ requirements and regulatory compliance. Therefore, we need a development partner who can evolve and adapt as fast as we do, with extensive expertise in AI & machine learning, DevOps engineering and front-end development. 
We hired Accedia to help us with various, ongoing software development tasks, ensuring that as our products and services evolve, they remain at the cutting edge of technology and market demand.

SOLUTION

How did you find Accedia?

Referral

Why did you select Accedia over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Accedia were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The team at Accedia was working on the following features:

• implementation of facial recognition capabilities using computer vision, 
• establishing multi-factor authentication for user verification, 
• and ensuring robust data security and storage. 

The key deliverables were particularly focused on refining the facial recognition algorithm to increase accuracy and efficiency and developing an intuitive and user-friendly front-end interface for admin users’ access control purposes.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Accedia helped us release new and improved features, which opened the way to new business for us.They also assisted us with setting up our DevOps engineering practices which allow for continuous deployment and continuous integration of new features. This enabled us to reduce operational waste in our software development processes, and to push product updates faster and more securely.

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

Project management was quite straightforward, we had product owners and scrum masters on our side, while collaboration with Accedia’s technical specialists went quite easy thanks to the assigned PM on their side as a central contact point. We really appreciated their fast response time and proactiveness to questions that may affect scalability in the future.

What was your primary form of communication with Accedia?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

We were impressed with how engaged and willing to contribute with product development decisions they were. This was an indication of how committed they are to our success, on top of simply delivering the agreed functionality.

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

Cannot think of anything worth mentioning, we are more than happy with our collaboration.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive at DGS Consulting Ltd.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a technology consulting agency specialized in quality assurance and test automation services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• I've had the pleasure of working with Аccedia on a project for one of our enterprise clients in the Nordics region. We specialize in providing comprehensive QA services, and often, our clients require additional software development expertise that goes beyond our capacity. This is where our decade-long partnership with Accedia comes into play. 
• For this particular project, we sought Accedia's expertise to develop a monitoring solution aimed at tracking faults and sending notifications regarding the client‘s internal system for components order and inventory, primarily used by their sales teams. The objective was clear: 
  • equip our client with the tools to receive proactive alerts on potential defaults in their system behavior, enabling them to prevent cyber attacks or any downtime that could affect users.

SOLUTION

How did you find Accedia?

Referral

Why did you select Accedia over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget

How many teammates from Accedia were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The scope of the project with Accedia encompassed the programming of backend logic for monitoring system logs and detecting behaviors that deviated from the norm. Additionally, they were tasked with developing a straightforward front-end admin panel designed for the project management teams of our client. The deliverables were focused on enhancing the client's ability to manage and monitor their system's health effectively.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One of the primary goals was to reduce system downtime to zero in the first year following the introduction of the monitoring solution—a target that was successfully met. Furthermore, the client observed a notable increase in user satisfaction among the sales representatives who relied on the system, compared to prior to the implementation of the solution.

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

In this case we had a project manager on the client's side, ensuring a seamless collaboration process. Together with Accedia, we worked on defining requirements, clarifying expectations, and building a Proof of Concept (PoC). Their ability to deliver items on time and respond adeptly to our needs underscored their professionalism and commitment to the project's success.

What was your primary form of communication with Accedia?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting

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

What truly sets Accedia apart is their customer-centric approach. Every member of the team engaged in the project, irrespective of their position within the company, displayed a genuine eagerness to collaborate. Moreover, their active listening skills were evident throughout the project. They paid close attention to client needs and objectives and adapted their technological approach accordingly.

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

It's hard to pinpoint anything significant as the project was managed exceptionally well. One aspect that could have potentially enhanced the project's kickoff was an onsite introduction with the client. 

The constraints imposed by Covid measures made this impossible, and while this wasn't directly within Accedia's control, such face-to-face interactions often lay a strong foundation for project success. Despite this, I must emphasize that we still managed to navigate these challenges successfully, and the project's outcomes were not affected.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Business Development Manager of Astea Solutions

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Founded 16 years ago, Astea is a leading provider of technology consulting and custom software development services for US clients ranging from venture-funded startups to Fortune 500 companies. Our clients operate in financial services, healthcare, media, and education, among other industries. Typically providing our clients with turnkey solutions, we are particularly adept at tackling complex problems often involving data science and high-performance algorithms.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Software development services and QA for Astea clients

SOLUTION

How did you find Accedia?

• Referral
• Other

Why did you select Accedia over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Accedia were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Highly qualified software development work with knowledge and experience fitting our technology requirements.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have had numerous exceptional experiences working with Accedia across various software development projects over the last four years. From the start, their team has consistently demonstrated a deep understanding of our needs, coupled with a proactive and strategic approach. Communication has always been seamless, ensuring transparency and collaboration throughout each project.

Accedia's commitment to delivering high-quality solutions has been evident in every instance, consistently surpassing our expectations. Their adaptability and positive attitude towards challenges have been commendable across multiple projects. The team's technical expertise, coupled with a customer-centric approach, has made each process enjoyable and successful.

We highly recommend Accedia to anyone in need of a reliable and skilled software development partner for numerous projects. Their excellence, collaborative spirit, and dedication to client satisfaction make them a standout choice in the industry. We eagerly anticipate continued collaborations with Accedia, building on the strong partnership we've fostered over the last four years.

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

Their responsiveness to our needs has been a standout feature of their service. Accedia's team displayed a proactive approach, promptly addressing any concerns or changes that arose during the development process. Their communication was clear and transparent, ensuring that we were always informed about the project's status and any adjustments made along the way.

Accedia's dedication to meeting timelines and their agile response to our evolving requirements have greatly contributed to the overall success of our projects.

What was your primary form of communication with Accedia?

In-Person Meeting

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

What we found most impressive about Accedia is their seamless blend of technical expertise and a customer-centric approach. Their team consistently demonstrated a deep understanding of our project requirements and business goals, coupled with a proactive and strategic mindset.

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

We are fully satisfied with our collaboration with Accedia.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior manager of application development for a Dairy Farmers of America subsidiary.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Accedia?

We had a few issues with freezing web applications, so we hired Accedia for ongoing web development and support activities.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project was a collaboration; Accedia provided us with enhancements to the existing websites we owned. We also built a device app internally with their assistance. Our engagement with Accedia was limited to development, design, and support. They helped with UX/UI design and the overall design solutions based on our requirements. 

We conducted an analysis of trends and ran that by Accedia; their graphics department came up with the wireframes based on our inputs. We went back and forth before we finalized the UI/UX, and the development team took it from there. We built the device app to validate the functionality and then went back in to apply the UX/UI design to give it the look and feel we wanted. 

We had guidelines on the website, and Accedia helped us with their implementation. They revised the code to make it more standard and to allow retailers to place orders and make payments through the applications. Key technologies of the web app included .NET coupled with a plug-in from Progress Software. The device app utilized NativeScript with Angular and TypeScript. 

Accedia is currently helping us move our applications to a new data center and some of our websites to Azure DevOps. They’re assisting with testing and reviewing in a support role.  

What is the team composition?

On the initial project, we worked with a project manager, a team of two senior developers, and one person from their graphic design team. 

How did you come to work with Accedia?

They were a recommendation from a partner that we were working with. We selected them because they were familiar with the software. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $500,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2019, and the rollout for customers to the web and device applications was completed in June 2022. We continue to work with them in a support role.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We can’t put a number to it, but there are security benefits because we were able to move to newer hardware and software environments that made everything more secure. The solution is also faster, and the UX is far better than what we initially had. 

How did Accedia perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s a very collaborative experience. We communicate with Microsoft Teams and emails and use AzureDevOps for project management. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have high technical expertise relative to cost. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could incorporate some automated testing to reduce the QA rework cycles. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They provide good quality work for a good price point.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a railway engineering company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Accedia?

We needed someone to build digital products and services for our customers and us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Accedia provides custom software development from scratch, including backend infrastructure and web apps. Based on our requirements and documentation briefs, they’re currently building a platform to manage our machines and operators, view data, configure motors, and learn how we can streamline our performance. In terms of technologies, they’re using technologies like Microsoft Azure, .NET, and React.

In addition, they’re providing us with external development resources to support our engineering team, do project management, and deploy optimum and smooth development work for our customers.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 10–15 members of their team

How did you come to work with Accedia?

An acquaintance of mine had a good experience with them, so we decided to try them out. We chose them because they quickly deployed a plan for our project.

How much money have you invested in this partnership?

So far, we’ve spent around €700,000 (approximately $735,000 USD) with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Accedia’s team is constantly finding ways to have a better process and give us input on how we can improve the product they’re managing for us, which is important for every service provider — we trust them, and they’re part of our ongoing success. In addition, they’re smooth and smart in solving any issue that arises.

How did Accedia perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a remote collaboration, they meet deadlines, and they lead an agile and flexible process according to our needs. Regarding tools, we use Jira, Confluence, and Bitbucket.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re straightforward and interesting, which makes them stand out from other providers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think they can improve anything because they commit to taking care of our software, making them great service providers.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be communicative and give them a chance to know you as a business so you can work together.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and CEO of Open Applications Group (OAGi), a nonprofit industry association that develops standards for interoperability across industries.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Accedia?

We hired them to help us with application design and architecture, deployment architecture, and application management.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Accedia guided us in building a browser-based desktop application, from everything that went into design and development advice to deployment in production. Our team conceived of the application and its requirements and did most of the development work, and Accedia took a coaching and consulting role. We would explain our approach, and the team would review it and make comments. Then, we'd do a bit of development and run it by them. They also did development work on some features of the application.  

We used Microsoft's stack, including C#, Blazor as a web assembly technology, and SQL server in Microsoft Azure, where we also deployed the app. Neo4j was our graph database, both local and cloud versions, and Auth0 was our authentication and authorization tool. We used GitHub for source control and Microsoft DevOps for our continuous integration and continuous deployment pipeline to push the application through to production. 

The app's core features and functionalities revolve around documenting standards around the world, technologies present and emerging, standards industry organizations, and companies involved in standards development. Our data also includes how standards relate to one another, how they relate to technologies, and how all of these things relate to the UN's sustainable development goals. 

When developers or IT departments approach an integration project, they ask questions about technology options, standards out there, and which standards are actively maintained. The app's purpose is to help record such information, support various queries, and produce useful reports to answer developers' questions. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with an account manager, a primary consultant, and another teammate who did some development work. I also met with Accedia's upper management once or twice. 

How did you come to work with Accedia?

We found them through a referral by a company that makes a software control suite for many different platforms, including Blazor, which we were using. Since we were using the control suite, I reached out to the provider and asked for recommendations for a service provider to assist us in implementing their control suite. They connected us with Accedia, and it was soon apparent that their expertise was much greater than just the control suite, so we decided to use them for consulting. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around $70,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

This project lasted from November 2020–August 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since we’re a nonprofit organization, we don’t have any metrics related to ROI. The measure of Accedia’s success was based on our need for the application; at the end of the engagement, we had the app that met all the requirements. As a result, we can now do exactly what we set out to do and produce the reports we need. The project went so well that we’ve just signed an agreement with Accedia to start another project. 

How did Accedia perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great at project management. Their cost and time estimates were reasonable, and they nailed them. They met every estimate regarding the start date, end date, total number of hours, and time and materials — it was amazing. 

We used GitHub for project management and Confluence for some documentation. Since it was a small enough project and team, it was easy to keep track of everything with those tools only. We used email for communication and met regularly using Microsoft Teams, where we would discuss the project and share screens. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with how clear and confident Accedia was about their expertise — they never overstated anything. They were really clear when they had the expertise for something, when they didn’t, and when they could figure things out. Their directness and accurate self-assessment of their skills were outstanding. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing they needed to improve comes to mind. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The same thing I appreciated from Accedia, they appreciated from us, which was being really clear about the requirements and where they might be a bit fuzzy. Since we engaged them for consulting, it was perfectly okay to be unclear on some requirements. 

I’d also advise clarifying what’s possible with respect to payment terms. Accedia has parameters for building products, but they’re willing to be flexible. Therefore, give them a clear idea of your cash flow requirements.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and co-founder of dotConnect, a startup company that provides digital banking services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Accedia?

We were trying to get skilled resources to make them part of our team to assist with part of the development of our software product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Accedia provided us with UI/UX design and development resources that helped us deliver our custom SaaS product, which we sell to our clients on a subscription basis. The team helped us with R&D, improving the product, adding new features, and building custom software based on our clients’ needs. 

For our first project, they helped us after we went live with two of our clients, and we needed to build two specific features for open banking. They also helped develop a chatbot with AI technology. As for technologies, they used C#, .NET, Microsoft Azure, and the Angular framework.

What is the team composition?

We worked with an account coordinator and a technical manager from Accedia. They provided a UI/UX designer and a C# backend developer; one of the teammates stayed with us for six months, and the other stayed for 14 months. 

How did you come to work with Accedia?

One of my friends was working at a bank as a project manager, and that bank was using Accedia. My friend got me in contact with them, and that’s how our relationship started. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent €150,000–€200,000 (approximately $148,000–$197,000 USD). 

What is the status of this engagement?

This project lasted from September 2020–August 2022. Currently, they provide resources for a different project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our main metric was the delivery of our open banking integration; that wasn’t an easy project, and having Accedia working on it was a big achievement. They also played a fundamental role in the development of the chatbot. 

I had previously worked with another offshore company, and although their services were much cheaper, Accedia was better; their resources were much more talented and exceeded my expectations, so I moved my operations from that company to Accedia. 

How did Accedia perform from a project management standpoint?

We managed the project ourselves. As for communication, we had Microsoft Teams meetings every two weeks with the technical manager, designer, and developer to review progress, feedback, and challenges. The designer and developers had their own discussions with the technical manager and the rest of the Accedia team, which I liked.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The two resources Accedia provided were really good. Since they had a skilled and talented team, they could approach each other to get more experience. We weren’t just getting the resources we were paying for; behind them, they had a talented group they had access to. Although I don’t know if we were lucky or if that’s the kind of resources they always have, we’re still engaging with them and willing to find out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Although this wasn’t an error on their part, we discussed the way we made payments with them. We get paid when we deliver our part of the project every 3–5 months. Meanwhile, we had to make monthly payments to Accedia, which could cause an issue with our cash flow. The team was accommodating to an extent when we had invoice delays. However, since we’ll continue to work with them, we want to try to match our payment frequency with when we get paid to avoid cash flow problems.