Amaris

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT business partner of the company. We build solar photovoltaic (PV) systems for rooftops and farms across our region.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Amaris?

Our government is launching an open electricity market (OEM) to liberalize the local electricity market. As an electricity retailer, we want to sell our service to every household possible. We’ve recently shifted from B2B service offerings to the B2C channel. It was challenging to define our direction during this transition. We partnered with Amaris to maintain flexibility and responsiveness within a changing industry.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Amaris built our entire CRM and billing process. They integrated these systems into the sales channel, including our website, mobile apps, and partnerships. Their developers programmed the backend using Python and the frontend using AngularJS.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact from their team is local to our company. Their development team is based in Vietnam. We currently have five developers assigned to our project.

How did you come to work with Amaris?

We launched an RFP 5 months ago and hired Amaris based on their proposal.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $10,000–$50,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Amaris in December 2017. This project will continue for at least the next four months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m impressed by their technical proficiency and feel confident about their skills and abilities. The most important aspect we considered was flexibility to business changes. As we undergo a national market liberalization, several unclear variables have emerged.  Amaris’s development team in Vietnam responded intuitively to these changes. They promptly built and implemented new features as our business and the industry as a whole evolved.

How did Amaris perform from a project management standpoint?

The team is very responsive. Jira is our tool for agile management. We use Slack and SharePoint for discussions and documentation management. Although our development team is remote, having a liaison located nearby in Singapore keeps us up to date. They follow up every week to ask how the project is going.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The Amaris team’s greatest ability is their rapid adaptation in the face of unexpected change.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not so far. The project governance and communication are great despite our disparate locations. I have a good feeling that we’ll continue to collaborate with Amaris in the future.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of airline business solution for SITA, a solution provider for the aviation industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Amaris?

We needed help with software development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They work on software development, business analysis, and testing. Our software is for mobile apps and backend integration.

What is the team composition?

We have over 10 people working on our projects with two main points of contact. If someone leaves the team, they’re very good at recruiting new talent to avoid any issues with the project.

How did you come to work with Amaris?

We launched a request for proposal and Amaris’ was the best.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested $1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2015 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re growing thanks to the software. The code quality is good compared to our experiences with other companies. Additionally, their skills, price, and commitment have been great. Whenever we have issues or bugs, they’re always responsive in fixing them.

How did Amaris perform from a project management standpoint?

We follow an agile methodology for the project, which is pretty flexible, and have a team lead that receives progress reports. We interact a lot over the phone, email, video chat, and face-to-face meetings, and primarily use Skype and Jira as means of communication.

Sometimes, we don’t exactly know what we want because our own customer doesn’t specify their needs, so Amaris has to spend some time trying to figure out what to do based on limited requirements.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve met all requirements and understand them quickly without needed much documentation. Compared to other services we’ve had, they do a lot of critical thinking regarding the scope of the work. Sometimes they propose better ideas on what we should do in terms of features and development.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s not something critical and we haven’t requested them to do so, but it would be nice to have a bit more communication regarding the actual development.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Get to know their cultural differences and how to engage with them. Be aware of their holidays, the country’s mindset, etc.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the head of software development for a financial services company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Amaris?

Finding highly-skilled software developers in our area is challenging. We have used Amaris for outsourced staffing needs.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had 5–10 open positions for PHP and .NET developers, as well as QA specialists. We have a couple of partners for sourcing developers, one of them being Amaris. They have been working with us on an out-staffing model, but haven’t done any actual development work. They provide staffing resources.

What is the team composition?

Two of their managers serve as our main points of contact.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of their services is around $100,000 per year, per developer or per project. The cost is dependent on the position and skill of the developers. The total cost has probably been more than $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Amaris around 3 years ago. We have an ongoing collaboration.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One of their developers has been working for us for three years. I’m really pleased with his performance. We have a 6-month contract that we’ve always extended after each end date. We’ve also transferred a couple of developers from Amaris’ staff to our internal team.

How did Amaris perform from a project management standpoint?

Their sales manager is a very good professional who has gathered a good team for us. The documentation is always done properly, and they give us suitable terms. We usually communicate over the phone, and sometimes use email. I’m completely satisfied with Amaris.

What did you find most impressive about them?

All of their work has been done well. I know that Amaris also provides business development services.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Everything has been good.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

They’re a professional company and I’m really happy with them. I’m sure that they will produce results.