Apriorit

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

I work for Devolutions, Inc. Our main product is called remote district manager. Our new product, Wayk Now, is another remote desktop software. My title is Wayk Product Manager. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Apriorit? 

We hired Apriorit to support multiple projects. Our development work for Wayk Now involves cutting-edge development. We needed to develop a new codec that would be usable for both native mobile apps and web-based applications for remote desktop usage. 

Other projects we're working on entail proxying remote desktop traffic for inspection and adding additional security to become a full PAM (privileged access management) solution. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Our company had identified a codec with all of the properties we needed. We first contracted Apriorit to re-implement the JFWX codec in Rust to be compatible with WebAssembly, a new type of code similar to JavaScript that can run in a browser. The same code can be repurposed inside our C program, which will eventually be usable in a web-based version of our remote desktop client. 

The team figured out how to create this solution within about a month. After we spent another month on iteration and tons of unit tests, it was fully complete.  Since then, we've started implementing a new RDP stack for the Microsoft remote desktop protocol. 

Apriorit helped us create a functional proxy to perform the authentication sequence it required. It enables the software to use temporary credentials while completely hiding the real ones used on the second side of the proxy. This feature is very useful for privileged access management.  Users never have to send the actual password to the remote desktop client. 

For our third engagement, we are pushing the previous product further. We're moving after the connection sequence and after the authentication sequence. Apriorit is working on the full connection sequence for RDP entirely in Rust.

What is the team composition?  

We've mostly worked with the same project manager and developer from Apriorit. In fact, we recently signed a dedicated developer agreement. Rather than being fixed by project, our engagement is based on time. 

Having the same resource from their side assures us the work will be of good quality for at least six months. We will most likely renew the contract at that point. 

How did you come to work with Apriorit? 

A couple of years ago, I was actually working as a consultant myself for Dell, who had engaged both Apriorit and myself to work on the same project. 

Last year, the CEO of Apriorit contacted me on LinkedIn to ask if I was interested in working together. At the time, I happened to have some projects I was willing to outsource. 

For our first project, they solved the problem at a surprisingly competitive price. We've moved on to more complicated engagements since. 

How much have you invested with them? 

We've spent about $50,000–$100,000 so far. 

What is the status of this engagement? 

The project started in October of 2018 and is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The deliverables they've given us required few unit tests, so I consider them to be very high quality. Many vendors don't take testing seriously, but Apriorit has a highly skilled and dedicated QA department. They provided documentation for how to use the deliverable. The coverage was over 90 percent, which is extremely high.  We were astonished by how quickly they finished our first project. 

How did Apriorit perform from a project management standpoint? 

From a project management standpoint, working with Apriorit has been a dream. We only have to interact with our dedicated project manager, and everything gets done. Our project is quite complex, so I couldn't be happier with their performance. 

When we start a new project, I usually draft the requirements and send the list through our project manager to the developer. They come back with estimates and questions so we can address issues and remove or add elements until the project is completely scoped. Once they send us a full list with pricing for different tasks, we proceed. 

What did you find most impressive about them? 

The complexity of deliverables they've been able to produce is quite something. I would highly recommend them for any challenging project. Apriorit has delivered on every challenge I've given them. 

Are there any areas they could improve? 

No, I have nothing bad to say about them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

My best tip would be to start with a task that's quite complex, but fairly isolated from your company's main current focus. Find a project that does not involve much interaction with your existing software. For instance, a large, complex first project that depends on a lot of internal tools is a recipe for disaster based on my experience in consulting. 

I carefully designed this project to have zero interaction with our existing internal tools. Since our first engagement together required absolutely nothing from our side to get started, it worked quite well. The best way to go is having them create a module you can plug right in. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The company is a US-based security firm that works with hardware and software. My role for this project was product manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Apriorit?

We approached Apriorit specifically for development support with kernel drivers. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted to create a driver that could control the flow of traffic to desktop and connect devices to a host machine. We had a clear picture of how it was supposed to work and the steps we needed to take to complete it. Beyond connecting us with developers, Apriorit handled project management as well.

Apriorit programmed the code in C. They originally built the kernel driver for Windows. Later on, we added on compatibility for iOS. We had known from the start that they had the right skill sets to develop for both Mac and Linux, which was part of their appeal as a vendor. 

What is the team composition? 

Apriorit assigned one project manager and a main developer to our project that I know of. We didn't have any regular contact with the other developers. I assume the iOS specialist is a different person. 

How did you come to work with Apriorit?

We found Apriorit online after searching extensively for a developer. I appreciated the in-depth level of their engagement with us. I met with the CEO and our project manager multiple times. We found them appealing because they were located in a time zone and strong language skills that matched well with ours. 

I had worked with Apriorit in the past and knew that they had the specific skill set we needed for this recent project. Our past experience together assured us they could fulfill our business requirements.

How much have you invested with them?

Our budget for the iOS subset of the product was $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked on this project from October–November 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Apriorit went beyond simply building the new features we included in the specifications. They notified us whenever they noticed something that didn't make sense, and suggested a better alternative. We found their advice quite valuable. They helped us end up with a truly useful product from the end user perspective. 

The entire process was structured. Apriorit was very skilled and performed at a high level. They clearly understood the business problem we were trying to solve through this product development. The engineer's education and training shone through in their work.  

How did Apriorit perform from a project management standpoint?

Our main contact was the project manager. She translated our business requirements for the development team and helped us achieve our goals. The project manager communicated effectively. They provided thorough documentation for the project.

We mainly contacted Apriorit using email along with a few online meeting sessions. Their communication was excellent, and they maintained the perfect level of frequency. 

Apriorit knows what they're doing. They reached out to us with any updates or questions proactively. I could always tell they were driving the project forward.   

What did you find most impressive about them?

The engineers from Apriorit considered our business case as a whole rather than just working through the specs mechanically. They had a clear view of what we wanted to achieve, which is very valuable. Many developers only write the code they're instructed to. They're a smart and motivated team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not really. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?
    
Future clients are in good hands. Apriorit is very knowledgable. We've been using them for the same specific type of development, but I'm sure they have other areas of expertise.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and chief architect of a computer software company. We sell virtualization and remote access products to customers globally.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Apriorit?

We needed to develop a sales and technology software that involved Windows kernel level development, which we don’t have the expertise for in-house.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired Apriorit to develop in Windows kernel-mode. There are many different kernel-driver level development tasks. There’s a decent amount of complexity associated with this process. A piece of code developed on user mode is much easier to debug than kernel-driver level development. 
Apriorit went through the development and QA phases. They ran testing within our facilities and fixed bugs in a timely fashion. They added the Windows authentication type driver into our product to put into production and deliver to customers. 

We set specific requirements for the functionality and how to develop the actual kernel-driver code.  We provided the product management spec from a functionality point of view and one for building the API  to communicate between our components. Anything that is internal to their code, they develop to the best of their capabilities. We haven't interfered too much with their development process.

What is the team composition? 

The team included a project manager and a lead developer. We interacted with several people. We don’t know how many developers were on the project. It was a fixed price project.

How did you come to work with Apriorit?

I was introduced to the CEO years ago. Since then, I’ve met with him in New York City from time to time. I’d been aware of the team’s expertise, but hadn’t had the opportunity to actually give them a project before

For this project, we requested proposals from Apriorit and two other companies. We selected them based on their professionalism from the initial interaction and proposal provision to the negotiation phase. They maintained the same caliber through to the deliveries.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October 2017–September 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s not easy for me to give someone full marks, but in this case, I give Apriorit a perfect score. Working with them was a great success, which I rarely say about people. The team performed everything very professionally. They delivered the code and fixed any bugs in a timely and proficient manner that merited our full satisfaction.

How did Apriorit perform from a project management standpoint?

We had great interactions. We had bi-weekly calls with the project manager and the lead developer. Detailed requirement documents laid out the features the development should include. 

The project was separated into milestones.  Whenever they couldn’t finish on time, they told us in advance, explained why, and provided a different estimate. The project manager worked with our R&D team to make sure everything has been delivered to us.

When they believed we should do something differently, we’d hold an intelligent conversation and went with one of our decisions or the other side’s. Since they have a lot of experience, they were often right about specific things. We prefer this type of interactive dialogue to companies that just always say yes unthinkingly to everything we ask for.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One of the most difficult things to do in this space is kernel-level or driver level development. Specifically, for low-level, kernel-driver development, I highly recommend you go to Apriorit. It’s a unique experience working with them. I’ve been with my company for 25 years, and it’s rare for me to give such a high compliment to any vendor.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Listen to Apriorit because they’re the experts. Before saying yes to what they propose, make sure that you understand it and make an informed decision. If someone is looking for a “yes man,” they should go elsewhere. Apriorit is a great choice for any client that’s looking for a partner who offers positive and collaborative interactions.”

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CTO of a small, high-tech business. We build hardware and software tools for data recovery service providers and government agencies on the B2B channel. We provide very distinct computer-related technologies to restore data from failed hard drives and solid state drives (SSDs).

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Apriorit?

For quite a long time, we were searching for experts in the Windows driver development area. Most of our hardware works on our own proprietary operating system. While we occasionally need drivers for standard devices, we don’t have internal resources with this skill since it’s not our primary focus. Only a few companies provide this type of service in North America, and none we found in the U.S. or Canada fit our allocated budget. We hired Apriorit for consulting and development services after confirming their capabilities

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our company builds hardware that works on various operating systems, particularly for Windows. We needed a driver that connects our devices to the Windows operating system and allows proper functionality and communication with the applications we write. 
Rather than a key solution, Apriorit built a platform that enabled us to create our own custom driver for failed mass storage devices. Since the broken devices we work with aren't compatible with standard protocols, they need a sophisticated tool to comply with operating system specifications. 

Our custom product differs in many ways from standard drivers for functional hardware. We had quite specific and unusual requirements for the display. After Apriorit completed the framework, they spent a few more weeks helping us build a compatible key solution. Anytime a problem or question appeared, they quickly resolved it.

What is the team composition? 

I worked directly with three people from Apriorit including a senior business development manager and a project manager. One developer served as my point of contact to the rest of the technical team. 

How did you come to work with Apriorit?

We found Apriorit through Upwork. I published the requirements of our project and filtered through the 10-20 companies that responded. Based on our first interchange, they seemed like professional experts that could help us with this challenging endeavor.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $15,000 on their services. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our project lasted from May–June 2018. We're still in the process actually, and that’s a good thing. As we encounter new questions and problems, Apriorit continues to support us, even though the project is officially finished and we’ve sent all the payments. I will probably hire them for the next phase of the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The key metric for success was that we were simply unable to complete this project without Apriorit. They helped us build the entire product. The quality of their development work is at the highest level I can imagine. We didn't find any other team worldwide with the same level of topical skills. Apriorit’s developers are the top experts in their field. 

How did Apriorit perform from a project management standpoint?

We usually used email to stay in touch and added Skype calls when necessary. In most cases, I communicated with the project manager. She’d escalate specific, technical inquiries to a developer who would contact me directly with a detailed response.

Apriorit’s communication was simply fantastic. Despite the time zone difference, they always responded to me within an hour. I'd hear back from them the next day at the very latest. Rather than merely confirming receipt, their correspondence always contained real answers and solutions to my problems. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I most admired Apriorit’s professionalism and expertise. Their resources are highly skilled. Regarding project management, they had excellent response times and customer service. I'm a very satisfied client. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend videoconferencing with both the project manager and developers.  Sometimes emails can extend the timeframe, and it’s useful to discuss targets and challenges verbally. I prefer communicating directly with developers, but I understand why project managers are helpful. They can direct my questions to the correct 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

PayDay Resources is a human resource company. I’m general manager, and my role is strategic planning and daily operations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Apriorit?

We needed to address a client's human resource need.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It’s a software as a service (SaaS) product. We provide them with the scope of work, the use cases, and the workflow, which they implement in the software language of their expertise. They use AngularJS.

We asked them for an online user base with roles and rights that allows multiple users to address human resource issues along the whole employee lifecycle. This includes everything from recruiting and onboarding, to termination or separation, to integration with third-party vendors that offer support products like health insurance, employee benefits, or worker's comp and general liability insurance.

The platform also integrates payroll data so that all participating parties have the appropriate payroll and employee information to offer the best products.

What is the team composition?

We currently have six full time engineers. We were assigned a project manager.

How did you come to work with Apriorit?

After it was recommended that we use AngularJS, a gentleman we knew introduced us to Apriorit. We initially vetted them and some other companies. We isolated it to Apriorit after our investigation of their capabilities and prior projects.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent little over $1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

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

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With the companies that we’ve recruited, we’ve seen a 20% increase in new business because of the HR product we rolled out, not including the payroll module. On a Google review, the product would receive between 4.5 and 5 stars. The turnaround time is about 24 hours, from introducing the problem to fixing it.

How did Apriorit perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been exceptional across the board. We have sprints, sometimes weekly, and standup meetings every day. They all understand English, and every team member can write fluent English. We use Slack, Skype, phone calls, and email. I’ve personally interviewed every person. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re professional. We’ve used Indonesian and Indian developers before, and the communication barrier was significant. With Apriorit, there is almost no communication barrier. Their interest in asking more questions to discover specifics about the product's performance has been a nice surprise.

Are there any areas they could improve? 

Product releases are timely, but sometimes they're a little too enthusiastic and it gets released before we can notify our customers. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

In the current political climate, there’s always a concern about using international engineers who are closely associated with Russia. As a business owner, I would recommend the reassurance of data protection. Make sure that security issues are available for review at any time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

OPSWAT is a provider of malware multi-scanning and device compliance solutions. We build products for device and data security, integrating multiple anti-malware vendors into an in-house scanning engine. We have a proprietary technology called “content disarm and reconstruction”, which we call “data centralization” internally. It is considered an industry-leading technology.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Apriorit?

We were developing a low-level driver for monitoring interactions between USB media and operating systems.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked closely with Apriorit to define the product roadmap and perform acceptance testing across multiple milestones. We provided a requirements document describing the behavior of the driver, based on which they drafted a statement of work describing their services, the product features, and future enhancements. We discussed the feasibility of each feature based on their complexity and expense. We defined a project timeline and delivery scope together.

The driver sits between the operating system and the applications running on it, facilitating low-level interactions with the interrupt memory, hardware, firmware, and interaction callbacks. It was built to monitor the system input/output, detecting USB devices plugged into system ports. The operating system will initiate a signal to a callback string, a signal which is monitored by the driver built by Apriorit. Whenever a new USB device is plugged in, it will be intercepted and blocked until our software has finished examining it.

What is the team composition?

They assigned two engineers and a product manager to our project.

How did you come to work with Apriorit?

We reached out to two outsourcing companies for the development of this project. We found Apriorit through a referral. Their background knowledge seemed to fit us the best.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost of their work was $50,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Apriorit in August 2015. The initial project is finished but we are currently working on another one with their team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of work provided by Apriorit was good. They delivered exactly what we agreed upon. We leveraged their resources to increase our internal development cycle and shorten the time to market. The overall experience has been good.

The testing builds they gave us were useful for demonstrating the agreed-upon features and what we would be able to do in the future.

How did Apriorit perform from a project management standpoint?

We maintained weekly meetings with the team. The scope detailed our expectations and required time for the build. We had real-time feedback and maintained agile project management. Their team was dynamic, allowing us to adjust our requirements from time to time, to get a better market fit. We used Jira for project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their driver-level technology background is impressive. Apriorit has engineers who are familiar with cross-platform development, specifically Windows and Linux.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. Based on our experience, they seem to be very good at what they are doing.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It’s important to provide a detailed scope and have consistent meetings with the engineering team. Apriorit has reliable project management and development skills, but, when requesting changes, clients need to provide clear differentiation between the previous scope and current one.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a cyber security company focusing on deception. We have a team of around 45 people globally and have served 300 worldwide customers to date, including Fortune 500 companies and others.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Apriorit?

We sometimes use a contractor to accelerate some of our development processes.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve worked with them several times. One project was developing a tool to help defend ransomware for Windows. Part of it was developed in .NET and part was in C. They developed most of the solution with us. We designed it but didn’t have resources in our R&D, so we asked them to take the project from concept to delivery.

We published several versions—the first of which was done in two or three months. We had to make adaptations and have them update the software due to ransomware’s ever-changing behavior. We also expanded our capabilities based on customer requests. They were responsible for testing the code for bugs since they developed it. They worked very closely with our research team and did a good job.

What is the team composition?

They had a project manager and a CTO who was the head of the team and strong in technology.

How did you come to work with Apriorit?

A friend of mine who had also worked with them referred them to me.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent around $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them on this project in January 2016 and finished in May 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were successful in running hundreds of ransomware in the system. Each project they’ve worked on has been very successful. They’re really professional. They’ve never disappointed me because of their fast reactivity and ability to stick to timelines. I’ve never had complaints from my staff about Apriorit, which tells me that they’re a strong team.

How did Apriorit perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is one of their strengths. Their project manager is able to translate the business logic and development challenges effectively. They’re also in charge of verifying whether the customer actually receives what they’re paying for.

They have someone who manages their business in the U.S., which is important because they actually know the requirements. He even came to San Francisco from New York to meet me in person.

They begin by confirming that they’re able to do a project. After the design is finished—either on their side or the customer’s—and finalized, they provide a project document which outlines milestones, developer capabilities, time for development, and QA testing. It’s all very professional and the start and finish of every project is clear.

The biggest problem in working with offshore teams is not knowing when they’ll finish a project. I’ve worked with four other groups, but I keep coming back to Apriorit because I know what I’m going to get. They’ve never missed a deadline.

They use Excel and PDF reports. They have a monthly session to discuss progress and present us with what they’ve done so far. Whether it’s a mockup or mid-project progress, they always give us a chance to look at the code. It’s good to see because you know that someone is working and doing something rather than just reporting via email. There’s more interaction when you get involved and learn how they work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very strong in development of kernel drivers and other Windows-related things that Microsoft never publishes documentation on. They’re phenomenal in this area.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I really enjoy working with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Pay them for what you need and don’t try to cut the price just because they’re offshore. They’re not expensive and don’t like to negotiate because their prices are already very affordable. They cost 50% less than other companies I’ve received quotes from.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a company that develops products mainly in the IT security field. We have customers worldwide, and I’m in charge of managing the product good and development group.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Apriorit?

Some of the research and development (R&D) we do requires reverse engineering and research on proprietary formats and algorithms. We wanted to accelerate this R&D, so we began looking for a partner to augment our internal team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Apriorit required very little oversight on our part. Their project manager interviewed our staff and then built out the requirements for the project. They sent me a scope of work based on those interviews, we finalized the plan, and then they executed on it. They work in .NET and Python.

What is the team composition?

We interact with the account and project managers and one developer when we need to talk about technical work.

How did you come to work with Apriorit?

They contacted me during a conference. They approached our booth and offered their services, and we selected them due to their experience with IT security. They know how to develop security features, they understand a vast range of technologies, and they can perform low-level debugging and reverse engineering.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began in April 2017, and we’re planning on having them launch additional projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They deliver on time, they’re responsive, and I’m happy with their work. We have a good partnership, and I’d work with them again. The code quality and dev work are decent, and if there are issues, they adapt accordingly.

How did Apriorit perform from a project management standpoint?

They provide weekly updates as necessary, and they’re willing to have status phone calls when we ask. We mainly communicate via Skype, and we have a friendly relationship; they don’t require a lot of my attention. They provide full visibility to their progress and offer a post-delivery warranty to fix issues found afterward.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re dedicated to their clients. Instead of just asking for instructions, they work with the customer to build requirements and plans, which was helpful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Have as many conversations as possible to be fully aligned so you can better focus on the product and development.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a security company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Apriorit?

We were building an endpoint security detection product for Windows, but it’s difficult to create a quality, stable kernel-level driver. We wanted to find a partner who could help but who was also affordable.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our main goal was to create a solution for malware protection. Apriorit’s work is based on C++, and the current architecture is post-Vista, although it could easily be adapted for pre-Vista. The product uses the Windows driver development kit.

The only way to get certain crucial data is to be at the kernel level, and the only way to do it efficiently at runtime is at the kernel level. Over time, that evolved into our current problem, which is looking at defects in the actual kernel itself at Ring 0.

Typically, I describe my requirements, they come back with refinements, I approve, and then they develop and test it.  They deliver both the finished product as well as a comprehensive spreadsheet that describes the quality and stability tests of their end product release.

What is the team composition?

They assigned a kernel developer, a QA person, and a project manager. When we go through an engagement, I work with the project manager.

How did you come to work with Apriorit?

I was doing research online and I came across a paper they wrote. They had some sample code in it to test, and what they were delivering was far easier to consume than anything else I'd come across, and it spoke to their openness and depth of knowledge.

I reached out to them with a request for information, and I provided a high-level description of the problem we were trying to solve. They responded quickly and satisfied our first scope, so we increased it and they still satisfied. After that, we committed to a long-term engagement with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $95,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in August 2016, and the partnership is ongoing. We plan to increase the scope of that contract substantially in the coming months.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We test the product against a series of platforms and then distribute it to our customer base. We trust their QA; we’ve had a trivial number of failures, and most are due to user error. The other problems are usually because we’ve asked them to basically invent something brand new, and there’s no reference for it. Even then, though, my customer satisfaction rate is extraordinary.

How did Apriorit perform from a project management standpoint?

Apriorit always provides a clear timeline, and they never miss a deadline. They’re responsive and proactive, making recommendations and doing research without being asked and without charging extra.

We mainly communicate via email and sometimes Skype.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been in this business for 20 years and worked with numerous developers, and Apriorit is far better than everybody else. They’re clear, articulate, and flexible. If I ask them to get on Skype, they will, even at odd hours. They take on urgent tasks immediately, and they’re honest about their skillsets and limitations.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I'm delighted with them. It's been a year and a half, and I have no complaints. They're incredibly fair people.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

To get the maximum value, develop a rapport and build test. The faster you do, the more open you’ll be able to be, and the more open you’re able to be, the faster you get quality results. They’ll deliver per specifications no matter what, but a good relationship means they’ll be comfortable offering more alternatives and suggestions, which are always helpful.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I head up project development in the engineering department for a company that sells cloud content security products. Our platform brings together various standalone security products in the web, email, and cloud space into one unified dashboard.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Apriorit?

We needed a partner with expertise in Windows operating systems, which we didn’t have as an in-house skill. Within our web security product, we had to develop an agent (Windows software that would run on standalone PCs) that would intercept web traffic. So, whenever anything made an outbound web request, we needed a way to intercept those requests and send them onto our cloud service to make a decision as to whether it was acceptable or not. This required a deep knowledge of the Windows environment and driver development, which was out of our comfort zone, so we searched for external help.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we started back in 2009, the process was simple: we prepared an initial scope of requirements list, and, as part of that initial analysis, Apriorit created a proof of concept (PoC) to determine the project’s feasibility.

Over the years, we’ve moved to other projects, like the Windows driver. it's a small piece of software that runs on your windows PC as a background service. As you use any software connecting out to the Internet, it intercepts the traffic, sending it to our cloud service where we analyze it and then approve its request or not. The driver provides web filtering service so that customers can, for example, block time-wasting sites or adult content at different times of the day. Apriorit’s technology lets us look for malware-infected websites or malware that might have triggered on the network, and it offers other functionalities like identifying users.

We recently had Apriorit build the same product but for Mac OS, and now we maintain those two products with them; we provide enhancements, bug fixes, and maintenance. We also have a small team responsible for our email security product, which is the other major project that we have.

The Windows product uses Visual C++, the Mac is Objective-C, and the email product is a C#.NET platform. Originally, we just had them writing code and we did QA ourselves, but we’ve started having them include QA in their team, and it’s worked out well.

What is the team composition?

We have a dedicated project manager who is our main point of contact and who takes care of the rest of the team. We have around eight developers on retainer, and I’ll usually deal with them directly if there’s a particularly complex issue that needs to be resolved.

How did you come to work with Apriorit?

We found them through a LinkedIn advertisement. I noticed they were skilled in low-level driver-related work, and a lot of other service providers focused on higher-level, which I didn’t need.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent around $1.5 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started around June 2009, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don't have official metrics, but they always do good work in a short amount of time.  They fix bugs quickly, and they properly maintain what’s already been built.

How did Apriorit perform from a project management standpoint?

They're quite good at writing a brief, and they almost always deliver on their quoted estimate. The project manager emails me a weekly report, which lists what work each developer or QA people is doing so I can keep an eye on it. We predominantly use Jira, email, Skype, and Slack. I’ve visited them in person, as well, but they’re flexible in how you want to work and communicate with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They don't just do what you ask; they research the problem and your proposed solution. If they find a better idea, they’ll tell you, and that adds a lot of benefit to their work. Other agencies usually just deliver what you ask, regardless if they think it’ll work or not. Apriorit also knows how to communicate incredibly well.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They shouldn't be afraid to come forward and say if they need more resources. It would be good for them to be a bit more transparent on their limitations so that, as partners, we could work together to overcome any issues.  Overall, though, it’s been a good relationship.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Be clear with what you want to achieve because they’ll ask for details right away. You’ll need more than just broad brush strokes because they’re heavily engineer-focused, so you’ll need to point them in the exact right direction to best utilize their skills.