BairesDev

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am an Senior Director of Business Technology Team at the Associated Press. The Associated Press is an American non-profit news agency headquartered in New York City. My team implements and supports all back-office applications, including multiple Finance, HR and Payroll, Procurement and CRM solutions

For what projects/services did your company hire BairesDev?

We have been working with BairesDev since 2014, and used them to provide talent on multiple projects. Key projects were on-going enhancements and support for cloud solution SalesForce (SFDC), and support of custom in-house CRM system which is over 30 years old

What were your goals for this project?

On SalesForce (SFDC) - standard functionality for sales processes did not cover all needs for the AP's sales team. We needed to collect more data about leads, speed up the process of Invoice generation for ad-hoc sales.

Those enhancements increased revenue generation by making purchase and invoice process very dynamic and fast. My team does not have needed skill set in-house, so we reached out to BairesDev.

For old CRM system - the challenge was to support an old SQL-based system without any documentation on how it was written. we needed to keep the system functional and available 24x7, and keep making enhancements to support growing business.

How did you select BairesDev?

I reached out to my peers internally and externally for recommendations, and BAiresDev was on the list of recommended vendors. VP Technology, myself and Senior CRM Architect looked at 3 vendors, and identified BairesDev as a best one.

Have been successfully using them for last 7 years. The deciding factors were skill set of the proposed consultant and flexibility and wiliness to help of BairesDev management. Great team to work with!

Describe the project in detail.

Over the years the BairesDev consultants worked on different components of all projects - overall strategy, design, development, testing and on-going support

What was the team composition?

The team structure varied based on the needs of the specific project. The management was always quick to offer new resources as the needs come up.

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

As a part of SFDC project, the simple and dynamic creation of the new opportunity pages and on the fly creation of the invoice for the ad-hoc sale allowed sales staff to attend to customers faster, which contributed to the customer retention and new sales.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow is very simple, the resources were managed by our CRM lead, and I had monthly calls with the management to discuss progress.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The vendor has excellent resources available in multiple areas, but mostly, I was impressed by the flexibility and cooperation by the management. They will always go an extra mile to make the customer happy.

Are there any areas for improvement?

not for me, very satisficed with the services

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a startup called ProfolioX. We’re a cloud-based tech company that processes data in real-time to convert athlete brands into stock shares.

What challenge were you trying to address with BairesDev?

We were working with an independent contractor who had good technical skills but wasn’t able to fully deliver on what we needed. There were definitely challenges during the product build. Since then, we engaged with BairesDev to develop our product and take it to a live production phase.

What was the scope of their involvement? 

BairesDev has created a custom web app that functions as a portfolio for athlete stock shares. Everything is on the cloud, which meant that their team needed to build out the pipelines to get information from our data provider into our architecture.

Additionally, they’ve supplied a designer to work on the frontend. That individual has designed the current mobile-responsive solution while keeping in mind that a lot of our users will access our platform on their phones. We’re currently in the process of building a dedicated mobile app version, which should be live soon.

What is the team composition? 

At the moment, we work with a team of four. We have an account manager, a product manager, a developer, and a designer. When we need extra services, they allocate additional developers outside of the core team. 

How did you come to work with BairesDev?

BairesDev actually reached out to us. As a bootstrap startup, we didn’t necessarily have the funds or resources to think about outsourcing, but their team was very persistent. They believed that there was a mutual benefit in working together.

Eventually, I met with Lucas (CTO) who really showed us that BairesDev was focused on building relationships, helping people grow, and evolving companies. That’s when we decided to give them a shot.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $10,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in June 2020, and the project is ongoing.

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

The beta version of our web app is now live. Users can create accounts and then buy, sell, and trade football players. We’re also implementing trading competitions to allow users to try out our services.

Overall, the app is of incredible quality, considering where our solution was before we found them. They’ve been able to find the right skill sets needed to fix our product and then implement what we’ve wanted within our timelines.

How did BairesDev perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re fantastic. I’m very much engaged in the project on a day-to-day basis, so I talk to the developer every day. If there’s ever a reason why they’re unavailable, I can always trust my account manager to put things in motion. They’ll reach out and ask if I need anything.

What did you find most impressive about them?

BairesDev puts a lot of focus and attention into finding the right relationships for a project. That’s important because it’s not just a working relationship at that point but rather a personal engagement. So, it’s far more rewarding when that interpersonal element is there. I know their team well enough that we know what each other is thinking. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

If I had to give some kind of criticism, I’d say that they care too much — and that’s not even a bad thing! Because they’re so invested in us and want to see us do well, they’re willing to give us all of the options. That can be distracting sometimes. Instead of focusing on one delivery or item, I’m thinking about all of the amazing things I could be doing in the future.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t be afraid to ask questions. We literally had no idea what we were getting our hands into. Yes, we had tech advisors who validated that BairesDev was a legitimate company that was giving us a good rate, but the process of finding and establishing a connection with the right vendor comes down to the questions you ask.

In our case, we didn’t talk to Lucas about our project needs until 45 minutes into the conversation. Before then, we were discussing our ideas, current events, and more. He showed us that he wasn’t just selling us a service. His team actually cared about who we were as people. Going into the project knowing that they wanted to help us succeed has made the whole thing easier.

Please describe your company and your position there.

VisionWeb provides software products to help Eye Care Providers manage their practices and order lenses, frames, and contacts for their customers.

For what projects/services did your company hire BairesDev?

BairesDev was hired to supplement our staff on our Electronic Health Records and Practice Management products.

What were your goals for this project?

Supplement our staff with qualified engineers.

How did you select BairesDev?

They contacted us via an email introduction.

Describe the project in detail.

We hired BairesDev to supplement our staff for our EHR product and QA efforts on that product. We have subsequently hired an additional BairesDev engineer to help on our Practice Management product as well. The team will extend the products by adding features, fixing bugs, and maintaining the product as a part of our whole engineering team.

What was the team composition?

Each team has a manager, and shares a Program Manager with several other teams. Each team has a Product Owner who sets the priorities for which features need to be developed next. Each team consists of several software engineers, and several QA engineers working to build features/fix bugs and test the new features/bugs before releasing them to our production systems.

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

We organize our schedule into "Program Increments" (~3-months per increment) consisting of six 2-week sprints, followed by a 1-week planning session for the next program increment. The BairesDev team participates fully in our process, and contributes as with all members of our team. They provide solid engineers with experience and useful knowledge to handle any of the development or QA challenges we throw at them.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

There is no distinction between "their team" and "ours". The BaireDev engineers are treated like all other members of our team, and contribute and relate with us as though we are a single team.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They provide top-quality resources quickly. We were able to engage with them and begin the hiring process immediately, and bring people on-board quickly. The people they provided are excellent engineers with the ability to come up to speed quickly and contribute to our team goals very quickly.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not at this time.

Please describe your company and your position there.

SaaS based Software Company.

For what projects/services did your company hire BairesDev?

Hired BairesDev to supplement out development staff.

What were your goals for this project?

To quickly scale the team with high capable members to meet the emergent market demands.

How did you select this vendor?

Selected this vendor after evaluating different competing vendor.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They providing contracting resources to perform development and quality assurance activities.

What was the team composition?

The team was a hybrid composition with members of BairesDev working virtually side by side with the existing team members.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

BairesDev was able to quickly provide key resources for the team. This allowed for our team to grow quickly and meet the market need.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management consisted of one main project manager from the BairesDev side. This project manager has done an effective job helping meet the needs of both the individuals of BairesDev and also my company.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are extremely helpful and flexible in finding new team members.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not that I can think of at this time.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of operations for a certified Salesforce consulting firm.

What challenge were you trying to address with BairesDev?

We had a need for additional development resources.

What was the scope of their involvement?

BairesDev provides resource allocation services. Their team produced a group of resumes, and then we moved forward with one developer. We’re a Salesforce only consulting firm, so the developer works with Salesforce.

What is the team composition?

We started with one developer but now work with three. We recently acquired another project and reached out to onboard two additional developers.

How did you come to work with BairesDev?

I found them through general Google searches. Ultimately, we went with them because they aligned with our time zone more than other outsourced providers.  It’s easier to work through a solution when you can directly communicate rather than leaving each other messages.

How much have you invested with them?

For the one developer, we’ve invested a little over $75,000. BairesDev gave us a three-week trial period for the two other developers.

What is the status of this engagement?

We brought the first developer on board around November 2019 and brought the other two developers on board about six weeks ago.

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

When BairesDev provided us with the resumes, they included one for someone who we worked with previously. We were happy with their work, so it was a no brainer. It was easy to get them up to speed. The quality of their work’s great. We have a solid relationship.

How did BairesDev perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Jira and have bi-weekly meetings when we discuss any issues to make sure that there aren’t surprises at the end of the month. They always check in to makes sure that everyone’s happy and living up to their end of the bargain.

Their communication’s good. When we needed to bring on the additional developers, I reached out to BairesDev. They got back to me quickly and moved through the process rapidly. Their team matched our urgency. It was important to us, so it was important to them.

During onboarding, they’re good partners. They coach developers in areas where we indicate a need for improvement. When you onboard a new developer, you take on risk. But BairesDev makes the process risk free.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re good partners. BairesDev always looks for ways to make the relationship work for both of us. While they’re a business, they look to collaborate. If we’re not winning, they’re not winning. They look for ways to enhance the partnership to encourage successes and make changes when necessary.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be better for us if they had a bigger bench of Salesforce developers. BairesDev specializes in different platforms and Salesforce is a small subset. They went out and hired the most recent Salesforce developers for us. They didn’t necessarily have a background with them, which was a risk.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Depending on the project, they may not have the resources that you need. They’ll help you source them but then you’re bringing on a wildcard.

Please describe your company and your position there.

HSD Metrics provides online surveys for our clients employees and former employees. I'm the Director or Technology.

For what projects/services did your company hire BairesDev?

We have a long list of issues in our proprietary system; errors and improvements that we'd like to make. When we first came to BairesDev, that list was a few hundred items. With their help, that list has shrunk considerably.

What were your goals for this project?

To continually improve and innovate the system that we and our customers use. We had addressed a number of long-standing issues, and added some very big improvements for our clients and respondents.

How did you select this vendor?

We searched online for possible vendors, and eventually found BairesDev. After a few conversations, and a brief trial period, we jumped right in and things have gone very well.

Describe the project in detail.

Our project is an ongoing effort, and we are continually making our system better.

What was the team composition?

1 full-time developer. Initially we had a Java developer come on and help us out with our My SQLdb needs, however our priorities then shifted to bring the front end up to date with React. BairesDev offered to replace him with a React developer to work with our in-house React lead, and collaborate with the migration and frontend design.

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

Every couple of weeks we have code updates which are tested by our staff prior to release. Any issues with those code updates have been few and FAR between. And we have addressed several long-sought issues and improvements since working with them.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very effective. I talk with the developer every day, and we work well together.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The first developer had a number of errors. Our Project Manager jumped in and got us another developer very quickly. Our developer is a rock star!

I was impressed by their flexibility and willingness to adjust to our needs. When we were considering migrating to React, they set up a call with an expert on the subject from their team to guide us and answer any doubts we might have had. The developers that joined our team did a great job and were a great help in achieving our goals. I will definitely be using their services again when the opportunity arises.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not really.

This review was updated by Daniel Cahill (Managing Principal & CEO, HSD Metrics) on June 5, 2020. The original star ratings were: Overall - 5, Quality - 5, Schedule - 5, Cost - 4, NPS - 5. New content is below:

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a company that offers customized surveys that cover the whole employment spectrum, providing metrics to improve employee, team, and organizational performance. Headquartered in Kentucky, our company has about 20 employees and we serve corporate clients all around the US.

For what projects/services did your company hire BairesDev?

When we first started with BairesDev we needed new Java programming for My SQL db, but as our needs shifted we decided to modernize the system and migrate the technology to React. With some consulting from their part we got a React engineer to come on and work with our in-house engineer and help us out with that migration.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to update our services by giving our customers a better user experience and a more modern interface. Also, by shifting to React, our surveys would be easier & faster to customize, allowing us to give a better service to our clients.

How did you select this vendor?

We searched for options for vendor partners that could help us, and after a vetting process, we selected BairesDev.

Describe the project in detail.

After a few meetings with the BairesDev team to discuss our objectives and the possibilities migrating to React would bring, we decided to move forward and onboard a React Developer to help us out. We successfully updated our client-facing frontend and obtained great results. The surveys are now more user-friendly and look more current.

What was the team composition?

Initially we had a Java developer come on and help us out with our My SQLdb needs, however our priorities then shifted to bring the front end up to date with React. BairesDev offered to replace him with a React developer to work with our in-house React lead, and collaborate with the migration and frontend design.

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

We have been using the code from the Java developer internally and externally for close to a year now, and everything continues to work very well for us. The React-driven surveys have been greeted with overwhelmingly positive feedback, and are now being used by an ever-increasing portion of our clients.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The Developer that was onboarded to our team worked closely with our in-house React lead, performing daily standup video-calls and in constant contact via slack. The team's communication was excellent overall.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was impressed by their flexibility and willingness to adjust to our needs. When we were considering migrating to React, they set up a call with an expert on the subject from their team to guide us and answer any doubts we might have had. The developers that joined our team did a great job and were a great help in achieving our goals. I will definitely be using their services again when the opportunity arises.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None - they were a pleasure to work with.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Signal is an advertising technology company that allows brands to better understand and market directly to their own customers through a suite of products.

For what projects/services did your company hire BairesDev?

We hired BairesDev to augment our current engineering staff for the frontend, backend and QA teams.

What were your goals for this project?

To provide cost-effective, reliable engineers to help out our on-site teams members.

How did you select this vendor?

We went through an RFP process.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They continually participate in the planning and implementation phases of our products. They are in our on-call support rotation and lead teams and initatives.

What was the team composition?

We are currently working within a staff-augmentation model so we have individuals as part of larger teams. We also have one team that is currently run completely by BairesDev.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

One team that is completely run by BairesDev engineers is currently 1/3rd of the size as it was 12 months ago, with honestly, greater throughput.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Since we have been in a staff augmentation model and the resoruces being near-shore, management of the team has the same as the rest of our in-house resources.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was impressed with the quality of the engineers and thoughtful management of the account.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I would like to see more "team" hires, than individuals, but to be honest we haven't explored that much with them yet.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Prolific 1 partners with entertainment rights-holders, combining industry-leading technology with expert analysis to drive incremental revenue and attendance for live events. Our flexible solutions and innovative distribution platform deliver more fans for every event, on your terms. I act as the VP Engineering for our company.

For what projects/services did your company hire BairesDev?

We hired BairesDev to augment our staff and for assistance in developing an internal inventory management system. The application focused on mapping events from various sources, managing ticket inventory and giving manual and automated guidance on pricing.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals were to automate many of the manual processes we had been doing in regarding to event mapping and inventory pricing for distribution to various distribution channels.

How did you select this vendor?

We selected BairesDev as they had worked with our parent company previously and we had a good relationship with them.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They designed and developed a system that pulled market based pricing changes for events that we held inventory. They also created automated processes to map our events with inventory to various distribution channel events. Together the systems functioned to keep our inventory fresh and the data allowed our pricing team members to have an accurate view of the ticket market as a whole.

What was the team composition?

The project fluctuated between 6-10 team members. We had an internal database administrator and project manager although BairesDev did initially provide a project manager as well. We began with a designer to help us get the look and feel templates created and then proceeded with the front-end and back-end developers and one tech lead.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Our solution has been in production for the last several months and we have been working to increase performance and reduce the impact of bugs/issues. We are targeting January 1 2020 as a fully functioning solution with increased performance and limited bugs/issues.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We began the project with a hired BairesDev project manager. We had our own internal project manager too so we eventually rolled off the hired project manager once the project was up and running smoothly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

BairesDev was well represented with some talented and experienced developers. The designer was very good and delivered the templates in a timely and efficient manner. The initial design worked well throughout the entire project. Developers were very responsive and easy to reach in times of need. Our having a daily call helped facilitate effective communication.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There seemed to be very little overlap in technical skills. This was both good and bad in that each developer would be responsible for their area of the application (algorhythm, automated processes, build/deployment, etc.) . This worked well to separate the developer's effort but would occasionally slow us down when one specific area needed a lot of attention and we were dependent on the single developer doing much of the work for this area of the application.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company develops software to provide timely responses of available mortgage products and pricing to borrowers looking for a loan. It optimizes the collection of this information from various providers, then returns consolidated results to users of the system.

I am in charge of all Software Architecture and Development.

For what projects/services did your company hire BairesDev?

We hired BairesDev to provide 2 teams to work on various parts of our overall solution. These teams would function as co-equal teams alongside the domestic development teams.

What were your goals for this project?

I wanted to double my development capacity for two key areas of our product offering. There were strategic opportunities to increase our feature output to our clients, and hiring additional teams allow us to accelerate our output.

How did you select this vendor?

I went through a process of identifying multiple, potential offshore partners to work with our domestic staff. One of my prime objectives was to find a partner that could quickly staff 2 teams with a high level of talent.

During the due diligence process, it was clear that BairesDev would be able to meet this need and were able to concretely demonstrate their ability to do so compared to the other potential vendors.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

One team designed, developed and released software to integrate two disparate solutions owned by Optimal Blue to provide end users with a better experience.

The other team participated in the redesign and implementation of how users and services authenticate against Optimal Blue solutions, improving the security profile of our applications.

What was the team composition?

We employed 7 developers and 2 QA analysts. At times we have added additional developers to supplement the current staff and meet aggressive deadlines. We also have a project manager from BairesDev who works with the team to ensure ongoing deliveries are met in a timely fashion.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

We have been able to continue with feature development for one of our key solutions, while simultaneously integrating two of our solutions. Without BairesDev staff, one or the other of these key initiatives would not be complete. Our ability to deliver more with BairesDev increases client satisfaction and increases our competitiveness in the marketplace.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Day to day management of the project was handled by domestic development managers and business analysts. This was chosen to ensure timely feedback on work in-process, and to make sure the teams from BairesDev understand the critical nature of the work they provide to the overall success of Optimal Blue.

A BairesDev project manager also interacts with the team on a regular basis to ensure the teams are satisfied with the level of engagement and as a way for BairesDev employees to feel comfortable providing feedback to Optimal Blue.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They did what they said they would do - they helped us quickly on-board two very talented teams of individuals. I found it highly unusual they were able to follow through so quickly as I always expect the sales cycle might exaggerate what will be delivered once a contract is signed. I was thrilled at how closely they worked with us to provide a great outcome.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Any areas of concern or improvement are communicated to BairesDev, and they always respond promptly to address those areas.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We provide system integration and custom implementation services. We have been in business since 1987. We have offices in Danbury, CT and Charlottesville, VA.

For what projects/services did your company hire BairesDev?

BairesDev was hired to augment our development team on custom application development / system integration projects.

What were your goals for this project?

To complete the project on time, on budget, to specification and client expectation.

How did you select this vendor?

Based on the fact that they are in a time zone similar to that of ours. We need to be able to communicate during our work day as a team.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

BairesDev staff provided experienced programming skills.

What was the team composition?

The business analysis, technical specifications, project management, scrum master roles were performed by internal team. BairesDev was utilized to augment the development team.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

We believe that the ability to have elastic development resource available to meet deadlines for bespoke projects is critical to the success of our business model.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was handled internally. Agile methodology and a variety of project management, communication and version control tools such as Jira, Slack, Confluence, and gitHub were utilized.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The BairesDev programming staff has been knowledgable, skilled, reliable and easy to work with. They responded well to feedback and provided accurate estimates for work effort / time for scheduling sprints. They are familiar with the various collaboration / version control tools and the Agile methodology.

Are there any areas for improvement?

When requesting placement of one person on a project it is key to make sure that that person have the correct skill set and personality to work effectively.