Better Software

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of a personal recommendations platform. I take care of the overall business strategy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Jalan Technologies?

Our idea was to create a platform to engage businesses, customers, and the friends and families of customers in a trusted community. The solution would allow sharing trusted recommendations with friends and family while engaging with trusted businesses.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we had the idea and provided Jalan Technologies with a high-level Figma UX flow and map. Jai (Founder) and his team captured our needs accurately and translated them into the app’s full stack development.

First, Jalan Technologies had to fully understand our solution, business plan, and the features we intended to develop. We started with the UX map; the next step was to convert it into timing estimates. They gave us options on which technologies to use, and we chose to work with React Native. Additionally, they used other technologies like AWS and Postman.

Our goal was to complete the app for iOS and Android and list them at the respective stores. The app's core functionality was sharing experiences about using products, services, and experiences with friends and family. Users could engage by providing multimedia inputs of their experiences, such as pictures and short videos. Once the features and the timeline were developed, we went through two-week sprints to get to the MVP and then release the app.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project team that included a project manager, a senior architect, frontend developers, backend developers, and a QA engineer. The team size varied in different phases of the project. At the maximum, we had six team members, which went down to 2–3 after the release in the App Store.

How did you come to work with Jalan Technologies?

Someone referred them.

How much have you invested in them?

We invested around $120,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership began in September 2021, and we listed the app in the stores around June 2022. Currently, we have an ongoing maintenance phase with Jalan Technologies; they do small refinements and tickets.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They completed the planned features and functions and then listed the bug-free app in the App Store. Jalan Technologies met the quality metrics and most of the timing to complete the work.

How did Jalan Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Mohit (Senior Product Manager) was a great collaborator. He had many ideas and was very energetic. In general, the team was very disciplined. They planned the project using both long-range and short-range sprints. When each sprint was completed, we did a review, and they followed through.

They used Confluence and Jira for project planning. Typically, any questions we had were answered through Slack or Microsoft Teams despite the odd hours for them. Jalan Technologies responded within 1–2 hours regardless of the time of the day. Additionally, we had at least two calls a week. In some cases, we also had daily calls at our preferred time, so they were flexible.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were very collaborative. The team looked at what we were trying to accomplish, and they came up with ideas. Moreover, they unearthed our needs and provided a team that fit them, whether it was the budget or the type of person we needed. They customized the team according to our requirements.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could’ve provided more thorough testing before allowing us to try the features out. In some cases, we found some bugs. However, we let them know, and they were responsive to the issues and solved them as a team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be more specific on what’s needed and have 1–2 hour workshops in the beginning to discuss what they need for the project and what are the constraints and challenges. Additionally, insist on a quality metric, such as having 100% bug-free code when it’s turned over.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm Chief Information Officer of a business specializing in providing business support to dental practices.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Jalan Technology Consulting, and what were your goals?

We have a custom web application that provides support tools such as reporting, payroll, time management, and other line-of-business functions for our team. We needed improvement and continued feature development for this tool.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Found Jalan through the Standford GSB email list. Having demonstrable technical abilities and excellent communication skills made it an easy choice.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We needed staff augmentation to help build out many features of our custom in-house web application. This required spanning of multiple systems and architectures, but we were able to build a reliable system with the team from Jalan.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Generally 1 or 2 individuals, with one serving as both a project manager as well as developer, and another developer in an assisting role.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We have been able to grow our business relying on this application to deliver data analytics and payroll essential to operations.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We have daily stand-up meetings and bi-weekly sprint planning. These "in-person" discussions are typically done via Google Meets, while other communication is via Slack or JIRA ticket discussion.

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

I admire their excellent work ethic and very good communication skills.

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

Not specifically, they have always been receptive to feedback, which is the most important thing for us.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of a Micro training startup based in the US. www.clipladder.com

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Jalan Technology Consulting, and what were your goals?

I hired Jalan Tech Consulting to develop the product design, write the code for the platform, test the services and also for brian storming various user workflows.

SOLUTION

How did you select Jalan Technology Consulting and what were the deciding factors?

I have worked with Jaikishen Jalan in the past and have seen his high quality of work and deliverables. He's been a trusted partner for us for a while now.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

They were involved right from the concept design, UI development, code development and testing

How many people from the Jalan Technology Consulting team worked with you, and what were their positions?

There were 4 folks involved at any given time. One Product manager and lead, One front end developer, One Backend developer and Jai who acted as the Project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

- A high quality product delivered in sprints with each sprint adequately tested for quality and bugs. - Sprint timelines were followed most of the time and slippages where necessary were mutually agreed upon between the client and developers. - adequate quality tests followed each sprint.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Project management was excellent with high levels of transparency and weekly communication. Use of tools like Jira, shared docs and weekly video calls helped keep the project on track.

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

Their ability to provide high-quality deliverables and manage stakeholder expectations was impressive.

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

The project was impacted by covid which resulted in the turn over of some folks in the project. However, Jai was on top of the issue and managed a successful transition.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a co-founder and Director of Operations at Sunny Energy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Jalan Technology Consulting, and what were your goals?

We have over 50 sales representatives, some employees and some independent reps. We needed a platform that would allow them to use a standardized approach to doing sales proposals, help customers apply for financing through several finance company partners, manage thousands of proposals at a time, process sales commissions, and integrate with our project management platform.

The standardized approach for proposals was very important, as a way to maintain control in terms of pricing, products sold, product capabilities, and customer expectations. Proposals also integrate and rely on third-party platforms Including, the National Renewable Energy Laboratory of the US Dept of Energy, NearMap for high quality satellite images and others for various data and data verification.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I had worked on a similar solution with a different company and was in the process of getting quotes from them, when Jai, the owner of Jalan Technology approached me with an overview of their capabilities. I was intrigues by what he told me, felt very comfortable working with him, thought he understood my description of what we needed very quickly, and decided to give their company a try, instead of the company I had worked with previously.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The scope of work detail is too much to go over here. It evolved over time, and it continues to evolve. We constantly have a prioritized backlog of dozens of improvements. We go through 2-week sprints of planning, development, testing, feedback and production. I'm more of a business planner/visionary than IT technical, so I can't begin to describe the technologies used.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

There have been about 10 people that have worked with us, and currently it's 5. I'm not sure of position titles, but system architect, software developer, quality control and testing, are all involved.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

There are numerous fantastic outcomes of the work they have done, and continue to do. We were able to grow the company from a few hundred customers by the end of 2016 to several thousand customers today. We currently have over 50 users on the platform, producing hundreds of proposals every month, closing as many as 120 in a month. Our company revenue has grown by 5X, and this year is expected to be double what we did last year.

We've eliminated nearly all proposal mistakes, and mistakes involved in manually transferring data from a sales contract to our project management platform. At this moment, a sales consultant can do a proposal, present it to a customer, have credit approval done from one or more of several different financial institutions, send financing documents for customer signatures, send our contract for signatures, have it approved by our company and create the project in our project management platform, ready to begin executing, within 15 minutes (plus time spent in discussion with the customer and time for a company manager to review it).

Previously, this process could take several hours or days, and would include manually preparing proposals, many emails and phone calls, waiting for results, and very often in-person document signing, plus 30 to 60 minutes of time for a person to set the project up in the project management system. The previous process also did not standardize sales proposals, nor did it allow for tracking, analyzing and reporting on all sales proposal and project status and information.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Their project management style is very transparent and predictable. I always have a good idea of timelines, expectations, root-cause of problems or delays, and next steps. I have access to Jira, used for project tracking, and Slack, used for communication. We also use a lot of email and meet by Zoom at least weekly, sometimes more often. They are also very good about working around our 12.5 hour time difference.

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

They are very responsive to our needs, very quick to understand some very complex business requirements, and it's very easy to understand the level of difficulty involved in meeting our needs. Plus, they always deliver on what we need.

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

Maintaining good employees is always a challenge, and it has been an issue. But, I think it has improved. We are outgrowing the platform, and have started to see some performance issues.

This is partly due to my lack of defining where this is expected to go 4 years ago. Maybe this could have been avoided if we did define what we expect 3, 5 and 10 years out and the system was built differently to begin with, but it also needs to balance with the business at hand. It's a good problem to have, as opposed to overbuilding and overspending, and never seeing the business to support it.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Co-Founder of a caregiver marketplace.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Helps families connect with independent caregivers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Jalan Technologies to accomplish?

Build out a marketplace.

SOLUTION

How did you find Jalan Technologies?

Referral

Why did you select Jalan Technologies over others?

• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Jalan Technologies were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Scope was to create a marketplace where families and caregivers could create accounts, go through the sign up process, search for eachother and create a caregiving match.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Project was broken into two to three week deliverables.

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

The items were delivered on top, and any issues that arose were quickly addressed.

What was your primary form of communication with Jalan Technologies?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Great people, and excellent communication.

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

Both parties should have taken more time to understand the source code and how the application was built.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Owner of Caterspice LLC

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Corporate Catering and Box Lunches

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Jalan Technologies to accomplish?

• Automate Kitchen operations
• Recipe Calculations
• Kitchen staff Task List Generation

SOLUTION

How did you find Jalan Technologies?

Referral

Why did you select Jalan Technologies over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Jalan Technologies were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

We created an app called Caterplan, to automate the operations in our Apple Spice Kitchen.

Modules below:

• Recipe Calculations
• Order Entry
• Task List generation
• Shopping List Generation
• Comissarry and Baker daily task generator
• Contact List, Product List

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This was Module based. Each module was developed based on the requirements I gave them, with very good suggestions from Jalan. I was very happy with the product delivered. The response and communication is very good.

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

Yes, all was delivered as promised.

What was your primary form of communication with Jalan Technologies?

Virtual Meeting

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

Skills, Communication, professionalism, Quick response. Understanding of requirements

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

I was satisfied overall. Infact, I have given them another project after this.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of a consultancy for various industries, including pharmaceuticals and IT. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Jalan Technologies?

We hired them to develop an e-commerce solution. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Jalan Technologies designed and developed our e-commerce website from scratch. First, we had a face-to-face meeting where we laid out our first priority: the technology we would use for development. We were deciding between WordPress, Shopify, or a Lavael build using Magento. 

Ultimately, we decided to use Laravel for the e-commerce platform because it was the best framework available. Once the site was complete, Jalan Technologies offered maintenance services. 

The solution is an e-commerce e-learning platform. The site hosts online courses users can sign up for, including accounting, IT, and legal courses. The entire site is hosted on our server on an AWS platform. 

What is the team composition?

I was only in contact with the project manager and designer, so I’m unsure how many others were working in the background. 

How did you come to work with Jalan Technologies?

We found them on Upwork.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around 1 million Indian rupees (approximately $12,000 USD)

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership with Jalan Technologies was from October 2021–April 2022. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have over 100 teachers on our platform and around 2,500 students downloading their offered courses.  

How did Jalan Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Jalan Technologies’ team managed the project through Jira, which ensured they always delivered on time. There were some delays during development, but it was okay. Every month, we met to discuss the project over coffee. Outside of those meetings, we met over Skype or Zoom. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their code is their biggest strength. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Jalan Technologies’ testing capabilities are a little weak. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Jalan Technologies is a good company for web development but is merely average for mobile app development work. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Hie , I am Ambrish Garg , founder and CEO of AG infotech, We are into IT consultancy and specialized in fintech and Ecom Consultancy

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Jalan Technologies, and what were your goals?

One of our project needs a Fashion Ecom to be developed , this is a unique concept where local weivers and hand made fabric and other items can be sold be vendor itself .In other words a Marketplace for Small handicraft manufacturers to display their products

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We search for a developer who can fulfill our requirements to lauch a SEO friendly , fast and secure portal with international payment gateways enabled

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We started discussion on project and the initial discussion was the technology we will be using to develop our portal , whether it should be wordpress , or a shopify store , but after a long discussion we decided to develop a custom portal for us

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

There is a team of 5 people working on it , including 1 PM , 2 coder 1 designer and 1 SEO guy

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Since the portal is launched we have reported around 3000$ of monthly revenue (not profit). by the end of Aug 2022

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We have a initial physical meeting face to face and then after we communicate via Skype and ZOOM call every fortnight to review the progress of project and any rectification required or not . we stay updated on each and every step through project management by TRELLO

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

They have a good experience in similar kind of project. They helped us a lot in selecting third-party services, even though it was not a part of their job.

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

They are good at coding and have a good command over react JS , SEO part is also good , only the graphic designing is not too good , although it was good enough to be used

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Software company with a NLP based search engine

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Jalan Technology Consulting, and what were your goals?

We are working with JTC for backend engineering work

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I found out about JTC via a personal connection. We considered other vendors and decided to go with JTC due to the quality of the engineers and their business model of letting us embed their team into ours.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Backend engineering to help with API development and data extraction.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

1 engineer who has been working as a full stack developer with primary focus on back end engineering.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Helped us deliver successful product deployment as multiple f500 clients.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

In our case JTC was pretty hands off and we managed our engineers using our own project management process, which is what we prefer.

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

They care about the quality of the developers and spend a lot of time is making sure they are hiring the right talent. They care about the team which aligns well with our culture.

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

Can’t think of any right now