BigStep Technologies Pvt. Ltd.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the product manager of Bizabbo, an event management software company.

What challenge were you trying to address with BigStep Technologies Pvt. Ltd.?

We needed help in developing a simple video conferencing solution that has added features relevant to virtual events. We were looking for a partner that had experience building video solutions to help us develop a proof of concept.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided BIG STEP with a detailed RFP. They bid and got hired, and they created a project plan. They executed once everything was finalized. 

BIG STEP worked closely with our development team — we worked on the back end, and they focused on the front end. We reviewed the app’s design and code together to ensure optimal work quality. We worked with them as an extension of our development team. 

BIG STEP has already finished their part of the project, but the app’s development is ongoing.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager, a QA specialist, and two developers. 

How did you come to work with BigStep Technologies Pvt. Ltd.?

We were introduced to BIG STEP by another company we worked with. We did due diligence by talking with their customers, reviewing their code, and asking them to do a small project as a test. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement lasted from June–September 2021.  

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

BIG STEP provided good quality work. They were very flexible in dealing with our requirement changes and project development issues such as last-minute modifications, API issues, and logic changes. They were very accommodating, and they were focused on getting the project done correctly. I only have good things to say about BIG STEP.  

How did BigStep Technologies Pvt. Ltd. perform from a project management standpoint?

BIG STEP was excellent at project management. Their project manager was a seasoned and experienced professional who understood our problems. They went deep to address our issues and solve them. Additionally, they made sure that we didn’t have any language barriers. 

We had daily stand-up meetings with their team; we communicated through Slack. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

BIG STEP’s ability to absorb and accommodate changes on the fly was impressive. They came up with exceptional solutions — I can only praise their work. Their developers could understand our problems and assist us with our requests.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything. BIG STEP did an excellent job. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be prepared before starting to work with them because they’ll be eager to start the project. That said, they will be accommodating if you need more time. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner and founder of two websites and apps.

What challenge were you trying to address with BigStep Technologies Pvt. Ltd.?

BigStep works with us on our websites and apps. One of them is a potential competitor of Facebook, and the other is a potential competitor of Twitter.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They work on our turnkey apps and for both of my websites. As part of their work, they’ve created an API call to and from a database. For the websites, they create templates, themes, and plug-ins. End users can install these plug-ins and themes to customize their websites; the plug-ins change the look of the website and apps while providing various functionalities. 

What is the team composition?

We work with one salesperson and three technical developers.

How did you come to work with BigStep Technologies Pvt. Ltd.?

I found them via SocialEngine.com, a PHP-based framework for website development. Within that engine, there was a marketplace for plug-ins, themes, and customization, and that was where I found out about BigStep. They were the largest and most competent plug-in and theme provider on the SocialEngine marketplace, so we hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

Our total investment so far is around $6,000, including two prior projects. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them around June 2014, and the partnership is ongoing. 

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

Since I’m only starting out on all these projects, I don’t have any quantitative metrics. The way I measure success is around technical capabilities and the quality of the plug-ins. I also check the quality of BigStep’s support in terms of whether they get back to me within 24 hours to discuss every bug or issue that I want to talk about. For the most part, all the plug-ins, themes, and customized work they’ve done are 95% bug-free. 

How did BigStep Technologies Pvt. Ltd. perform from a project management standpoint?

BigStep’s project management is fairly organized, though I’ve dealt with no project manager. They may have project managers within their divisions, but I mostly deal with their technical support and salespeople around fixing bugs. We communicate 90% of the time through support tickets on their website and 10% via instant messaging.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their customer service is impressive. Other companies also make plug-ins and customizations on SocialEngine, but their response time and the number of bugs aren’t as good as BigStep’s. 

I’ve tried one of their competitors, but that provider only copied a bunch of plug-ins. In the end, I spent $2,000 with them, and they wouldn’t give me a refund. They also hardly responded to so many bugs. By contrast, BigStep’s customer support services have been great. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve been raising their prices over the past couple of years, so it’ll be nice if they give discounts or special pricing for their existing long-term customers.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be patient. There’s a significant time difference between the US and India, so response times can be a little longer, especially on weekends. For instance, when we have new users and something breaks out of nowhere, we have to wait for 24 hours to get it fixed. As a result, clients need to be patient. 

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the VP of Technical Services of YourVoyce, Inc., a Social Media Company taking on the Big Tech firms with true Freedom Of Speech initiatives. Our company provides an inter-active Social Media Platform available to the general public, with a combined feature set similar to what the Big Tech firm offer.

For what projects/services did your company hire BigStep Technologies Pvt. Ltd., and what were your goals?

We hired BigStep Technologies as the overall project lead and design of our Social Media platform engine. As we started our research into various existing open source and paid platforms, we knew immediately that we would need a firm that could step up to the plate and accomplish huge revisions of a basic and bare bones platform shell. Our goals was to find an existing web based platform that could be easily modified to perform at the level of the Big Tech companies, and then find a company willing and capable of doing just that for a reasonable price.

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

We found BigStep Technologies through a simple web search while looking for existing products that could be used to meet our goals. After narrowing our search down to three, we chose BigStep Technologies due to their experience with our chosen starter package.

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

Using an existing Open Source Social Media platform skeleton to start with, BigStep re-designed and developed a fully functional platform from the bare bones starter package we chose, achieving a near duplicate platform of an existing Big Tech Social Media firm. Their skill set consists of the utilization of several team members, all who have specialized skillsets and/or combinations of skills, and in particular, PHP, JavaScript, HTML5, CSS and other development tools.

The key deliverable was to duplicate, in as close a fashion as possible, the platform of one particular Big Tech firms platform, with the added goal of adding in certain features of another major Social Media firm. The steps to achieve this were several, starting with the organizational itemization of the task at hand to achieve the overall mission, working the mission on a daily basis, and the follow-through by communicating closely with our team and updating us on a daily basis of their progress.

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

The core team that worked with us consisted of a Company Manager, a Project Lead and a few key programmers. The company manager kept in touch on a less frequent basis, but was involved in larger business decisions when necessary. I can't say enough about the Project Leader and the Core Programmer. The Project Lead was always responsive, extremely well versed in personnel communication, and she always took care to be sure our Action Items and major project steps were followed and completed in a timely fashion and to our satisfaction.

The core programmer worked diligently and was well versed in his own skill sets, and he worked hard on the core aspects of the platform. Others that were involved also did professional work when certain skills were necessary beyond the core focus, and as coordinated by the Team Lead. I was very pleased at the professionalism of this entire team.

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

Although our outcomes are yet to be meaningfully measured because we are too early in the growth stage of our own firm, it is our estimate and belief that we can now comfortably and confidently release our product to the general public with a spirit of pride.

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

It is easy, as a customer, to complain on timeliness. And we did complain from time to time. However, when we look back at the milestones and achievements that our companies worked on together, it is also very evident that time is the solution to all good outcomes. The project lead kept us focused using action item lists, allowing us to prioritize elements and updates to the platform in an orderly fashion. Although we were looking for a fast and quick outcome, it can be said that a timely outcome was accomplished in the end. For communication tools we used daily emails, chat session and even on direct communications platforms such as skype and Microsoft Teams when necessary. All of those communication tools were used frequently and professionally.

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

The most impressive thing about the team we worked with was their attention to our project. They answered questions in a very timely fashion and they were always responsive to our questions, with quick turn-arounds. They also seemed to work amongst themselves in a very professional manner as well, evidenced through the Team Leads daily planning process.

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

Follow through on certain aspects would be my one concern. In some main project instances, the larger focal points would be completed, but details were missed. And although this can sometimes be annoying, when we brought those detail issues to their attention, they quickly remedied those for us.

Please describe your company and your position there.

My company is a small social media where we connect like minded individuals who share a faith in God. My position at the company is to oversee all aspects of this social media site that we have created and work as a team leader to make sure that all aspects of said website function well.

For what projects/services did your company hire BigStep Technologies Pvt. Ltd.?

We had hired BigStep technologies in about 3 years ago in January of 2019 to start our social media site. Previously we had no experience in building any sort of web site that could serve such a purpose, so Social Engine facet of BigStep gave us the jump that we needed.

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

We were looking for an affordable source code to start out social media venture and as this had offered on-going support and help from the the team, it seemed like the perfect fit.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

After first meeting opening a line of communication with them, we quickly bought the source code for the project and hit the ground running with bringing our company's vision to life of creating this social media. Along the way, we added various plugins and additions as well as custom code to the project in order to make it the best that we possibly could. We had also updated said plugins that we bought so they stay up to date.

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

I believe over the course of time, we had worked with about 4-5 people, possibly more than that, as I had only communicated with their points of contact that were made available to me. As it seemed like once I requested help or assistance with something that that person passed along the information to their developer(s) to correct or address the matter.

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

I would say the outcome was good for what we had received, as with all projects they're a continual forward moving so there is always room for improvement/ progress to made and website to keep upgraded. But I'd say it was a success.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I'd say the workflow was pretty effective. Granted I was the main person communicating with them, aside for a handful of times where one of my co-workers had to step in due to them knowing more about what was going on and the questions that needed to be asked and answered.

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

I'd say the most impressive part of this company is their staff and the people that I've communicated with. Anyone that I've spoken with or had dealing with has been very kind and always eager to help no matter what the issue might be. They're very driven.

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

The only area of improvement that I could see, and it's mostly because of the time difference we personally had was that sometimes when scheduling meetings/ chats, etc. we sometimes missed connections there or something that was said was lost in translation. Of course, this wasn't due to fault of either party necessarily as this happens when dealing with external contracting work like this.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of small software company and this was my first startup project.

For what projects/services did your company hire BigStep Technologies Pvt. Ltd.?

I hired BigStep's Social Engine developers to build a social media website for me.

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

I selected this vendor due to their specialization in social media platforms and the wide array of plugins they had at their disposal.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The website is a platform for content creators to monetize their content. It required a lot of custom plugins from the developers, which had never been done before.

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

I had a representative from the development team and a representative that helped handle financial matters.

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

They were able to successfully implement the vision that I had for the site, despite it being much more complex than the typical websites they were commissioned to create.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Communication was very efficient and streamlined. We had conversations regularly, to discuss the project.

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

I was impressed with the work they did on the custom plugins. They were very professional and courteous during the whole development process.

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

I had to give very specific instructions and it felt like I was micro managing, at times. The site had to go through many revisions, but in the end, they were successful in creating what I had asked for.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am developing online open-access education initiatives.

For what projects/services did your company hire BigStep Technologies Pvt. Ltd., and what were your goals?

I'm working on interactive content (interactive video, quizzes, etc.) and needed some way for content creators to upload files and display them as web pages.

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

I found this company online. They seemed to offer the kinds of skills I needed.

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

The aim was to create a platform for uploading and displaying interactive content online (H5P files). We had several online meetings to discuss objectives, review progress, go over issues that arose, etc.

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

Mainly, there was a project manager and one other person who was actually working on the content of the project. There were one or two others who were keeping track of things and joined in some of the meetings, but they were the main players.

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

At this stage, it's not really possible to say very much. The project has only just been finished. It's going to take a while for me to familiarize myself with it. We've reached the stage where the required content can be uploaded and viewed, but there's more work to do, so the project will go into a second phase in a few weeks' time.

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

Things took rather longer than I had expected, but for me the outcome was more important than the time frame, so I wasn't too bothered by that. The project manager was good at keeping everyone on board and there were fairly regular online meetings, so I felt I was kept reasonably well in the picture.

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

The online meetings were very helpful. We were able to use them to clarify things on both sides.

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

I think communication could have been a bit better at the stage where they created the scheme of work. They based it on my early discussions, and we had to spend a bit of time revising it to bring it into line with things that had come up in the meantime. Itemizing the cost for each element in the scheme of work would also have been helpful.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder of Foodiwant. We are a rewards food community that connects restaurants with staff, and diners with great food and experiences.

For what projects/services did your company hire BigStep Technologies Pvt. Ltd., and what were your goals?

The UI and UX needed a major update. We needed to update the design and do a major improvement on user flow. With these updates, we are looking to drastically increase traffic, and convert more visitors into users and customers.

How did you select BigStep Technologies Pvt. Ltd. and what were the deciding factors?

We had a previous relationship with BigStep Technologies and were aware of the work they could do. This was a major reason they were selected

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

We sent over detailed specs of the work we needed to get done, along with design files and other details. The project manager followed up with a Q&A to clarify unclear details. The project was completed on a staging server, tested and then approved. After approval, the design was moved to the live site and once again tested and given final approval

How many people from the BigStep Technologies Pvt. Ltd.'s team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Our project manager was the main point of contact with the team. There were also 2 developers and a UI/UX designer and a tester.

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

The project was only recently completed, no measurable outcomes have been noticed as yet. There have been positive responses from our base users on the improvements.

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

The project manager was very involed and stayed mostly on top of all that was being done, and she was also very responsive in getting updates done and fixing issues.

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

The team is able to get the project completed as needed despite unforeseen emergencies.

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

The project started off a bit bumpy. Improvement on initial planning is suggested. But recovery was made quickly and project ended successfully.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Regional Technology Director for Asia at VMLY&R, which is a global brand and customer experience agency that harnesses creativity, technology, and culture to create connected brands.

For what projects/services did your company hire BigStep Technologies Pvt. Ltd.?

We worked with BigStep to rapidly staff-up on a Social Responsibility project for client in the Consumer Products sector.

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

Since this was a Staff Augmentation model, individual resources would be embedded with our team. So, we conducting formal interviews with all resources for all of the vendors that we were considering, and BigStep supplied extremely good resources at competitive prices, who were immediately available.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The project technical stack was Vue.js, Google Maps integration, Node.js, Strapi CMS, and AWS. The team got up-to-speed rapidly on the requirements and architecture, and and worked very will with the team, within the Agile/Scrum methodology.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

We defined the team shape that we required, and requested resources that fulfilled the profiles. The we conducted formal interviews, including coding exercises. Then, we scored the candidates based on consistent metrics.

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

The project was a success in terms of the high-quality, on-time deliverables.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was very smooth and effective.

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

High-quality, mature team members. Very responsive and reasonable account team, who focuses on customer happiness. They handled hiccups in the project very effectively.

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

Not at this time.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company offers a wide array of software application and infrastructure services, both product-based and custom solutions. My roles vary by responsibility and I split my time between product owner and project manager.

For what projects/services did your company hire BigStep Technologies Pvt. Ltd., and what were your goals?

We hired BigStep Technolgies Pvt. Ltd. to assist with application management/support and customized feature development, both web-based and mobile applications, for creating a healtcare specific social network. Our goal was to find a partner that had both management and technical capabilities to support our efforts.

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

We searched online and chose BigStep because of their reputation for high quality work on the application platform we had chosen to build on.

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

The scope of work is ongoing.  We are in active development and still creating our platform to meet the specific needs of the community it will serve. Our BigStep team is committed to making sure we are successful, and they have been excellent at translating our needs from the web to both Android OS and iOS platforms.

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

I've worked with two people from BigStep, the project manager and the lead developer.

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

We are still refining the concept of our platform and BigStep consistently completes feature requests and issues resolutions each week.

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

Our team and BigStep are on an 8.5 hour time difference so good communicacation is crucial.  We use email and a shared Google sheet to manage issues and feature requests.  The BigStep project manager is very attentive and responsive to requests.

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

I think the unique value of BigStep is their extensive knowledge of the development platform and responsiveness to requests.

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

Coordinating a uniform UI and feature set across three platforms can occasionally be challenging, but their team always goes as far as they can to deliver for our project.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the owner of a full digital marketing agency that handles web development projects, SEO services, email marketing, social media management, etc.

For what projects/services did your company hire BigStep Technologies Pvt. Ltd., and what were your goals?

We hired BigStep Technologies Pvt. Ltd to create a social media platform for one of our clients.

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

We received a very good referral from one of our long-term vendors.

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

The website consists of a social media platform for people who like fetishes, and the platform has chat features, an event section, photo and video sections, a classified section, virtual stores to sell related products, etc. The project was split into three phases, with weekly deliverables, and weekly demo meetings.

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

I worked directly with the project manager from BigStep, and during the calls, we also had the members from the development team (mostly 4-5 members).

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

The project is extremely complex due to the myriad of features on the website. BigStep was able to handle it very professionally and we are very satisfied with the outcome.

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

They communicated with us through Skype and Basecamp, and we had weekly meetings and deliverables.

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

They were able to handle a very big and complex scope of work that had many variables and features.

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

I believe it would be optimal if they worked during our working hours, so we could be more helpful during our hours instead of having to wait for the meetings/demomeetings.