Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?
Binary Republik is a Microsoft shop, which is their sweet spot. The two biggest metrics are on-time and on-budget delivery. Binary Republik did this, which, especially since so few people in the industry are capable of the same thing, is kudos to them.
How did Binary Republik perform from a project management standpoint?
This was probably Binary Republik's weakest point. A part of this was cultural; one of our advantages is that we've interacted with numerous offshore providers from multiple regions of the world, so it's easier for us to serve as a focal point. They were phenomenal technically, though. One of our company's strengths is that we deliver projects on-schedule and on-budget, while many people in the IT world don't. We're sticklers about this, as a result. Our methodology is more mature, and it would be hard for one of our vendors to get too far off the railroad tracks since we're right there all the time.
Typically, all of our projects with Binary Republik have been waterfall, but that doesn't mean that they can't deploy an Agile approach.
The communication is good, but even the best communicators in the world will miscommunicate. No one is perfect in this respect, but Binary Republik is good.
What distinguishes Binary Republik from other providers?
On-time and on-budget delivery is my minimum expectation. Sadly, this is not everyone else's minimum expectation. It's easy to look smart when others aren't delivering to the same standard. I can't speak to how the rest of Binary Republik's engagements have gone, but, every time we've requested it, they delivered. This is why we call Binary Republik whenever we have a SharePoint requirement.
Is there anything Binary Republik could have improved or done differently?
There is always some Monday-morning quarterbacking, and one of the challenges in our business is information. I've yet to see perfect information in my career, and I doubt that this will change. We need enough data-points to know what we can typically expect to happen, and react appropriately to variables. Binary Republik certainly has the ability to do this, and, especially within a technical field, can deliver on requirements which evolve, change or are not correctly captured in the first place. Many technical people will become flustered in that environment, whenever there is any ambiguity.
Do you have any recommendations for others considering working with Binary Republik?
People engaging with them need to level-set expectations since the team is on the other side of the world. If this is a client's first foray into an offshore partnership, they will probably experience some frustrations, not so much because of Binary Republik's team, but because the approach itself is different.
Although Binary Republik only provides SharePoint services, they excel at what they do. They managed the time difference with grace and communicated clearly about their progress.