BoTree Technologies

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a co-founder and the COO at IMMedia Content, a pioneering content marketing agency based in Singapore. Our team of experienced editors and strategists create content for a wide variety of B2B and B2C clients across multiple industries in APAC and beyond. Our MNC clients include Standard Chartered Bank, UOB, Hilton Group, Trax and KPMG. My responsibilities include growing the capabilities of our business to ensure we build our competitive advantage through the development of innovative and value-adding services, whilst continuously improving the efficiency, revenue growth and profitability of the business.

For what projects/services did your company hire BoTree Technologies?

We needed to solve multiple business challenges that would in turn open up new opportunities, through the creation of a unique client service. Our challenges:

1. Improve the internal workflow processes within our business: we needed software to better manage the communication and workflows between our internal editors, our external content creators (of which there are >1,200 across the globe) and our clients. Emails and spreadsheets could no longer cope with the volume and complexity of the content we created, so we needed a centralised CMS to manage workflows from brief to publish., which also allowed assessment of content performance versus strategy and goals across multiple markets and languages. No off- the-shelf system could do what we needed.
2. Assist our editors with strategy development, ideation and content calendar creation through the provision of unique data-driven insights. The insights we required were about content engagement across content topics, formats and messaging styles/intents was not available. We needed a software solution that would allow us to measure, analyse and track content engagement across our clients, their competitors and their wider content landscapes. This information was not available, and could not be collected manually, so we needed an AI and ML-driven solution to harvest, collate and analyse these huge data sets, and make them useful for our editors to use.
3. We needed a way to make automated, data-driven recommendations and accurate predictions to help our editors create better content, and therefore help our clients grow faster with us versus our competitors.

What were your goals for this project?

To create a scaleable SaaS platform that would drive efficiencies within our business, and create unique and immensely valuable insights and services we could sell (via subscription) to our clients. The solution had to have multiple modules: (i) Workflow (ii) Analytics & Reporting (iii) Research, Prediction & Recommendations. Ruby on Rails (RoR) for the Content Management Workflow and Analytics & Reporting modules.

Python/DJango for the Predictive content elements using AI/ML, AWS hosting. Platform must utilise appropriate plug-in tech such as Sagemaker, Apache; with ability to integrate with other platforms such as HubSpot, Google Analytics, Omniture and others. This project would transform our business from being 'just' a content marketing agency, to becoming a provider of advanced software that delivers unique, data-driven services to our global clients. It would also be a solution that we could White Label and offer as a standalone solution, to therefore widen our addressable market to include marketing agencies, government bodies and larger MNC professional service brands.

How did you select this vendor?

We completed an analysis of vendors we had used in past businesses we had owned, plus a new search using the internet, recommendations and platforms such as LinkedIn. We considered 5 companies and took them to final stage of assessment

We chose BoTree as they had a proven experience in creating software solution, their senior team visited us in Singapore to scope out the project face-to-face and they had an in-house team of diverse and capable, experienced developers that utilised SCRUM and Agile methodology for project delivery. Their proposal was complete and comprehensive, their pricing was sensible and their recommended service levels were good.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

BoTree Technologies built a complete content marketing platform for us that we deployed with multiple clients across APAC and beyond. This included architecture and functionality design, project management of delivery team, QA and testing support with go-live to production server.

First phase was development and deployment of the Workflow and Analytics & Reporting modules: completed within 8 months (launched with Hilton Group in APAC) then second phase (Research, Prediction & Recommendation Module) is still in development (as planned), although several POCs have been successfully completed and P3 will be launched with one of our MNC clients in April 2020.

What was the team composition?

Project team of 3-7+ members, size depending upon SPRINTS required under the AGILE development methodology. We had core and consistent support from a dedicated program manager, QA engineer and senior developer. This flexible approach is one we have continued to use with BoTree as they carry on supporting our platform and its associated expansion and development

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

The platform has transformed our business and its capabilities. Highlights include:

• Winner of Best Use of Content Award 2019 for our work with Trax (supported by our platform)
• Platform supported renewal of retained contracts with our clients, with average increase in TCV of 10-25%
• The platform has been one of the main reasons we have won multiple new client contracts and started new engagements with partner agencies in Singapore, Australia, India, Thailand, Japan and Europe. It is also the main reason we are sponsoring the Content Marketing Institute's ContentTECH Summit in San Diego, over 10-12 August 2020, as we use it to spearhead our expansion into the US market.
• Delivered internal operational efficiency savings of up to 70% in some key tasks such as content calendar creation, weekly and monthly reporting, and content strategy development The results have massively exceeded our expectations!

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We were very impressed by the expertise and flexibility of our team at BoTree. We continue to be impressed as we still work with them to this day! Appropriate tools were used, such as Jira and Hangouts to ensure our team members in Singapore, Australia, UK and India were always connected with BoTree and able to add value in a timely manner.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their incredible flexibility, desire to get things done, problem-solving skills, and can-do attitude impressed us. Complemented by great technical skills, gave us a total A1 service! They even supported us at events in Singapore to help sell-in the platform at launch.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No areas of improvement we can think of.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Dynamic Creative produces services and software for creating ads on Google. We connect e-commerce platforms like Shopify and Magento to Google Ads, Google Merchant Center, and Google Analytics. As the product director, I'm responsible for the technical side of our business including sales, marketing, and our engineering teams. 

What challenge were you trying to address with BoTree Technologies?

Until we worked with BoTree Technologies, we had to task our development team with a custom integration every time we connected a new customer. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

We engaged BoTree Technologies to create an app that could automate the connections we’d been performing manually for Shopify and BigCommerce. Subsequently, we had them develop similar integrations for additional e-commerce platforms such as WooCommerce and Magento. At this stage, we're winding down our engagement. One of their developers is still working on final handover-type tasks. 

What is the team composition? 

We’ve been working with a two-person team. Amit (COO and Founder, BoTree Technologies) came onboard with us first. He developed most of the initial Shopify app. After seeing valuable returns, we asked BoTree Technologies to increase their commitment to two developers. 

How did you come to work with BoTree Technologies?

We posted an RFP on UpWork. Several development companies submitted responses. We initially engaged two contractors and hoped to integrate them both with our team directly. Ultimately, BoTree Technologies proved to be much more experienced. After judging them capable of leading a team independently, we suggested they take full ownership of the project. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together for about a year and three months so far.

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

BoTree Technologies produced high caliber work at both the product and code level. We iterated certain aspects of the UI several times until it matched our corporate standards. Aside from that, we've been quite satisfied with the quality of their work. They were highly committed to promptly resolving any defects we found. 

We're very appreciative of their willingness to extend vertically into technologies and platforms beyond their core skill set. For example, at one point we needed a platform integration that required PHP development. Neither the COO nor the other developer was a PHP expert. Nonetheless, they were willing to learn whatever was necessary to achieve that small part of the overall project. 

How did BoTree Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

As the product owner, I set priorities and scheduled tasks to complete in each sprint. The COO took ownership of the Agile development. He effectively acted as the scrum master for the team of two developers. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I admired BoTree Technologies’ extensive knowledge of Ruby on Rails. Their team includes an impressive range of support. When required, they could call on in-house specialists for help with UX/UI concerns or testing. Recently, they brought in an expert for Windows-based platform development. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

When they came back to me with problems, they often could have shown more initiative by proposing solutions. Some of their questions were about trivial matters they probably could have taken ownership of independently. Perhaps this was due to miscommunication. At the start, we should have set appropriate parameters around who was responsible for specific types of decisions.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Based on my observations, the COO is a very experienced developer. I recommend allowing him to inform the scope and exercise leadership in your project, rather than spelling it out or dictating everything upfront. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the founder of an e-commerce platform called The Fifth Collection. We’re an augmented marketplace where people can buy and sell certain secondhand products. Because we deal in high-value products that are often subject to counterfeiting, we serve as intermediaries, overseeing the transactions, payment, logistics, and fulfillment.

What challenge were you trying to address with BoTree Technologies?

We originally developed the platform ourselves but needed additional trustworthy resources for ongoing site maintenance. However, as our needs expanded, we wanted a team that could take over our web development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, they provided maintenance work and fixed any bugs. However, as our relationship developed beyond upkeep, we’ve outsourced all of our technical and development needs to them. Over the course of the engagement, they built specific customizations, in-app modules, and tests as well as adding features and implementing designs. In certain cases, they also performed information management, helping with the SQL and database queries. Currently, they continue to develop features and customization according to our specs.

What is the team composition?

We primarily work with two full-time developers.

How did you come to work with BoTree Technologies?

They reached out to us first via email. They were looking for insights into customers using a particular platform that we also used. The email caught our attention because it was so targeted, so we talked with them before signing them on.

What is the status of this engagement?

Their work began in 2017 and is ongoing.

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

Based on their software’s performance, accuracy, and reliability, we’ve been happy with their results. In general, there aren’t many bugs nor ongoing performance issues. As a result, our relationship has grown over time, and I think it’ll continue to grow in the future. They’re resourceful, reliable, and responsive.

How did BoTree Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve had a great experience working with them. Whenever we need something done, we can generally rely on them to take care of it in a timely fashion. They even respond outside of office hours. We primarily communicate via phone and use Trello to manage projects.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Beyond their responsiveness, I appreciate their positive attitudes and level of commitment. We also respect their high level of integrity.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing specific to BoTree Technologies. While there are some challenges that arise from working with a long-distance team, it’s not particularly their fault.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

In general, when working with a company long-distance, both sides need to be upfront about expectations and execution.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We have developed a productivity tool used by vendors of various types, including small community banks, credit unions and so forth. Up until now, the main users of our tool have been lenders and construction inspectors. My partner in the company has been a construction inspector for around 15 years and has great experience in the industry. Together, we came up with the process of making an antiquated process move more efficiently. I am a co-founder of the company. My main role now is managing communication with BoTree. 

What challenge were you trying to address with BoTree Technologies?

We had a well-sketched idea before approaching BoTree Technologies, but we needed help visualizing and developing the tool. An idea in someone's head always sounds simple, but actually executing it and making a real-life product can become complex. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

BoTree Technologies created wireframes for our solution, walking us through the initial steps and coming up with the first phase of our idea. We are finishing our third phase of development, so we've accomplished a lot. I worked with a graphic designer on our logo, but BoTree Technologies has been our go-to partner for almost all of the work. The design and layout of our website, as well as the different portals and tools, have all been done by BoTree. We had certain ideas around our look, but the relationship has revolved around us imagining the work and BoTree Technologies executing it. There is quite a bit of functionality within our portal's backend. BoTree Technologies built some external tools, including ones for invoicing customers.

My partner and I are not software developers so, even though we have some technology experience, we've leaned on BoTree Technologies' expertise. There were times when an item was not the team's specialty, but BoTree Technologies has always been great at digging into questions and researching them. If they couldn't do it, BoTree Technologies found a partner who could provide internal consultation. From my perspective, as a customer, BoTree Technologies has been the frontline and the only group to deal with in terms of product development and design.

How did you come to work with BoTree Technologies?

A good friend of mine is a client of BoTree Technologies. They've worked closely together on projects for his marketing company and the relationship went well. During a camping trip, I was talking about how my partner and I have run into a problem over and over again. We had worked with 3 to 4 software developers in the previous year and could not get off the ground. That was partly because of the nature of our idea, but also because we couldn't find the right match. My friend spoke highly of BoTree Technologies, so we set up a call with my partner the next week. We also looked at their previous work and found BoTree Technologies to be a good match. We started a small initial development phase, without putting too much at risk. It went extremely well, so we ramped up their involvement.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with BoTree Technologies a year and a half ago. The project has gone through 3 large development phases, each building on the next. We have an ongoing relationship.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Overall, we've stuck with BoTree Technologies, which is the biggest compliment of all. There is always room for improvement, and our contacts from their team have been open to feedback. There were also things which we needed to learn, given that my partner and I were relatively new to the process. Through changing our processes, we've removed some of the tensions and general churn of the work.

How did BoTree Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

I consider being able to lay out a clear timetable—including the necessary work hours for a specific task, the cost, and so on—as an integral part of project management. My 1 major critique is around BoTree Technologies' project management. We have paid for a dedicated manager, but I've never worked with that person, only with other resources. I found it strange that there wasn't a person in charge of setting tasks and managing the communication in a clear fashion.

What did you find most impressive about BoTree Technologies?

BoTree Technologies is always willing to work with us. When we couldn't pay right away, they were extremely understanding. If I genuinely felt that I was right about an issue, BoTree Technologies was open to accepting my point of view. The reverse is also true. BoTree Technologies has a strong balance of making sure that the customer is always right, but also didn't empower us to the point of that we walked all over them. BoTree Technologies is a fair company, which gives me a great deal of trust in them.

Are there any areas BoTree Technologies could improve?

My main complaint is something that BoTree Technologies is actively working on. When working on a complex development phase with a thousand different things going into it, even though we would draft and try to explain our vision as best we can, changes in the requirements can lead to extra work hours. The scope creep can get out of control when there are other things to consider in our day to day activity. We have already talked about this with BoTree Technologies. They will try to make the process smoother and more accurate in terms of timeline and cost. Any other complaints I've had previously were resolved. If BoTree Technologies can improve on how our work is estimated and how those estimates are updated, I would say that they're as good as it can get.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with BoTree Technologies?

When working with any development firm in India, there will be a cultural and language barrier. This can be a bit frustrating when it comes to small details like error messages and other popups. We wouldn't think that the messages need to be very explicit, but they do. Every single nuance of the site, in terms of how words are being used, needs to be taken into consideration. This is applicable for developers in general and to ones in India specifically. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Magnificent Marketing is a content marketing agency. I am the founder of the company, and I'm also responsible for sales, management, strategy and the overall growth of the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with BoTree Technologies?

We had a raw idea and needed help developing what was in our heads.

What was the scope of their involvement?

BoTree Technologies acted as our development arm in executing our idea. I'm not a technical person, but I do have a project manager who is more versed in the area and can make the calls. 

We utilized the Ruby on Rails technology, and we also plan to employ machine learning. It's a fully mobile application, with no mobile apps associated.

How did you come to work with BoTree Technologies?

BoTree Technologies was referred to me by a gentleman who'd used the company for a few years. I trusted his guidance, especially since I could never know what we may be getting from overseas partners.

How much have you invested with BoTree Technologies?

The cost of BoTree Technologies has been over $100,000 so far, and I expect it to rise in the future.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with BoTree Technologies 14-16 months ago. I have plans to use BoTree Technologies for ongoing development and technical support if the app grows to the level I'm hoping for.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We haven't gathered many results so far. The app is set to launch in beta form at the end of the month. BoTree Technologies has been very communicative and great to work with. They've done what was promised and made me feel like the team was an extension of my company. BoTree Technologies has given me the feeling of having my best interests at heart, and I'm looking forward to finishing the core stage and seeing if what we've built together is received well in the marketplace.

How did BoTree Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

I oversee our work with BoTree Technologies to an extent. Projects of this kind always take longer than anticipated, but BoTree Technologies has followed-up and stayed on-task with everything we needed to accomplish. With so many twists and turns involved, it's hard to say exactly if things went as we hoped or wanted. Changes do happen, and we've had to redo certain elements, through no fault of BoTree Technologies. In general, I think that they're a wonderful company.

What did you find most impressive about BoTree Technologies?

I haven't worked with other vendors of this magnitude, but I have gotten the feeling that BoTree Technologies' principal wants us to succeed.

Are there any areas BoTree Technologies could improve?

The nature of the development business requires us, as the client, to come with the vision and direction. I would have appreciated getting more ideas on what would have happened if we took a certain approach, but that was our role, mainly.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are one of the world's leading providers of influencer marketing strategies and solutions. I am the founder and chief executive officer of the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with BoTree Technologies?

We were developing a first-to-market influencer management and campaign management software.

What was the scope of their involvement?

BoTree Technologies has developed our platform using Ruby on Rails, jQuery, and CoffeeScript. It features user profiles, an integrated marketplace, and social media APIs for posting. The hosting is done through Linux; Amazon Web Services is used for file storage, while PostgreSQL and Redis NoSQL are used for the database. We have integrations with Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google Analytics, YouTube, and so on.

How did you come to work with BoTree Technologies?

BoTree Technologies was recommended to us by one of our investment groups from Finland. They were described as a reasonable and reliable provider of the kind of services we were looking for.

How much have you invested with BoTree Technologies?

The cost of our project with BoTree Technologies has been around $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with BoTree Technologies in 2012. We continue to work together.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We have been a first-to-market provider. Most of our approach didn't follow traditional development processes but was more on the fly. This was unusual, but BoTree Technologies was able to keep up.

How did BoTree Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They stood out from a support standpoint. If I needed to address an issue at 4 PM, midnight, or even later, it didn't matter, BoTree Technologies provided 24-hour support even though we didn't have such a license in place.

BoTree Technologies performed very well on the project management side, providing various platforms for tracking our work.

What did you find most impressive about BoTree Technologies?

The ability to go outside the lines and not follow traditional development processes is impressive. BoTree Technologies has made adjustments on the fly, bringing in additional designers where necessary. I was able to hand them a mockup for what I was thinking, get on a call with our contact, and walk him through what I was trying to accomplish. He translated my ideas to the rest of the team, putting them in motion.

Are there any areas BoTree Technologies could improve?

BoTree Technologies could improve the design, but this was mainly my responsibility, so I can't put it as a fault on their end. Given that we had a non-traditional approach, a good designer on BoTree Technologies' end would have been welcomed.