Brainvire

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a manager at a diamond wholesale company. I’m in charge of e-marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainvire?

We have a global e-marketing website that displays our diamonds, and we needed to update and improve it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brainvire revamped our existing website, including frontend and backend. They also identified and fixed bugs and other technical issues.

What is the team composition?

They provided 15–20 people. They worked in small teams, like UX and data analysis.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from February–December 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did Brainvire perform from a project management standpoint?

They used Jira to keep records and track progress.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team is efficient and solved problems as quickly as possible. They’re trained in the new technology we implemented on the site, which was a hard skill to find.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My business is a mobile healthcare solution and I am the project manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainvire?

We were looking for a team to develop an Android application with complex capture technologies. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brianvire works with our company to develop a billing charge capture solution for physicians on Android. They engineered an Optic Character Recognition (OCR) software into the application and encrypted the data to ensure transactions are in accordance with Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) standards. They support and advise our project with coordination between iOS, Android and capture technology experts so that it runs smoothly. They are continuing to add features and improvements.

What is the team composition?

They provided us with a team lead, but we scaled their development team differently depending on our needs. We were also provided testers for our application.  

How did you come to work with Brainvire?

I was searching online for a development company in Mumbai and found Brainvire.

How much have you invested with them?

I have invested around $100,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

I’ve worked with them for two to three years and the engagement it ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The niche market of physicians who use our application have provided positive feedback and the delivered product is highly competitive against leading products.

How did Brainvire perform from a project management standpoint?

The project planning was mostly done on my end, but we use Jira to keep each other updated on deadlines. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were very adaptable to my needs and provided me with another team when the initial one was not compatible with me. They provided me with additional personnel and technologies without increasing my budget.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there was nothing more I expected from them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would tell them to plan out your expectations as it will make the process smoother.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of IT for Healthy Planet Canada, a health food stores and e-commerce platform on Magento. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainvire Infotech Inc?

We needed help with Magento-based web development and PHP technologies.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided a prototype of the user experience we wanted, and Brainvire revamped our whole Magento website with the new structure. They used PHP for programming, did extension adding, and fixed different issues we had on our site. They currently do SEO and handle our Google PPC campaigns.

What is the team composition?

They have a designer, PHP developer, and project manager. We mainly work with the project manager.

How did you come to work with Brainvire Infotech Inc?

We met them in Las Vegas at a Magento conference three years ago. Their CEO convinced me that they could deliver, so I gave them a chance.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $50,000-$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2016, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With the launch of the new theme on our website, it’s more user friendly. The other tools they added helped increase our conversions. We’re so happy with their service that we plan to give them more work in the near future.

How did Brainvire Infotech Inc perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is good. They use Excel, and we get weekly reports on what they’re working on.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their price is great, and they’re extremely flexible. They’re very knowledgeable; if we have issues, Brainvire resolves them by the next day. When we’re sleeping, they’re working.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. We’re happy with their service.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be detailed about what you want. Write down the whole scope and get a quote based on that.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Careington is a healthcare company that primarily sells discount dental products. We also act as third-party admins for health insurance clients. I’m the director of IT applications and I oversee all application development. My team creates all the tools that the company uses for day-to-day operations and for the clients’ websites. We maintain and host pre- and post-sale websites on behalf of our clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainvire Infotech?

We needed help with the mobile side of things as we started to grow. We’re trying to adapt our latest trends in order to remain competitive in the market. We’ve started posting our presale and post-sale content on mobile devices as part of this strategy.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brainvire is building our mobile apps. The first one was a telemedicine platform built on behalf of a client. These kinds of solutions rely heavily on the mobile devices’ cameras and microphones to provide interface between doctor and patient. The app was custom-built for Android and iOS and incorporates the functionality documentation we provided.

We outlined what kind of information the patient needed to supply before they interface with a provider and how to locate a caretaker. There’s a scheduling tool and a list for patients to view the next available provider. Patients are entered into a queue and assigned to physicians.

Our on-site team worked alongside Brainvire’s to design the features. They coded it as a mobile platform and delivered the test-flight build which we could install on on-site mobile devices. Our internal team handled all testing.

Our next project was our company’s venture into its own telemedicine product. Brainvire used business knowledge they gained from building a similar product for our client to help us build our own platform.  

They’re currently working on creating a mobile app for our core Careington business which focuses on discount dental products. The app will allow users to search for discounts through our network of providers. Once they become members, they can go to the post-sale side of things and schedule appointments, search for nearby providers, look at the discounts available for each one, and get a discount card within the app.

We’re in sprint three of the development phase for this project. The apps will be available for Android and iOS.

What is the team composition?

They assigned a project manager on their end who handles day-to-day activities. He also acts as delivery manager to make sure that he understands our timelines, what needs to be done, and where we are in the project. He’s assigned resources when we’ve needed to ramp the project up or down.

Brainvire has assigned one or more developers as well. There are typically one or two developers for Android and iOS. Most of the platforms we’ve built with them haven’t been native, so the developers have basically worked on both concurrently.

Brainvire’s CEO is our main contact. He acts as the liaison between us and their team in the form of an account manager. He visits our company every 3–12 months in order to understand our expectations, future plans, and ways in which we wish to grow as a company in order to provide the right resources.

How did you come to work with Brainvire Infotech?

They were working with the company on a consulting basis before I joined. We knew that they had expertise with mobile apps, so we asked them for a proof of concept. Brainvire did a good job with it, so we went forward with the mobile app development project.

How much have you invested with them?

Our spend has varied. The first project was client-driven in terms of requirements and had a total development cost of $50,000. The Careington telemedicine app cost between $10,000–$15,000. We estimate that the dental products app will cost between $25,000–$30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Brainvire was already working for the company when I joined in July 2015. They continued supporting the first app until recently when we requested new changes and features for it. The client has decided to no longer pursue development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They are proactive when we give them a project. From a metrics standpoint, their performance is very good and on par with our expectations.

Most of the apps they’ve built for us are new, so we haven’t gained much traction on them. We definitely see a lot of value in them and expect to have growth in the future. We will require their support to move forward when volume grows. Right now, the volume is minimal.

Since most of the tools we’ve developed with them are marketing-related, we appreciate having the ability to jump into the market with low cost, see how the product grows, and invest more accordingly. Brainvire is perfect for this kind of initiative—we don’t have to spent too much on the product and can jump into the market fast.

How did Brainvire Infotech perform from a project management standpoint?

We have our own project management team for handling the work. We look at all the project plans, put them into sprints, and a take daily status from Brainvire’s team.

Even though they have a project manager assigned to each of our efforts, their interaction with the high-level project is minimal. We drive the work and interact with their developers directly. Their project manager is also in the loop in case resources need to be ramped up or down. They move people in order to provide us with the appropriate resources at the right time.

They started using our tools when we started the Careington version of the mobile app. We’ve integrated into the same platform, Team Foundation Server. Brainvire has been happy to work with our platform.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their understanding of our requirements is very good. When we document something and give it to Brainvire, they will go through the due diligence around what our expectations are and come back with any questions before proceeding with development. The turnaround is very good. It’s been helpful for us to have a partner with the right mindset and resources.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We would like to have support during U.S. hours because it would give us more interaction time with them. Communication has been challenging at times since we’re in different geographical locations. We get less time to interact with them. We haven’t heard any proposals from them on this issue.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Brainvire will definitely be a great partner as long as you can work with teams in different geographical areas. They understand client expectations, get any necessary clarifications, and deliver based on our timelines.

Brainvire is a professional team. Anyone who wants to have a development partner who can get things done quickly and understand expectations should contact them. The biggest pain point of having an offshore team is trying to deliver the message to them, but we haven’t had that problem with Brainvire. Our expectations are taken in a good way, the communication is good, and they deliver exactly what we ask for.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of NY Tent Sale. We’re a shoe retailer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainvire Infotech Inc?

Upon opening our retail store, we needed to develop an associated e-commerce website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brainvire handled the entire e-commerce aspect of our business. Working with us from concept to launch, they developed the website using Magento and helped integrate our vast inventory. They built a custom theme and checkout options that fit our industry and allow easy user navigation.

They’re currently running our digital marketing initiatives using Google AdWords, Google Shopping campaigns, and Bing Shopping campaigns. Our digital marketing team is working with them to implement all that.

What is the team composition?

We work primarily with one project manager, but the CEO helps us as well. During development, about four full-time team members worked on the site.

How did you come to work with Brainvire Infotech Inc?

We were looking for Magento-certified developers and found them online. We considered a couple of other companies, but Brainvire offered better pricing and communication.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Initial web development began in September 2017 and took about two months to complete. They continually assist with online marketing, so our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They worked within an expedited timeline and provided a high-quality product to handle our more-than-20,000-style inventory.

How did Brainvire Infotech Inc perform from a project management standpoint?

They completed tasks on time, so we didn’t have to worry about much. We communicate mostly via email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re talented Magento developers and created custom site features with ease. We never had to worry about needing something that couldn’t be done. They delivered everything we asked.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. So far, our engagement’s been good.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Accurately define the project’s scope and Brainvire will deliver. They’re good at what they do.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of a digital advertising platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainvire.

I was looking for help in building a portal with integration into WordPress or a similar platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created a publishing platform which we're currently utilizing for 2 different verticals. The first is for small businesses and entrepreneurs, and we’ve got a joint venture with Entrepreneur Media.

The other is a similar platform that was specifically created for the cannabis sector as a publishing platform which consumers can engage with, learn more about products and services, while at the same time allowing itself to be a platform for advertisers to come aboard and subscribe to certain services that we provide.

The platform is a desktop website, but they’ve also created a native app for Android and iOS for one of the projects. The integration between the mobile app and the website is seamless, given the database interacts with both simultaneously.

What is the team dynamic?

I view one of their team leaders as my CTO, and he handles most of the projects from there. We usually work with 1-2 essential individuals, and they manage the rest of the team on a specific basis. At our highest capacity, we were working with 3-5 people at a given time; however, we’re more in maintenance mode right now and working with 1-2 on a day-to-day basis.

How did you come to work with Brainvire?

I have a history with one of the principals, and have been working with the team intermittently for about 15 years. Given the prior history, the selection process was a little easier for me.

Initially when I first hired them, I was exploring the opportunity of building out a team on the west coast with the trusted resources I had worked with in the past. I reached out to them, and brought out a few of their developers to the United States. I worked closely with them on the design and such of the project, and then once we reached a particular point it’s been easy for my team to coordinate with their team back in India. Based on my needs, I can bring out additional resources. Otherwise, our teams work closely together.

How much have you invested with them?

Between $300,000–400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in May 2015, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Client and consumer feedback has been very favorable, and the ability to create a second joint venture on top of the platform they developed, is a testament to their work. Given the fact we’re currently out creating awareness around the platform, I couldn’t attribute any positive or negative results to them. We’re now just starting to enter marketing mode.

We’re utilizing the platform on two different businesses, and right now we’re at a point where we’re waiting on both aspects of sales and other partnerships. The intent is to keep the core team in place while in the future, while we roll out certain enhancements that we know will be needed. We view them as a part of our extended team.

How did Brainvire perform from a project management standpoint?

They've done a very good job, but I credit that to us a little as well as we both define our projects well and work well together. There’s been a lot of thought put into things up-front before we began, and it’s been great so far.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Overall, I would say the ongoing communication and ease of communication they have with both me and my team. We typically have morning conference calls, and my team is able to perform those whether I’m on them or not. That’s been set in stone, and it’s nice because there’s no lack of getting things accomplished. We also typically receive a daily list on items that were completed and what’s pending; so again, even though we’re operating in different time zones we feel like an integrated unit working together.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have any specific areas where they can improve. As I mentioned, the nice thing about having a representative out here every 4-6 weeks has been great because of the face-to-face interaction. It’s all worked out very well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would recommend outlining their project ahead of time, and really considering the architecture you’re looking to complete. Outside of that, I like the approach of bringing a couple people out here during the development phase and integrating them with your team because they feel like a part of it when they return. That might not be a necessity, but it was helpful for us.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Discipline Trader, and I’m looking to launch a product for retail traders in India. We aim to provide a solution-based approach for trading-related functionalities. We are creating tools and techniques to help companies make money in the market.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainvire Infotech Inc?

I was looking for a technology provider. I had bad experiences with some vendors in the past, so the main thing I wanted was someone who had experience in the IT-finance domain to help build the portal.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The portal is a work in progress. We have a very big brokerage house in India which has 200,000 active retail traders in the stock market. They’ve recently opened their APIs to allow technology vendors to develop their applications. This allows developers to build applications the way they want, and then actually place the order in the stock market. I learned from being involved with trading for several years that there wasn’t a proper workflow solution.

I want to build a solution that allows users to scan, place, and track stock orders. The most important thing in the full gamut is the disciplined approach. Basically, I want to help retail traders become more disciplined with their trading approach. We discussed the project and my expectations for 1–2 weeks in detail, created the first draft, made certain amendments, and then they started working on the prototype. It was approved, so we started creating the database and order routing mechanism. I also gave them full responsibility for creating the logo.

What is the team dynamic?

Chirag [Sr. Business Analyst, Brainvire] was my main point of contact who managed everything internally for Brainvire. I also had designers, database resources, and a UI team who handled user interface changes, animations, etc., on the frontend.

How did you come to work with Brainvire Infotech Inc?

I searched for IT and finance-related companies both in Mumbai and Ahmadabad, and ending up finding 2–3 vendors, including Brainvire. I visited their office to see their set up and meet their CEO, as well as learn about his vision and method of employee management. That meeting gave me the confidence to pursue them as my technology vendor. They were knowledgeable about the products, and also well established as a large firm.

How much have you invested with them?

I've spent $38,000. My second payment will be next year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since April 2017, and they’re currently halfway finished. I’ve increased their responsibilities, and we’re now working on the second phase.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I was looking for a complete solution, but I needed to be able to pay for the project in 2 parts. The full project will be completed in April–May 2018, and that’s when I’ll make the second payment. They were quite flexible in working with me on that.

We haven’t onboarded any clients, but plan to do so in January. Some of my close friends are going to do beta testing.

How did Brainvire Infotech Inc perform from a project management standpoint?

As someone who doesn’t have a technology background, I’ve been pleasantly surprised that they give weekly status reports to show me how much effort they’re putting in. They inform me of each task’s completion level, and if there are any problems or questions, they’re not hesitant to contact us before our weekly meeting. They always call me so we can figure out the best way to solve a problem.

I asked them to keep our project management tools simple, so we use Excel and email for weekly updates. They’ve been consistent with these tools, and it’s worked well so far for us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They communicate and deliver everything very quickly, all while remaining well-connected internally.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could ask more questions. They go ahead and build something after I give them requirements instead of inquiring about anything or building a prototype. Sometimes, there were glitches that put the project behind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I found them to be very professional. I suggest speaking to Chintan [CEO, Brainvire] about his vision and project management in order to better communicate with their team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a conglomerate based in the UAE [United Arab Emirates], with multiple divisions and a diversified business portfolio consisting of retail, trading, manufacturing projects, and real estate. We have over 30 legal entities across countries like the UAE, Oman, Qatar, and Saudi Arabia. Our group was founded in 1960, and we currently have 3,500 employees.

We use SAP ERP [enterprise resource management] as our main application, as well as solutions such as SharePoint, OpenText, etc. I’m the group IT manager of the company, and I oversee the infrastructure with a team of 30 people working on SAP application development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainvire?

We’d recently worked on a project implementing a CRM [customer relationship management] solution called SuiteCRM. Since it was an open-source product that we didn’t have any in-house experts for, we brought Brainvire on board to implement the solution for our salespeople. This allowed them to manage field work, including leads, opportunities, etc.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Brainvire started by evaluating the product. They implemented the solution and continued to support us on future maintenance work.

We’d gone through a requirements-gathering session to look at what modules needed to be implemented on SuiteCRM, including contacts, accounts, meetings, calls, etc. We implemented the process for our organization in terms of workflows and authorizations as part of the project scope.

For our second project, we replicated the German version of an e-commerce platform for a brand we were working with in the UAE region. Since we were expecting the template to come from Germany, we didn’t spend a lot of money on the design. The implementation was mainly for setting up the Magento infrastructure and integrating it with our SAP ERP system.

What is the team dynamic?

There were 4–5 people involved on their side. We initially worked with a business analyst for the requirements-gathering session and finalizing the blueprint. Once we finished that, the development and infrastructure teams got involved for the required customizations and set up, respectively. I handled the project closely.

How did you come to work with Brainvire?

We’d done some work with one of Brainvire’s sister companies that had handled many SAP solutions like Single Sign-On, a BW [business warehouse] migration, and others. We came to know Brainvire in May or June 2017, and they ended up helping us plan for and evaluate the CRM product, as well as inform us about its advantages and disadvantages. I spent some time learning about their strengths, and then engaged with them on the project.

How much have you invested with them?

The CRM part of the project cost $25,000, and the e-commerce project was $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them on the first project in August 2017, and finished in October 2017. They’re currently helping us implement a Magento e-commerce solution.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve done a good job of implementing the CRM, and 3 of our entities are currently using it, but we plan to add more. The application communicates across different verticals within our organizations.

How did Brainvire perform from a project management standpoint?

This was our first project with them, so it took some time to get to know and understand each other. After that, the project went smoothly, and we had no major issues. Since they had experience with and knew our system applications, the team was able to suggest the right concepts and tell us exactly what we should do. They executed the work nicely, and the project management was smooth.

We used Agile methodology, and planned sprints for releases every other week. This included functionality testing and getting the product ready to go live. We did go live all at once, but the development part progressed through sprints.

We follow a weekly reporting format for any project, and we use this to manage the entire scope. This includes what work has been done during any specific week, what needs to be done the following week, and what the delays or major risks are according to the initial schedule.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a good team with adequate knowledge in web-based, open-source technology. They are friendly and flexible in all regards, and they have a good understanding of the application work in which they talk about. This enables them to deliver solutions according to customer requirements. They are very good in terms of quality.

Are there any areas they could improve?

This was a completely new project for us, so whatever we’ve learned, it came from Brainvire. Nothing comes to mind as a suggestion for them to improve upon. I hope we can maintain the same trend with our new project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

La Cuisine Appliances sells appliances, small electric kitchenware, and high-end cookware. It’s pretty much everything you need for your kitchen. I am the head of e-commerce.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainvire?

I developed a customized platform using a previous vendor. That vendor took two years trying to develop my website and nothing was working. I decided to switch to Magento 2.0 and I needed the platform to be redeveloped. I needed it launched in the beginning of November 2017.

How did you come to work with Brainvire?

I went through an interview process at IRCE [Internet Retailer Conference & Exhibition] with different suppliers including Brainvire. I’ve been in the internet business for 14-15 years. This is my 6th major development project. Being in this business for so long, I know the key questions that need to be asked. After months of discussions, I saw the work that Brainvire had done. They provided the right answers to my questions. My project was time sensitive. I felt they were prepared to handle my project and in a timely manner. I felt comfortable with Brainvire.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

There are a lot of logistical challenges in the appliance industry. There are so many things that need to be developed. For instance, we cannot sell certain goods in certain areas. I sell some of the appliances by zip code. I have hybrid shipping arranged because I ship both small things and I also ship LTL [less than a truckload].

I’m an authorized dealer. I work only with high-end brands. Some high-end brands require you to sell only to a certain region. I also have pricing restrictions. On some items, I can’t show prices. You have to have special modes to handle that. I have an SAP connection integrated with Magento for that. Then I have a timeframe working closely with Google as an agency, and I have a deadline until launch. Payment gateways are another issue using SWIFT. 

The biggest challenges are shipping, pricing, and having two worlds in one - selling appliances and utensils on the same site and trying to display them correctly. Brainvire redeveloped my platform on Magento 2.0. Their Magento 2.0 knowledge is significant. They know the market, the apps, and everything I needed to know. In the past, developing the shipping model would have taken me three months. With Brainvire, it takes them 4-5 days to find the right app and extension. Another example of Brainvire's speed is when I needed an Instagram feed. An Instagram feed with my previous developer would require a month of development. With Brainvire, it was three days with the right extension.

Their knowledge of the Magento Marketplace is extensive. They did a remarkable job by launching on my timeframe. I worked with a different company for almost two years trying to develop the site better. Brainvire replaced them and was able to do it in almost 3 months, which is remarkable for the amount of work. I’m planning to give them my maintenance work. With what they’ve shown, I feel comfortable giving them more of the work that I was planning on giving to a different agency.

What is the team dynamic?

I work simultaneously with five people. This is something they do very well. Each one is very task oriented with whatever they handle. Chintan [Shah, CEO] sets up everything for you and the pricing. He visits me almost every month. They assign a project leader, too who has basic knowledge of what's going on. Immediately I was assigned a head developer, product content person, and a marketing person since they're also doing some marketing strategy and SEO work for me. Then there is another product optimization team that works on product attributes and optimization of each product. I speak to the developer, product content person, and the marketing person on a daily basis. I speak to the account executive the least.

How much have you invested with them?

I've spent $14,000. They’re cost-effective. For the quality of the work, they’re not the cheapest ones, but they’re not too expensive either.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2017 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Internally, I receive a lot of feedback. We are a company of 100+ employees. Everyone says the website is clean and impressive. It has all the needed features. I see a huge difference compared to previous work - I see a clean project. They’re fast. My issues are solved immediately. I don’t have to wait 2-3 days for them to see a help request and approve it.

How did Brainvire perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re super responsible in replying to me. They contact us first thing in the morning and late at night. They do everything by Skype. They have the tasks we request done by the time we wake up and start our day in the morning.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They assign the right person for the right task.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have worked with people from their area before. Sometimes you have to explain things three or four times. I don’t know if it’s because of the culture or language barrier. That part can be frustrating.

What advice would you give to a potential client of Brainvire?

The person on your own team who handles your project with Brainvire must be super clear in how to handle timing. If you’re sending content at night, in the morning you’ll have it done. Then you’ll have the opportunity to go through everything and make any corrections to what they did. You go home and send your email. When you wake up, what you sent is done. It’s an effective pattern. Brainvire is a reliable partner. Chintan [Shah] really cares that we are happy with the results. For instance, we're working on something that is taking longer than we initially thought. He says he’s not going to bill us for it. It’s a kind gesture and it’s not delaying my launch.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.
Firestar Diamond International is a parent company that does diamond manufacturing, distribution, trading, as well as retail. The retail brand is Nirav Modi which is into luxury diamond jewelry retail.

I lead the technology for the retail division of the company. My title would be Lead Retail Systems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Brainvire?

Brainvire has been working with us for 4-5 years on multiple projects. The chief one that I worked with them on is the product catalog application. Our catalog application is industry leading in terms of the features it provides. The business objective was to get rid of all the paper and all the reprinting of product prices, descriptions and put it all on an iPad application so it’s easily accessible and searchable for the sales teams. We’ve been using the iPad app for the past 3 years now. We wanted to bring all the details of the diamond such as the product description and diamond rate onto the iPad.

How did you come to work with Brainvire?

We found Brainvire quite long ago. We were doing iPad app evaluations, and we wanted to evaluate a few vendors. We checked out a couple vendors by searching them online through business contacts we had. We spoke to them and got their proposals. We have a strong way of evaluating vendors. We evaluate them on the team size, the current brand that they have, the capabilities and certifications, etc. Brainvire came out close to the top on most of the criteria. After interacting with the team, I was happy with their approach which is why we went with them. I think it was a good decision.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with a requirements gathering session with them in our office. They did mystery shopping of our stores to understand what the iPad app would look like and what it would do. After that, we sat down to discuss the functionality and then they circulated a scope of work to us. The initial project we did with them to build the iPad app was around 3-4 months, but over the past 4 years, we’ve continuously built new functionalities and optimizations to the app.

One core functionality of the app is incremental sync. The iPad app does not download everything every time. It’s an offline app also but its connected to the server to get incremental data that has been added in the past for any iPad. From the server, you can manage the iPad and the iPads are tracked in terms of what is being downloaded. It allows the iPad to get only incremental data saving me a lot of cost. When I’m looking at the huge amount data on the product, including images, certificates, press, etc. we needed to be incremental in our approach.

Apart from the app which is the frontend, we are able to display products, we’re able to display the details of the products. We’re able to search products and filter them. One of the key functionalities we’ve developed over the last year and a half is an integration between the iPad app and our CRM solution, Salesforce. The integration allows us to capture profiles or customer profiles directly on the iPad app and sync them to Salesforce, including the opportunities and interactions needed for the CRM system. It also allows me to search customers when they’re at the store so I don’t have to create new customer records and find the old ones later. Those are the 3 main functionalities but it has a lot more.

Brainvire has a very flexible working style. We finalized the look of the design and Brainvire did the wireframes for us using our designs. We give them the basic theme that the app would follow and they take the cue and make the app for us.

After 3 or 4 iterations, we finalized it. Since the app has done so well, I also looked at other projects in Firestar apart from the retail side in which we could use Brainvire's help. We’re making clones of this app and customizing it for different businesses because the app has worked well for us. Those are the new projects that we are going to do with Brainvire. Apart from that, I think Brainvire is doing a few other projects like managing the Firestar website and other things like that, but iPad app and CRM integration has been our chief engagement with them.

What is the team dynamic?

They have a very capable team working on my app. There is one developer, his name is Mirek, who’s always working on our app. I specifically ask him to be on any of the functionality or development discussions along with the team lead and his boss. They make sure that they cross examine me a lot when we give them requirements so we can find the proper solution.

That’s good feedback that we have for them because whenever we tell them something, they go back, they work it out, and they come back and tell us if this is possible this way or suggest something different. I don’t find that with most of the vendors that I work with.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $110,000 on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in October 2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s an app for internal use only. This is only for my sales staff, and we don’t allow other people to access it. We have control of the app. We can disable the download if it were leaked.

We conduct quarterly surveys with them about how the app is working, or how they’re liking the new functionalities. We’ve received positive feedback. The users are the sales teams across the globe including the U.S., Hong Kong, London, India, and China. We have the app in Chinese. It’s going to be in Las Vegas and soon in Singapore also.

How did Brainvire perform from a project management standpoint?

I really liked the waterfall methodology that we use with them. This was requested by me and my team, but they follow it well. We receive weekly project updates and whatever is pending, they highlight the risks properly. It’s a good thing which is why we’ve also given them another project in .NET on iPad. That project deals with diamond bagging, and we’re doing the same methodology there also.

Any requirements for documents are handled over email. Requirement gathering, user reviews are in person if necessary but mostly we talk over Skype with screen shares. We have a project manager depending on the scale of the functionality. If it’s a small functionality, we just talk to the team lead and get it done. If it’s a new functionality altogether, then we have a project manager come in to give us timelines. I ensure they engage analysts to translate the requirements correctly.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most important thing that I find is reliability. If they’re able to give me a functionality, my UAT [user acceptance testing] is short with Brainvire compared to the others. Almost 99% of them [users] are working. There’s just one person that I need to fill the gap which is not the case with the other partner that I’m working with. I have to conduct exhaustive UATs with feedback rounds and 2 or 3 iterations. Here if I am nearing the end of the project, I know I’m actually going to end it at the UAT without having 2 or 3 rounds of iterations which is a good thing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think they could improve a bit on using the latest methodologies in terms of project management. They are doing what we follow at our organization. They can come back and tell us that they can use Agile or Scrum with me depending on the kind of project. I think this is something that they should actively do rather than the client telling them.  

Do you have any advice for potential clients?

At the start of the project, make sure that you get the requirements right. They are flexible, but get the requirements right and make sure that you tell them to use the right methodology or project management style. In the initial meetings let them know that you need weekly project updates. I’m not sure if they don’t do it if I don’t tell them, but this is something that I always do.