Chetu, Inc.

Please describe your company and your position there.

CTO of a Data Management company providing software tools to commercial and government agencies. I have been working in software engineering for over 30 years, have 3 engineering degrees and sit on an ISO Data management working group.

For what projects/services did your company hire Chetu, Inc., and what were your goals?

We hired Chetu to :

1. clear a backlog of test which were being moved from manual test to automated tests
2. Move some cloud-based microservices from AWS to Azure

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

We found them using referral sites like this one, initially talking to 3 candidates and select Chetu on the basis of their claims to have considerable experience with automated testing in Java and experience in Azure devops

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

• Task 1: At the start of the engagement, Chetu engineers reviewed MDW's automated test suite and agreed they could convert 180 manual tests into automated tests. Chetu engineers agreed that about 20-30 per month could be completed. At the end of the first 2-week sprint, 7 tests were coded incorrectly and were referred back to Chetu engineers for correction. Despite daily reminders these tests were not corrected. At the end of the engagement no single test had been successfully coded, despite 5 days of our engineers coaching and assistance. 

• Task 2: 100 Hours of Chetu DevOps engineers' time was contracted. An initial, simple task was set to get one microservice running on Azure, so that the Chetu DevOps engineer could get familiar with the codebase. This simple task was never completed. Furthermore, the Chetu DevOps engineer did not follow instructions. He was asked not to commit to the the "main" and "develop" code branches. He did exactly that - making over 10 commits to these branches - and by so doing demonstrating his lack of skill and experience, and causing a lot of extra work for our staff.

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

There were:

• 1 main developer assigned, plus one in reserve
• a manager for the software development
• a manager for the devops works
• a devops engineer for the devops work

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

There were no measurable outcomes, no working code was delivered despite many hours of trying to help Chetu engineers at least achieve a minimal result. The net outcome was a waste of our time and effort.

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

The project management style is completely disjointed, it seems impressive at first, but they are unable to cope with simple issues, and seem set on applying there own poor coding standards, having previously agreed to ours.  The result is that we have not accepted one line of code from them.

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

They have the audacity to say they can provide competent programmers when they can't.

They don't even try to address concerns raised, no attempt was made to deliver anything that worked. in my experience of sub-contractors this is unique.

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

They could have engaged compentent engineers, listened to the instructions, done some work, and responded to advice.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the president of a law firm. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Chetu, Inc.?

We hired Chetu, Inc. to automate our client processes. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Chetu, Inc. is automating our processes by developing custom software with an ASP.NET framework. Through this software, we want to gain more client insights. 

What is the team composition?

We've worked with four teammates from Chetu, Inc., including back- and frontend developers and a project manager. 

How did you come to work with Chetu, Inc.?

We contacted and interviewed 4–5 different vendors we found through a Google search, but hired Chetu, Inc. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested $30,000 with Chetu, Inc.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with Chetu, Inc. began in January 2022, and it's ongoing.

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

We're consistently hitting our development milestones on time. While the software is still under development, we've been able to test it. 

How did Chetu, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

Chetu, Inc. communicates well, stays within our budget, and delivers on time. We use a tool in Microsoft Azure to track the project's progress. Typically, we communicate with Chetu, Inc. through phone calls and emails. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Chetu, Inc. has an excellent .NET development team. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

We were hoping to get more strategic advice about our UX/UI, but they're more reactive than proactive. My team has ended up dictating the UX/UI processes to Chetu, Inc.'s team. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I'd advise future customers to thoroughly plan and design the project before a partnership with Chetu, Inc. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an electrical engineer, and my company develops methane detection sensors.

What challenge were you trying to address with Chetu, Inc.?

We needed help in app development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Chetu was supposed to migrate our Windows app to Android. The app already had the necessary functionalities, setup, and source code. 

Chetu’s developers had to work with some hardware, but they didn’t have it. Even though they had most of the things they needed, they still wouldn’t work. They kept on coming up with excuses that weren’t valid. 

What is the team composition?

I worked with 4–5 resources, including a project manager and some developers. 

How did you come to work with Chetu, Inc.?

They were passed on to me by our company. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership lasted from November 2020–November 2021.

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

Our partnership with Chetu delayed our original schedule. We hired them to reduce the work we had to do internally. However, that didn’t happen, and our work only got doubled. 

How did Chetu, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

Chetu managed the project poorly. Whenever we changed the scope, they tried to accommodate us, but we didn’t see any progress.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Chetu brought in a developer that added a feature that worked 90% of the time. However, whenever I asked detailed questions, they would get frustrated and not provide an actual answer. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Everything about Chetu needed improvement. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t work with anybody outside a few hours of driving distance from your office. If the project manager starts making excuses, stop the relationship sooner rather than later.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of a data analytics and blockchain consulting firm based in Dallas, Texas.

What challenge were you trying to address with Chetu, Inc.?

Our end client approached us with a data and analytics project touching on a blockchain overlap that required Python web development with a React frontend. 

Our in-house Python resources are very specific to data science, so we reached out to Chetu, Inc. to inquire about white-labeling some of their developers to augment our team. Our goal was to complete the end client’s project under one unified front from our consultancy without requiring the end client to approach multiple vendors or maintain multiple project streams.

What was the scope of their involvement?

This project’s technology is built on the Ethereum blockchain. We’re using Python and the Flask library to create an API backend, and we’re developing the frontend with React. We’ve provided Chetu, Inc. with a white paper from the client that explains the ultimate goal of the project.

They’ve developed a beta of our end client’s NFT marketplace from scratch. We will also require some ongoing maintenance from Chetu, Inc., and we’re already discussing extending the team for phase two of our end client’s project.

What is the team composition?

We’ve had seven individuals engaged in this project, including a technical lead, a project manager, a QA engineer, and Python developers. We’re now onboarding the eighth teammate, a senior React developer.

How did you come to work with Chetu, Inc.?

We reached out to our network about the services that we were looking for and specified that we needed to white-label them for our end client. One of my former coworkers referred me to Chetu, Inc., so I reached out to them via their website and received a response within two hours of submitting my request for contact.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $90,000 with Chetu, Inc.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began this ongoing partnership in November 2021.

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

We released the beta version of our client’s NFT marketplace on Ethereum in time for their launch party on February 11, 2022. We had originally said that we would be releasing in March, so we’ve moved that up by a full month.

One developer on the project has done a fantastic job of stepping up and leading all three workstreams that comprise the project. That developer has exceeded expectations. The other developers have met or fallen just short of expectations. Overall, I’m 70%–75% satisfied. 

How did Chetu, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

We expected to complete phase one of this project in March, but our end client has had to extend that timeline into April and extend their budget accordingly. We communicate with Chetu, Inc. at least once a week via a weekly Zoom meeting.

Communication with the core team mostly takes place through email. We’ve encouraged them to use Slack, but their tech lead is the one who uses Slack the most, while the others are most responsive via email. We use Jira to manage tasks and bugs in the current releases.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Whenever we’ve identified a shortcoming or an inability to meet a timeline, Chetu, Inc. is able to quickly course-correct and put in the extra hours needed to better meet our timelines.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Chetu, Inc. could be better about managing expectations and communicating upfront about timelines. We’ve run into problems with projected due dates. Instead of hearing from them up front that those due dates were unrealistic — which would’ve been more manageable — we’ve found out on or after the due date that they need more time. It’s been difficult to manage this failure to meet the expectations that we’ve set with our end client.

Another issue is that they advertise a certain level of experience in different areas — for example, they might say that I’m getting a Python developer with 2–3 years of experience when that developer actually appears to have 6–9 months of experience. However, they’ve taken my feedback into account, and Chetu, Inc. was very quick to replace those underperforming resources at no cost.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you work with Chetu, Inc. during the contracting and proposal phase of your project. Clearly outline each objective, deliverable, and due date with feedback from an actual technical expert on whether those expectations are realistic. Don’t just depend on your sales and enablement team to set the timelines.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of technology for a marketing company specializing in grocery store marketing.

What challenge were you trying to address with Chetu, Inc.?

We’re in charge of building the websites for our customers, and we have a new program to provide digital coupons to final customers through a third party. To launch this program, we needed someone to help us build the interface for the third-party’s API so that we could display the coupons on the websites and mobile apps.

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, we met with Chetu to go over the scope of our project, and we provided them with mockup screenshots of what we needed. We also provided them with as many wireframes as we could to help them understand what we were trying to do. After that meeting, we tasked Chetu to build a WordPress plugin.

When installed, the plugin creates 4–5 different pages with access to the API of the third-party coupon company to pull the coupons in. On one of the pages, customers can clip the coupons to cash them. Additionally, some clubs have buy-ten-get-one-free coupons for products like milk gallons or bread loaves. Thus, another of the pages allows customers to see how many products they’ve collected.

Apart from that, whenever a customer scans a product through the store’s POS, it awards them points that they can redeem for discounts or free products. Another of the pages that the plugin creates allows customers to see how many points they’ve collected, as well as how many points certain products cost.

After that project, we worked with Chetu on two different mobile app plugins and another WordPress plugin. We’ve already wrapped up all four projects, and our engagement is currently on pause before the next project.

What is the team composition?

Initially, we talked with a salesperson from Chetu. Then, we worked with a project manager in Florida, a team manager in India, and a developer. We only hired one developer from Chetu to work 44 hours per week, but the contract included support from both managers.

How did you come to work with Chetu, Inc.?

We researched and interviewed several companies, including Chetu. We had worked with both local and off-shore companies in the past. When working with companies in a different time zone, communicating was challenging because we had small windows of opportunity to do so throughout the day. Thus, one of our requirements was being able to talk to a partner in our same time zone. Chetu had employees both in the US and off-shore, so the ability to talk to a project manager in the US was a major consideration to choosing them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $50,000–$60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2020, and the plugin went live around May 2021. After launching, we made some changes, fixed some bugs, and worked on the other three projects. Currently, we’re on a 60-day pause so that we can scope out the next project before going back to Chetu. We estimate that we will pick up our relationship around mid-March 2022.

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

The main metrics we set for external software developers are understanding our scope and completing it on time. Chetu was great in both aspects; I never felt that the developer was dragging their feet, I saw progress every week, and the products were very solid. Additionally, they did a great job on the design, even though they didn’t assign a designer to our project.

How did Chetu, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

Chetu’s project management was excellent. When I worked with another development company, their project manager laid all the project management responsibilities on me, which really irritated me. However, Chetu’s project manager handled everything and just kept me informed. All I had to do was tell them about issues or changes, and their team took care of the rest.

Every Monday at 10 a.m., we had a Zoom call with both managers and the developer to go through the previous week's progress. The fact that we had meetings every week kept both of us current and honest about the project.

We also used Jira to manage the project, where we could put tasks. Typically, I entered a task, and Chetu broke it down into three steps. I could also comment on certain things on Jira, and they immediately answered. Their communication was what I liked the most about working with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Comparing Chetu to all the other developers I worked with in the past, communication was their best asset; they did a great job in that regard. Although most of our communication was over Jira, I got daily emails from them some weeks, asking questions or requesting assets from our side.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had a slight language barrier, but not as significant as the barriers I had with other companies. Compared with them, Chetu was wonderful.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them as much information upfront as possible, and include some design work to let them know how you want your product to look. Never assume that an external company knows your business as you do.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a membership-based pharmacy. We have an online platform that mails prescriptions to 45 states and D.C.

What challenge were you trying to address with Chetu, Inc.?

The first project we engaged Chetu, Inc. for was custom API development work so that our website could communicate with third-party pharmacy software. The project grew to include website modifications and third-party platform modifications.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Chetu, Inc. has added custom functions to our WordPress website running WooCommerce, thus automating order fulfillment processes. They integrated the pharmacy system, WordPress, and ShipStation shipping software. The site updates the store using third-party pharmacy software, collects order payments, gives us orders to fill, and provides the shipping information.

Chetu, Inc. has also added membership creation functions, tagging memberships and giving them custom rules. Chetu, Inc. created a function where each subscriber gets a certain amount of free shipping with their subscription. Chetu, Inc. also customized the whole user experience on the member login.

Our online store updates itself by communicating with third-party pharmacy software, so no person has to manually update or create cart items. The website creates cart items for people to check out as needed. 

Chetu, Inc. also created custom plugins that we own. Those tell other plugins on the website what to do in terms of updates and so on. That means we don’t have to rely on outside software updates or upgrades that could throw off Chetu, Inc.’s custom code.

Finally, Chetu, Inc. also assisted with parts of our migration to AWS hosting, which was totally different from the previous environment. They’re now using a technology called Docker.

What is the team composition?

My main contact was Navneet (Technical Team Lead). We typically worked with a project manager, one lead developer, and a junior developer. Occasionally we’ve had a secondary developer join our meetings.

How did you come to work with Chetu, Inc.?

We found Chetu, Inc. by searching online, and they had good reviews. We had to find a partner quickly, so we submitted contact requests to several potential providers. Chetu, Inc. responded within a few hours. We got on a call the next day with Chetu, Inc.’s sales manager. They gave us a presentation, and we decided to begin work with Chetu, Inc. because they had seemed well-organized.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $71,000 with Chetu, Inc.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Chetu, Inc. in June 2020. We completed the original project within three months, took three months off, and we are currently working together again.

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

Basically our entire checkout process is automated, thus increasing productivity and limiting the potential for human error. 

How did Chetu, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very responsive. Chetu, Inc. has scheduled weekly meetings to coordinate updates and requests. We have full access to their team during their business hours. I can send a Zoom link to the lead developer and they’ll be on the call in 30 minutes. They communicate via email, phone, and Zoom.

They’ve also been quite adaptable as we moved to AWS, which has completely changed their development environment.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Chetu, Inc.’s speed has been impressive — they develop quickly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t recall any areas where Chetu, Inc. could’ve improved.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you have the project fully planned, they can start work immediately. And if you need a detailed project plan, consider hiring a contractor before engaging with Chetu, Inc.

Chetu, Inc. works on a monthly contract, and we probably spent a month or two working to understand the correct course of action for the project. If you’re not in a hurry, then take your time.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO and CMO of Sellstate Realty, a national real estate franchise.

What challenge were you trying to address with Chetu, Inc.?

We were trying to develop internal accounting software.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re leveraging Microsoft SQL to build the solution, which is nearly finished.

What is the team composition?

We work with a project manager, somebody who oversees the project manager, and 3–4 programmers. The overseer checks in every few months to ensure that I’m happy, and I speak with the project manager weekly. They’ve brought in specialized resources to help with AWS setup as well.

How did you come to work with Chetu, Inc.?

We first met them at a trade show and told them what we were looking for. They seemed to have a lot of accountability as well, which we’ve noticed is an issue with a lot of software companies. After an exploratory project call, we liked what we heard and worked with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent north of $100,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since June 2019.

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

We’re getting near the end of the project right now, and that in and of itself is a success — to have a product we can use.

They show us progress in weekly meetings and then an updated roadmap every few weeks. This allows us to see what is being done, and we always see implementation within a week or two of making a request.

How did Chetu, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

The scope has continuously changed. Looking at the initial planning doc, there were 140 items and now we’re over 2,000. The more explored the product, the more we realized how much we needed. Every time we ask something new, Chetu breaks it down and analyzes it to integrate it into the project plan. They may miss a deadline here or there, but there’s never been anything problematic. Sometimes these things happen with software development, and they always communicate what will be a fast fix and what will take a bit more time.

We communicate through regular zoom meetings, and they send us management PDFs. They use a Microsoft program to organize themselves but send us a PDF for simplicity. We’ll also email back and forth and talk on the phone occasionally.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their accountability stands out. I’ve worked with software and web developers before who will take my list of issues and then not do any work until I complain. Magically, half the items will be done the next day. They give you the feeling that they aren’t focused on your project. Chetu, Inc. has accountability like I’ve never seen elsewhere. They give you a dedicated team that sends out a list of what they’ve accomplished every day and what they’re continuing to work on.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of, but it’s a bit hard to say without knowing more about programming.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that you take care of your end. If certain items need to be tested, then it’s the sooner the better. The biggest hurdle for them is waiting on tasks the client needs to complete. Going into the project organized will save a lot of headache.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of business development of a business solutions company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Chetu, Inc.?

We wanted to leverage the open API that our technology has to meet our customer’s needs.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Chetu, Inc. has built our tech stack, provides DevOps services, and does API integrations for our customers, along with AWS system leverage. It is a custom software that allows us to process payroll and handle HR for various companies.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 5–6 members of their team.

How did you come to work with Chetu, Inc.?

They were referred to us by a company that we use to process payroll. After a few calls and checking different references from companies they’ve worked with, we decided to engage with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $200,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

They’ve been able to finish our projects within the established timelines consistently.

How did Chetu, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They do a great job with project management; their team communicates well through daily and biweekly reports to check our projects’ status. We also have standing calls to review the work we have going on for our customers. In terms of tools, we’ve used Trello, Zoom, emails, phone calls, and the help desk that they own.

What did you find most impressive about them? 

Their communication and ability to quickly pivot between our different projects as needed are outstanding.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve in finding alternative ways to reach our end goal, rather than only sticking to our directions.

Any advice for potential customers?

Ensure that they’re always in the project’s loop.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the operations manager of American Plant Exchange, an online plants retailer. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Chetu, Inc.?

We needed someone to provide us with web development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Chetu, Inc. is helping us develop an e-commerce website on Magento. They’re also helping us integrate our Wayfair Amazon, and Etsy accounts into the platform’s system so we can manage everything in a single portal.

They’re now implementing a solution to integrate shipping orders and printing shipping labels from third-party marketplaces and bring them to Magento.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact is the project manager, and we’re also working with two offshore coders and a regional manager.

How did you come to work with Chetu, Inc.?

We found them on Google while researching Magento developers.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve invested around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in January 2021.

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

The overall functionality of the website has been performing better and is more user-friendly. We’ve also seen an increase in traffic and conversion since the security features have been implemented, so it’s been helping customers feel more comfortable making purchases.

How did Chetu, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

Their timelines and budgeting has been fantastic — they’re well-equipped in handling any issues related to our third-party companies.

We use a Trello board to manage the project and communicate mainly through Zoom and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We like that they clearly care about our company and what we’re trying to achieve, so they make the process seamless and easy for us to understand.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything they could improve on because I’ve been so happy with their work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise them to have all their expectations in line and manage them accordingly.

Please describe your company and your position there.

CEO of a loyalty company who provide branded loyalty programmes to the hospitality industry and retail.

For what projects/services did your company hire Chetu, Inc., and what were your goals?

Our points based loyalty programme required manual inout by hotel and restaurant staff to award member points. We required a resource to enable integration with hotel property management systems and assistance to automate a card linking ability for the restaurant market.

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

Chetu approached us via a marketing email which we held on file until we were ready to brief our requirements. We needed an external resource with knowledge of hotel property management systems and pos and their expertise and resource to outsource.

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

They designed a bridge so we can hook up to any PMS with space to edit accordingly.

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

Myself to lead the project and our technical lead to work with Chetu on steering deliverables.

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

Chetu were very efficient in their approach to understand the technical brief and apply solutions to our business needs. We are a loyalty provider to the hospitality industry and required integration with property management systems to simplify the points earning process, in addition to flag a loyalty member on the hotel's system.

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

Their daily updates were beneficial and reassuring.

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

Chetu, Inc.'s management of the processes was impressive.

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

Perhaps more autonomy by project team to agree any project overrun or edits rather than have to be guided back to the sales team.