Classic Informatics

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Software Manager of ParkCo Inc.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The ParkCo Insight™ platform offers parking asset owners and managers a complete 360 solution to optimize any parking facility.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Classic Informatics to accomplish?

• Full-Time Development on New and Existing Technical Solutions

SOLUTION

How did you find Classic Informatics?

Online Search

Why did you select Classic Informatics over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Classic Informatics were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The scope of work changes every week and deliverables are managed via Asana. The team relies on the project manager for when scope is to be delivered and provides resources when the team reaches roadblocks. Scope of work range from a variety of custom dev work like, web development, back-end & front-end logic fixes and changes, UI design workflow improvements and additions, new api design & implementation, testing, performance monitoring of products.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

When first working with classicinformatics our products only offered basic solutions which were only used by 3 locations. Now, we have a huge suite of products and services and our customers have grown to 12 locations due to the wide range of enhancements done to our existing products. 

Working with RFID improved our accessibility-time to parking lots from 4 secs to 1 sec. Introducing the visitor booking application has provided sites to utilize more of their secured parking lots. These features have received attraction from parking site that facilitate clients like Google and Impark!

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The company is always finding ways to improve existing daily operations. Project management is overlooked by ParkCo and responses are expected by Classic informatics team to provide updates on assigned tasks, potential roadblocks and risks in implementation, demos to approve work as completed, and results from testing. Deliverables are met but however much leniency is provided since it's dependant on a client needs basis (which tend to change due to external factors).

What was your primary form of communication with Classic Informatics?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The most impressive trait is their overall skill set. They have developers available for almost any type of requirement and level of expertise.

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

Areas to improve would be to communicate with the team more on updates, added logic, issues and documentation so everyone on the team is aware of what has been worked on by each other. 

Another area to improve is having a better understanding and experience in industry standards, provide expert advise relating to devOps management, conducting code reviews. Being proactive to ensure code is scalable, effective and efficient and taking initiative in identifying shortcomings and provide solutions.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Co-founder of an ecommerce company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Furniture resale marketplace

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Classic Informatics to accomplish?

• Javascript Front and Back end Development
• Selenium web automation with Javascript

SOLUTION

How did you find Classic Informatics?

Online Search

Why did you select Classic Informatics over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Classic Informatics were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We collaborated with classic informatics to get help with the development of our web application. They have assigned 2 of their amazing developers to help with back end programming (MongoDB, Node JS) and front end (ReactJS). On top of that they have helped with a web automation project using Selenium with JavaScript. The collaboration over the past year has been flawless and overall their team has been great to work with.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Since joining our team, the classic informatics developers have added a tremendous value to our product. We have since expanded nationally and more than doubled our revenue thanks to essential features added on the Web app.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The developers that we work with are absolutely amazing. Always responsive, delivered great quality work on time and were able to take any any kind and size project. Classic Informatics was super professional, looking for every possible way to accommodate our needs. They initially assigned a Project Manager to our company at no extra charge and later were willing to offer a discount on our monthly fee of 30% to accommodate our reduction in spending in the product department.

What was your primary form of communication with Classic Informatics?

Virtual Meeting

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

Obsessive focus on customer satisfaction!

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

Nothing really

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder the CTO of InspireMe.AI. We are a start-up helping business improve employee recognition and communications through the use on innovative AI writing solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Classic Informatics, and what were your goals?

We needed to augment our team in order to realize the minimum viable product (MVP). The product is an API (Application Programming Interface) that other business can connect with so that we could provide them with AI services. The goal was to get the MVP to a useable and marketable stage. This included Classic Informatics working with members of our internal development team, building a solid backend, APIs and dashboard portal for customers in addition to the management portal for administering the product.

SOLUTION

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

We discussed with a few outsourcing development companies. Primarily we chose Classic Informatics because we formed a good rapport with the local business development manager. Classic informatics has a local entity in Australia, and so the contract was under our local jurisdiction and payments were simple.

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

The scope including requirement gathering, selection of boilerplate code, full customization of the codebase in NodeJS and React to realize the requirements. At a high level we required an authenticated secure B2B API to be built, in addition a front end JavaScript Widget (this of this as a wordpress plugin).

On top of this we require two React frontend projects to realize a customer dashboard portal for our customers to manage their API access and a management admin project for our business to administer the product.

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

Our the course of the project we worked with a Project Manager, Business Analytics, Full Stack Engineer and a Software Testing Specialist. They augmented three other engineers from our team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are currently in the sales cycle with a number of target clients and their feedback is very positive.

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

We had daily stand-up meetings over Zoom and this was led by an experiences software development product manager. This worked to keep everything on track in a semi-agile development framework. We primarily achieved effective communications via Slack and Zoom.

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

Classic Informatics is about great people. They are hardworking, friendly and attentive. They were able to easily integrate our team with theirs and work in a style that enabled significant progress in weekly timeframes.

They definitely lived up to the expectations of what was laid out to us by their Australian based business development manager. Overall - Friendly, Honest, Hardworking, Excellent Comms and Quality Outcomes!

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

We started what I thought was a little slow, but that was more me, because I didn't realize the importance of the requirement gathering phase. Once we started coding, things really took off!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder and president of an oil and gas data analytics company. We created a platform that aims to improve the process of invoicing and creating transparent and robust data for the operators and service providers in the oil and gas industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Classic Informatics?

We hired Classic Informatics to manage our in-house application. We needed to monitor it closely because we sold this product as part of an important five-year commercial agreement with another company. 

I initially thought that we had the right resources in the company to maintain this app, but we didn’t. That’s when I decided to look for a more reliable company. Maintaining our app means maintaining our business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Classic Informatics started by handling micromanaged app maintenance tasks for us. Along the way, we discovered issues with the app from a user perspective, as well as challenges with scaling the app. Classic Informatics conducted an audit. 

After that, we shifted our relationship from a simple maintenance contract to having Classic Informatics refurbish and improve the app.

The team develops new features to improve UX and works on making the app run smoothly by getting rid of existing bugs.

What is the team composition?

I work with a full-time full-stack developer, as well as a team leader who reviews the developer’s work before we deploy it. Then, they have a DevOps team who fulfills a part-time role to maintain our app, reset the servers, and other services like that.

How did you come to work with Classic Informatics?

We’ve gone through a lot of hurdles in trying to find the best resources for our project. We tried to outsource Canadian resources, but we found that was unreliable. The resources could quit at any time, and we couldn’t afford to keep people happy. 

I put more pressure on my technical team to look for a reliable third-party. My technical team found Classic Informatics through a web search. We talked to them as well as a company in India and another in Ukraine. Classic Informatics’ cost was reasonable compared to the others, and they were flexible. They agreed to accommodate us and our request for a structure that allowed us to hire part-timers, since we had a limited budget. They listened to us and gave us what we needed, so we were happy to hire them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $30,000 so far, and the yearly contract will amount to $50,000–$70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in September 2020. We still work with them now, and I plan to keep our partnership for their app maintenance services.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s always tricky from a project management perspective to pick up and improve a product that has already been done by someone else. However, they’ve been doing a good job with refurbishing the app by removing most of the bugs.

The transition from having Classic Informatics maintain the app to helping improve it has been smooth and seamless. Our customers can now enjoy newer features as we try to refurbish the whole app. 

We are also pleased with Classic Informatics’ reasonable pricing for their services. They are not like other companies who like to charge their customers for the simplest tasks. They value our working relationship by thinking long-term instead of simply overcharging and not caring about the future. The team relays their opinion and advises us technically.  

How did Classic Informatics perform from a project management standpoint?

Classic Informatics has been perfect and reasonable in terms of meeting deadlines. We are keen on having things done on time, and their team always sees to it that they deliver within the allotted time. 

They go out of their way by working overtime or on weekends to get their tasks done. The team is available whenever a task needs to be completed. They make it happen — and that gives me the confidence to have more challenging deadlines for my customers.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They make sure that their customers are happy. I have monthly calls with their management, and they care about my feedback. Before they send any invoices, they follow up and ask how they could improve their services. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Initially, there were resources from their team who didn’t fit the criteria that we had. They addressed that with accountability and quickly provided more suitable replacements. Classic Informatics provided more senior resources to look after the work. Even though we’re a very small company, they took us very seriously and heard our concern. They also set up an accountable structure to ensure there would always be resources available. Their approach was very strategically oriented and meant to make us happy.

Our initial struggle with finding the right resources from their team is the only negative thing that I can point out, but it’s been addressed properly. I believe that’s a normal business challenge to encounter. They don’t need to improve how they handle day-to-day challenges.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I suggest you follow the same approach that we use: be very open and transparent, and set clear objectives. It may also help to explain how crucial it is for you to meet your business goals through their services. They will bring you the right assets for your business requirements.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Healthcast is a company that’s involved with large health and aged care organizations. We do property M&As and more recently, digital transformation projects. I’m the managing director and I was involved in the transactions that were recently acquired by a private equity firm. Additionally, I was also involved in a separation program that made the new owners and managers take control and separate the websites from the parent company’s.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Classic Informatics?

The original website portfolio owned by the parent company, consisted of 93 separate websites running on an AP server and Microsoft Azure. The new owners of the company needed to migrate that portfolio to a new platform, namely a WordPress Multisite running on Amazon.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We cloned the old website portfolio and migrated all of those content assets over to a brand new state-of-the-art system. All of the content and assets including all the texts, branding, images, and basically anything that was stored in the old system, needed to be migrated and reassembled in an identical way.

We ended up migrating all of the websites within the timeframe and budget.

What is the team composition?

There was probably about 25–30 staff working on the project, with various specialties related to the new and old environments. I had three main contacts, one is Gaurav (Business Head) who was our Australian-based contact. He was the one who managed the commercial side of the engagement. I also worked with Rajesh (Delivery Manager) and Karamveer (Project Lead).

How did you come to work with Classic Informatics?

One of their competitors referred us to them. The competitor we were using before wasn’t able to move within the timeframe that we wanted to make the decision — we only had a 3-day timeframe to decide.

The competitor wanted to do a 20-day BD, whereas Classic Informatics had a proven track record of doing the exact requirement we wanted to. They put out a proposal to us within the timeframe of what we needed.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The formal part of it was completed in 45 days and it lasted from October–December 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The main KPI was that the system would be delivered on time, due to the commercial contracted requirement to do so. The second KPI was that the performance of the system, either in speed or SEO performance could not be degraded — They’ve exceeded in both cases.

I don’t know the exact figures but we used the baseline of the old site and in most cases, it was improved. The goals completed in SEO KPIs improved year on year by 6%. We’ve successfully executed the project and it’s now operational.

How did Classic Informatics perform from a project management standpoint?

I was the project manager on the client’s side, and I dealt with the delivery manager and project lead on a daily basis. We used Slack and email with the three-man talk.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re strong with the technologies we used which were WordPress Multisite and Amazon Web Services. If you wanted to develop applications using those technologies, I would highly recommend them. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they don’t need to improve in any areas. They can keep doing what they’re doing, just the way they are.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to always be engaged. Make sure you find a common window during the day where you can communicate with them, and be prepared to work those hours if needed. Additionally, I would also make sure that you get the right skillset upfront, with the resources that are proposed.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our platform enables anyone looking to improve their typing speed across different keyboard types in a fun way. I was a project manager to improve our services and games.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Classic Informatics, and what were your goals?

We needed a development partner that could help us with some of our new websites and apps. They were to be built in PHP and we needed an expert who could deliver us quality while meeting deadlines. We looked to have highly robust websites with an interactive engaging frontend - two aspects very essential in any gaming platform.

SOLUTION

How did you select Classic Informatics and what were the deciding factors?

We wanted to work with a company that could offer flexible engagements but with strict deadlines as this project was of limited scope and requirements. We posted our requirements on UpWork and many interested companies approached us with their solutions. Classic Informatics was one of them. As part of our assessment process, we had discussions around similar projects they tackled and their approach towards taking on and delivering projects. They did a good job there.

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

The project scope included developing web application and a couple of other websites. They suggested we go for PHP technology for development. The application required complex features and easy compatibility with different device types and keyboards in over 10 languages.

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

We worked with a PHP developer and Project Manager from Classic informatics.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The end product was very interactive, functioning easy to use. scalable and bug-free- something we were looking from this engagement. We and our users enjoy using this platform and that speaks volumes.

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

They are very transparent in their approach. We did discuss almost daily about the project. Any feedback was incorporated on time and deadlines were taken seriously.

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

Their ability to give solutions and actually be part of the process impressed me the most. They were not just only ‘developers’, they were actively involved.

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

Actually it’s been a while since our last project, but I have positive memories. I wish them all the best for the future, hopefully we can work again.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Co-Founder & Product Director for a B2B SaaS product working with small, medium companies and enterprises.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Classic Informatics, and what were your goals?

To develop a SaaS product from scratch which is:

• Feature-full and easy to use for customers
• Has an admin panel that is easy to manage for our team
• Gives real-time visibility of free trials, sign-ups, customers and usage

SOLUTION

How did you select Classic Informatics and what were the deciding factors?

Being a B2B SaaS product, we wanted to built something that was state-of-the-art, looked fresh and modern with a very easy-to-use interface. It was also important to have a smooth process from signing up from trial, to experiencing the software and subscribing online using a payment gateway. We wanted experts in the field to be developing this solution for us.

We picked Classic Informatics as they have the available team for developing our Web Platform as well as the Native Apps on iOS and Android platforms. They also showed us solutions that they had developed for their customers which were very impressive. Their timelines and cost were also competitive and the approach was what impressed us most.

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

Since this project was built from scratch, we initially had a few meetings for requirement gathering and then a kickoff call to kickstart the project. Classic Team followed the agile methodology and everything was planned for weekly sprints.

We were involved in the Daily Stand Up Meetings which helped us stay clued in with what's happening and pitch in any ideas we had. Every Friday was a review meeting where we did a run-through of the project and deliverables so far. It really helped us stay on time for the project. We did have a few changes in between the project, which was incorporated by the team pretty smoothly.

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

We worked with around 10 people on the team. A project manager was assigned to us which made coordination very easy and effective. We also worked with the lead designer from the Classic Informatics team for all the Web and Tablet Application mockups and we continue to work with the Digital Marketing team on an ongoing basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our product has been quite successful in the market and we have also together with the Classic team relaunched the product in a new avatar recently which is getting good transaction in the market.

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

We followed the agile methodology right from the start. A project manager was assigned to the team. The project was managed through Jira. High level discussions were handled on Basecamp. For daily communication, the team and we used Slack.

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

Besides having a great and competent team, what we really love about Classic is that they are contributors and partners instead of just being vendors for your project.

They make relevant suggestions to the project and bring in their expertise and experience beyond the job at hand. This really helps you know that they're involved and really care about the work they're doing.

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

We've been pretty happy with all the work carried out by the Classic Team for us so far.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CIO of an apple and cherry company with over 2,000 acres of fruit. We employ approximately 200 employees and flex to over 2,000 during peak times.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Classic Informatics?

We hired Classic Informatics to develop a mobile app to replace a paper based system in the orchard. The app needed to function off-line and sync the data up to our centralized database whenever a connection was made on the phones.

We have approximately 50 users currently using the app throughout all of our ranches and locations and it is viewed by everyone as a huge win for our organization.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to be able to provide more real time data and eliminate duplicate data entry from our old paper based system.

The app allows users to sign in by scanning their employee badge and scanning and entering in relevant data from the orchards. The app reduced the data entry significantly and also allowed data to get to the right individuals to make meaningful business decisions very quickly.

SOLUTION

How did you select Classic Informatics?

We tested Classic Informatics with this app to see how the off shore development process would work. It has been a huge success and we are currently in the process of setting up additional projects and work with Classic Informatics. I am optimistic about our future projects.

Describe the project in detail.

Once we determined to proceed with Classic Informatics, we provided a detailed Functional Design Document that specified exactly how we wanted the app to be developed. We created the database and Classic Informatics created the stored procedures, API, and x code for the app.

Our project started pre COVID-19 and they adjusted very well to the changing work environment and continued to provide excellent service and development work. It really helped to have the functional design document completed before starting our engagement as it spelled out exactly what we wanted.

What was the team composition?

I worked directly with the project manager from Classic Informatics. He was extremely professional and responsive. He worked with developers, QA and database professionals, but my interaction was almost entirely with the project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have been using the app for approximately 5 months and our company is very excited about the app. It has been a wild success and our users are now coming up with ideas for additional apps.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The project manager we were assigned was easy to work with. We communicated mainly over email (as that is my preference) but also had video conferences once per week or more if it was needed.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The company delivered exactly what they promised. I provided initial screen design and they improved upon the design to make it look more professional. Great work!

Are there any areas for improvement?

I was satisfied with the work and hope future projects will go as smoothly. They set the bar high in our initial project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder and board member of a legal tech business in the German elderly care space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Classic Informatics, and what were your goals?

We hired Classic Informatics for implementation of a rather complex Salesforce Instance.

SOLUTION

How did you select Classic Informatics and what were the deciding factors?

We pitched multiple potential agencies that we found through Upwork and Classic Informatics left by far the most professional and competent impression.

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

At first, our existing Salesforce implementation had to be understood by the team of Classic Informatics and modified to operate properly. Based on this, we then defined a long list of feature requests - some straight forward configurations and some more complex workflows and integrations of various other web services within the Salesforce.

We use fax integrations, Zapier connections, and direct API connections from and to salesforce. Also, we generate custom documents based on complex data points within our system and have our full invoicing within Salesforce.

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

We work with one team lead and one developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With the help of CI, we manage to operate our business with very low cost for IT support and development.

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

CI has a very solid project management competence. Larger projects are discussed, prices, scheduled and implemented according to schedule. In some cases, timelines are exceeded but that is mostly due to changes in feature requests from our side.

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

The general wok ethic of the CI team is really great. Everyone is very professional, always friendly and diligent. Even in more hectic times, work has always been completed reliably and if necessary, after hours have been worked without any complaint.

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

No. We are really happy and can only highly recommend the CI team. We really like to work with Jayant, Komal and Hassan and hope that we will continue to work with them in the upcoming years.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Director of an online tech business. We are a tailored marketplace for ex-consultants to find jobs.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Classic Informatics, and what were your goals?

Classic Informatics has been with us from the start. They built our first MVP site and then have been redeveloping our current site (adding new functionality; improving UX, etc.). They've offered an end-to-end suite of services.

SOLUTION

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

They were hired through recommendations, price, and quality of their proposal.

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

They were tasked with building a site from scratch in Zend PHP. They supported us in design, front-end and back-end development, and also on maintenance, ongoing build, and server support.

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

3 - tech lead and two developers with ad-hoc support from others (e.g., designers and server support).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They've helped build our business from scratch to over 40k active users. They've helped improve conversion as we've grown, and been a support throughout.

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

We managed the project in-house.

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

I think the quality for the price they offer impressed us the most.

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

As with any tech development, the more they pushed back and made things simpler the better. A couple of times they developed what we asked for which was maybe a bit too complicated.