Cloudtech Inc

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Founder and CEO of a new internet company that connects music students to colleges, and colleges to students.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

I hired Consultadd to design and create a social platform where each type of user is able to interact with one another easily, search mulitple databases, etc. I also hired them because I was seeking a real team that would not only provide much needed feedback on ideas that I presented to them, but a team that was able to take my ideas and EXPAND on it.

SOLUTION

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

To be 100% honest, I selected this vendor after a really bad experience with another web development company. I saw that Consultadd did not have a lot of reviews but after I did my own research and following my own instincts, I could tell they were peoplel who actually cared about me as a person, my ideas, my business, and the purpose behind my business.

Also, I was tired of feeling like "just another number" with the other bigger companies with hundreds of employees. I preferred a smaller company that would value my time and my money (since I am one person with no investors). After an initial "meet and greet" phone call followed by a video zoom meeting with 7 members of their team, I knew they were the right company for me! You actually felt as if they were right there in the room with you unlike the other company.

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

After the initial phone call and zoom call, I worked with one or two project managers but also seperarte members of their team. It was brilliant because they fully understand how to delegate tasks to increae their productivity and efficiency to realize your ideas and meet expected deadlines! Truly, THIS IS WHERE THEY SHINE!

With my old company, I would always have to go through one person who then had to go ask the project managers my questions (assuming he took the proper notes), then take mutliple days to get back with me, etc. With Consultadd, you can LITERALLY reach out to them and get a response well within 24 hours.

If you have any questions or concerns, we set a zoom call the same day! We had 5 deadlines with multiple types of deliverables for each day and they met each and every one of them. Needless to say, I was thankful but extremely impressed.

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

As stated above, there was 1 or 2 project managers but about 5 other members did multiple tasks. I am not sure of their exact title/positions as that did not concern me. What mattered to me was communication, results, and qualtiy of results. They exceeded expectations in all areas.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After launching the platform, everyone was amazed at the new features and functionalities that were created. Everything from the design, iconography, and functionality impressed the majority of my users!

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

Using slack and zoom, we had daily "check ins" with the project manager(s) and other team members as needed, based on what we were working on. I cannot stress enough how impressed I was with their communication! I really do feel they are an industry leader at the top of their game in communication. Again, I always felt as if they were working in the same office as me, just down the hall.

When we set zoom meetings, everyone was always on time AND instead of feeling like they have other clients trying to rush you off the zoom call, they took their time to allow me to ask questions, review the new changes, etc. Wow, just wow! You feel like you matter with Consultadd. Also, it is very important to note that if you are in the US, they set reasonable US meeting times! We typically met between 9am and 1pm CST.

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

Again, their communication is stellar! Their understanding in what I was trying to do and how it would impact my users was impressive as well. In other words, they really believed in my vision and the purpose of my business which was refreshing. With other companies, they simply do what you ask and they move on to the next businesses they have lined up that day. Not with Consultadd. I will say it again, you matter! Also, I really appreciated the collaboration of ideas, sharing examples, etc. etc. It was most definiatley a team effort.

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

The only thing I can think of is increasing attention to extreme detail. I am a very detailed oriented person and would notice small things that most miss (the subtle alignment of icons, using the same font from page to page, spelling, etc). Again though, this is VERY minor and I've already made them aware.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work as a technical development lead at Boto3 Inc. for around three years now. Our company is an IT consulting company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Consultadd Inc.?

We wanted a company that could develop an application for us. We had good employees internally, but we wanted an external company to come in and suggest different, good ideas. We commissioned Consultadd Inc. to build the backend and front end of a corporate time tracking application for employees to log in the time spent on a task within a particular project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our companies wanted to create an application that could allow our employees to use mobile phones running on iOS and Android for logging the time spent on a task within a project. They also deployed the application with cloud services. Our project was divided into four parts; the first part was an entire phase of the development of the building. The second part was ensuring that all the documentation had been done correctly and testing the product.

In addition to that, Consultadd also did AWS cloud infrastructure hosting.

What is the team composition?

We had a couple of engineers team working with our developers to ensure that the application was developed correctly in the best manner possible and that all the requirements have been appropriately filled.

How did you come to work with Consultadd Inc.?

My team was going through Google and LinkedIn reviews about the company. We read good reviews about them and how they have helped other companies in the past, so we thought of going with them — we had three companies in the top range, but out of all, Consultadd has the best reviews.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $43,200 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from July 2020–January 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The entire company and payroll staff were satisfied with the product developed and are pondering over the idea of announcing the application with new features. Consultadd followed the primary agenda of talk less, listen more, and do it to perfection while focusing on small details. The features they implemented, including the design, the frontend, the backend, and notification channels with Wifi and mobile networks, were phenomenal.

How did Consultadd Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They did all the project planning, creating the stories, sharing the analytical reports, and ensuring that everything was done correctly. Regarding tools, we used Jira for project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I've worked with other companies in the past, but the kind of work that Consultadd did, their technical expertise, integrity, and professionalism were unmatchable to any other provider.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't see any area of improvement or concern where they need to work on.

Any advice for potential customers?

They should ensure that proper documentation is provided. They should also ensure that they can translate the challenges appropriately.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a product manager at NetResolute Inc.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Consultadd Inc?

We wanted someone to build an application with automation for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted to build an APS, and they helped us with that. It's a cloud application where we can enter the APS's candidate details for our internal use. It's a Django application on the backend with a React frontend and AWS, so they also used Lambda and EC2.

What is the team composition?

There were two developers from their team assigned to the project.

How did you come to work with Consultadd Inc?

I had heard from friends and colleagues that they had used Consultadd Inc previously. I looked at their reviews and another two or three companies, but I found Consultadd Inc to be the best, so I contacted them.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent around $100,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from February 2020–February 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They helped us by giving us a better solution for our application. When it came to deadlines, they were able to complete the tasks by that given time.

How did Consultadd Inc perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed great. The communication was good. We used Slack, where we would share the requirements for the projects. We also used Jira for tracking and Confluence for reporting and sharing.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I liked two things about them; they defined the deadlines and were into proper requirement gatherings.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think they could improve when it comes to cross-company retrospection.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that things are well defined. They have provided us with complete architecture and design, and they helped us in various ways, and they helped us well.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work as a project manager for a software consultancy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Consultadd Inc?

When we started, we didn’t have someone who can guide us with the cloud services, and help us work on various tools. We needed someone who can work on a cloud, so we hired Consultadd for that purpose.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project covers different modules such as marketing, finance, legal, and recruitment, and Consultadd helps us deploy these services by developing a CRM based on relationship management.

We already deployed the software for the clients and we’re already using it, but we’re still adding and updating more features to it, according to the needs and feedback from our clients.

What is the team composition?

We work with cloud engineers, and the number of resources would depend on the size of the project.

How did you come to work with Consultadd Inc?

We contacted some companies to work with on this project, but we needed this done as soon as possible and many of them weren’t ready. One of my acquaintances told me about Consultadd, so I googled their company and contacted them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $135,000 USD.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership started in March 2018, and it’s still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Consultadd’s performance is exceptional. They work fast so not only did they help us save on time, they helped us save on costs as well. They’re very good as they manage a lot of things at once. They build the foundation of the project from the basic requirements we provide for them. I’m very happy with the product because it’s user-friendly and it isn’t time-consuming.

How did Consultadd Inc perform from a project management standpoint?

We use JIRA as our primary project management tool, and Slack for grassroots communication, which is easier. The communication is great because they would always get our feedback and ask us questions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One characteristic I find impressive is their advanced technological knowledge. I don’t have to think about what to implement because they already know how to come up with the solution — they provide us with the pros and cons of which technology to use so it’s easier for us to decide which ones to go for.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything right now.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Provide them with the necessary information and requirements, even though you don’t know how they’re going to implement it to the project. Let them know what you’re trying to do and achieve, and they’ll deliver whatever you need successfully.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a project manager at a consulting firm. We handle projects related to business analytics, development, IT cloud services, bit data, and the ELK (Elasticsearch, Logstash, and Kibana) Stack. In my role, I facilitate fruitful interactions between our team and our clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Consultadd Inc?

As I mentioned, since we are a consulting firm, we had quite a few ELK Stack projects. These projects put a drain on our internal resources, so we turned to them for ELK Stack support so that we could complete our work on time.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us complete our end-to-end ELK and Elastic Stack projects, providing configuration, management, and architecture design support. This included bit setup and configuration. The bits, operating in the Logstash environment, serve as the data pipelines for our work. For the Elasticsearch portion of the engagement, they helped us design sustainable clusters optimized for resources and costs. They also helped us in end-to-end deployment consultation and management of our client's complete Elastic Stack. This also included alert, report, and user access level setup. Their team also wrote Ansible, cloud, and cluster deployment automation scripts. While they weren't helping us build a concrete product, they did a lot of work in Python.

What is the team composition?

We worked with five or six people in total.

How did you come to work with Consultadd Inc?

One of my colleagues referred me to one of their team members. After meeting to discuss our requirements, we started working together. We chose them because they had a readily available team with a greater level of ELK Stack experience than any of their competitors. They were quickly able to provide us with DevOps, ELK, and cloud engineers, as well as Python and JavaScript developers.

How much have you invested with them?

They charged us a fixed rate of $100 per hour. Over the course of our engagement, we spent around $48,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together between February–April 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Prior to working with them, our average production issue resolution time was about 35 minutes. Now, though, we've reduced it to close to 18 minutes. These issues have also decreased in frequency by about 30% since we started working together. The automated reporting and alerts they set up for our software's performance have been a big difference-maker for us as well. 

How did Consultadd Inc perform from a project management standpoint?

Their deadline management, communication, and general project management all helped our engagement run smoothly. They appointed a dedicated project manager to our work who ensure that everyone was aware of and working towards deadlines. We also had a daily standup with their entire team in which we spent 15–20 minutes evaluating our progress and troubleshooting any issues. Outside of these meetings, they were proactive in communicating over Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their active communication made the engagement easy and memorable. I've worked with other firms that weren't as good about communicating and we would frequently run into extra work and deadline misses. However, this project had none of that. Their team's diverse skill set and level of expertise made a big difference as well. With the way our projects can evolve in complexity, having a broad base of knowledge on their end ensured that our work was successful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can't think of anything. Their team is extremely skilled in a variety of areas.

Any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you understand your project requirements and goals prior to working with them. They would consistently ask me for a clear-cut picture of my end goals so that they could come up with the best architecture and the best cost-optimized resource utilization.