Cobold Digital LLP

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of Vasundhra Jewellers Private Limited - a 21 year old company in Delhi, India specializing in custom wedding jewellery.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cobold Digital LLP, and what were your goals?

We needed to modernize and automate our CRM system, from a primarily pen and paper and spreadsheets based process to a web based system to match our present and future business growth goals.

SOLUTION

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

We started working with them initially through word of mouth recommendations and since then have worked with them extensively. We are well versed with their technical expertise, so they were our natural choice for this project.

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

We needed a modern CRM system. Their scope of work included advising us on the best options to achieve this goal and delivering the finished software product. They helped us realize that we needed a web based application for flexibility of use across any device and faster time to completion. Initial data gathering, collaborative analysis, specification of software requirements, and documentation, these steps preceded and streamlined the actual development process of the web app and the successful digitization of our legacy CRM process.

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

The Principal Partner was our single point of contact, in addition, a back-end developer, a front end developer and a DevOps specialist were also assigned to our project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Digitizing our customer retention management process has definitely helped our business. Our CRM process is now more efficient and more organized.

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

They stick to the timelines and they have a very open and honest way of communicatiion. We usually connected over the phone or in virtual meeting rooms but their dedicated project manager made this communication process really simple and straightforward for us.

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

They proceeded with the project using a very systematic and thorough approach from the inception. This transparency really impressed us.

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

I can’t think of anything. We have an ongoing relationship with them, and we’re satisfied with the output.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a professor for a fashion institute in India.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cobold Digital LLP?

We were trying to do a skill evaluation of the sewing machine operators and needed a way for the algorithms to be deployed in online and offline mode. We leveraged Cobold’s help for this purpose.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We developed a patented algorithm that could objectively evaluate sewing operators without any human intervention. Cobold helped us commercialize the algorithm and make desktop and web-based platforms based on it. 

The platforms could help us collect the shop flow for an individual operator and upload the data to a cloud platform in an encrypted format. The team programmed it such that customers who are looking to commercialize our patent could collect the data themselves while being restricted from viewing how the evaluation is done.

Most of the time, we don’t have an internet connection on the sewing shop floor, so the person who collects the data needs the authorization to upload the data once they’re connected to the internet. They set up user management and authentication for the web-based version of the app where data will be uploaded to. 

We have existing hardware and they integrated our whole ecosystem into it so that any data coming from the hardware gets stored locally. Besides development, they also oversaw the UI/UX design and graphics of the platforms. The team came up with several options for us to choose from when it came to the visual layout.

Cobold is now helping us develop another landing page. We’re also planning to build another platform where we could showcase our new products.

What is the team composition?

There are four people working on the project but we have a single point of contact.

How did you come to work with Cobold Digital LLP?

We knew the owner of Cobold from way back. He was very good at coding. When we did a Google search for agencies and went through a tender process, we informed and included him as well.

We asked three companies to give a presentation on how they would make the system for us, but Cobold gave us the lowest quote. Their presentation and planning were also very good, which is why we chose to hire them.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the partnership in March 2018 and it is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had 5,000 operators at the beginning of the project and we’re now looking to scale up to 30,000 operators. The platform is perfectly capable of accommodating data from 30,000–40,000 operators, so we’re very happy with Cobold’s work. 

The team developed in a wonderful manner and delivered everything we were looking for. They made a robust platform that’s very detailed and easy to operate. Both the web-based and desktop applications are very seamless and well-encrypted. Thus far, we haven’t experienced any data failure. 

Cobold even built an extra plugin that could calculate the data that comes into the system and present it in a graphical format. Our clients were very appreciative of it when we showed it to them.

How did Cobold Digital LLP perform from a project management standpoint?

We made a checklist and shared it on mutual cloud-based platforms. Cobold kept everything updated and assigned one person to oversee all of the issues we were facing. Ninety to ninety-five percent of those issues were addressed while the rest remained unresolved due to us not having the resources for it.

I would rate them highly for project management. Whenever we wanted to reach them, we just messaged them on WhatsApp. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s been a good experience working with them. Unknown issues sometimes stretched their timelines, but they were very prompt and creative. Cobold also guided us well on things we hadn’t thought about and explained what the costs would be for each option they presented. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

More testing should be done before handing over the first version. They should hire some more technical specialists.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend working with them. I already have a couple of colleagues who want to use them for their projects.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am an Associate Director at the Centre for Wildlife Studies. Centre for Wildlife Studies works on conservation and research around the Western Ghats of India and with communities living close to wildlife protected areas.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cobold Digital LLP, and what were your goals?

An offline-first data collection platform to facilitate our field staff associated with various programs and reduce the usage of paper forms. The data is to be collected in a format that can then be analysed using BI tools.

SOLUTION

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

The vendor had a proven track record of creating custom web and mobile platforms and the kind of technology we wanted to use. They were cost-effective, agile and open to quick changes.

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

The vendor developed the offline first custom web and mobile-based platform for us. It is based on React Native and uses couch and pouch DB for offline availability and syncing.

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

6

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The Platform is used by all our 60 staff members associated with different programs. We have used it to collected at least 20000 records of beneficiaries, surveys and location information.

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

They work very closely with the teams involved to understand their pain points and work to make the custom software based on the constraints the users would have. Designed a good workflow and adopted the same with user feedback.

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

Their design skills and a sharp eye for the user-friendliness of a product are most impressive.

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

I would recommend they diversify a little more in different technologies. However they are able to deliver the custom applications in the technologies of their expertise. At times we wanted a different technology but they didn't have expertise on that but they were able to deliver the requirements within their tech expertise.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Ecoplore promotes and books eco-friendly hotels. I am the Founder & CEO of Ecoplore.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Cobold Digital LLP, and what were your goals?

We wanted to get our booking engine designed & developed in a customized way.

SOLUTION

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

Our CTO Sumit Arora connected us to Cobold.

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

Scope of work Designing of an user-friendly website Development of a customized booking engine.

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

6 members

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We loved the design of the website.

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

Sharp & focussed

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

Professional approach to work.

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

Faster timeline