CSW Solutions Inc.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the VP of engineering at a hosted phone collaboration provider.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire CSW Solutions Inc.?

We needed a vendor to take over the development of our telecom management and billing system.

What were your goals for this project?

We hadn’t worked on the system for over a year. It wasn’t completely finished and required a full redesign of the underlying billing algorithm. We wanted to enhance the functionality and improve the system’s interfaces.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I’d worked with CSW Solutions Inc. on a previous project for a common client.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

CSW Solutions was responsible for designing, developing, testing, and producing a new telecom management and billing system for our company. They updated our call billing algorithm, and they created interfaces for a variety of our telecom systems. Lastly, they implemented new functionality in the account management and user-facing dashboards.

What was the team composition?

I worked with a project manager, two developers, a UX/UI expert, and a QA specialist.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Because our legacy system lacked the necessary functionality, we were losing revenue. After CSW Solutions Inc. corrected the product’s shortcomings, our performance increased significantly.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

I was free to contact our project manager at any time, and I had weekly meetings with the rest of the team members. We used Jira to manage the workload and track our progress.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was impressed by the depth of knowledge across the entire team. That, coupled with their project management and communication skills, made them a very valuable partner.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I can’t think of anything right now.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a digital marketing manager at a rating platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CSW Solutions?

We were looking for a vendor to help us develop a website that would generate more traffic.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were involved from day one, so they helped us determine a roadmap of how to build our website and what technology to use. They worked directly with the designers and provided recommendations on what direction we should be going. The new website has more images and a lot more motion, so many images come from the side. CSW Solutions integrated the website with our CMS (we use Umbraco) as well as our CRM.

This is the third website we've done with them. Two years ago, they helped us implement Highcharts, which gave us the ability to import data and generate reports. They mostly did the architecture and the development, while the design was done by a third party that we hired. The designers only delivered their design work in a PDF format, so CSW Solutions used those PDF designs to generate a website, which was beyond what we had expected.

What is the team composition?

We work with Yoel (Co-founder and Managing Partner, CSW Solutions) and Jose (Director of Software Development, CSW Solutions), who is our project manager.

How did you come to work with CSW Solutions?

They were referred to us by one of our designers.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent between $50,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in October 2018 and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

CSW Solutions delivered high-quality code and addressed any bugs immediately. By helping us build our website, they also helped us improve our CMS. They managed everything very well and explained the complicated development process to us in terms that we could understand.

How did CSW Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

We talk to them every week and they send us status updates. We have an Excel file that we use to track progress.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're very responsive and have quick turnaround times. They're also very honest about their capabilities and make valuable recommendations.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you're working with a third-party designer, make sure everyone understands how the designs should be delivered to a developer.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Transship is a startup that I founded. We outsource all the logistics of international shipments of perishable goods from the shipper to our platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire CSW Solutions Inc.?

We needed a team to develop our platform so we could start running pilot versions of our programs.

What were your goals for this project?

Our primary objective was to have at least a semi-operable platform we could begin using and testing.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I searched for development teams to work with and had a good feeling about CSW Solutions. They were not too big or too small.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

I explained the logistics of how the shipping industry works from the ground up. Throughout the process of development, I walked CSW Solutions through the steps of loading a 40' container l in the U.S. and shipping it to a foreign country.

What was the team composition?

I interfaced with one of the principals of CSW Solutions as well as the head developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

CSW Solutions built and delivered a platform that gave me the opportunity to test my company's viability. They delivered an initial product that’s enabled me to seek out potential investors.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

CSW Solutions worked closely and hands-on with our team. They communicated effectively with us throughout the entire process.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Every teammate from CSW Solutions was extremely knowledgeable. They quickly understood my requests and requirements. CSW Solutions was patient and dedicated to keeping our progress in motion. 

Are there any areas where they can improve?

No; I was very satisfied with their professionalism and knowledge base.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of a small financial services firm in Springfield, Illinois. We provide B2B services in an executive benefits marketplace to about 700 financial advisors across the United States, lower 48 and Puerto Rico.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CSW Solutions?

We needed some software architecture, database, web, and mobile development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The very first project was the main backbone of everything we do here. It’s a large SQL database, a web UI for integrating carrier feeds from five different inference carriers providing us data on our combined clients (meaning those B2B advisors).

We have a lot of statistical data in this very large database, and we archive all of that information and use it in a number of different ways. CSW Solutions has been instrumental in getting that built and maintaining it along the way.

The mobile development was for iOS only. We custom built an iPad application for our advisor group, to allow them to contact us and make requests for illustrations and materials. It was kind of all-encompassing. It shows all of our marketing material, videos, PDF files, and Excel files. It’s quite comprehensive and turned out very good.

We ended up doing two versions of it. The first version was more or less a “dip the toe in the water” kind of thing. We liked what we were seeing, so we revamped it and made it bigger and better.

What is the team dynamic?

I interact with two different programmers there. I’m sure they have some contract for the mobile development; I’m pretty sure it wasn’t 100% in-house. They do a great job of managing whoever it is that does all of it. I typically work with Jose [Guay, Director of Software Development, CSW Solutions] and Ari [Aristides Castillo, Lead Developer, CSW Solutions].

How did you come to work with CSW Solutions?

We’ve used CSW Solutions on a number of projects. I have a long-standing relationship with them. It goes back to my first projects when Jose and Ray [Comas, Co-Founder and Managing Partner, CSW Solutions] were with another service provider in Chicago and I was at a different company. When I came to my current company, I identified a number of challenging situations that prompted me to reach out to CSW and have them quote a main project. From there, we’ve done two or three other site projects.

How much have you invested with them?

$275,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2013 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There’s definitely cost savings. The last leg of the project they just worked on is a one-year payback. From there on, we’ll be reaping probably $100,000 a year in operational cost savings.

How did CSW Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate 75% by email and 25% by phone or conference calls. I really don’t micromanage them because I’ve never been let down. You give them a timeline and a solid date that it has to be fully functional and in production, and they’ve never missed a deadline.

If it’s a larger project and they say it’s going to be six weeks, I don’t start questioning it until about week 4 ½ weeks in, and then I say, “What do you have to show me?” Typically, what they’ll do is they’ll show me what they’ve got and where they’re at with it in a webinar. They’ll show me how much of the sandbox development they’ve done, what it looks like, and how it’s going to work. That usually comforts me for that last couple of weeks while they’re working the kinks out of it.

If I come up with an idea, I put together a white paper. I generally run the challenge that we need to overcome to my managing partners. I’ll send the white paper to Ari or Jose and they’ll quote it out and send it back. We basically agree on an all-encompassing price project and they do it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s affordable. Their cost and the arrangement that I have with them is excellent. They’re very concerned about security. They’re very concerned about a logical process for workflow. I’ll know what I want it to do, and they’ll make it so it does that.

More generally, they’re always thinking outside the box. They’ve brought to me a widget here, a thing there, a service here that they integrate into these platforms.

There’s good and bad to that. Let’s say they’ve brought in a number of different side services or widgets. The bad is I get an invoice and I go, “What did I use this thing on?” I have to go back and ask them what we’re using that for.

There have been times where they come back and they say, “Hey, there’s a different service available from these guys. It works better. It’s cheaper. We’ll do that.” They’re constantly on the look for these cool, little side things that work well with the projects that we’ve put together. That’s the good part. All of these things always keep me coming back.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. They’re very responsive, very talented, and very concerned about timelines and the project in general. I may be different in that I’ve known one of the managing partners now for 14 years. He and I have a very long-standing relationship. I may be treated a little bit different, but I don’t know. I’d like to think that anybody that does anything with CSW Solutions gets the same kind of service.

Do you have any advice for potential clients of CSW Solutions?

Give them a try because you’ll like what you see.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the managing director of a talent management company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CSW Solutions?

CSW Solutions maintains our application and does a lot of customization work for us. They have helped us for several years on an ongoing basis.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Our software is human resources related; it manages performance reviews, succession planning, and career development. CSW Solutions maintains the application and provides custom development for us. There is a list of hundreds, perhaps thousands, of different things they have done over the past few years.  

What is the team dynamic?

We have worked with different 5 developers from the company.

How did you come to work with CSW Solutions?

We were referred to CSW Solutions.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent around $675,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2010 and are working in an ongoing capacity.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t have any statistics or metrics, but they have done great work for us and are very dedicated, which is why we have stuck with them for 7 years.

How did CSW Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

We usually don’t meet in person, but they are very responsive when we do contact them. When there is something that is high-priority, they often work on it that day and sometimes finish within the hour.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their dedication to our success has been impressive.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief operating officer at Gifts For You Now, a personalized gift provider that primarily sells online. However, we support several different clients and business partners in creating one-off personalized items that are shipped directly to customers. I’m in charge of all of the operations of the business and fulfillment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with CSW Solutions?

Prior to CSW’s solution, we had a proprietary system that was built. It was built with an extremely limited budget and it was not expansion friendly.

We needed to develop an entire business management tool. They helped develop everything except for our website and our accounting package. The business management platform is our CRM, ERP, warehouse management and our inventory control.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had sought a provider who would be able to write in modern programming technologies so that we would have customizable access to every single coding and logical detail there was. We wanted a company who was working in .NET and everything would be totally sequel based.

What we had needed was an order entry module that would allow us to do a variety of things. It would allow us to enter orders into a system and be able to import customer information. It would also allow us to add items to the system, enter customization and personalization, and be able to receive orders from a variety of sources anywhere from manual import. 

At the time, we had a lot of mail and phone orders and that has eventually evolved to be able to communicate with our web site and bring orders directly into the system.

Now, there are 5-6 different websites as well as import orders from a variety of non-retail partners or B2B relationships. The system then drives our production system, which CSW created for us. This system allows us to manage about 15 different production methods allowing all those items to be created. Then, it drives our production system which manages several different production departments and our picking system to be able to pick products. That allows the system to recombine orders that are made by different processes that then ships directly to the customer. 

What is the team dynamic?

I've worked with about eight different developers over the last 10-12 years. Some of the developers have different expertise. For example, I’ve worked with database, web, and logical specialists during our project.

How did you come to work with CSW Solutions?

Our initial requirement was to find a local business for our project. We’re located just outside of Chicago and we wanted someone who we could visit face to face. It was very important for us to find a provider that wasn’t outsourcing a huge portion of the work. We interviewed about five to six companies and we liked that personal touch that CSW Solutions offered us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $67,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began June 2008 and is still an ongoing project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t have any specific stats, but the solution has improved productivity and scalability. When we first started the company, we had about eight workstations operation on the system. Now we have over 50 continuous users allowed on the system. 

How did CSW Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated primarily through e-mail. We would develop ideas and put together the framework for the project depending on its complexity.

If the project is complex, we have a consultation call to go through the discovery process. Each of us would then go home and do various homework and other investigations to explain our point or different methods to be able to solve the problem. We then get a response, which is the understanding of the work to be completed. We then approve the project, which most of the time we do. Then, the project goes through the development stage. Once the project is completed, we conduct testing to see if there are bugs and if there are bugs then we make revisions. The process then goes live.

What did you find most impressive about them?

CSW provides different coding options that they can work with. They also bring knowledge they gain from doing work for others and their own investigative work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I just wish I had them for myself.