Deazy

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a large building company based in the UK and we have many projects. I’m the systems project manager for HR, so I look after all of our database systems, creating new ones and addressing any data or technical issues.

What challenge were you trying to address with Deazy?

We had manual paper files, charts on our walls, and were manually writing up and assigning people to potential roles for upcoming projects. The process includes a bid and planning who goes on to the project, and all of that was being done via paper and memory.

Our goal was to systemize it and make it HR compliant, as well as to maintain information about the people that were being nominated for projects.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The key stakeholders are our client and their marketing team. They're the people that bid for the jobs, and when we win them, they’re the people that decide who should be assigned to those jobs. They look at resourcing — who's going where and when, and so on. The key deliverable was to enable those two sets of people to make more informed decisions rather than empirically deciding that someone would be a good fit.

Our client wanted to make an informed decision on staffing, taking into account if the candidate had worked in this sector before, their previous experience, and if they had the right qualifications for their project at the time. The deliverables were a better understanding of the people that they were trying to place, a better understanding of the jobs that we were winning, and the timeframes behind them.

This platform is for resource management for a very select few people: only the top 10 roles for every project. This information goes to the directors and people that might want a spreadsheet but would actually prefer to see the information visually. This format makes it easy for them to understand why people are being placed where they are.

We worked a lot with Deazy for the mapping of our processes, jobs, and criteria in a way that was conducive to visual displays of the information. 

What is the team composition?

Our team has changed, but we normally have two project managers and two developers. We also deal with an account manager. Overall, there are normally 5–6 people from Deazy’s side.

How did you come to work with Deazy?

We were using another company before Deazy that we'd also used in the past. Due to COVID, they had the other vendor had to restructure their business and move into another field, so they recommended Deazy. We tried a few different options, and Deazy was the strongest candidate.

How much have you invested with them?

We have a service agreement and a developers agreement with them that's paid in a monthly fee.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started talking with them in late 2020 but had to pause our plans for a while because of the pandemic. We’ve started other IT projects with them now, and they’ve delivered the second phase of this project for us. 

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

This project will help our diversity and equality because decisions are now being made based on who the best person for the job is rather than a personal connection between people. A lot of people candidates were being overlooked for no specific reason because they simply didn't come to mind. Now, when our client is presented with a list of people, they post the best person for the job, which is helping our diversity. We also now know that we're top-heavy with male candidates, so the project is driving all those sorts of conversations. 

Additionally, the platform will allow users to forecast more accurately in the case someone leaves and needs to be replaced. Also, if there’s a large job coming up, the app will let them know that they have 20 roles they need to fill in the next three months.

How did Deazy perform from a project management standpoint?

We've had some internal issues, which have caused them to miss a few deadlines, but those were more our fault than theirs. Their project managers are very good and keep me up to date with any issues they have. If they're going to miss a deadline, they let us know.

We have weekly meetings with the product management team, myself, and my manager, and they have daily stand-ups with the IT team. Confluence and Jira help us with in-house delivery. I'm not necessarily involved in using Confluence and Jira, but they talk me through all of the actions and progress that are being recorded on those boards.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We just told Deazy what we wanted, and they've given us the solution. They provide a lot screenshots and make suggestion that we haven't actually considered yet.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes, because of the problems on our side and the differences in technology being used, their explanations are lost on us. This has caused a bit of frustration on both sides. If they slowed down and explained to our development team a little bit more, it would be helpful. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very clear about what you want and get your IT team involved very early. Another company might have the same problem as we did — that their IT team isn’t as advanced as Deazy's is. If I was doing my project again, that's what I would do differently. But, all in all, it was a good experience.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of Fast Key Services. We do mail orders for keys and locks for office furniture and locksmith services.

What challenge were you trying to address with Deazy?

We’d spent a few years migrating our IT systems from IBM Lotus Notes to SAP; we had to redo our web platform because it was all bespoke. It took a long time, and it was very expensive. However, we weren’t happy with the results, so we needed someone to improve our website and its UX/UI.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We switched over to Deazy and redeveloped everything with them. They didn’t build the website from scratch; they just helped redesign it and improve the UI. They’ve helped with the checkout and design of our web pages. They've worked on a few design prototypes and used AWS Azure and Bitbucket. 

They started out familiarizing themselves with our systems. We did the work in three phases. The first phase was a reskin validation. We did a workshop with the designer, and they did some prototypes for testing and user testing. The goal was to improve the customer experience online and expand our presence in commercial properties in London. However, the immediate priorities were fixing the outstanding bugs from the previous developers and improving the UI.

What is the team composition?

We have a full stack developer, a tech lead, a scrum master, a designer, a QA, and a product manager on the team.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $230,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2021, and the relationship is ongoing.

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

We’ve seen an improvement in the site traffic, and their quality of work is excellent.

How did Deazy perform from a project management standpoint?

They deliver on time and stay within budget. We use Jira, Confluence, Slack, Google Meet, and Zoom for project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their planning and budgeting abilities are impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’ve done a good job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The product manager liaises with all of the people involved. We got good results by  having a great product manager.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Product Director of a SaaS Business

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

To buy in knowledge and experience that we didn't have and through collaboration during the project develop our internal team while progressing the project at pace.

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

Looking to grow an existing relationship

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

I think you have this well documented

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

6-8 Project Manager, Scrum Master, developers and testing

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

The project continues and deliverables are ongoing

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

This took some time to get right, however once aligned the communication and timeliness is good.

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

Flexibility and adaptability as well as the hand over documentation

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

The overall approach of buy sprint time is something I would think twice about in the future. the hand over process has not gone well in terms of technical skill and knowledge. That said their product management documentation is fantastic.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Digital agency - business lead

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

Website development / high quality code, contribution to constructive relationship with client, fast problem solving, added value through quality and cooperation

How did you select Deazy and what were the deciding factors?

trust from previous projects + quality of personnel we deal with

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

development team, QA and technical project management - assimilation with prescribed development methodology and technologies to be used, contribution to sprint planning and problem solving, regular delivery of deployments, bug fixing and change requests

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

A project manager was our main point of contact throughout the project

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

No results available yet

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

The team is helpful and quick to respond, willing to be tenacious and creative in resourcing solutions.

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

Positive attitude

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

None

Please describe your company and your position there.

Head of Customer and Business Solutions for a Global Public Transport operating group

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

We needed to further develop a bespoke mobile application in order to improve security and allow scale and enhance the app features- this will allow the app to be deployed across all our UK operations.

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

Prior experience with the application was key to ensuring a fast start as the project had tight timescales for completion.

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

Internal resources reprioritised the backlog on JIRA for two sprints. The first sprint delivered security and scale enhancements making use of the new API. The second delivered feature enhancements. APK was then delivered to our internal QA team for testing. The app is delivered to Android only.

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

3/4 resources were used in the sprints, plus support from our Deazy account liaison.

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

The developers have delivered what was asked. The new software version has not been deployed to end users as yet.

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

Daily stand-ups, comms via Slack and Jira. Excellent communication and transparency.

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

Speed of execution and flexibility very good- very good coms

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

Not really