Delaplex

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of product development and technical marketing for a broadcast television video and audio routing and processing equipment manufacturer serving the global marketplace.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with delaPlex?

At the beginning of our relationship, we were looking to build an iOS application to provide our customers with an additional routing control option. We wanted to work with a company that understood our industry.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Since our initial project, we’ve continued to work with them for software development. They’ve helped us build software based solutions to provide reliable control of our equipment via a PC application and a web interface. Our end users require systems that can operate reliably for long periods of time without needing a reboot, so we needed careful, well thought-out designs for our router control applications. To achieve this, we worked closely to help them understand our proprietary control architecture and our hardware.

What is the team composition?

I wasn’t with the company at the time so I’m not familiar with the size of the team they provided for our initial project. However, recently they’ve provided us with five team members for two of our projects that include software developers, quality assurance professionals, and project managers.

How did you come to work with delaPlex?

One of their company principals came from within our industry so we had some familiarity with him. And when the need came about we felt they would be a good fit so we decided to give them a call.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $225,000 with them over the course of all our projects.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since 2012.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We offer a 10-year warranty on our equipment, which is unheard of in our industry. We’re a small company and our software team stays focused on managing updates and the customization of existing equipment for our customers. With delaPlex, we have the flexibility to maintain those routine efforts while working with them to expand our product offerings.  Doing so has saved us months, if not years, in development time.

How did delaPlex perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re quite adept at being able to capture our requirements and disseminate information about their progress toward achieving our goals. We have daily, Monday-Friday morning calls to review our progress and identify any changes. Outside of these meetings, we communicate via email.

We use Mind Mapping for internal project management, which they’ve been able to adapt to quickly. On their end, I believe they use Monday, which has helped them convey information efficiently.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve always demonstrated a strong understanding of our industry. When I’ve talked to other developers, they clearly don’t understand our industry workflows and what we would need from a partner. None of them seem to have the knowledge or experience within our industry or the mindset necessary to adapt to our challenges like delaPlex does.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only issues we’ve had have been completely out of the control of delaPlex, and are related to adjusting our collaboration methods due to the Coronavirus and the associated lockdowns. Because of those adjustments, their individual team members’ work-from-home network capabilities have at times been strained. However, I can’t fault delaPlex for this, and in all honesty, they’ve been great at adapting to a fully remote workforce.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just call them!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of data management and reporting at Epividian, Inc. My organization deals with healthcare and analytics. We work with pharmaceutical companies and HIV-specific clinical companies and enterprises. I support most of the informatics we deal with.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with delaPlex?

We brought them on to deal with a lot of our development as well as support our mobile app and platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

For our mobile app, they’re doing iOS and Android development. The app allows providers to look at patients' schedules and get important health metrics for their patients. It also alerts providers to KPIs and underperforming or actionable health suggestions to apply those toward the patients.

The platform deals with a lot of the database work in the backend and utilizes SharePoint, SQL Server, and .NET development. Their team also uses most of the Microsoft technology stack. They also do third-party API development.

What is the team composition?

We work with around 10 team members including quality control, database architects and engineers, project lead, two ETL developers, and two mobile developers. We also have two analysts who help support our medical terminology.

How did you come to work with delaPlex?

They’ve been with my company since before I joined.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $100,000–$130,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started around January 2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re extremely happy with delaPlex. They’ve done a great job and have been very responsible. We make an effort to email them the feedback that we’ve received. There have been times when they’ve gone above and beyond what we’ve asked.

We’ve had a very positive partnership from the beginning. Our organization increased engagement with a client based on the feedback and positive responses to the app.

How did delaPlex perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Microsoft TFS for our project management. They follow an agile methodology.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve always been flexible with us. That’s helped us because we’re a small company. The ability for them to scale up and down with our needs is huge. We’ve gotten a lot accomplished, more so than other companies I’ve worked with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s a bit of a language barrier. When we’re trying to explain something, it may take longer than we expect. However, they make up for that in other ways. It hasn’t hindered us and we’ve accomplished everything we’ve needed to. This is their second language and if I were to speak in a second language, I wouldn’t be speaking anything. This isn’t a hindrance, but it may help speed up some of the understanding as well as the communication back and forth.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s helpful to have detailed requirements.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the Director of Product Development of an entertainment software company. We build software to help companies manage their corporate entertainment assets, basically tickets to sporting events, concerts, theater, or whatever else. I lead a team of developers who are designing and building that system.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with delaPlex?

We rely on them to build our entire platform. They do all the backend coding and provide ongoing support, even day to day support. There’s always something that needs to be fixed or improved in the system, which I provide direction for, and then they execute for it. It’s an ongoing engagement.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We use ASP.Net. That’s my team’s core competency. I know delaPlex can support everything, but that’s our framework. They do whatever it takes. I throw things at them that they might never have heard of like specific security requirements and they get it done promptly.

What is the team composition?

Our team is three developers and one project manager, currently. Over the years we’ve had four or five people on our project on a regular basis. We’ve also staffed three developers on a side project. The team has varied from 4–8 in size.

How did you come to work with delaPlex?

We’ve been working with them for eight years now. We were one of their first customers when they had 1–3 people. Now, they have a few hundred. Someone from our leadership team that’s not currently with the company hired them, but we continued to use them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together with them for eight years and continue to work with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

While I don’t have any metrics, anecdotally I can’t say enough positive things about delaFlex. Not only can you give them requirements that they’ll successfully execute on, but if you’re missing things or if there are additional considerations you haven’t thought of, they can be on the lookout and help bolster the requirements to make everything perfect.

Furthermore, they’re incredibly friendly and good people. I talk to them every day. They’re super easy to work with. They know our product better than anybody and I never have any anxiety about them.

We just finished a year-long project where we completely overhauled the entire interface — every single page of the site. They did such an amazing job of organizing how all the work needed to be done and how long it was going to take. That’s a highlight because it was a massive undertaking and such a success.

How did delaPlex perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s good. While we have a project manager, she doesn’t do much. That’s not her fault — she’s not super involved because she doesn’t need to be because the project is such a well-oiled machine.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re the only group we’ve ever worked with, so I can’t compare our relationship. But I can’t imagine anybody else having a better kind of relationship and system than we have working with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice would be to empower them. They can handle it. Treat them like teammates and give them the power to call audibles, make changes, and give advice. They have excellent opinions — solicit them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of PlanTools. It is a SaaS company that delivers fintech solutions to banks, insurance companies, mutual fund companies, investment advisors, and broker-dealers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with delaPlex?

We had been through two previous US-based firms that imploded on us and gave us bad service, gave us bad code, and overcharged us, so we turned to delaPlex to complete the project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We offer several different software solutions, and we’ve used delaPlex to help us build out those tools. We’ve been able to develop custom solutions in addition to our standardized products. 

We license our products to various financial firms, and they in turn deliver them to their clients. Their clients are company retirement plans, wealth management clientele; there are a variety of different uses for the software. Additionally, over the past six years, we have rolled out a little over 400 upgrades every year. 

What is the team composition?

We started with two developers from their team, and we’re up to about 15 resources right now. On big projects, we have been able to turn up the dial, and I think at one time we had as many as 25 or 27 resources to build out a specific custom tool for our client. 

How did you come to work with delaPlex?

We were desperately looking for another firm. We’d talked to a client of ours who had personal experience with some of the problems we were experiencing, and he recommended delaPlex to us.

Initially, I wasn’t interested in an offshore development team, but we had a call with Chris (President) and expressed to him our concerns. He was very empathetic and enthusiastic that delaPlex would be able to provide us with the right resources.

How much have you invested in them?

Since 2013, we have spent about $3,000,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have been working with them for a number of years. We hired them in January 2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work is extremely high quality, and as a team, they’re willing to put in the effort to make sure we’re satisfied. We feel like they’re members of our own team rather than subcontractors. We’ve developed a very strong relationship with delaPlex that’s been profitable and productive for us. 

We’re highly impressed with their attention to detail and their willingness to do the appropriate amount of testing to ensure that the software works properly. They’ve helped us to make some corrections to the previous developer’s mistakes

We’ve been able to offer our custom solutions because delaPlex’s development skills allow us to turn our business knowledge into actionable products and solutions. The products the team has helped us build are used by some of the largest companies in the world, as well as by thousands of advisors with high praise and great results. 

How did delaPlex perform from a project management standpoint?

We use a number of Atlassian services including Asana. We use Slack, which is a very effective tool that we use constantly to run video correspondence and cover different aspects of the project. 

There are also a number of different solutions that we’ve had the benefit of using and some of them are tools that the folks over at delaPlex were not familiar with, but they were more than willing to embrace something new, which was very much appreciated.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I think what makes delaPlex so unique is that the team makes it their job to understand who we are, what we do, and what’s important to us. They want to know about our company and how our company actually operates in the industry we are in. They’re engaged with the growth of our business and have been an incredible partner.

When we lose a resource, they really work hard to find somebody who can get up to speed very quickly. That’s been one of the most impressive things I’ve noticed about them. They really do take the time to try to understand what level of developer we need, whether it’s someone in Angular, C#, or JavaScript. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. Any time we’ve ever raised a concern, their management has been receptive and responsive to finding a solution. They are very sensitive to time-related issues.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you can, try and visit delaPlex in India once a year to develop a fruitful relationship with their team. Also, set the right expectations, and make sure your team fully understands what you want to be built.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of technology at a custom parts marketplace. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with delaPlex?

The company platform was old and antiquated. It was built in 2006, and we needed to build a new platform. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did both front- and backend development. We use Angular5 on the frontend and .NET on the backend. We built complex migration scripts from our old database. The platform also uses an MS SQL database that their team services. The platform uses Zoho products, and their team helps manage that as well. 

What is the team composition?

I’m currently working with 11 team members, but at the height of the project, we had as many as 16 teammates. Our team includes a Zoho specialist, three QA people, and a project manager. 

How did you come to work with delaPlex?

One of my coworkers had heard about them and he referred me to them. I interviewed five companies. delaPlex ended up being the winner because they had the right developers and the experience that I needed. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about 1.3 million dollars. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We built the platform over the course of eight months. We began discussing the project in May 2018 but didn’t begin development until July. The platform launched in February 2019, and we’ve continued to develop updates since then. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of the work is great. They’re collaborative and have excellent critical thinking skills. There aren’t a lot of bugs in their work because they’re thorough during development. The team is scalable and has been able to grow our team size on relatively short notice. I was impressed with the quality of the developers. 

How did delaPlex perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve used Asana in the past, but for the most part, we use Atlassian products. They have an assigned project manager at all times. There are also high-level managers that I can speak with directly. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their customer service is one of their greatest strengths. I can trust them and their developers. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing that comes to mind. They do a really good job, and you can tell they have a lot of experience. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

Know what you want to build and have a clear outline of the design and products you need. If you provide them with the right information, they will get it done. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of GET Valet, a mobile valet platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with delaPlex?

We needed a partner to help us create our platform, which digitizes the valet experience across a number of venues including hospitals, airports, residential buildings, and hotels. We originally did our prototype in 2016, and the development team we were working with at the time was inconsistent and not producing industry-standard results, so we turned to delaPlex.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The delaPlex team developed the whole application, for both Android and iOS. We also have two different management consoles that are web-based, as well as what’s called a web view. They also manage our entire technology platform as well as our AWS set up, within which we utilize nearly everything. 

The app allows users to connect with the valet service over the phone by requesting their car over SMS. They can also record existing damage and other features. One of the most complicated aspects of the project was connecting the product to airport and hospital systems. 

How did you come to work with delaPlex?

From the get-go, we were impressed with the level of flexibility and helpfulness delaPlex was willing to offer us. They were unlike any other development agency we’d worked with in terms of willingness to give us what we need.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent nearly $1,000,000 over the past few years. We spend about $33,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working together since June 2017. There was an onboarding period, where delaPlex allowed their team to invest time in learning our business, which was very important to us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They helped us build a completely elastic and redundant system, which means it can grow as it needs based on volume, and there’s no single point of failure. Last year, we enjoyed a 99.995% uptime, and we have a real chance of hitting 100% this year. That success rate, especially for a transactional platform like this, is incredibly important. They’ve done an excellent job with the project. 

Also, our level of customer-facing or production bugs are small to non-existent, due to the excellent QA we get from delaPlex.

How did delaPlex perform from a project management standpoint?

The team is excellent with communication. We don’t work in a deadline format, but we do have a very strict agile shop. The team respects that environment, and we’ve never been behind on our estimates — in fact, we’re often ahead of them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They encourage their employees to become part of our team. We want them to feel like their part of our team, and they do because delaPlex’s senior leadership wants that integration to take place. They’re not our code jockeys, they’re our technological back that make all the magic happen.

They’re also really flexible, and they’re concerned about the success of our project. Most other development services companies are just trying to sell developer hours. With delaFlex, they’re engaged with our product to the point where they’ve allowed me to adjust resources depending on my needs. They’ve been a tremendous partner; we’re very glad they’re on our team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If there’s anything they could do differently, it would be making me more aware of the types of resources they have. The technical expertise they can offer is an ever-growing repertoire, and I hear about it when I speak with them anecdotally, but I don’t actually know what it is. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Treat delaPlex’s employees as if they’re your employees: the same level of respect, ownership, communication, and dissemination of company information. When you do that, they become part of your team, and they’ll work directly alongside you, in harmony.