Devsinc

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of a SaaS portal. Our platform allows publicly traded companies to get their officers and directors to create and file compliance reports with the securities and exchange commissions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Devsinc?

We needed a new development team to maintain the portal and provide support as it came up.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

For the most part, we outsource work to Devsinc, and they provide support. Over the years, they’ve also done upgrading, so if we need to upgrade the code, they provide that service as well.

The site is built with JavaScript and Ruby on Rails.

What is the team composition?

We work directly with two people, but we work with a third team member occasionally. The primary developer is a supervisor, and they have other support staff that helps depending on the requirements are.

How did you come to work with Devsinc?

My partner found them on Upwork. We went through the interview process, and they seemed to be the ones that knew Ruby on Rails the best out of all the people we interviewed.

Also, the portal’s offering was very time-sensitive, and it needed to be up all the time, especially during specific times of the day. We felt confident that they could provide the service we needed and turn it around quickly when problems came up. The response time was a critical factor in choosing who we were going to work with.

How much have you invested in them?

The maintenance part of the contract is $1,000 a month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with Devsinc since June 2014. We have a contract with them to do monthly maintenance, troubleshoot any bugs, and provide support. We don’t have any plans to change that.

Additionally, they take on bigger projects as we need them to.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Due to the industry we’re in, it’s crucial to have the site up and running all the time because it affects every publicly traded company. If they don’t file the reports on time because there’s something wrong with our system, it can cause a change in the stock price, which is pretty significant for some of the large Fortune 100 and 500 companies we work with.

However, Devsinc always responds and gets things done. If an external factor is causing the site not to work, they’re able to figure out the problem and get it back up with minimal downtime. We’ve never had any client or filing deadline issues, and the uptime has been average over the years.

Overall, their response time is immediate. If we have an urgent matter, we can reach out to their people, and they always respond and take care of what we need.

How did Devsinc perform from a project management standpoint?

We have regular meetings for planning and maintenance. We also get reports from their team regularly, which summarize the maintenance work they’ve been doing.

We have a Slack channel, so most of our communication is through there or through email. If there’s something urgent and we don’t get a quick response through Slack, there are direct members that we can contact as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re there when we need them, and they perform the work that we need. Devsinc’s reliability is probably their most important trait. We have confidence in knowing they maintain the site and it’s all contracted out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think so. The work is spot on, and their quality and response time are good.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have the usual calls for planning and detailing. Also, provide a lot of detail about the development project and your expectations and requirements for the contract.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the co-founder and CTO of an IT firm. We provide multi-lingual video conferencing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Devsinc?

We needed help with software development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Devsinc provides software development services, and they're embedded in our own team. At first, they faced some challenges using Python, so we decided to let them take over our development using Ruby on Rails. 

What is the team composition?

We have about 20 people from Devsinc and those people are scattered across three different teams. 

How did you come to work with Devsinc?

I found them through Upwork. We hired two people from Devsinc, and they were good. As a result, we expanded our projects with them as our partnership progressed. Once we cut a deal, their team grew from 10, 15, and then to 20 developers.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent $500,000 to $600,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our engagement in March 2020, and we continue to work with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We aren't using project-based metrics. Instead, our metrics are hourly-based. We measure their success based on their expertise and if they provide timely delivery of our software. Overall, part of the team is doing well, while another part isn't. 

When it comes to commitment, they’re great, and they provide our software in a time-conscious manner. In expertise, they’re seven out of 10; they have strong technical skills when it comes to Ruby on Rails.

How did Devsinc perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is another metric we look at, and it has been good. Above all, we appreciate that they’re quick to change their staff if they’re not good enough.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Overall, I would give them an eight as far as satisfaction with their service is concerned.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They need to provide better software development, and they need more senior people in their team. Furthermore, they can also improve their turnover; in the last year or so, around 6–7 people left and other people came in and replaced them. It wasn’t too much overall, but it wasn’t great either.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Focus on Ruby on Rails when you engage with Devsinc, and interview their software developers thoroughly.

This is not only for this company but for 99% of companies — it is important to have your internal team working with the vendor. Some companies are good at working by themselves, but others are not. That’s the reason why you need to be on top of your project. If you do that, things will go well.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of Sapling, and we create software for mid-market companies. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Devsinc?

We needed a software development team to help us build our software technology product. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Agile17 developed our project from scratch, but they didn’t design our product. We started with an initial MVP development and getting hosting and service up and running. We also began with managing the database and making sure we were able to make our third-party customers successful without software. 

What is the team composition?

We've worked with 5–6 people over the course of the project.

How did you come to work with Devsinc?

Agile17 was recommended to us by our friend.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent close to $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with Agile17 in July 2016, and it’s ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t have any statistics, but Agile17 has been very good to us. Our site looks better and it offers better UX. 

How did Devsinc perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been great from a project management standpoint, and I highly recommend them. We use Atlassian Jira to manage the project, and we typically communicate with them through email and Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Agile17 has been very easy to work with. They’re very reliable and good at what they do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You’re in very good hands because Agile17 is a great team. As long as you’re clear on what you’re looking for, you’ll have a successful project.