White Labeled .NET Development for Software Startup
- Web Development
- $200,000 to $999,999
- Apr. 2016 - Ongoing
- Quality
- 5.0
- Schedule
- 5.0
- Cost
- 5.0
- Willing to Refer
- 5.0
"We’ve been really pleased with that working relationship. I have a lot of respect for these guys and like them personally as well..."
- IT Services
- Memphis, Tennessee
- 1-10 Employees
- Phone Interview
- Verified
The development partnership began with a single .NET resource and has since grown to include a three developers, a business analyst and a tester.
The client is happy with the quality of their work and has given Diceus increasing amounts of responsibility and autonomy. They have delivered upon their promises, though some timeline estimates are rosier than reality.
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
BACKGROUND
Introduce your business and what you do there.
We provide software and digital marketing solutions to the automotive market, basically dealers in the United States. We are branching out to other industries very soon. I am the chief operating officer and one of the owners. I’m basically the business developer so I provide the storyboards and business requirements.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
What business challenge were you trying to address with Diceus?
The biggest challenge was that since we develop software, we needed a software provider and a developer team. We looked around and worked with a couple of different companies. We were somewhat satisfied, and that’s when I found Diceus and looked at some of their work. We started a small project with them and it’s grown, and we’ve been really happy with their development work so far.
SOLUTION
What was the scope of their involvement?
As a startup, cost from our company’s standpoint is huge and development costs are very high, especially in the United States. So we had to look for lower cost options. We were introduced to Diceus via a freelancing website.
We were wanting to build out a set of business intelligence tools with leaderboards and stats, and a competition system that was from our software. We wanted to build those metrics to help dealers incentivize their salespeople to use our system. So we bid that contract out and Diceus won.
Since then, we’ve given them basically everything. They’re my extended team. They’re just developers, and whether they’re sitting next to me in the office or overseas, they carry out my vision of what kind of software I want to build. One of the things that our base system was built in was .NET, so we needed someone that was still familiar with that base. They were, so that was one of the things that were key. Other than that, we just wanted someone that had some experience in building out leader board stats, competition type systems with graphics, and business intelligence that also could work on websites and other types of software. As I interviewed them and looked at their prior work, I knew they had a lot of people on their staff that could help us and they had different skill sets, so I knew I wasn’t just going with someone that had two or three developers. At the time, I believe they had over 20 employees. So I knew they had a lot of skillsets. I know they coded for us in PHP and other languages, but I would be starting to talk above my skill level.
What is the status of this engagement?
We started reaching out to them in March or April [2016], and then after that project was successful, we gave them another project. They quoted the first project, and after really liking working with them, we made the decision to have someone assigned to us that would be on our team and that we would call our own developer. From the planning perspective, it allows that if something goes over, they’re not under the gun trying to come up with the exact price. We’ve got someone that’s working for us to build stuff out and we can build a relationship with that person. That’s what we did. Then from that, we were getting great results and so we added two more. And then, we added two more again. So we’re continuing to add people. We still have a lot of remaining work to do, but we’re probably on pace to do $300,000 with them this year.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?
A lot of that is driven by sales. I would say that we’ve had multiple deployments. They have been successful.
We’ve continued to ramp up resources as we built trust and confidence in their abilities to develop and internally manage the work. We’ve been really pleased with that working relationship. I have a lot of respect for these guys and like them personally as well, so it’s been a really good relationship.
How did Diceus perform from a project management standpoint?
We have developers, the business analyst, and the tester. We use two main pieces of software. JIRA allows you to enter tickets and plan sprints from an Agile perspective. We’re using more of an Agile type model blended with Waterfall, but still more Agile. We also use Microsoft Project Manager, and the business requirements are typically sent over in Microsoft Projects, PowerPoint, or Word and Excel. We Skype every day.
What did you find most impressive about Diceus?
When I look at working with people and hiring them, I determine whether they have the skillset I need, the work ethic, and a good attitude. It’s hard to know work ethic and good attitude until you have a relationship there. They definitely have the skill set, but what I’ve been really impressed with is their work ethic. They’re super hard workers and super smart. They’ve got great attitudes. They’re very dedicated to my company’s success. I think they feel it as a win-win, and they’re working on something that’s a win for them personally and wins for their own company. I think it’s been a great business relationship. I’m super proud of the decision we made to go with them. I can’t say anything but good stuff.
Are there any areas Diceus could improve?
It’s easy to not take into consideration unexpected things. From an overall planning perspective, it takes a little bit longer than you might expect in the beginning, and it’s because you start peeling back that onion and you’re like, “Oh, I didn’t know this was here. Of course, it would’ve planned differently.” It’s just not knowing what you don’t know, which they could’ve done differently because they don’t know our systems. If anything, if they said in the beginning stages it was going to take three weeks, I probably should’ve said five just to make sure. But other than that, I can’t think of anything. We’ve made a couple of adjustments on the team with personnel after we saw a couple of guys doing good, but maybe not as good as we thought. They’ve been proactive on that. In hindsight, it’s really more about expectations and planning and that’s just as much my fault as anybody's.
RATINGS
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Quality
5.0Service & Deliverables
"When I provide screenshots, my drawings, or my own business requirements, they always do what I ask and then they make suggestions to make it better which is what I want them to do."
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Schedule
5.0On time / deadlines
"They’ve always said to not let a time zone be an issue. If I need them at midnight their time, they will be available."
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Cost
5.0Value / within estimates
"They go above and beyond. I’m paying for full time employees, but they’re definitely giving me more than 40 hours a week. It’s not that I’m asking for it; they just want to. They definitely have a fair price for our negotiated rates."
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Willing to Refer
5.0NPS