Dotsquares

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a grant consulting firm with over 30 years of experience. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Dotsquares?

We hired them to develop a leading-edge online portal utilizing current technology to assist our clients.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was to complete the portal within six weeks in order to capture market share and provide a superior service. 

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They quoted a reasonable, competitive price to complete the project within the proposed time frame and their online reviews were positive. Further investigation, however, revealed that they are not a real company; the client companies quoted do not exist and the portfolio work cited is not on the web. 

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

The work is not completed. Every change results in other, basic errors and communication issues. 

What was the team composition?

There was no team component. What was advertised as a team is actually one person working during his breaks; if he is away, nothing happens, so there is virtually no progress each week. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Drawn out with no constructive results week after week, the project has had a very negative impact on our business. It has cost us more than we paid for the actual development as well as sales in the hundreds of thousands. 

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

There is no project management.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

There is nothing impressive about this company. 

Are there any areas where they can improve?

Everything needs to be improved. They lack genuine concern for the customer and are in the wrong business. The work is outsourced to India to save costs and their skills in web development are questionable. 

Company Responses

This comment was provided by Sandeep Yadav, Managing Business Partner at Dotsquares, on July 17, 2018.

As per our standard process, we provided project estimates based on the discussion with the client and mentioned all the modules in the specification document. We got the client’s approval but they kept on asking for new functionalities during project development that were out of the initial scope. So, we had to consider it as a “Change Request” and the cost needed to be re-estimated. Due to the client’s lack of technical knowledge, the client wanted to add those new features and not change the original cost itself.

He tried to threaten us for giving negative reviews and creating bad impressions among his acquaintances, but that’s not a professional way of dealing with service-based firms. We are still ready to work on those modules which were included originally in the scope if the client finds any issues with them.

In conclusion, we feel that this review is misleading and shows false information in order to get extra services from us at no additional cost.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a co-founder and CTO of a proctoring service. We watch people take online exams using webcams, microphones, and remote desktop technology.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Dotsquares?

We need to hire an additional vendor to support a legacy Flash/Flex application.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal for this project was to see if wanted to work with them long-term.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We performed searches for companies that advertised experience with Adobe Flash/Flex development. We also interviewed Dotsquares, read reviews, and looked at samples of their code.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, they reviewed the codebase and familiarized themselves with it. Afterward, they were supposed to join multiple FLV files into a single file.

What was the team composition?

We worked with one project manager (PM) and 1–2 developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Describe the impact this engagement has had on your business.

It had a negative impact on my business because we lost time and money.

How was project management handled?

The project management was poor and ineffective. Their PM was unable to articulate or comprehend tasks, issues, and requests. They used a software tool and that was severely lacking in features compared to other platforms. Lastly, the PM didn't want to communicate verbally over Hangouts or Skype due to the time difference.

Is there anything that the vendor did well or that you would consider a strength?

The client list on their website was impressive.

In what specific areas can they improve?

They should be honest about their capabilities. Communication is key, so 24-hour responses to timely questions and requests are not ideal.

Company Responses

This comment was provided by Sandeep Yadav, Business Development Manager at Dotsquares, on May 15, 2018.

The client was not sure about the technical feasibility of the solution, so his job required R&D before reaching any conclusion. Initially, we got a link from the client to understand what the project is. After analyzing the requirements and a video call with the client, we understood that the project was regarding Flash/Flex however, the tasks were not mentioned clearly. Hence we asked the client to send us the tasks he wanted us to perform. After we received the 1st task from the client, we mentioned to him that the task could be completed by working in PHP and not Flash/Flex to which the client agreed and sent us PHP scripts with the task. Later, once we finished the task and sent it for a review, the client said he wanted the job to be done in Amazon and not in PHP anymore. After suficient R&D, we informed the client that the Amazon server does not support what he was asking for. The client was generous enough to help us with various alternatives, however its not possible to do what he asked for - which was confirmed by an Amazon discussion forum. We shared that information with the client and have since been waiting for his reply.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a software and web development company based in Sydney, Australia. We’ve been in business for 15 years. I am the director of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dotsquares?

We had a staff of 60 at our office in the Philippines. I was getting tired of working with that region and started looking for an Indian team to assist us with software projects.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I originally contacted Dotsquares for a small project developing a WordPress plug-in. We’ve since built a relationship over time, and Dotsquares has come to handle most of our high-level projects.

Dotsquares is involved in software work, and anything which requires more complicated development. We generally handle simple WordPress sites inhouse, mainly because of cost reasons.

We’ve built an app for a large multinational, during which Dotsquares has worked with us through the design and development phases. They’ve provided ongoing support for it over the last two and a half years. It’s a property app which searches a large database and has geolocation abilities, as well as a number of other features.

Our client had produced monthly PDF reports for the last 15 years, containing a list of property sales in Australia, and all the related data in that realm, like sale-price descriptions and technical items. The report was provided to clients at no cost, but the company wanted to start monetizing, so they started to invest money in developing an app, through which they would continue to provide those PDF reports on a monthly basis, but also turn a 15-year database into a searchable product.

Uploading the PDF component wasn’t exactly rocket science, but Dotsquares mainly focused on extracting all the information out of past reports, cleansing it and building the search components of the app, which had seven core filter criteria, apart from location. Users could filter states, prices and other information, and retrieve a page which had all the property information, as well as browse a map. The app showed detailed information for selected properties. The app was built for the iPhone and iPad separately since we wanted to create a more extensive, landscape version for the iPad, where most users tended to be. The client also contacted us for building an Android version four months later. I worked closely with Dotsquares in order to figure out what the design components should be.

How did you come to work with Dotsquares?

I was referred to Dotsquares by a friend. I got along with their principal and found that we had similar interests. Many of my relationships with offshore staff had been limited to the employer-employee level. With Dotsquares, I was able to cut through those barriers quickly, and have good, meaningful conversations.

How much have you invested with Dotsquares?

The cost of Dotsquares’ work is between AU$50,000 [$37,500 USD] and AU$80,000 [$60,000 USD] per year.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Our property app has around 2,000 users.

How did Dotsquares perform from a project management standpoint?

Dotsquares has several different operation models. I had been working with our Philippines team, and didn’t have a good grasp of the differences with Dotsquares’ team. We started with a developers-only approach, but I needed a project manager as well, someone who could make sure that things were understood, so we included one in our model. It’s around 20% more expensive, but it’s far superior to only working with developers. When working with a team like this, I am looking for overall the skills of a group of people. I was given a balance of support and understanding of what the concept of a project was, mixed with the development services.

We started a very large project with Dotsquares three or four months ago, double the size of what we’d done previously. It’s using four developers, a tester, and a project manager, and it has been running quite well. The key to any project is to get the team working well, and have good interactions. The early phase will always need a bit more finessing, and we’ve had to find our groove a bit, but the last month and a half has been smooth sailing. I feel that the blended project manager/developer model is the one clients should be going for.

We use the Agile methodology, and I’ve appreciated Dotsquares’ ability to scale, adding more developers as-needed. We were running one or two weeks behind, but we’ve managed to overtake that lag by getting good assets on the job.

As with any team, whether internal or hired, we need to find our groove. This is as much my own responsibility as it is Dotsquares’. I’ve needed to pick up my game and deliver things to them more quickly so that we’d meet our deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about Dotsquares?

The main reason for shutting down the office in the Philippines was communication. That was just as important as development itself to me, since anyone can develop things, but if we’re not communicating, the work isn’t done. Dotsquares’ biggest pro is that the communication is right up there. At no point have I felt like I was in limbo, and this has definitely been the key criterion which got me hooked and kept me there. Even if things aren’t working right, for whatever reason, there’s still communication. Dotsquares has always been clear on what is going on, either through Skype calls or email.

Are there any areas Dotsquares could improve?

Unless we kept on top of things, developers tended to report that something was done, when it wasn’t. I would say that Dotsquares’ project management, although not flawless, is very good, but, when we get to the developers’ level, we see the same issue as with all freelance development, namely being told that something had been done and tested, when it wasn’t. Things can be rectified, but it’s annoying, and it requires me to allocate additional time and energy to a task.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a software development company focusing mainly on product development for water markets.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dotsquares?

We wanted to have a testing resource to provide independent testing for the products built by our in-house team. We were also looking for Java developers who could undertake some R&D work, adding extra capacity to our team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Dotsquares has been involved in the testing of our water-accounting product and the provision of Java resources to fast track an R&D scope of work. We had a tight timeline to which we needed to respond quickly, so the first task for Dotsquares was to put together a test campaign. We invested some initial effort to get their team up to speed on the product, after which Dotsquares prepared a series of test cases for the new product. We ran the campaign for a couple of months, and also asked Dotsquares to undergo some security testing, after that part of the development was completed.

On the Java side of things, we engaged Dotsquares for some R&D tasks. They needed to have experience with payment gateways and similar components, to build an integration with our payment and accounting system, QuickBooks. For this work, Dotsquares maintained their own development environment.

Dotsquares also developed an internationalization proof-of-concept, converting their code to alternative language, in this case, Hindi. We worked with them using an Agile development methodology, with two-week sprints. The scope of each sprint was agreed to in advance and concluded with a demonstrated.

We worked with two Java resources, a test analyst, as well as project management and business analysis resources from Dotsquares.

How did you come to work with Dotsquares?

I was working for a different organization two or three years ago. Dotsquares had already been engaged by them for the development of a CRM solution. I worked with them through that process, and, when I moved to my current company, I looked Dotsquares up, since we were looking for an outsourcing organization.

How much have you invested with Dotsquares?

The cost of our project was between AU$30,000 and AU$40,000. [$22,000 to $30,000 USD]

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Dotsquares in October 2016. The project wrapped up in December.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We worked in two-week sprint cycles, and the key metric has been Dotsquares’ ability to deliver what they said they would. This was my experience with them in the past as well. We were able to leverage from Dotsquares quality practices and recommendations for the use of testing tools. This included artifacts to capture requirements and estimates. Dotsquares provided regular communication and were able to deliver to estimates. Dotsquares is good at putting together estimates and meeting them.

We’ve have launched a new product, and have sold the product to two beta clients. Dotsquares contributed to this successful outcome.

How did Dotsquares perform from a project management standpoint?

The project manager successfully set the scope, ensured delivery, and provided regular communication. We met with the project management resource from Dotsquares' side on a regular basis. The developers and testers took part in those meetings as well, but we generally dealt with one contact. I always try to bring the whole team into the same environment during these projects, to increase collaboration and provide a positive team atmosphere.

What did you find most impressive about Dotsquares?

As with any new resource, you have to invest time upfront in education them, but the Dotsquares team was flexible given our time constraints. They worked in a collaborative fashion to understand our requirements and deliver under tight time pressure. They were keen to make sure they were adding value and continued to work with us to improve service delivery. The test campaign did identify a number of issues - their security testing in particular captured issues for us to resolve before we shipped the product to clients.

Are there any areas Dotsquares could improve?

It’s always challenging to bring a new team to a project, and require them to respond quickly. Nothing stands out in terms of improvements from their side.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are an Indianapolis-based internet marketing and software development company. We provide services ranging from website design, development, and hosting, to enterprise and cloud-based app development.

What is your position?

I am the founder of the company. I spend time with customers and ensure that our services are delivered for highest satisfaction.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Dotsquares?

We needed some help with frontend UI programming.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

Since our first UI project with Dotsquares seven years ago, we've established a long-term relationship. We've spun out and worked on some PHP projects. Dotsquares is our development resource at this point in time, and we work with them on a monthly and weekly basis.

We've worked on smaller projects consisting of WordPress, Drupal and e-commerce Magento deployments. We've also used Dotsquares for PHP projects like smaller CRM applications, inventory software, and so on, as well as for larger applications requiring one year of development or more. These include everything from server to HR software for clients.

We have developed our own software-as-a-service application, namely a marketing app used by manufacturers. It has been in development for a year.

Dotsquares has provided us with a team that has remained unchanged for the most part. The same three lead developers have remained a part of our work. This consistency is one thing that I like about them. We also work with an IT-services provider who helps us with Amazon Web Services and Rackspace server maintenance, security, and new deployments. From time to time, we will use graphic designers, UI engineers, and database developers, as well as Android and iOS developers on an as-needed basis. The core team works with us full-time.

How did you come to work with Dotsquares?

We found Dotsquares online. They were fast and responsive in addressing our issues.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The cost of Dotsquares' work is above $150,000 per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Dotsquares in 2009.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Typically, Dotsquares works eight or nine hours per day, depending on the project scope and definition, and on how much handholding we require. For smaller projects, we don't have a very elaborate approach, but we want to be more disciplined on larger ones in order to make sure that all requirements are caught correctly on the first go. Dotsquares has been fairly good to communicate with over Skype and phone calls. In terms of work output, I would compare them to developers in the US, but we are able to save around 65% on the cost, according to an estimate we made three years ago.

How did Dotsquares perform from a project management standpoint?

Dotsquares provides daily reporting. I am also in contact with the team daily, or even twice a day. We also have an internal project management system through which we can ensure that our own clients are happy. We used to employ a project manager on Dotsquares' side, but we don't anymore. I can inform Dotsquares' management whenever we need more resources, but I can also ask the development team for this. Dotsquares will typically involve a sales rep, a project manager, and other resources, but our relationship doesn't require this. Any new resources we need are spun up quickly.

What distinguishes Dotsquares from other providers?

Dotsquares' team takes responsibility for the project, and doesn't come up with excuses, which is good for me. Being able to communicate is important, and making sure that a project is well-defined (especially for larger ones), and that its requirements are captured correctly. My team can come up with alternatives and suggestions for me to consider. I am a pseudo-developer, which means that I was one 20 years ago, but I don't do any coding at the moment. It's easy to communicate with Dotsquares to make sense of more complex programming issues.

Is there anything Dotsquares could have improved or done differently?

We could do a better job of prioritization by tweaking our workflow, which is an ongoing process at the moment.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-CEO of Ocean Holidays, an online travel business based in the UK. We run 3 brands—3 websites—and we sell holidays to UK consumers traveling mainly to Florida. I head up all the IT and technology side of the business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dotsquares?

We needed an outsource agency for some of the projects we were building.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I’ve worked with Dotsquares on various applications, including travel websites using XML technology. These sites allow people to book travel products online—flights, hotels, transfers, and car rental. We’ve built a CMS and CRM back-office system to automate processes in-house. They’ve built internally-facing web apps for our users on the road.

One of the largest projects we built was an end-to-end CRM system that sits at the back of our whole business, across all of our brands. It’s a .NET application that allows us to maintain all of our customers’ contact and inquiry information. We have all of our conversations and phone system integrated with that. The first project was an online booking website for high volume, low-value holidays. We have a team of UK project managers and we work with 16 or 17 developers from Dotsquares.

How did you come to work with Dotsquares?

I was introduced to them by a colleague who had heard about them. Their CEO came to meet with us in London.

How much have you invested with Dotsquares?

We spend £220,000 per year on Dotsquares’ services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them 9 years ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We’ve grown our business in the last 4 years by at least 25% year over year. You need to have the best technology in travel in order to progress. The systems that have been built with Dotsquares have enabled the company to scale without adding so many human beings because the technology has automated a lot of the process. We launched the project 8 weeks ago and we’ve had a 20% increase in conversion rate. We’re really pleased about that.

How did Dotsquares perform from a project management standpoint?

They have a project manager with the teams that sit under them. Our project managers in the UK work directly with the developers. We use a tool called LinkIt by our choice, a cloud-based board system where we can have visibility of all the projects that are going on. We use Slack for live chat.  

What did you find most impressive about Dotsquares?

They’ve allowed us the flexibility to work with our style. We drive the developers directly and we trust them.

Are there any areas Dotsquares could improve?

The cultural difference in the design may not sit well with developers sitting in another country, that’s why we keep the design development in the UK.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of the company. Our main focus is attraction tickets for the Orlando area. We service the UK and European customers as an online reseller.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dotsquares?

We needed to develop a booking engine, a database, and a bespoke hosting solution. We wanted to have developers on hand for any requirements.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Dotsquares initially provided hosting for our company. This snowballed into other projects, including app development and website maintenance.

How did you come to work with Dotsquares?

Dotsquares was recommended to us. Because the company is based in Brighton, I was able to have a quick chat with Dotsquares' owner at the time. I found him to be honest and transparent, so we decided to have an initial collaboration for hosting.

How much have you invested with Dotsquares?

The cost of Dotsquares' services has been around 60,000 GBP.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Dotsquares 10 years ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

When we started working with Dotsquares, our turnover was around 3 million [Great British] pounds. We now have over 30 million pounds in revenue. Without the platform that we've built alongside Dotsquares, that wouldn't have been possible. Their work is of a high standard and competitive.

How did Dotsquares perform from a project management standpoint?

Over the course of our collaboration, Dotsquares has remained extremely helpful and available at any time, regardless of the difference between our time zones. We handle most of the project management on our side, keeping in touch with the developers via Skype. Dotsquares does have a project management platform available. But because we have such a good relationship, having known many of the developers in our team for over 7 years, we tend not to use the tool. We speak directly to each member every day.

What did you find most impressive about Dotsquares?

The developers I've worked with in the past pretty much stuck to what they knew, without suggesting anything. Dotsquares' team will actually provide input for what they think will improve our system. They may not be good ideas at times, but that doesn't matter. I appreciate the fact that they're confident enough to throw them out there.

Are there any areas Dotsquares could improve?

Everyone could work cheaper, but that's not really relevant. There's nothing specific about Dotsquares that springs to mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We sell tickets for any sort of rail travel around the world through our own custom-built system. It's a broad solution allowing us to connect to various rail company APIs. Users can make live bookings online using it, via a number of different websites.

I am the operations director of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Dotsquares?

We had been put in an awkward position by our developer at the time because they were not available and we needed to make a change to our system.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had an existing platform, and went through a due-diligence process with our company at the time, identifying a few core problems. Dotsquares started work on a completely new instance of the system, with many more features, which allowed us to have a more scalable solution. It's completely bespoke.

The size of our team has varied, but we're currently using 5 developers from Dotsquares. As part of our agreement, we can add and remove developers on an ad-hoc basis. At most, we've used 8 resources.

How did you come to work with Dotsquares?

We found Dotsquares through Google. We had a meeting with them, during which Dotsquares explained what they did. It seemed to be a good progression from where we were to where we wanted to be.

How much have you invested with Dotsquares?

The cost of Dotsquares' services has been around 100,000 GBP [approx. US$121,000] per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Dotsquares in March 2012.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The platform being developed by Dotsquares is the system we're using in order to manage all of our customer orders. It is core to the running of the company, and we wouldn't have been able to achieve the success we’ve achieved without it.

How did Dotsquares perform from a project management standpoint?

Going from a UK-based shop which we could visit whenever we needed, to a Skype-based remote collaboration with an Indian developer implied a bit of a learning curve. We have different cultures, and we needed to make sure that we were asking for exactly what we needed to develop.

Dotsquares has a custom project management tool which they're also licensing. We've used it to track milestones, bugs, tasks, and so on. The relationship is managed by 2 people in our UK team, while Dotsquares assigns a project manager for their developers.

What did you find most impressive about Dotsquares?

The quality of Dotsquares' work is fantastic. Any errors have come down to communication problems, rather than coding errors. Dotsquares is committed to us as a customer. We have a great relationship with the Indian office and visit them for a week once a year.

Are there any areas Dotsquares could improve?

I can't think of anything at the moment. Dotsquares has performed exactly as we expected.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Owner of Marple Antiques

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Sellers of antique and vintage items

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Dotsquares to accomplish?

• Create and an elegant webpage

SOLUTION

How did you find Dotsquares?

Big Commece store

Why did you select Dotsquares over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Dotsquares were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Dotsquares redesigned my webpage to make it more user friendly and to look more pleasing to customers who landed on my page.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Being able to provide me with a website that I was happy with.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Tanu responded in a timely manner and he delivered (with his team) the desired outcomes.

What was your primary form of communication with Dotsquares?

Email or Messaging App

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

Tanu was always at hand to answer any questions quickly and efficiently.

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

I believe they did everything they could to ensure a good outcome.
Nothing was too much trouble for them and they delivered when they said they would. Thank you to Tanu who lead the team and Mukul Nathu, Anjani, Neha, Indra, and Sanyukta.   If you are looking for a company who goes above and beyond Dotsquares is the one for you. Thanks again team, hope to engage you in more work in future.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the IT Manager of Anuschka Leather

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Manufacturer and exporter, seller of leather goods

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Dotsquares to accomplish?

• Shopify website re-development

SOLUTION

How did you find Dotsquares?

Online Search

Why did you select Dotsquares over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget

How many teammates from Dotsquares were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Re-development of 5 Shopify webstores

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Very good

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They strongly maintained the time line and delivered.

What was your primary form of communication with Dotsquares?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Very humble and polite approach, always available, maintaing time line, in depth knowledge and coming up with smart solutions.

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

NA