ENTech Solutions

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was the co-founder and managing director of SpaBooker, the product that became Booker Software. The company initially started out by providing a point-of-sale (POS), scheduling system and CRM for Spas and Salons, and later branched out into many different service businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We enlisted ENTech to build the original prototype of the system that would become Booker. After the launch in 2007, the ENTech team continued to provide technical leadership (both for technical architecture and on product management) for the next 9 years.

Our goal was to prove that a web based Scheduling, CRM and POS could be successful in an industry where desktop applications were the norm. We proved out the thesis by capturing over 60% marketshare in the spa industry by the end of 2012.

SOLUTION

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

We performed an RFP across a number of different software development vendors with experience building what was then called ASP but is now called SaaS applications. The deciding factors were:

• total time for the project
• resource availability
• overall project cost

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

The key project steps were:

• Develop the product specifications and define the minimum viable product (MVP)
• Break the larger pieces of development into discrete user stories
• Develop the UI/UX for the user facing interface
• Design the API for integrating scheduling system into other systems and web sites
• Deploy the infrastructure to support the new systems
• Design the release process for releasing the new systems to the new infrastructure
• Deploy the new systems

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

At the beginning of the process there were 5 individuals from ENTech involved, a product/project manager, technical lead, and 3 engineers. Once we had proven the viability of the project we had as many as 21 individuals from ENTech working on the Booker project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

ENTech worked with Booker from the inception of the project (day zero) for almost 10 years through the point where we had over 10,000 paying customers and more than $20M in ARR. By all measures, our collaboration was a success.

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

ENTech was fully integrated into the SDLC with Booker. Since the project began in 2006, the tools available were different than today. Saying this, when we started we used an agile software development methodology with Skype as the chat tool and FogBugz as the issue/task management app. Over the years this was changed to Slack and Trello.

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

ENTech Solutions' most impressive trait was their patience and dedication to a project that started out as an idea. They were able to not only execute on the product vision that we articulated, but add suggestions for key features and functionality that contributed to the overall success of the business.

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

I think the only missed opportunity is that there was a point when Booker could have used more resources from ENTech, but due to the high standards they have for their employees, they didn't have the resources available to help us staff up more quickly.