Espin Labs

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a project manager for the Ministry of Education of Argentina. I’m in charge of everything related to implementing new technologies in the education sector.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Espin Labs?

We needed help with custom software development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Espin Labs has worked on different projects. One of them is a web portal for educational content and services for teachers, students, and principals throughout the country. Another one is a management system for online training.

They currently provide maintenance for 4–5 of our online systems.

What was the team composition?

The team changed depending on the project and goals. We’ve worked with developers, architects, QA specialists, tech leaders, and more.

How did you come to work with Espin Labs?

As a state organization, we have bidding processes where different companies compete for the contracts we offer. The service provider that meets all the legal, technical, and management requirements and gets the best score is the one selected for the project. In this case, Espin Labs has been chosen for several opportunities.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our last project started in November 2021. Besides working on development, Espin Labs is also in charge of maintenance, so our collaboration is constant.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our collaboration with Espin Labs has been excellent. Whenever we require something from them, they respond timely. Moreover, we can always count on them when we have issues.

How did Espin Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a process to work with service providers. First, we put up a requirement; they reply with an hours estimation and budget. Then, we discuss, adjust, and approve the project. Most of the time, Espin Labs accomplishes the work within the initially established budget and estimated hours. However, sometimes there are unexpected issues that end up in adjustments, but nothing out of the ordinary.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve had issues on weekends or late at night, and they’ve always been there to help us solve them. For us, that’s a significant difference; we don’t have that with every service provider.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, we’re pretty satisfied with their work. We’ve had different projects throughout time, so we’ve grown together.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of the Red Clover agency, we are dedicated to consulting and implementing online stores with the VTEX platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Espin Labs, and what were your goals?

We hired Espin Labs for the creation of a middleware that allows connecting the internal systems of companies with the ecommerce platform

SOLUTION

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

I knew the company from having worked with them at Walmart Argentina. We had very good results so we do not hesitate to contact them again.

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

The scope of the project required an analysis of the client's databases, creating an application that would allow managing the data in a simple and efficient way, and then connecting through APIs to the ecommerce platform to upload Product Price and Stock. Work was done with the Oracle Database provided by the client and the PHP language with the Laravel Framework.

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

We work with a project leader, with 1 PHP developer and an infrastructure leader.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We achieved the connection and launch of the platform in just 2 months, during which time the integration with the client databases was made and the application for data modifications was created.

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

We had 2 weekly meetings to review progress and new developments. A Gantt was diagrammed with all the activities.

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

What surprised us was that when faced with a requirement, they surpassed the improvements or solutions they proposed.

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

Nothing in particular. The project went very well.