Exadel

Please describe your organization.

I was the chief security architect heading up enterprise services.

What business challenge were you trying to address with Exadel?

We needed their expertise in security, identity and access management, and security product implementation and support.

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

I asked them to help me set up an IAM [Identity and Access Management] platform and engineer, configure and implement it as a shared service infrastructure for our enterprise needs. From that point on, once the infrastructure had been set up, and the software platform had been up and running, we were able to work with multiple business units. There were 12 different units in total and we helped them implement their IAM services, including Single Sign On, identity management, and self-service provisioning. It was an open-source and highly sophisticated IAM solution for large enterprise use. A lot of users were involved and privileged access was critical because of that. 

Once we got the platform up and running, we had to individually, product-by-product or application-by-application, integrate its functionality into existing products or applications—to enable things like Single Sign on, self-service password resetting, and securing identity credentials.

Exadel is always helping us embrace a more advanced solution and leverage superior technologies. They suggest things that could enhance our service and modernize our IAM delivery service. They help me with research as well as provide consulting in how to maximize our investment in the IAM platform. Beyond that, they help me with on-premise data centers and cloud delivery services, cloud-based apps, and planning our future architecture.

How did you come to work with Exadel?

I worked with Exadel at my previous company, Samsung. I was in a business unit called SDS and there I served as the vice president of software engineering. I worked with them 6 years prior to bringing them on board for this project. There were no other companies under consideration.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2010 and we've been working together ever since.

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

More than anything else, they took my business personally. In other words, they’re even more loyal than my own team. I hate to say that, but it’s true. They have a real personal commitment to the success of the overall program—that’s the feedback I got from my team and even my internal customers. That alone is unexpected.

They not only work long hours but also sacrifice many, many weekends during critical implementation periods to ensure that applications go live without issues. Even if we encounter problems, they didn’t really care what time in the morning it was. They could spend a couple of days straight troubleshooting to ensure that the problems were resolved in time to make our system available for people to start using it first thing Monday morning. The level of commitment was remarkable.

How did Exadel perform from a project management standpoint?

We had as many as 15 on the team at one point. We had to use offshore resources in eastern European countries like Russia, Ukraine, and Belarus. I had as many as 10 resources helping me from their offshore development centers. I had as many as 5 people helping me on-site. I personally conducted interviews for all on-site resources, and occasionally for offshore resources. We spent a lot of time on the phone. We had weekly conference calls and used Confluence for communication. They used seamless methods to communicate with onsite and offshore resources. It was very effective. We were in touch around the clock.

What distinguishes Exadel from other providers?

When it comes to open-source, their expertise is unparalleled. They knew what they were doing; they have extremely smart people. They're true experts. Believe it or not, if they don’t know a certain subject, they’re able to get up to speed very fast. They’re quick at learning. Pricing was very attractive because of the hybrid model they use– blending onshore and offshore teams. 

I don’t know of that many competitors in this space, but they do an extremely good job of recruiting, training and retaining their hired resources. That really stands out in my mind. Having worked in this field for more than 20 years, it definitely impresses me that they’re able to attract and keep that caliber of talent. 

From the top management down to the account executives, this wasn’t a big account to them, but they delivered personalized service, nonetheless. The CEO of the company would even reach out to me during the project; we'd have lunches to ensure everything was running smoothly. It's amazing that he checks up on people every 2–3 months.

Is there anything Exadel could have improved or done differently?

We had some minor issues with billing. We have very complex billing requirements, so their accounting system was difficult to set up. We had some issues setting up our time card in their payment and invoicing system. Initially, we had to do a lot of manual billing, but that was complicated with hours charged and the different call centers and whatnot (we have multiple projects and we have to charge to multiple internal customers using different call centers).

It was a somewhat unreasonable demand, and they had some issues adjusting to that. We were ultimately able to resolve it, but it took us longer than expected. They were responsive enough to address it and kept their costs low. In the 7 years I used them, they never increased their billing rates. They could have, because we had a huge dependency. That’s why they’re still helping us. They value the business relationship over short-term profit—long lasting ones over any kind of short-term gain.

Please describe your organization.

We are a big international electronics publishing company that provides all kinds of regulatory, security, and OSHA [Occupational Safety and Health Administration] compliance information. 

What business challenge were you trying to address with Exadel?

We were looking for an offshore vendor to support the direction of our company. 

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

We are running tons of projects every year, and Exadel handles all of our major initiatives. They primarily use Java for the backend of the platforms. For the frontend, they use JavaScript, Angular, TypeScript, and Node.js. In the past, we used ASP and ASP.NET.

How did you come to work with Exadel?

We tried a number of companies in the industry, but none of them met our needs effectively. We started asking colleagues in the same field for recommendations, and someone pointed us to Exadel. We asked for a consult about 10 years ago. Fima [CEO, Exadel] came to us, and we conducted an interview. We decided to try them out. We actually engaged them in parallel with the HTL team and had them work on the same code base as HTL. Each of them compared the results of all contributions and actually spent some time assessing multiple introduced bugs that affected the quality of code measurements. We were pretty happy with what we saw.

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

We’ve spent about $2 million per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them 10 years ago, and we’ve been partners ever since. 

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

If you go to our website and look up any of our projects, a contribution from Exadel appears. Our quality of work is high, and the defect level is low. Attrition is practically non-existent. Exadel’s level of expertise is extremely impressive.

How did Exadel perform from a project management standpoint?

Our teams work with Exadel on the project all the time. They have all kinds of technical management on site up to the development manager and architect, as well as their practical people and the senior developer. They have a couple of project managers, a durations manager, and a configuration manager.

Many years ago, most of their team members didn’t speak English too well, which created a barrier. We then carefully selected our teams so that at least somebody on every team would be able to take this information and share it with the rest of the team in their language. However, nowadays, everybody at Exadel speaks great English. From my understanding, they actually are running internal classes. If somebody isn’t communicating too well, they actually teach English as part of their own training.

The time barrier can be a disadvantage, but we’ve addressed this by asking Exadel to shift their working day. They’re normally accommodating as far as working later. Sometimes, we need to have early calls. We’ve actually turned this time difference into an advantage. If something needs to be done, I send them a note at the end of my day. By the time I’m back in the morning, the work is already done.

Our formal tool is Lync Microsoft and we use traditional Skype for 1-on-1 communications. When I need to communicate with a team or a channel, we use Slack.

Exadel feels like a permanent member of my team. They are very involved, engaged, and educated. One of their locations is in Belarus, which has favorable economic conditions and strong software development skills. They are members of the High Technologies Park.

I have a good relationship with Exadel, but in terms of when I need extra power, they give me candidates who I interview myself. Exadel is a bigger company with around 1,000 people. Since we are in multiple vertical markets and offer various products in different countries and business units, we are using a lot of technology. I can tell Exadel when I need someone experienced in certain blog technology, for example, and they either have the person on board or find someone in a few weeks. They are very flexible. I could never get that kind of talent sourcing myself in such a short amount of time.

What distinguishes Exadel from other providers?

They are not like a regular, huge outsourcing company. They are flexible in ensuring the right things happen. They can work in any engagement model. If an issue comes up, they are always able to find a mutually workable solution and accommodate me. Sometimes, I need a certain skill set for a short period, and they will give me someone for a month if that’s what I need. They are easygoing and serve my needs.

Is there anything Exadel could have improved or done differently?

I’d like it if they could lower their prices for me. They are worth every penny, though.

Do you have any recommendations for others considering working with Exadel?

Know your needs well and be able to describe them clearly. Exadel will be able to give you what you want. A lot of problems happen because clients don’t know exactly what they need or change their opinion 10 times a day. 

Please describe your organization.

We have created a mobile app aimed at professionals in charge of manual data collection and entry within fields like oil and gas and manufacturing. Typically, whenever there's an incident that needs to be logged, employees would need to stop what they're doing, take notes on a pen and paper and bring their notes to a supervisor. Our software allows workers to have safety at the palm of their hands. Using an iOS or Android device, they can report close calls and other incidents that can later be reviewed by a safety professional through a web portal. We also provide APIs [application programming interfaces] that connect to workers' compensation software systems.

What is your position?

I am the vice president of the company.

What business challenge were you trying to address with Exadel?

We needed development resources for our app.

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

They developed our software solution for both iOS and Android, working in parallel. They also helped scope our project. Exadel was in charge of UI/UX [user interface/user experience] design as well as quality assurance. We had a team of six developers, plus a project manager working for us.

How did you come to work with Exadel?

Our president met their founder, Lisa Calkins at a Colorado event. Exadel was being honored with an award. I had also known Lisa for several years through another company for which I worked.

They were one of three companies that we approached. After sitting down with all three of them and going through a list of services, we decided to work with Exadel. It was not a hard decision.

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

The total development cost has been around $1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

Negotiations and project scoping began in the spring of 2015. Development of the apps took nine months to complete. Both apps are set to be live on March 17, 2016. We've had active users since the beginning of January.

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

One of the things that safety professionals enjoy is the ability to verify that a screen has been completed before going to the next set of questions. The reporting process is simple and has been used by safety professionals without the need for any explanations. It's an intuitive bit of software.

One response we've received from a professional in Seattle was in regard to the first question within the report being "Was there a fatality?" This was due to a decision made by our company, and we've since taken that question out. Other than this, I haven't heard other negative reviews.

We receive occasional bug reports concerning files failing to transfer or improper sequencing of the pictures taken with the app. These are simple fixes. We've never had major functionality problems.

How did Exadel perform from a project management standpoint?

I have no complaints regarding their delivery time. Our budget with Exadel changed from a fixed price to an hourly model. We will be undergoing a couple of small sprints within the next six months, which have been included in the budget.

We had sit-down sessions in which we outlined our entire project and created a visual board of tasks. Before we started talking about features, we discussed the functionality we plan to include in the app and how it was going to grow.

What distinguishes Exadel from other providers?

Their brainstorming program during our initial sit-down discussion was unique, in my experience. I also found that we had access to their other teams for marketing and PR. Lisa Calkins, their CEO, is very involved in our work as well. I found them to be very supportive during our launch.

Is there anything Exadel could have improved or done differently?

Their customer service is great. One thing we've discussed in the past with their team was implementing a solution to help us preview the final outcome of their work. There were moments in which we requested changes in direction for the app. Having some comps early on in order to see our direction would have been helpful.

Please describe your organization.

We are a statewide nonprofit organization based in Florida. We focus on the education of students between the sixth and ninth grade. Our program includes volunteering, college success coaching, and scholarships. We work with low-income students and first-generation college goers, whom we follow and work with throughout their high school periods.

What is your position?

I am the director of program growth and innovation.

What business challenge were you trying to address with Exadel?

We were the recipients of a very large innovation grant from the United States Department of Education. One of the applications for it was supposed to be enlarging our infrastructure in order to support more students. We collect a significant amount of data from our participants, including student grades, testing scores, mentor mash-meetings, and so on. Our old system was based on FileMaker and had been patched throughout the years. If we were going to enter the 21st century, we needed a platform that would allow us to make sure that our data was accurate and controllable. We also wanted an easy-to-use web-based platform in order for it to be accessible statewide.

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

Exadel helped us create the entire platform, from the color scheme and its general design and back-end elements. They also migrated our data from the old system and took care of the integral pieces involved in the process.

Because we're a nonprofit and did not have IT [information technology] expertise in-house, we hired a consultant to help us translate our requirements into a project for Exadel. We worked on an overarching platform, followed by the detailed requirements for each section. It was an extensive project.

Our platform is very large, accommodating 150 users across the state. It was a challenge to devise and create a system that integrated numerous participants doing business in different ways. We worked with both internal and external IT teams in order to review the work. It was incredibly detailed, and we've had to monitor it constantly.

How did you come to work with Exadel?

Because we are government-funded, we went through a procurement process and put together a request for proposal. Around 12 companies responded. We elaborated a scoring system with marks for experience, ability to communicate, availability, pricing, and other similar elements. We narrowed our possibilities to three companies. We interviewed each one and were very impressed with Exadel's presentation, team, and ability to communicate. The fact that they have an onsite team in the United States was an important factor to us. We had access to their actual developers within our time zone, not just their management team. Their cost was somewhere in the middle, compared to our other proposals.

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

The total development cost of the project was around $350,000 to $400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The platform is currently stable and most of the development for it has been completed. We've kept Exadel on a retainer since completing our project. Initially, we worked on a fixed-price agreement. Right now, we've allotted a certain number of hours per month from them. They're very easy to work with so, if we need more hours in order to get something done, they will accommodate us.

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The platform itself is being used successfully across all of our programs. We've developed a balanced scorecard which helps us monitor the fidelity of the programs' outcomes.

We generate a huge report each quarter due to the current legislature, through which we pull data from all of our programs. The amount of data integrity we've received from this was phenomenal. We can look at the platform and determine the situation of our program. The accuracy and ease of our reporting are 100 percent better than our previous solution.

It has helped us tremendously in streamlining our data collection systems for all of our statewide programs. It also acts as a management tool for our local programs, featuring student onboarding, information storing and ways in which to attract donors. The platform offers the ability to build custom reports, which makes it possible for our local programs to create their own solutions. It was a paradigm shift for the way in which we do business.

How did Exadel perform from a project management standpoint?

We've never received any defective work from them. The platform was intricate and incredibly detailed. We worked and learned together during the process. There have been delays, but they have typically been well-founded. It wasn't a question of Exadel not committing enough of their team members to our project. We've had many problems with the data migration process. The amount of work it would require was not anticipated, and I can certainly understand that. It was a horrible system.

There were many details to work through, and delays are a usual occurrence within the IT world. Everything that happened during our collaboration was well-justified. There was never a moment in which we felt that Exadel were stalling the work. We are a nonprofit, not a sophisticated corporation, which also added to the difficulty.

As our development progressed, we've had to readjust our scope and extend our budget in order to make certain changes. Exadel were easy to work with in that regard. We had a genuine partnership and never felt that their team was ever unreasonable.

We worked within a formal structure and relayed our feedback and requests through the consultant with whom we worked.

What distinguishes Exadel  from other providers?

Their overall company mission matched ours. As a nonprofit, we aim to serve people. Exadel's general attitude is not that of a company building things, but rather a company building partnerships with their clients. This was demonstrated constantly throughout our relationship. They liked working on our platform because its goal was helping students, ultimately providing a social good.

Please describe your organization.

We're an e-commerce marketplace that connects buyers and sellers, based on real-time supply and demand. We operate within the fragmented retail landscape in order to connect millions of individual consumers more efficiently than anyone else has been able to. Our service kind of functions as a stock market.

What is your position?

I am the founder of the company.

What business challenge were you trying to address with Exadel?

We needed an experienced team to develop our product for us and prepare it for launch. 

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

Exadel provided web development services for us, building the alpha and beta versions of our platform from the ground up using cloud architecture.

They're a Gold Certified Microsoft .NET developer, which was the most appropriate environment for our specific, database-focused architecture. Their expertise in this field was the main reason for using their services.

At peak capacity, Exadel provided seven developers for our project. We interacted directly with them. They have an ability to scale their team based on our demand, which was very helpful. We've discussed using their marketing services within a couple of meetings, but ultimately decided to do this in-house.

How did you come to work with Exadel?

One of our co-founders has known their Chief Executive Officer for years. We did shop around for other companies, but our personal relationship, along with their reputation, lead us to choosing Exadel.

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

The total cost for the project has been $350,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them for two years.

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We're currently in the beta stage and haven't gathered significant user data.

Part of our approach is to eliminate shopping carts and checkouts. Our algorithms gather shipping location and other data proactively. Instead of anecdotal feed-back of what our users appreciate about the platform, we focus on what they don't have to do anymore. Exadel has achieved this functionality for us.

If our algorithms weren't as efficient as they are, it would have been impossible to populate the platform with unique pricing for every user, in real time. Users can buy items with one click or submit product offers, without dealing with shipping information at the end. This has been a well-received change.

How did Exadel perform from a project management standpoint?

They've been great in sticking to the budget. There have been a couple of instances in which our project manager wasn't as technically-versed as I would have wanted him to be, but this didn't have a big impact overall.

We use Asana for project management but, since they're a local company, we meet regularly, so we haven't had to use tracking tools extensively.

What distinguishes Exadel from other providers?

They do a good job of connecting the companies they work with to each other. We've participated in a few fund-raising events in which we've met with their other clients. I didn't expect this, but it was interesting to meet the other people they work with.

They're also extremely reliable as a partner. It's not rare to have them make recommendations around how we could improve our idea and execution. 

Is there anything Exadel could have improved or done differently?

An improvement in tech literacy from their project manager would be helpful. Ultimately, it didn't impact the scope of our project. It's just a personal preference.

Could you describe your organization?

We're a broadcasting company. We have a wagering website that works in tandem with our horse racing network. 

What is your position?

I'm the chief technology officer.

Could you describe the business challenge that you were trying to address when you first approached Exadel?

We've been working with Exadel for several years again. Their role has expanded tremendously since the beginning of our relationship. At first, we used them just as an outsourced development team. We had a lot of very demanding and complex projects in our pipeline, and our own developers were overwhelmed, so we decided to find a partner to support their efforts. 

How did you come to choose Exadel as your partner?

We did our due diligence and shortlisted a number of offshore and onshore companies. We sent out our RFP [request for proposal] and evaluated the proposals that we received. Exadel submitted a very convincing proposal, so we invited them to demo their capabilities and discuss their development approach. We felt confident in what we saw so we went forward with them. 

Could you describe the actual scope of work assigned to them?

At this point, they've been involved with everything. They've collaborated with us on visual design, UI/UX [user interface/user experience], custom functional development using mostly the Microsoft stack, some mobile development on iOS and Android, systems integration, database configuration, site optimization, bug fixes, discovery and requirements gathering, and support. 

What is the status of this relationship?

It's still ongoing.

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the quality of their performance and the success of the projects?

I don't have any exact figures to share with you. I can tell you that all of the coding delivered by them went through our own quality assurance process, and we rarely found bugs or defects. They have some great talent on their team, and so long as they're a dedicated resource, you can expect the highest quality coding. From a project management perspective, they've also been great. They're responsiveness and attentiveness is quite exceptional. We receive constant updates from our project manager regarding the status of our work, and what we can expect in terms of timelines. They're also very flexible with us. They're willing to work extra hours to ensure what they deliver is up to par. 

When working with Exadel, is there anything that you would consider unique about their strategic approach or development methodology that distinguish them from other vendors?

Again, it was just their level of attentiveness and their responsiveness. We never had trouble connecting with our dedicated resources. They don't fall off the radar on you. 

In retrospect, are there areas in which you think they could improve as a service provider?

Based on my experience, no. We've been very satisfied with their work and with the working relationship.

Please describe your company.

We are a technology provider working as an online marketplace for matching capacity and loads for the trucking industry.

What is your position?

I’m the CTO.

Could you describe the business challenge you were trying to address when you first approached ExadelExadel ?

At the time when we first hired Exadel, we were drowning in an unmanageable amount of client workload. Our own development resources were spread very thin, and we felt like the quality of our products would begin to suffer due to it. We went ahead and decided to find a technology partner able to support our own teams. It was a large undertaking because we like to keep tight control of our products, so we needed to make sure whomever we chose had the appropriate skills.

Could you describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail?

They have served us in a couple of areas and, in that time, their role has changed. Exadel continues to provide us recruiting services as well as high quality development talent. Occasionally, we will need a burst in capacity for a couple of months, so we use them as onsite contractors to add additional development capabilities until we can get caught up with our own hiring. We have also utilized them for custom development in our initial phases when we were just getting started, to help actually do some of the development in their process. We’re fairly established now, so we mostly use them on the former two aspects.

How did you come to choose Exadel as your partner?

Our company actually grew from a partnership between Exadel and a former client of theirs. So, we’ve had a long-term relationship that’s been very beneficial.

Could you provide a general cost estimate for the amount you’ve invested in their services?

It was around $200,000 in the past year.

How long have you been working with Exadel?

We’ve been working together for about three years, and the relationship is ongoing.

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the quality of their performance?

The best feedback I can give is that anything Exadel has contributed to our project, by and large, hasn’t required any reworking on our part. It’s just out there working, and we can focus on other pieces of our product. In fact, we’ve had great success with Exadel coming in and helping us clean up defects that our own team has created. We’ve had small issues come up on the project management side, and they were very responsive to our requests. Our relationship has always been mutually beneficial.

When working with Exadel, is there anything that you would consider unique about their strategic approach or development methodology that distinguish them from other vendors?

They are willing to adapt to our process instead of forcing us to conform to theirs. They’re very flexible in that way. They’re also extremely meticulous when it comes to development. They’ve always delivered tested and viable code that worked great.

What advice, if any, would you give a future client of theirs?

Have realistic expectations. If you don’t go into a consulting relationship with reasonable goals, then it’s not going to be very successful. Clients should have the expectation that the work will get done best with a collaborative, iterative approach.

Please describe your company.

We are a driver training company based in Houston, Texas. We offer driver training services to teens, adults, corporate clients, and seniors, whether it’s to get their license or to do additional driver training and practice.

What is your position?

I’m the digital experience director.

Could you describe the business challenge you were trying to address when you first approached Exadel?

We needed to transfer the existing programmers to a more professional programming and project management company, to handle our operating system. We have a customized operating system and, as we began franchising our company, we needed to make several changes in order to build our operating system to scale. That’s what we were looking for when we made the transition to Exadel.

Could you describe the actual scope of work assigned to them?

The major initiative they worked on was to create a franchisee dashboard or user interface specifically for our franchisees, with the rules and permissions that only our franchisees would have to separate them from the rest of the operating system. This was needed both for legal reasons and for our own operating reasons. That was a major initiative they did. Another major initiative they worked on us with us was to create the rules, procedures, and logic in our system to offer a new service that was controlled by the state. There are a lot of requirements that had to be made, and only signing up students that met certain requirements to certain instructors that met those requirements, and how to create those reports without doing them by hand. A lot of custom work based on state requirements mainly.

In addition to those major projects, we also use them quite a bit throughout our regular work cycle and projects, for maintenance items and small updates. My responsibility is to map out the business logic, draw mockups and wireframes, and then hand it over to them. They provide feedback on whether there’s an easier way to do something, leveraging the existing code. Once we agree on a best route, they do all of the programming and a lot of the testing. Then, it comes to my team to complete our testing.

Our operating system was built in CSS, so they program in that. We do a lot of APIs [application programming interfaces] with third-party services, and they do a lot of integrations with our shipping modules, LMS [learning management system] online course providers, and with our franchise management system.

How did you come to choose Exadel as your partner?

About a year ago, we had started looking at several different programming providers as a team. We made up a list of things that were really important for us to have, and a big part was project management. Also, we needed warranties and a failsafe in case they disrupted something in our system, as well as a willingness to learn our business. Our IT [information technology] director was recommended to them by a contact from at business school. We sent several companies a map and detailed requirements for our first major project, and had the companies come back with their proposals. We met with them personally and based on all of the results we felt most comfortable with Exadel.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

In the $150,000 to $200,000 to date. We’ll probably spend another $75,000 to $100,000 through this year.

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the quality of their performance?

Our customers liked the ability to handle everything online. One of the main reasons we chose them is because they were a team. We had previous issues before with programmers, so we wanted to be sure we would have more than one person that we could lean on in an emergency. We wanted to know that there was more than one person who understood us and our system, and Exadel has definitely followed through with that. We have a team of programmers, and I know that, regardless of who I talk to, I’m going to get the same quality of service and same response time. We did an amazing tech audit with them and were able to determine what we could provide, and what they could factor into their new releases to take that into account, such as increased regression testing and changing how we do our releases in smaller segments. They’ve been really flexible to our needs, which we’ve really appreciated. If they ever miss a deadline, it’s because our team didn’t get them something on time. It’s never on their end.

When working with Exadel, is there anything that you would consider unique about their strategic approach or development methodology that distinguish them from other vendors?

I think the way that they set up their account relationships is really unique. The IT director and I have specific project managers that we go to depending on the project, and they’re the ones who are the programmers or the person the programmers are reporting directly to. We also have an account manager who I know from a business perspective, I can reach at any time regarding any concerns I might have, any issues with billing or the status of a project. She’s really the person who helps speak our company needs to her company and makes sure that the company keeps us and our requirements in mind. We have really come to appreciate and value that. With other companies, the most they do is send out a few reminder emails and that’s it.

In retrospect, are there areas in which you think they could improve as a service provider?

No. They’re doing a great job. We really appreciate the way they have their warranty period set up and how they manage that. Overall, we’re very happy with them.

What advice, if any, would you give to a future client of theirs?

From a time and cost perspective, get the detailed requirements on your end smoothed out when you submit it for a proposal. Exadel comes back with their own version of the requirements, and there’s time factored into make those changes, but the projects that have gone better are the ones where I get really detailed in the initial requirements and wireframes.

Please describe your organization.

We are a social media website catering to performance and aftermarket lifestyle enthusiasts.

What is your position?

I am the chief executive officer.

Could you describe the business challenge that you were trying to address when you first approached Exadel?

We were looking for a third-party solution provider that could assist in the development and deployment of our initial social media platform. 

Could you describe the actual scope of work assigned to them?

They were responsible for the back-end development and technology decisions of our primary social media platform. Their responsibility was to recommend, develop, and support that aspect of the project. We collaborated with them and offered strategic guidance, but they handled the technical elements.

How did you come to choose Exadel as your partner?

We put together a business requirements document specifically for the features we were looking for and what we wanted to accomplish with the site. We sent an RFP [request for proposal] to six companies. Exadel came in late as the seventh one, but we extended the RFP schedule because we liked what we saw and heard from them. We had also found them through online research, and we have an executive board member that had heard of them and mentioned that we should give them a look.  

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative in dollar terms or a personnel work-hour figure?

We’ve spent about $250,000 for the initial platform launch.

When was the work completed?

The work is ongoing, and they’re currently working on the second phase. 

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the quality of their performance?

We have limited user feedback yet healthy exposure, and it has all been very positive. We’ve received some limited feedback on certain functionality or flow issues that we would relay back to Exadel and their development team. They’ve been able to make those changes 90 percent of the time quite quickly.

Do you remain satisfied with their performance?

I come from a project management portfolio program background, so I’m pretty rigid on the process of intake, discovery, design, build, and deploy. They were given milestones with given costs, and they were evaluated against that. The good news is they delivered to those expectations on time and on budget.

When working with Exadel, is there anything that you would consider unique about their strategic approach or the way in which they approach their client relationships that distinguish them from other vendors?

What really attracted us to them was their understanding of our project when we first discussed it with them. They understood what we were looking for, the market we were going after, the type of platforms we were looking for and why we were doing this. They very much seemed to be in touch with our vision, not only from a business perspective, but also from a real-time, real-life perspective on social media trends. That definitely set them apart.

Since then, they’ve continued to demonstrate that thorough understanding of the project not only from a technological perspective but also from a business perspective. They also developed a full-blown marketing plan for us. 

What advice, if any, would you give to future clients of theirs?

My advice, when they’re approaching any service provider, is to be thorough when it comes to your functional and business requirements. Don’t expect the provider to fill in the blanks.

In retrospect, are there areas in which you think they could improve as a service provider?

The only thing I can think of in our experience with them, and this isn’t unusual with developers but, sometimes, when challenges arise, they have a tendency to dwell on the details of those challenges as opposed to taking the information and coming back with a solution. Some of our team members were exposed to that kind of detailed dialogue, which is not solution-centric. It’s better for the developers to hold back on solving the problem in the meetings and just gather information and come back with a solution.