Expert Network

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief product officer and COO of Carflow, a company in Belgium that is in the automotive sector. We help car dealers with their digital transformation by providing software and digital business processes. We seek to boost convenient interactions for clients through the use of cell services, virtual products, and more — all to appeal to today’s digital consumers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Expert Network?

We partnered with Expert Network to build a suite of lead nurturing and promotion-related products.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Expert Network has a team of developers who work around an Agile methodology. In Belgium, we conceptualize a vision and strategy for our company along with its technical aspects. All of these are written down on a business requirement. When we write specifications, the translation to the technical documentation is always carried out by Expert Network. We have multiple meetings and work very closely together when we do big changes to our software solution.

There are certain items that we give to other vendors due to the specialization they require. Expert Network is focused on Microsoft and .NET, and if we need another specific language, we have to look elsewhere. However, we always go to Expert Network first in case that expertise can be obtained in some way. Expert Network also validates any other party we work with.

What is the team composition?

We have a product owner with whom we’re always in touch. There are 2–3 people from the Expert Network side who are on the roadmap team as well as 2–3 more from the Belgium side. In total, we work with about 30 people from their team. 

On a daily basis, I’m in touch with about 6–7 people. This includes the product owners, the proxy product owners, the founder, the lead developer, and their system architect. The person I interact with the most is someone with whom I’ve split the COO role. It’s difficult to take on the CPO and COO roles completely so that’s all divided between myself and that person from Expert Network.

How did you come to work with Expert Network?

When I started working at Carflow, Expert Network was already with the company. We have a very long history with Expert Network and I believe that when our company started, we immediately worked with Expert Network because they’re also part of the same group that Carflow belongs to. 

When our founders were looking for suppliers, Expert Network was still a small firm comprised of only two people. However, they were already creating really cool stuff, including VR applications, for the trading market. They’re very innovative, flexible, and hardworking. 

Instead of hiring them as a vendor, we ended up partnering with them. The relationship grew from there and the decision to stay with them was further validated with every project. 

How much have you invested with them?

I’m confident that we’ve invested millions of dollars in our product.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around 2006–2007. Our collaboration is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our project manager is very diligent and we’ve set up work streams to solve any issues we have. Another huge benefit of working with Expert Network is that they’re very flexible in ways that other companies are not. They’ll even take on tasks without charging us a lot of extra money.

How did Expert Network perform from a project management standpoint?

We have multiple meetings via Skype. We’ve even met in person before the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Our communication has improved a lot compared to 5–10 years ago. Our structure is also a lot more mature. They strive to stay within deadlines even if we don’t make it easy for them. For instance, in some cases, deadlines would be overshot due to adding new requirements or changing specifications. Some items may be underestimated due to unforeseen situations like when the lack of documentation from a third party causes estimates to be based on guesswork. 

Five years ago, we wouldn’t have been able to address issues like this. These days, however, our communication is much better and information flows much more easily between us. We can now detect issues with deadlines ahead of time and promptly find a solution. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The most distinct thing about Expert Network is their creativity.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I understand that when creating large, enterprise-level applications, you only want to use validated items. In some cases, using cutting-edge things can also produce benefits depending on the context that you’re using them for. They should try to take some risks sometimes.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very clear and make sure that you’re in alignment with them at the end of each day.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We provide a contact center solution available as SaaS, especially for Microsoft Teams. We’re headquartered in the Netherlands and work with partners worldwide.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Expert Network?

The quality of our previous team wasn’t good enough. We were getting a lot of bugs and had to do reworks at a high cost. Also, our software is hard to learn and managed because it’s related to real-time voice communication, so we needed someone who could help us with that.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Expert Network is developing our contact center software. They’ve incorporated a web-based client for agents and a sophisticated routing engine for connecting callers with agents. The software also has a database integration.

What is the team composition?

We have a team of around 10 dedicated people at this moment, including a project manager. We can add to the team if necessary. They have different people on the team, from junior to senior. The senior ones are good at thinking about the next steps and what’s coming in the future.

How did you come to work with Expert Network?

I found them via our network. One of our investors knew Expert Network’s owner. We looked at other companies; Expert Network wasn’t the cheapest, but they were the best fit.

We liked the management in their organization. They put a lot of attention into training and keeping information up to date. We also liked the diversity of the team. The other companies we looked at were mostly men, while Expert Network had a lot of women in their team.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost is €500,000 per year (approximately  $610,200 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2020, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The quality of our services has improved. They’ve delivered the software efficiently on the first try. We haven’t had problems with testing, and everything’s gone smoothly so far.

Customer satisfaction is also a success indicator. We have fewer bugs, so customers and employees are happier. We save on cost and get a faster time to market by doing fewer reworks.

How did Expert Network perform from a project management standpoint?

We use Jira for project management and Microsoft Teams for communication. There’s a tight collaboration between our project owner and their project manager. They think about what we’re doing and come up with their own ideas. We have discussions about what’s better and why. They can be tough sometimes, but that’s good for development quality.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Everyone on their team is well-trained and fit for the job, from QA testers to developers and designers. They communicate fluently in English, so we don’t have misunderstandings on what the expectations are. We’ve outsourced our work in the past, and communication was a problem.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. Good developers are hard to find, including in Iași, where Expert Network is based. However, that’s more on the development market, and not specific to them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s helpful to meet the team. We were lucky to start in January 2020, before COVID-19, so our team visited Expert Network’s office. That made the communication smoother, and we’ll take a plane to Iași as soon as we’re able to.