feature[23]

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Availity is a clearinghouse between healthcare providers and healthcare companies or insurance companies. We’re sitting in the middle with all of the transactions going back and forth, whether they’re financial or administrative, that reside in healthcare. It’s like what a credit card clearinghouse does for credit cards. We do the same thing for the healthcare industry in regards to clearing data back and forth. I’m a director of the provider data management department. I’ve got three Scrum teams that report up to me, and I’m responsible for the profit and loss and sales activities around that particular product line.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with feature[23]?

feature[23] was an add-on to our provider data management application. It was an intelligent app for the creation of credentialing forms for providers. Physicians across the US have to go through a credentialing effort every three years or every time they change their contracts and somehow change their business model. It’s a verification process where the insurance companies are required to have a third party review it. This app is the accumulation of all of that data. We had our internal resources tied up, so we looked at an option of having a partner help us create that.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built from scratch a computerized app that leveraged all of our provider data. When a physician has to get a credential, they come to our site. We pull all the information in for them so that we eliminate any fat-fingered errors in data, and the user can then attest to the information and forward on. It makes it easier for the user and everybody else.

We leverage APIs in the backend to be able to push and pull information. They created a brand new set of APIs for us to be able to push and pull that data from our core data streams. On the frontend of it, it’ll be the first UI [user interface] component that goes live which was built on React. We’re changing over from AngularJS to React as an organization. In their engagement with us, part of what took up most of 2016 was making sure that they had the toolsets that they needed from our UI library that was React-enabled. They did a lot of work with our team trying to build out a toolkit from what we had with AngularJS to what we knew with React. It was really a byproduct of their engagement with us that we had that particular need, and they helped us build up the toolkit associated with the UI and React.

feature[23] worked with us on our requirements and built up the backend and frontend. They built the frontend and backend of a brand new app that resides on our portal from scratch. I probably couldn’t give you the full spec, but React was the core UI component and probably Java or something like that for the backend.

In 2016, I believe they had six resources that were working on the project. Some of those were developers, UI experts, UX [user experience] experts, and QA specialists, along with some members of their management team who were given access and used our system. We modified our contract with them going into 2017 just because of what we had from a budgeting standpoint, and they dropped that down to three people per our request.

I was the high-level contact that worked with Mike, the CEO, from an executive standpoint, trying to make sure that all of our needs and desires were understood and to figure out exactly the problem we were trying to solve and how we needed to do so. One of my team members was tagged to them for the full requirements gathering process, so they had somebody from our organization to deal with on a day-to-day basis. We also had a lead technical resource from our team that worked with them on the technical issues, making sure that their backend designs merged well with the style that Availity uses for those connections.

How did you come to work with feature[23]?

They are very engaged in the Jacksonville area where we’re headquartered, so they knew several of our employees. When we needed to look at a third-party company for this work, we looked at three different organizations. We ended up choosing feature[23] because of their location as well as their technical background and ability to operate in our current environment. Their price was very competitive as well. They worked very closely with me from an expense standpoint to make sure that I could fit the work into our annual budgets. They’re very flexible on how the engagement is financed, which made it really easy for me to choose them.

How much have you invested with feature[23]?

We have spent somewhere around $750,000 between 2016 and 2017.

What is the status of this engagement?

I believe it was at the end of the third quarter of 2016 where we signed the contract and started working directly with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven’t actually gone live with the product yet so I can’t give you any statistics. It’s in its final phases of testing, and we are looking to deploy it out in June. So far, it has allowed our other teams to focus on some very critical UX and backend work that needed to be done on our core app. From my standpoint, being able to free up all of my resources and not tie them up on a brand-new app was a huge benefit. Beyond that, I don’t have a whole lot of statistics to go by.

How did feature[23] perform from a project management standpoint?

Availity has almost exclusively used its own resources. We have not been successful with using third parties, so I spent a lot of time with their executive team understanding the limitations and gaps in knowledge that we have. It was going to be a big effort to work with us in a remote capacity but within our development environment. They actually did a very good job of helping us through the process and worked closely with us on what was keeping them from being as productive as they could. They also helped us with our internal processes in order to streamline them to include a third party. They did a fantastic job from that standpoint. Again, one of the reasons why I felt so comfortable in working directly with them was because they knew that they were walking into an organization that historically had not successfully used any third party for development.

They used a couple of tools to manage this project. I think the biggest core tool that we used was Basecamp. They also gave us short-term access to their Docio® product as a way to be able to look at how the hours were accumulating. Those are the two that I was aware of, but I don’t know if there were others that were used between the technical teams themselves.

What did you find most impressive about feature[23]?

They were incredibly helpful in working with us to build the right atmosphere for dealing with a third party. We knew we were going to struggle and were very clear about that upfront, just because of the nature of our particular business. They did a fantastic job of working with us from day one, trying to make it as smooth as possible.

We received ongoing communication on the status of the project. As we had a specific lack of requirements in particular areas, they would continue to move forward with temporary solutions that helped us. Instead of just a dead stop, they would continue moving forward with what they felt like was the best solution on a particular problem that we were dealing with, which was really helpful. If we would have been working with somebody else, we probably would just now be starting, but we’re now at the tail end of that project. They were very good in working with us through all of our requirements and the status of where we were at when we engaged with them, as far as the actual software requirement gathering.

Are there any areas feature[23] could improve?

At this point, I don’t have anything from an improvement standpoint. They did a great job of communicating and they also did very good on delivering what we needed from a technical standpoint. They even worked with us when we needed demos to put together to show to potential clients. I have nothing but praise for what they did for us and continue to do right now.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

My company is Infotech International. We provide technology services, which include creating software that we then sell on a subscription basis to customers. Infotech provides data analysis for the construction industry – primarily for the material suppliers – so our customers are companies like Firestone, BASF, and Owens Corning.

What is your position?

I serve as the chief executive officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with feature[23]?

We had some cloud-based software that handled super-large amounts of data that we wanted to make available to our customers. We had done some internal R&D [research and development] to get the basics of the software figured out, but we knew we needed to have some pros come in and put everything together. We needed the software to be production ready for our clients.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of feature[23]'s involvement in detail.

One of the things that we do is analyze hundreds of millions of pages of unstructured business documents – usually engineering diagrams or architectural drawings for commercial buildings. We have a platform in-house that can extract valuable data out of all these documents.

The key, however, is to make it easy for our customers to use that data. We can pull out all the data that we want, but we wanted it to be available in an easy-to-use web-based interface. We had worked with feature[23] before so we knew they were a great company. We put together a one-page web app that was fully interactive. Our customers could run searches, get results, drill in, and do some automatic comparisons, and they could do all of that in .net and on the web. I developed a demo on iPad, and customers asked me to make it run on Windows.

How did you come to work with feature[23]?

Initially, it was through a referral from a friend. He said I should meet the people at feature[23].

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

We've spent somewhere between $200,000 and $1 million working with feature[23].

What is the status of this engagement?

We are still doing a little work on the project, although the primary work has been completed, and we have been delivering it to customers for many years now. Nonetheless, there are still some aspects that we continue to work on. This particular project is in a maintenance mode.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics, metrics or other feedback from your work with feature[23]?

From a business point of view, the project was very successful. We created a brand new type of product for the industry, and it went from zero from its introduction in early 2012 to about $1 million in sales in about eight months, and it's been doubling ever since.

All of this is anecdotal of course, but we've often been told that this is the best piece of software in the industry for this type of data. We're very proud that we've gotten some patents and won some innovation awards.

How did feature[23] perform in terms of the quality of its work and from a project management standpoint?

feature[23]'s work was definitely outstanding, and we're looking for the next project to do with them. They were very technically competent, and they kept up with the latest technology. This was the early days of Hadoop, and I think we started that whole R&D on our side in 2008. We were on the cutting edge. Things that feel normal today – in-memory databases, single-page apps – we were already there, developing a real product that real people used.

Our customers, of course, don't care about Hadoop or machine learning. They just want to know where their next campaign should go. I would say that we were informed about what was possible in the industry and had the good judgment to know when to use what. Looking back on it, I don't know whether we were just lucky, but we happened to pick the right kinds of technical solutions for the kinds of problems customers were facing. Hadoop is not the answer to everything. It just does a couple of things really well, we put it in place and, for that particular purpose, it was good for us.

We actually managed the project ourselves. feature[23] was a development partner, but I can't comment on their project management because we don't do things that way. feature[23] was fantastic as a partner.

What distinguishes feature[23] from other providers?

feature[23] is one of my favorites, although there are other good people out there. One of the things I value most in our relationship with feature[23] is their honesty. They're honest about where they can provide value and where they can't. Whether something I think is a good idea or a bad idea, or whether someone on my team is going in the right direction or not. I value that kind of input, which made for a very efficient project.

Everybody was happy. The people were happy doing the project, and we delivered high value to the customers. We didn't waste a lot of time with politics or whatever.

Is there anything feature[23] could have improved or done differently?

There are aspects of their company that we didn't use. I did not use their project management. They only had their current designer at the time, so I can't really say whether that could be improved on or not. I just don't know. I wouldn't want to go any faster. I wouldn't want to go any slower. Everything was just right.

I hope the project wasn't just luck because I want to do another one with feature[23]. I'd like to have something constructive to say here, but I can't think what it would be. As feature[23] has become more successful, they're busier and busier. But, that just means we've got to schedule out the work. That's not really something to improve. It's just because they're in high demand.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Beaver Street Fisheries is a frozen seafood distributor throughout North America and South America.

What is your position?

I'm the CIO of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with feature[23]?

We were looking to build a forecasting mechanism for our manufacturing plan.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

In the very beginning, it was more of a test between the two of us just to see if we were a good match. When they came in, the project was a pilot to see if feature[23] could develop it, if we worked well together, and if we could incorporate it into some of these other tools we already had and make it work, which they did.

We were working in conjunction with Florida State University with some graduate students, and we defined some interesting algorithms for forecasting. We needed a software partner that could actually take those algorithms and code them into a working model with a way to view it.

That project blossomed into actually retooling much of the structure of our databases. We found the structure we were saving data wasn't correct. It needed to be rebuilt and re-architectured, and feature[23] took care of that. It grew from just that simple forecast project into more of a complete visibility tool being on top of our data as well as re-engineering the data underneath it.

How did you come to work with feature[23]?

We're pretty connected in the Jacksonville [Florida] area, and they came highly recommended from another partner that we used for contract employees.

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

It's about $350,000 year to date.

What is the status of this engagement?

It's ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The Jacksonville Chamber of Commerce has an award every year. We won an award for collaboration between feature[23], Beaver Street Fisheries, and Florida State University, the ability to share information across three organizations that were somewhat remote because Florida State is in Tallahassee, about two and a half hours from us. There's been recognition within the company as far as usability too. We re-engineered some old tools to get much more user satisfaction and much more internal recognition.

How did feature[23] perform from a project management standpoint?

From a project management perspective, they actually hold us to task even though we're the customer. They're very quick to push back and say, "In agreement, for us to accomplish these next three or four iterations of tasks, this is what Beaver Street has to accomplish, this is what feature[23] has to accomplish." They've introduced us to some development methodologies using Scrum, for example. They had to coach us through it, teach us how to use it, and get us up and running just so we could fall into more of a structured development model. They've brought our internal team up to their standards as well.

What distinguishes feature[23] from other providers?

One is they're local. I think that's a huge plus. One thing that sets feature[23] apart is that they take the time to understand not just what we do but how we do it and what skill sets our people have, our methodologies and our policies. Then, they try to conform to how we operate so they don't deliver something that we can't support, and that they don't push a solution on us that's going to break. Even if that means they have to dumb down that solution, it still fits our business.

Is there anything feature[23] could have improved or done differently?

I don't think so. One of the things that we, more than most outsource companies, probably communicate two or three times a week. I know what they're working on, and they know what we're working on. It's a very strong collaboration.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Our company is an amalgam of about six different lines of business, but we specialize in transportation services and logistics. We also have a relocation business, which handles everything from the disposition of real estate all the way through the moving of household goods for executives of major corporations.

What is your position?

I am the Chief Information Officer of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with feature[23]?

We were looking for a strategic partner to work with us to develop an innovation center where we can quickly create and bring ideas to market from a technology perspective. We also wanted to add capacity and resources to our application development team members. We needed to work with a third-party partner to help us develop our reference architecture and also quickly scale up any mobile applications and even internally hosted applications. feature[23] had that skill set for us.

We originally were looking for a digital partner to work with our digital strategy, and they just didn’t have the breadth of offerings we were looking for, but I did admire their engineering capability because they’ve got some pretty solid software engineers. That’s a kind of skill that is difficult to find and difficult to sustain within your organization, but these guys were a great partner in that respect. I have used them for many projects so far this year.

Part of it is also helping us with acquisitions. We’re pretty aggressive at acquiring companies, and the team at feature[23], with their deep engineering background, can tell us the value of some assets and the value of software that we currently use and things we’re thinking about using. They would go through and actually do code reviews and process reviews to help us evenly value software assets.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

feature[23] gave us advice not only on the software development side and the design, but they also helped us with the ideation process, even flushing out the business side of some technology initiatives that we’re working on. It’s really strategic level elements that they offered, and it’s an additional value that I know they didn’t charge us for.

They touched every bit of the life cycle, and that means from analysis to design, development and even delivery. It’s been in both website and application development. We’re actually now working with them developing a prototype for a mobile application in the Android space. That’s where we see a lot of value with their capabilities; they can deliver across that spectrum. 

How did you come to work with feature[23]?

It was interesting. We had a digital strategy initiative that was under way. I had just joined the company. It was already out for RFP [Request for Proposal], but when I inserted myself I made sure to find somebody that would work closely with us and our own internal team and make the whole process less disruptive.

When feature[23] responded to the RFP, it was clear they couldn’t offer the breadth of services that some of the bigger players in town, and out of town, could provide, but we were intrigued with their response and the individuals, Mike Potts and Jeremy Vaughan, were impressive. That’s how I met them. I got a sense of their organization and their capabilities. As a software developer and an architect myself, I could see that Mike Potts and his technical team was very strong on the engineering side and on the business, digital start-up space. As these opportunities came across, we continued to grow the relationship across several different projects throughout the year.

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

I would say we spent north of $300,000 with them this year. I’d be comfortable in saying that it will probably be a little more than that by the end of the year. I’m very happy with their services.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I think they helped us evaluate vendor capabilities and make several strategic decisions and avoid other nonstrategic decisions. Previously, everyone was thinking we were going to go down one path, and it was after feature[23] shed light on some of the challenges with that technology stack, that we decided to go a different direction. They helped us avoid a pretty significant investment that would have been a bad in my opinion. It was only through their due diligence efforts that we were able to see that challenge clearly and pivot to a different strategy. Their proactive capabilities and their engineering capabilities were invaluable to me.

How did feature[23] perform from a project management standpoint?

feature[23] performed very well. I was happy with everything, from the statement of work process all the way through to the status updates I would get for some projects. 

Is there anything feature[23] could have improved or done differently?

They could do better with continued feedback, like a snapshot or a summary of all projects. This is talking from an executive perspective because I do have several things in motion with them. Just an executive one-page document would be helpful, to know where we are, and I think that’s a maturity opportunity for them. They’ve been doing a solid job verbally, and when they’re here for meetings, but I think an artifact that can tell us where we are at times, and where things are in the life cycle of the project, would be very helpful.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Our company is a medical distributor, selling primarily to the Veterans Administration and the Department of Defense. We sell medical implants used on Veterans Administration patients.

What is your position?

I'm the chief operating officer and, as we're a small company, I serve the roles of a typical COO and a CIO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with feature[23]?

We have some very specific business needs to track our purchase orders – invoices – in a specific way due to many varied business partners and distributors that we work with. We weren't comfortable with building our ERP [enterprise resource planning] system on existing off-the-shelf solutions. We contracted with feature[23] to help us build a custom order management system and inventory order tracking management system that we can use and extend out to our business partners and to the customers in the Veterans Administration.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

When we first engaged feature[23], they inherited a homegrown system that we had started with, and it was architected for a smaller implementation. It's become much larger since then. They helped us re-engineer it from scratch while it was still operational. That's akin to changing the wheels on a bus while it's still going 55 miles an hour. They have really done an admirable job of systematically replacing the solution we had and bringing it to an enterprise-level solution.

I'll give you an example. When we first started, the system was designed in a .NET environment that was using techniques and modules from 2000 to 2004 timeframe. It was sitting on a single server in a small data center in Gainesville, Florida. The first thing we did was to migrate it all to Microsoft's Azure platform.

Now that they got it migrated to Microsoft's Azure platform where it's stable and has many lines of reliability, we don't lose a wink of sleep. They went about modernizing the platform so it could take advantage of everything that Microsoft's Azure platform offers. They did all of the architecture, all of the engineering, and all of the migration. All I did was serve as the business sponsor and help guide our business requirements with them.

How did you come to work with feature[23]?

They came highly recommended.

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

The size of the project is in the $200,000 to $1 million price range.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Our reliability, scalability, and maintainability have improved by orders of magnitude because of feature[23]'s work. I don't have a specific metric to provide, but to give you a sense of how important feature[23]'s work is, the solution that they provided has become the cornerstone of what we offer to the community. It has become the cornerstone of our offering.

We're a distributor, so we go to a manufacturer of, let's say a spine implant, just so you can have a visual. We say to that manufacturer, "Would you like to sell onto government?" If they answer, "Yes, we'd love to sell to the government, but there's too much red tape and it takes too long." We say, "We're your 'easy' button."

If you sell through us, we already have the red tape done. We will just put your product on our platform, and we will sell it to the government. The government will buy it from us, as a distributor, and we will take the government's money and then we will give you what the government gave us, less a little bit for ourselves because we've got to keep our doors open.

At the center of that is the software. That is the essence of our company – that software – because there are many people out there who can take orders from the government and then pass it onto a manufacturer. The key is being able to do it efficiently, reliably, predictably, and be scalable. There are no other providers in our space, or distributors in our space, who are doing it as well as we are, and it's because of that software. Truly, what they've done is help us build the cornerstone of our company.

How did feature[23] perform from a project management standpoint?

feature[23] has been fantastic. They're enterprise-level quality work.

Is there anything you feel distinguishes them from other providers you've worked with in the past?

They're flexible, agile, and deeply knowledgeable. They are constantly looking at new technologies and ways to improve our product. We are very happy with our partnership.

Is there anything feature[23] could have improved or done differently?

No.