Fingent

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

TalentQuest is a talent management software provider located in Atlanta, Georgia. We have our own talent management SaaS product that we host ourselves. We have 250-300 clients, most of whom are in the United States but some are scattered across Canada, Mexico, Europe, and India. I’m the CTO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fingent?

Five years ago, we were starting to look at expanding our product. I was looking to augment my internal team in Atlanta with an offshore team that could help us deliver more on the product side. Fingent was brought in to do additional work on top of what my team was doing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially engaged Fingent to work on a couple of small assignments with one or two people on a fixed price basis, and they did a fantastic job. After the first year, we converted their contract from a time-and-materials basis to a retainer model and started building a team there. We moved from one person to four people, and then eight people, and at the peak of their involvement we had nine of their resources.

They worked side by side with my team. We started small with Fingent with just one person there. We tried out that person on small fixed-price projects. They helped built a feature for our performance reviews module called Writing Assistant and built part of our succession planning. We have different modules that cater to HR processes, so our software has talent reviews, goals, learning, succession planning, compensation planning, and so forth. We were continuously adding modules and features and enhancing features that we had.

They haven’t done work for us related to design or strategy. Our IT team at TalentQuest is working on this one software product. All of the work Fingent did for us over five years was on different pieces of that software.

How did you come to work with Fingent?

I worked at a firm that was acquired by Capgemini for over 10 years at the beginning of my career. Some of my contacts from then recommended different software shops in India for the size and type of work we do at TalentQuest. I went through an RFP process, and Fingent was one of the four that we vetted at the time. We tried Fingent and another provider on two separate projects and liked Fingent’s work better, so we just continued to use Fingent from that point on to help work on our software product along with our team here in Atlanta.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started the conversation with them back in mid-2012. It was March 2012 when we started the initial project-based engagement, and in September or October of 2012, we converted that to a time-and-material model before eventually bringing them on retainer. We just terminated our engagement with them in March 2017. We’re at the point where we are building our own offshore team now—we have an office in Bangalore—and that’s the reason why we terminated our contract with Fingent, not for any performance reason. It's just time for us to bring everything in-house.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One of the highlights of our relationship with Fingent is the quality and retention rates of their resources. Their resources are well qualified for the positions they fill, but what's rarer is that they stay on for a long time. Coming from an offshore-onsite model, I know that for companies where most of their resources are based out of India, turnover is a big problem. They frequently try and build processes around making it less person-dependent and more process-dependent.

The first person we got on our team, James, is still on our team as of this month. He’s been solid technically as well as for communication. He knows the product. It’s a shame we have to end that relationship, but retention has been a really surprising element with Fingent for me. There was some turnover, but most of our team was consistent through the years. That helped a lot, especially since we're a small company. Eight to ten people offshore in India is not a huge engagement, but that was part of the reason why we picked Fingent: they were small enough where we would be a significant client for them.

They have well-qualified resources. Communication was not an issue at all. In fact, I visited their facility about 2 1/2 years ago to meet the team who were very well structured. Their office is located amidst a huge technology park, so one of my questions to their executive team was how do you keep your people from going out and handing out their resume and switching jobs. They’re right in the middle of these tens of thousands of people who are doing the same job. They definitely have a culture and a model that attracts talent, so they didn’t seem to have any attrition issues going on there.

How did Fingent perform from a project management standpoint?

Their management was very easy to deal with. They did not raise prices on us for resources over the course of five years, which is also very surprising. They stuck to the original price point that we got from them four years ago when we switched to this time-and-materials model. There was never an issue about resources or unplanned vacations. It was always very smooth. In fact, we almost got spoiled by Fingent to a point where we now have higher expectations.

We worked in an Agile methodology where we did weekly checkpoints that included not just status updates but also demos. They got quick feedback that they could act upon, and they’re good at retaining feedback. Over time, the resources picked up new information and required little direction after the first year or so.

Our direct contact was with the team leads, and we used a variety of project management tools to keep track. At any given time, we always had an instant messenger tool like Skype or, more recently, Jabber. Most of my team interacted with their team directly on a daily basis. We had a weekly status call every Wednesday. We used WebEx or GoToMeeting for collaboration. For access to our QA environment, they VPNed and connected to our network. For most of the development collaboration, we used the Microsoft suite of tools. We are on Team Foundation Server for work item tracking and issue logging. We used Confluence for documentation in the last year and a half for knowledge sharing. We also used Visual Studio and Microsoft SQL Server.

What did you find most impressive about Fingent?

Their price point was one of the big drivers for us to pick them initially. When I went through the whole RFP process, Fingent had the lowest price point. I didn’t want to just pick the cheapest vendor, so I looked at two different ones. The other one was ISO 9001 certified, but their quality of resources was much lower than what Fingent delivered at a lower price point. That was a differentiator for us. As we went through the relationship, the retention was another big differentiator. We had a consistent team, which is a huge deal for a product company because the system knowledge they gain is invaluable. Those two are the highlights for me.

Are there any areas Fingent could improve?

In the big scheme of things, nothing really. We are very pleased with how they have done business with us. There were some quality issues: there was a six-month period when there was a weaker team on our project. As soon as we highlighted that to the managers, we got immediate attention. They took concrete steps to mitigate anything like that and monitored the quality of code. They responded very well. Again, that’s expected in this kind of engagement so I wouldn’t say the quality of resources slipping a little bit was anything out of the ordinary.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Fingent?

Whatever company uses them needs to be prepared to outsource stuff. Many companies fall into the trap of trying to outsource too much and not having a balance between owners here versus in India. We’re fortunate enough and had people with enough outsourcing background that we could determine what could be outsourced and what couldn't. Whatever we did outsource, there was a lot of definition on what needed to be done, and we always established communication protocols and checkpoints.

Be prepared for outsourcing. Document your requirements and establish good communication protocols and acceptance criteria. If you get a partner like Fingent with that in place, then it makes it very easy. I’ve heard people be skeptical about whether outsourcing really works. It works both ways—you have to put in some effort to make it work for you in the long term.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a software-as-a-service company that is focused on enhancing the wireless emergency alert industry. We have a product to help geographically target all mass notifications—both public alerts and other mass notifications—to people’s cell phones, devices, automobiles, etc. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fingent?

We hired Fingent to replace a previous supplier that was not working well. The other supplier was expensive, difficult to work with, and changing what they said they would do. We had reached a breaking point and decided it would be best to find an alternative.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We ended up having Fingent completely rewrite our website’s frontend and the iOS and Android applications, which are integrated with our web-based platform. The Android app was written, but we wanted to write one for iOS. We needed some changes made and features added to all of the platforms; they weren’t quite working the way we wanted them to. In the end, it was easier to rewrite the code instead of trying to debug what was written.

In our service, you create the alert you want to send and identify the geographic area that you want to alert. Then, the message is sent to the device, which would take that information and compare its own location with the alert area (known as the polygon); if the device is in the alert area, it plays the message and shows a map of the alert area to confirm why the device is receiving the alert.

Right now, the mediums are over Wi-Fi and cellular data. We are also working with Fingent to use a one-way broadcast medium to deliver the alerts, so our next step is to integrate this with the wireless emergency alert (WEA) system that’s been in place for about six years. Our goal is to integrate with WEA to give public safety agencies the ability to geographically target all emergency alerts so that they can direct them to the people for whom it’s relevant. Our system, while it is for demonstration purposes, is actively receiving alerts from FEMA’s [Federal Emergency Management Agency] integrated public alert warning system called IPAWS.

How did you come to work with Fingent?

Our chief technology officer had used Fingent on a project at another company. He highly recommended them and said they were trustworthy, they managed the process well, and they upheld their pledges to get things done in a good and timely manner. That was music to our ears after working with another software company that was difficult to work with, and that’s why we hired Fingent. We found Fingent to be exactly what we were looking for.

How much have you invested with Fingent?

I’d rather not share how much I invested with Fingent. Even though they were following code that had already been written, Fingent still was able to do all of the work that the others had done and then some, for less money than what we had already spent. They were economical in their approach.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Fingent in July 2015. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Although our company has been in operation since the early 1990s, our total focus now is on this new product, and because of that, we are not in a revenue position at the moment. Our focus is to integrate with the existing network and systems. In order to do that, we have been working with the Federal Communications Commission, FEMA, and public safety. We have a tremendous amount of support for our product. Our goal over the next couple of years is to integrate our system with WEA.

The highest compliment I can think of for Fingent is to say that they felt like they were part of our team, even though they’re not part of our company. They’re honorable. They keep in touch, follow up with us, and give us updates on their progress. I found them easy to work with and direct about what they could and could not do for us. We’ve had a good and supportive working relationship. They came up with creative ideas and helped us troubleshoot problems, and they also have been willing to do research to help us unlock some components.

How did Fingent perform from a project management standpoint?

We interfaced with Stephen at Fingent, and he would bring people onto the project as needed. I think there were two people who worked on the frontend, two who worked on the iOS app, and two or three who worked on the Android app. They had separate teams assigned to each part of the project. Fingent had some project-tracking software that they used more with our CTO than with me, and they set project plan deadlines and tracking points—basically all the things you do with that kind of software.

What did you find most impressive about Fingent?

The thing that impresses me the most about anyone is when they do what they say they’re going to do, and if they’re not able to do it, they explain why. Fingent does this, and in this day and age, it’s hard to find people who do. I would go back to Fingent with another project.

Are there any areas Fingent could improve?

I can’t think of any way Fingent could improve. I've been genuinely impressed with their work, their approach to business, and their willingness to work with their clients.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Eskoa is a company that develops curriculum targeted at youth aged 6–18. It’s primarily for use in low-income minority communities. Most curriculum out there right now is in the majority voice, aimed at middle-class kids, so a lot of the illustrations and other elements aren’t demonstrative of multi-ethnic communities. A lot of research has been done on this topic, but not a lot of curriculum has been written. I found a niche where I could help, developing curriculum for organizations that was to speak to these populations. I’m the founder and chief creative officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fingent?

They built a mobile app and a website for me.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The website for this one contract is for teachers to go on and access the curriculum, but also track it as far as student progress. The platform has different levels for teachers and administrators, so there are four different roles. Teachers can access the curriculum, and then administrative levels are able to see where the teachers are and track their process. We added leadership development and continuing education elements throughout the website. And then students can go onto the app, access the curriculum and play games that Fingent has also developed and implemented. The mobile app also has a role for the parents to go in and see how the students are doing. It was a multi-user site and mobile app, and Fingent was able to deliver on all fronts. It’s really a product ecosystem: the apps integrate and work with the website. We have iOS and Android. Fingent took care of launching the apps for us.

I worked with three people on Fingent’s team over the course of the last 10 months, but I think the team was bigger than that. When we’d have calls with them, there were several people in the conference who never spoke but who would communicate to my team of three to get me the answers. But Sam was my main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Fingent?

I was alerted to Fingent from a colleague. For one of the contracts I’m working on now, the client wanted animation, so I worked with a wonderful animations company on that. For each lesson, we have some animated content. I was talking about how we would either put this up on a platform or find different ways to utilize this curriculum, and they had worked with Fingent in the past. They seemed to be a good fit for the project.

How much have you invested with Fingent?

I spent $85,000-$90,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

It took 10 months from the beginning conversations to completion. We just completed the project last week, so we started around May of 2016. We have them on retainer to help with any issues that come up with the site or the app, but the bulk of the work is done.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We launch this curriculum in May, so I won’t have that data until then. I’m just doing the training now so I can preview the content in my training sessions. Unfortunately, I don’t have any solid metrics, but I can tell you that the user base will be for churches. There are roughly 1,250 churches of this denomination that will be using the app and there will be about three users per church using the app and website. As far as the students go, there will be 15-20 students for each of the 1,250 churches that will use the apps.

How did Fingent perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re really good at having your back, you know what I mean? They lay out the project and then they have very measurable timetables for completion. We use Open Project, which is a platform that helps you go back and forth on a project. For every milestone, they respond, get your approval and move forward. It’s very consistent with each change, which was very helpful. All of them were right on, except for one where we made some changes right at the end. We actually used Redmine and just switched over to Open Project. We also used GoToMeeting a lot, because we did a lot of screen sharing.

We had four milestones, each with its own deadline, and they hit all those. We started out with a fixed budget. We did add a certain feature, so that increased the cost, but there were no surprises. We worked with the fixed budget, and then any changes were discussed so I could decide if I wanted to move forward with the change or not. Even right now, the parent client is paying the maintenance part, not me, and they want to do Spanish translation. Fingent is working with them on that. It’s been really great working together. They’re really helpful and detailed in putting together the cost and being flexible as the need arose.

What did you find most impressive about Fingent?

It was just a really easy project. The final products were all super intuitive, which is what you want when you’re developing mobile applications and websites. You want something that’s not going to take a huge amount of training for people to access and use. We had a very complex thing that we had to break down, and they made it very easy.

Are there any areas Fingent could improve?

I didn’t have any bad experiences whatsoever; they were on it in terms of making sure that the tasks were verifiable. We communicated really clearly about what we needed and they were able to meet all those needs. Even when things turned out differently than we expected, Fingent fixed them right away. One time the parent client of mine made a major change, and Fingent was super flexible in making that happen. We had a really fantastic working relationship; I don’t have anything bad to say. I can’t think of any weaknesses. Towards then end, there were a couple weeks where I was travelling around and doing meetings and I felt like I was delayed in getting back to them so they were delayed in responding, but that was also kind of my fault.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a nonprofit program that teaches life skills such as personal finance, time management, fitness, and dating to teenagers and their parents.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fingent?

I wanted to build a platform to host 10 high-quality videos on the 10 core topics in our curriculum. We also wanted to individualize the program so that we could group participants by demographics like “fathers with high school-aged boys” or “families with high school-aged girls.” We needed the platform to automate those small group communications such as meeting calendars and the distribution of invitations as well as accepts and declines, plus a payment platform integration that would enable this to be a self-funding program.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Part of the challenge was that nothing like this existed, so none of us knew what it should look like in the end. I supplied sketches, but they brought a lot to the table in terms of how it would ultimately look, feel, and function. We met weekly to continue developing the framework for the project, and they were really attentive and very capable. They did stuff that has never been done in this industry before. They built a platform that integrates two different databases into an automated CRM platform, allowing subscribers to receive automatic notifications via email and text. They also integrated Paypal into the platform and developed the frontend of the site, which is incredibly user-friendly.

Projects like this always expand as you go, and their attitude towards that has been phenomenal. We had so many different variations on possible user paths. We were charging for printing, shipping, and handling for our workbooks as well as a small monthly fee for the curriculum, but we wanted to integrate a scholarship opportunity for families that couldn’t afford it. That’s an incredibly challenging feature to develop. They also integrated complicated CRM features so that if you have an important milestone coming up like an anniversary, a birthday or a graduation, you’ll receive emails leading up to the date offering suggestions on how to make the event really special.

I began working with Fingent in April or May or 2015 and we’re continuing to work together. I’m really happy with their work.

How did you come to work with Fingent?

Fingent came highly recommended from another organization that had worked with them. In my previous work in corporate America, I had worked with multimillion-dollar tech budgets each year and had access to exceptional vendors, so my standards are fairly high. I liked Fingent’s portfolio of work; it gave me the confidence to try them out and test their capabilities—I am extremely impressed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re in the process of rolling out the platform now, so we don’t have a lot of data available, but people who are going through the program seem to love it. Everyone loves how convenient and user-friendly the app is. It’s such a flexible platform; it makes it much easier for all kinds of families to use. I’m really thrilled with how flexible and positive Fingent has been throughout the whole process.

How did Fingent perform from a project management standpoint?

They have essentially managed the project themselves. I didn’t have anyone on staff dedicated to managing it. It’s been really nice to have them be a one-stop shop for all of our needs, and I’m really happy with what they’ve done.

What did you find most impressive about Fingent?

From my perspective, their attitude and their willingness to work through opportunities to improve have been extraordinary. When we were doing design tests, we identified bugs or opportunities to do something better, and their attitude has been consistently positive. They have a consistent can-do attitude; they want the best solution for the client and the end-user, and that comes out in their work. As we’ve progressed, it’s only gotten more and more complicated, and throughout that whole process, they’ve been patient and willing to give it the focus required to achieve success. It's been very impressive. 

Are there any areas Fingent could improve?

They were so accommodating. Nothing is coming to mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the project manager of Cru, a nonprofit Christian organization headquartered in Florida. It’s a global organization that has a presence in a large number of countries.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fingent?

We needed to build a native Android app for sharing videos that kick-start spiritual conversations.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had already created a vision document and visual design, and they built and implemented the actual app. They had a lead developer and then perhaps 3 full-time employees working on it. We had weekly meetings and they had some QA people outside those numbers.

How did you come to work with Fingent?

Fingent had a good history of producing Android apps, so we decided to go with them.

How much have you invested with Fingent?

Initially, the price was lower, but we had some hurdles along the way, so I think we paid about $25,000 USD.

What is the status of this engagement?

Starting from when we handed over UX design and that stuff, it probably took about three months, including QA and several revisions. We began at the end of February of 2016 and the app went live in June. We’re also considering asking them to make a bid on our iOS app because we need it redone in Swift instead of Objective-C.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re just now starting to ramp up our advertising, so I don’t have a ton of statistics available at this time. But we have a rating of 4.6 in the Google Play Store and we average about 20 new users per day, which is good considering the number of ads we’re doing.

How did Fingent perform from a project management standpoint?

We offered to bring them in on our JIRA boards, but that would have been a duplication of what they were already doing on their end. We weren’t too involved with their internal project management systems. But we held 30-minute weekly progress updates over Zoom to go through what they’d done, and we’d ask for improvements if need be, and they’d go off and improve them. They’re experienced and they have good processes in place. Their strength is their commitment: we were continuing to make adjustments to our API, and they did a really good job adjusting to changes as we went along. They’re easy to work with and flexible.

What did you find most impressive about Fingent?

They’re an honest company to deal with. There’s more than one way to build an app, and they were always willing to go the long way around or to do things that took extra time. They were always fair and reasonable. We didn’t have our API fully built out, so they were building against a moving target, and they were very reasonable. Their charges were reasonably well priced.

Are there any areas Fingent could improve?

They can be fairly subservient. If I asked them to do something, they’d confirm multiple times that I wanted it done. I think it’s a cultural difference, them being Indian; they tend to be cautious and they want to check and get clarity. Perhaps the culture that I live in, those things are obvious, but for them, money is involved and they want to make sure that the customer is really satisfied.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The Pacific Grove Museum of Natural History is located in Pacific Grove, California. We offer a number of educational programs, one of them being a science program, which has been running locally for 5 years, and for 10 years outside of the museum. I am the LiMPETS program coordinator for the institute.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fingent Corporation?

We needed to migrate our database from an old system, as well as to update the user interface and graphic design of our system.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Fingent Corporation worked on our custom-built database. I was in communication with three team members regularly, but there may have been more resources from Fingent Corporation working on our project. 

How did you come to work with Fingent Corporation?

We posted a request for proposal on a number of job sites. We received dozens of responses and narrowed the selection to 5 teams, which looked solid. Fingent Corporation came out on top when we concluded to final vetting. 

How much have you invested with Fingent Corporation?

The cost of our project with Fingent Corporation was around $23,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Fingent Corporation in March 2016. The project had a 7-month duration.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The new database is up and has been used by teachers and students. It's receiving a lot of good feedback. The system is easy to use, and its graphing application looks very nice. We're very pleased with the final product.

How did Fingent Corporation perform from a project management standpoint?

Fingent Corporation's team was timely. They went above and beyond in making sure that our needs were met and that we were within budget. We used Redmine as a project management tool. In addition to it, we also communicated via email.

What did you find most impressive about Fingent Corporation?

We had frequent conference calls at different points in the project, spending a lot of time going through the details and understanding the various needs that we had. I found that very helpful.

Are there any areas Fingent Corporation could improve?

Nothing comes to mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the owner of an aluminum dock provider for residential cottages. I manage all aspects of the business since it's just me.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fingent Corporation?

I don't have technical expertise when it comes to online things. It was well outside of my wheelhouse, so I needed to find a supplier. That's where Fingent came in.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Fingent Corporation provided coding for our project, as well as some interface designs. I mostly interacted with our US contact, as well as with the Indian team's project manager.

How did you come to work with Fingent Corporation?

I put out a bid in a handful of different places, including Upwork. I received at least 15 responses, which were all over the map. I also did some Google research, finding some US companies that interested me. Many of them were very expensive and somewhat unresponsive. When it came down to it, the choice was pretty clear, although I did interact more closely with around 5 of the candidates. Fingent Corporation came in as one of the less expensive options, and they also did a lot more upfront work than other candidates. Fingent Corporation put together quite a nice proposal and seemed to have significant interest in the project. Pricing was comparable to an overseas developer's, but I had access to a US-based project manager.

How much have you invested with Fingent Corporation?

The total cost of Fingent Corporation's services has been around $12,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our work is completed, but there are still a few things which I want to add down the line. I plan to have an ongoing relationship with Fingent Corporation.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Fingent Corporation's work has had a huge impact on our business. I run daily operations with the help of one other person. The only way in which I could sell more products without hiring more people was to extend myself. I had to speak to the customers and get all the details from them, trying to understand what they wanted to do. I had to type in all the parts, make sure that I got them right and that I understood what they said. Besides this, I was always getting calls asking for pricing. All of this is now available on the website, so customers can find the information themselves. They're getting their own pricing and layouts, so I don't even have to speak to them in many cases. I'm confident enough in the system to simply copy and paste the information into my billing software. Being able to understand what they're getting and for what price is a huge benefit for the customer.

How did Fingent Corporation perform from a project management standpoint?

We had bi-weekly project meetings in which I saw all the updates. Fingent Corporation stayed right on schedule. We used GoToMeeting for communication. I think that Fingent Corporation also used Basecamp, but I never had a need for it. All the information was passed down to me by email.

What did you find most impressive about Fingent Corporation?

I appreciated being able to receive US-based service and confidence, with Indian pricing.

Are there any areas Fingent Corporation could improve?

For bigger projects involving people that are more technical than me, it may be different, but I didn't see any room for improvement.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for a third-party administrator for the independent contractor transportation industry. We handle back-office and support functions for over 12,000 independent operators throughout the country. I am the Vice President of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fingent Corporation?

We have programmers on staff and handle a lot of our own software development internally, but didn't have a resource with enough experience in building mobile applications. When the time came to provide our drivers an application for their phones, we reached out to someone with more expertise in the field.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Fingent Corporation developed our mobile apps using a hybrid approach. We developed Android and iOS versions. We developed an API service for Fingent Corporation to use, given that our apps are database-driven. Users need to authenticate before doing anything else.

We had a back-and-forth process between Fingent Corporation and our own developers, who were handling the API and database ends, in order to make them more responsive for the user experience.

I'm not aware of how many developers worked on our project. We interacted with a project lead.

Fingent Corporation assisted us with publishing our apps on the stores, but we were mainly in charge of the process. There were no issues in approving the apps.

How did you come to work with Fingent Corporation?

We put a bid out and received a tremendous amount of interest from around 20 different companies over the span of a week. We narrowed our choice down based on resumes and submissions to about 5 companies. We interviewed each candidate, had them sign non-disclosure agreements, and gave them schematics for our project. We received bids, went through some back-and-forth, and settled on Fingent Corporation.

How much have you invested with Fingent Corporation?

The total cost of Fingent Corporation's services was between $15,000 and $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our project has been completed. We manage the applications ourselves.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There's a lot of technical jargon in our industry. Sometimes, when dealing with developers, they'll know their own jargon, but not that of our industries. We've had communication problems with other companies which we didn't experience with Fingent Corporation. The quality assurance process went smoothly and Fingent Corporation delivered functional versions of our apps out-of-the-box quickly.

How did Fingent Corporation perform from a project management standpoint?

My biggest compliment for Fingent Corporation is regarding their flexibility. After starting the project, we went through an internal 6-week process for developing the API endpoints. Due to some personal reasons, I didn't have the capability to assign a developer to the work as early and as often as I would've liked. The real delays in the project were our fault, not Fingent Corporation's. While I can sense that they were a bit frustrated with this, given that they scheduled multiple projects for their developers, Fingent Corporation was tremendously helpful and flexible with us. Fingent Corporation worked well with our project lead and we had no major issues. Fingent Corporation estimated a 12-week development period. It wasn't met, but they came pretty close. Having done this type of work with multiple other companies in the past, I can say that Fingent Corporation was definitely the most flexible.

We used Trello for tracking our project with Fingent Corporation, at their recommendation.

What did you find most impressive about Fingent Corporation?

Fingent Corporation employs local US resources who understood our way of doing business. There was no language barrier and concepts were much easier to communicate to them. They could then relay the information to the development team overseas. The fact that we had a middle person able to work within our time schedule was tremendously helpful and critical to the success of the project.

Are there any areas Fingent Corporation could improve?

Trello was a pretty basic project management tool. I don't think it's meant for complex development projects. I don't know if it would have helped or hurt us to use something different, but we didn't come to build a general workflow due to the limited functionalities of the tool. We use Jira internally and are used to its workflows.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're a captive finance company working as a subsidiary of NEC Corporation, which is a global technology company. We provide financial services for customers through our NEC and independent business channels. We service in excess of 1,000 nationwide technology providers and we have been in business for 30 years. We are a small organization, consisting of 35 people.

We rely on technology for processing operations and maintaining productivity in our business offerings. It allows us to offer an efficient product without taking on more overhead. We're located in Saddle Brook, New Jersey, which is an expensive area in which to operate. We don't outsource our business like other financial services companies. All of our staff members are physically located in our office, with the exception of a few remote sales people. We wouldn't be able to do this and still be cost-effective without deploying good technology.

I am the president of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fingent Corporation?

Three years ago, we had a need for replacing a legacy technology product. It was a homegrown solution which was built by a third-party developer. That person passed away, unfortunately, taking the password to the crypt with him. We decided that we would go out to the market and find a company that would help us replace our technology.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Fingent Corporation developed our platform, which includes ASP pages and SQL databases.

We've given Fingent Corporation another technology project after our first engagement. It consisted of converting our intranet to a SharePoint server. I was open-minded about the technology, even though I wasn't a huge fan of it, but Fingent Corporation showed us some samples of work they'd done using SharePoint, which convinced me that that was an infrastructure that we could manage ourselves.

Fingent Corporation has recommended different solutions to us. We don't always agree and we do go through multiple iterations in order to understand what Fingent Corporation is trying to provide to us, but we do approve some of their suggestions.

There are many behind-the-scenes resources on Fingent Corporation's team. We work with a project leader and with Fingent Corporation's Chief Executive Officer, who has always been involved in our work, actually making good recommendations. Our project lead went on maternity leave at one point, but Fingent Corporation put a very good person in her place. Our current resource is a programmer himself and he acts as the lead engineer.

We have weekly meetings every Thursday at 10 AM, which is dinner time for India. Fingent Corporation has been very effective during these calls. We also use a web-based tool for keeping track of our projects, so there's good communication overall. The time zone difference has never been an issue, which was one of my main concerns. Being owned by a Japanese company means that we also have conference calls at 8 o'clock at night, so I'm used to that routine.

It has been hard at times for our staff to understand members of Fingent Corporation's team, because of their accents, but we've gotten accustomed to them. We have the same issue when we visit our parent company in Japan. It's a global economy, so we have to deal with it.

How did you come to work with Fingent Corporation?

We were working with a college intern which we asked to post a project on guru.com. We talked to 3-4 companies and created a shortlist in our mind. Fingent Corporation turned out to be the winner.

It was the first time that we'd be working with a completely offshore developer. Even though we'd worked with companies which had developers in India, they still had a major physical presence in the US. We met with Fingent Corporation at their local office and I expressed my concern about working with an overseas company. Fingent Corporation got me to a level that I was comfortable with. I liked their representative and saw some of the work done by Fingent Corporation. They'd worked in the financial services space, but they were relatively new to the leasing industry. Lending money is the same everywhere in concept, even though the transaction methods may differ. Fingent Corporation listened to us and started to understand what we did. We had a few conference calls and started talking more about our business and learned how Fingent Corporation processed information. We asked for a proposal, which was presented within a week. We had some negotiations, made some tweaks and signed on the dotted line.

Our parent company does own a technology developer in India, which is probably the size of 100 Fingent Corporations, but we haven't worked with them yet. I don't want to put all my eggs into one basket, so if I can insource certain tasks, I will do it for economic and political reasons.

How much have you invested with Fingent Corporation?

The total cost of Fingent Corporation's services has been between $200,000 and $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Fingent Corporation 3 years ago, and have had 3 revisions of our platform since. Our most recent milestone was reached last week, for our SharePoint project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I think that Fingent Corporation is a good partner for our projects and I've enjoyed working with them. The process has been a lot smoother that I would've thought.

We started our collaboration by keeping tight metrics of Fingent Corporation's progress, but it wasn't something that we liked. We've since agreed on working through an open flow, which has worked out. If our projects were more complicated and involved more people, tracking milestones would probably be more sophisticated. We only have a 25-people group. I have a project leader who is also involved in marketing and many other tasks, so working in a loose manner has been ideal for us.

How did Fingent Corporation perform from a project management standpoint?

Fingent Corporation is good at hitting milestones, but things have gotten lost in translation, which I think is typical for any technology project. They've always bounced back and caught up on any task. No one from our team ever felt that Fingent Corporation compromised our projects. From a pricing point of view, we'd have higher expectations from Fingent Corporation in terms of speed, if they charged more. Their scheduling and budget fit within our limitations. Fingent Corporation is a fair company and we like working with them.

Fingent Corporation is probably working on multiple projects at the same time and doesn't dedicate resources to us, although I haven't explicitly asked them about this. This is most likely the reason for any delays in our projects. We're okay with this though, and it hasn't affected us. Our requirements are more laid-back than normal.

We use Basecamp, which is a simple, web-based project management tool. We have managed many internal projects using it and it happened to be the tool used by Fingent Corporation as well.

What did you find most impressive about Fingent Corporation?

With Fingent Corporation, I've been able to assign less technical staff to the project. They've been very good at explaining things, not overwhelming us with technical buzzwords. When things do start getting more complicated, and we start talking about APIs and SQL servers, we can include some more technical people in my staff, including myself.

Are there any areas Fingent Corporation could improve?

We should have meetings more than once a week. It's possible that Fingent Corporation will run into issues in a week's time which won't be addressed at the right moment.

It has been hard for us to allow a developer past the company's firewall. Doing this type of work requires a level of trust, otherwise figuring things out will become a project in itself. As long as both parties feel that the relationship is economical, there will be a good equilibrium.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're a mortgaging services company offering nationwide property preservations and inspections. We've been in business for 40 years. I am the chief information officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fingent Corporation?

We wanted to create a B2B [business-to-business] mobile application for inspections and property preservation. Previously, the process was done through Windows PCs. We don't have technical staff here to build an application internally, so we needed to contract external developers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Fingent Corporation developed our application for Android while the iOS version was created by a different developer. We also worked with Fingent Corporation on creating an invoice aggregation system, which collected all accounts payable to a single spot for approval. Fingent Corporation created another quality control application with photo capabilities as well as a property valuation software for broker price opinions. Our apps have 10,000 to 20,000 users at a time. I prefer keeping development teams small, so I limited the resources from Fingent Corporation to three to five persons. Also, the developers working for us should be consistent and exclusive to our projects since getting new programmers to continue work on the code could cause problems. Fingent Corporation honored my request.

How did you come to work with Fingent Corporation?

I don't recall how I found out about Fingent Corporation.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with Fingent Corporation for a decade.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Through our involvement with Fingent Corporation, we've been able to cut our quality control costs by about 70 percent for the current year.

How did Fingent Corporation perform from a project management standpoint?

It is rare to be able to develop complex systems while staying on time and on budget. Given this situation, I have no complaints about Fingent Corporation's project management. The communication was good, compared to other Indian firms that I've dealt with previously. Indian companies usually don't have the same mentality as United States ones when it comes to rewarding and keeping good resources. In contrast, Fingent Corporation has been able to hold on to their developers, which was a key issue to us.

What did you find most impressive about Fingent Corporation?

Fingent Corporation is based in Kochi, which is a very different place to the rest of India, culturally speaking. Their team is a bit different, more laid back than typical developers in India.

Are there any areas Fingent Corporation could improve?

I don't think there are any areas that Fingent Corporation needs to improve.