Haefele Software

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO for a non-bank financial company in Australia.

What challenge were you trying to address with Haefele Software?

We launched a pioneering product into the market to help Australian brokers with originating loan applications. The product was successful that we decided to expand its current development.

There were a lot of modules that were being used by third-party providers that we wanted to develop bespoke software for it. That immediately put a lot of pressure on our internal developers.

What was the scope of their involvement?

At the start, we didn’t have a lot of wireframes or documentation that existed, but Haefele Software was very good at staging the project. We started with some business analysis to work alongside ours to produce those artifacts before they flexed up on the development side. It was a very collaborative approach and we found it worked extremely well for us.

What is the team composition?

We worked with eight team members from Haefele Software. We had one technical business analyst which supported our scrum master for running the agile process on their side. We were also supported by a tester and the remaining six were a mix of two tech leads, two senior developers, and the rest were junior developers.

How did you come to work with Haefele Software?

I did a global search for companies and we ended up selecting Haefele Software after a six-week intensive search for a partner. We were looking for companies that can provide flexible resources in particular with new and technical business analysis. We were also looking for .NET developers with some testing capabilities. With our Canadian expansion, we were looking for synergies and overlaps.

I was in contact with Alan (CEO) and had a discussion about the basic understanding of the engagement. We then evaluated them against competing providers and based on their language, capability, and reputation, determined that they would be an excellent partner for us.

One important reason was the fact that they had some very large financial services contracts as well as experience in financial services. They aligned very well with our values and purposes. There was a great synergy and we ended up selecting them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $180,000–$220,000 AUD. ($140,000–$170,000 USD)
  
What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Haefele Software from December 2017–February 2019.

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

The quality of work was outstanding. We had some challenges in the beginning as they were too focused on the quality and not on the speed that we were requiring. We had to bring them on board knowing that we were not expecting a hundred percent perfect product.

However, after synergies were reached, we ended up with a very good working rhythm and cadence. The quality and the expected time of releases were really well. 

How did Haefele Software perform from a project management standpoint?

We didn’t have an official waterfall type of project. We were using small agile and sprint methodologies where we release incremental features. From that perspective, we managed the expectations, backlog, and priorities on our side. We communicated through Microsoft Teams.

It was all done on a digital dashboard, which worked very well. We aligned and overlapped our working hours and didn’t have any issues. Because we were working on different time zones, it was a bit challenging at first, but we quickly found the rhythm within the first four–six weeks.  We had good two-way communication happening as well.

We’ve used Azure DevOps for scrum and storyboards. This was also Haefele Software’s digital dashboard to maintain and prioritize the backlog and work that needs to be done.

What did you find most impressive about them?

There were two things I can think of and the first was Haefele Software’s communication. Unfortunately, when you go offshoring, a lot of times you struggle with getting people that can speak English. Our communication worked really well. Haefele Software’s used concepts and phrases closely aligned to the Australian English that we speak. It didn’t take a lot of time or effort to explain anything.

The second was their quality of work and their ability to communicate any differences and adjust quickly when we gave them feedback on things that we were not happy with. They were very collaborative and they genuinely listened to the client which was exceptional.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing that I can think of.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to listen to them on what works and what doesn’t work for them because it’s important to understand their working rhythm as well. If there’s a synergy between their working rhythm and your working rhythm, you’ve already won 90% of the battle. The rest is planning and prioritizing.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Specno is a leading mobile development agency, we use our experience in design and development to come up with solutions that best accomplish the underlying objectives of our business. I am one of the founders and directors.

For what projects/services did your company hire Haefele Software?

Haefele has deep experience in software development and the agile methodolgy. We used Haefele to build hybrid teams that were capable of servicing our clients. Haefele also ran workshops with our team maturing our processes and business offerings.

What were your goals for this project?

To put together a team as quickly as possible and to merge the best practices of the two companies to optimise workflow. We also wanted to understand how a bigger more established company did business and wanted to learn a lot from the Haefele team.

How did you select Haefele Software?

The managing director has quite a passion for entrepreneurship and does a lot to support the community. He has spent several months informally supporting our company, we took it to the next level when we formalized a partnership and hired his developers for a contract.

Describe the project in detail.

The Haefele team was contracted to form part of the Specno team for a larger project. Before the project started the leads of each team met to discuss the best practices of each, and then developed a roadmap that would allow for the best collaboration. The Haefele team had familiarized themselves with the project before they got started and were able to hit the ground running.

What was the team composition?

I was working directly with their managing director, their CTO, their engineering lead acting as their project manager and the individual engineers. We worked together remotely and used slack to communicate for the majority of the work.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our team not only completed their assigned project but the Haefele team left us with a debriefing document that coved a lot of our team needed to focus on after the project was done. It has been instrumental in us maturing our own processes and has greatly improved the quality of our engineering.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was great. Both teams were used to remote work and the Haefele team was very accomodating in adopting our communication style. Before the project even began they had been added to our slack channel, given access to the repo and familiarised themselves with the codebase.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Definitely the maturing of their opposition. It all felt very professional and you could see they had years of experience dealing with a large number of different projects. The extra little things I wasn't expecting made a huge difference to my perception of the company.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Big Inja Technologies, which was founded in 2004. It started within the event space but eventually evolved to accommodate any industry that utilizes barcodes.

What challenge were you trying to address with Haefele Software?

Shortly after smartphones became ubiquitous, we had a shift in direction. We decided to utilize smartphone cameras to scan barcodes, and I was looking for a development partner to execute this concept.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They conducted business analysis, where they examined available technologies to scope out the feasibility of our idea. Afterward, they launched into mobile and web development. They utilized existing technology for APIs but developed the bulk of the product from scratch. They relied heavily on Microsoft with SQL servers. On the mobile side, they worked with iOS and Android operating systems.

They replaced some of our enterprise systems and legacy software, building a new SaaS platform.

What is the team composition?

We worked directly with Alan (Owner). Throughout the engagement, we worked with several of his 50 developers. 

How did you come to work with Haefele Software?

I had conducted interviews in my search for a partner. Upon being introduced to Alan, I became his first client here in South Africa.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $60,000 – $90,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together in the fourth quarter of 2012 to the fourth quarter of 2013.

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

They helped us future-proof what we build on older technology, and their work has positively impacted our business growth. Thanks to their help, we broke into an entirely new market, which is amazing. We enjoy many clients who continue to use our platform.

How did Haefele Software perform from a project management standpoint?

They are fantastic in this area, where we used tools like Jira to keep track. They excelled at both communication and documentation. I always felt confident and that I was in good hands.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very smart. They quickly grasped my goals and what the market required. They were also quick in adding value. They demonstrate the optimal balance of yielding both technical knowledge and emotional intelligence.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have anything substantive to say here.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be well-defined in your goals to get the most bang for your buck. Meet with them and scope out which teammates will work best with your own team.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO of the South African trade finance business of an international logistics company

For what projects/services did your company hire Haefele Software, and what were your goals?

We contracted Haefele Software to build a bespoke trade finance system which interfaced with the client and generated the necessary loan transactions and managed the entire workflow process from request through to loan settlement.

How did you select Haefele Software and what were the deciding factors?

We were introduced to Haefele through an ex employee who at that time was working for Haefele Software.

The supplier was contracted to do a scope of the project and based on the programming language and technological solution proposed - as well as the agile development process followed, we selected Haefele Software to build the business management solution.

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

Haefele Software designed and developed a Microsoft Azure business management solution for this financial services business. They started with a scoping process which was started with workshops to unravel the workflows and specific challenges.

The scoping process was followed by process workflows - and a proof of concept build - before we started the production phase. The project was estimated to have a development lifespan of 7 months, however the project was under estimated in complexity and has taken nearly 16 months to complete.

The final product will automate our client transaction initiation through to settlement of the debt - and includes a Microsoft Power BI interface which generates a comprehensive dashboard view of the business.

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

There were 4 people in the core project team from Haefele Software i.e. a senior business analyst / project manager, a senior developer, a junior developer and an intermediate software quality assurance analyst.

The stability of the team was compromised in the first 6 months of the project, but the team that has finished the project has been superb - and have really grown in stature.

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

Project not yet live, however, the team that came together for the last 8 months has been superb - and we hope to engage with the same team in our new budget period commencing in 4 months time.

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

The project management has matured in the past 8 months and the current incumbent has understood our needs and priorities - and has bought the two teams together - and has communicated well under very difficult and unique circumstances.

Under the current Covid-19 situation, the interactions have all been via Microsoft Teams. Formal meetings and demonstrations were scheduled and held - as well as ongoing informal discussions to clarify immediate and specific needs.

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

We had direct access and engagement with the entire development team in the last eight months which made it easier for the entire team to be on the same page. The contribution of the developers to the ultimate solution in these engagements was immeasurable.

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

The scoping process needed to have been more detailed for this specific project as it was a new-build with no previous guidelines and only manual processes to emulate.

The initial business analyst was immature and had no project management skills, and as a result the core deliverables were missed. The Haefele team in place for the last 8 months rectified this initial misunderstanding - and if the budget allows, we would like to take the project to the next level.