Hexis Technology Hub

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

BroadCMS is a platform that enables your entire team to create, edit and spread content in realtime to multiple websites, mobile platforms (Android or iOS) or wearables (smartwatch), using this unique flexible CMS tool, and I am one of the Co-founders.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Hexis Technology Hub, and what were your goals?

We hired Hexis Technology Hub as a partner to support our development needs remotely and our goal was to scale a MVP to the first roll-out of the product, while testing the customer engagement.

SOLUTION

How did you select Hexis Technology Hub and what were the deciding factors?

We have followed a thorough procurement process, and Hexis Technology Hub was able to be transparent and engaging in the entire process, reassuring the fit as a partner.

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

We have set a procurement process with a focus on technology capabilities, credentials, commitment, and price. We reached out to companies in Portugal, Spain, and Ukraine. 

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

The team had a total of 5 elements, 2 elements mainly focus on the front-end, 1 QA Engineer that help in the all the testing and defining test plans, 2 back-end engineers where the more senior element of the team was involved and had responsibilities of managing the team and bridging with us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They have so far delivered multiple product features of the contract management tool, and the quality of the engineering team is outstanding. Keep up the excellent work! Delivery on time of the key features for the MVP and subsequent roll-outs of the product.

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

The overall flow process was very good as Hexis was very flexible to adjust to our internal processes, both at the project management level and all the communication tools we already used in the company. In the end, the whole staff both on our side and in Portugal felt like a joint team.

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

The flexibility and speed to adapt to changes in the scope or plan. What set them apart was not only the alignment of the tech stack experience but also their flexibility and commitment. The management team understands clearly the development cycle and bridges it to the business side with constant valid inputs. Hexis was able to be fully committed and focus to us, and the availability and commitment provided set in motion the beginning of the relation. 

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

Price wise there are more players, specially in the eastern part of Europe that can be more competitive. But communication and quality clearly surpassed this point of improvement.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We’re a regulatory tech startup developing machine learning powered solutions to help banks optimize their regulatory capital and comply efficiently with their finance and risk regulations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Hexis Technology Hub?

We wanted them to develop our machine learning powered solution.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to address complex issues faced by banks in the risk and finance reporting areas by providing unseen anomaly detection, root cause analysis, and remediation capabilities.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We chose them based on three main factors: their focus on the business problems being solved, their quick onboarding of uncommon resources (data scientists with financial services experience), and the quality of their feedback during our initial discussions on the product.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We provided a set of specs to be implemented. Their engineers did an in-depth analysis and proposed useful improvements to the product. They built the MVP and are currently developing our platform to be integrated with different banks.

What was the team composition?

The project has six persons allocated, including developers and data scientists.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

They built the MVP with additional features that will allow us to surprise our financial services customers. It’s an innovative solution that allows us to re-imagine our business model as a "regulation as a service" business. The development is going better than expected in terms of timelines and quality of the deliveries, which will most likely allow us to add new features to our product.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We used Jira for project management and communicated through Slack. We found their management effective, and their internal communication was outstanding.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They offered quality engineers and developers who could solve complex engineering problems.

Are there any areas for improvement?

A larger existing pool of developers, rather than hiring new resources, would have accelerated our process even more.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of Atom Ventures. We provide vital CTO-type services to companies that don’t have sufficient IT staff of their own. We help them build an IT strategy and establish a team that can execute it. To do this, we work with a team of trusted vendors and deploy specific project teams, either of our own or through these partners, to work with our clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Hexis Technology Hub?

We were working with one of our larger clients and they needed to scale up their IT operations. They were on an aggressive timeline with ambitious goals, so we decided to bring in additional manpower to supplement our own team in helping them.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

With our client’s approval, we brought in the additional team from Hexis Technology Hub to work with our own in order to meet the project’s goals. We provided Hexis with job descriptions for the positions we needed and they matched us with members of their staff. We ran those individuals through a brief technical test and then got to work.

What is the team composition?

We currently work with a team lead and a senior developer, but we’re planning to add more people as the project progresses.

How did you come to work with Hexis Technology Hub?

I’d partnered with them on a similar project while at a previous company. I knew their management team well and trusted that they could deliver what we needed on this project.

How much have you invested with them?

Their end of the work will probably cost about $250,000 once the project’s complete.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started this project in October 2018 and it’s ongoing. We’ll probably wrap up in about a year.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We already work at a fast pace, but their developers have helped move the project along significantly faster. They’ve kept up with us and ensured that we’ll meet our client’s deadlines.

How did Hexis Technology Hub perform from a project management standpoint?

We keep in touch with our account manager during the recruitment phase, but once we’ve chosen the developers, we only touch base once a month to ensure that everything’s running smoothly. Their team is very motivated, so I don’t have to provide much oversight.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We work with many similar companies around the world, but the quality at Hexis Technology Hub always stands out. They’re very loyal and they have a good company culture that ensures high staff retention, so we’re not scrambling to adjust to new developers over the course of a project. There’s continuity and they have the expertise to pull off a broad range of projects.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything in particular.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Talk to a variety of different vendors before deciding who to bring onboard. It’s important to find the right cultural fit for your business before getting a project underway. Hexis Technology Hub understood how our business worked and valued our goals, plus they’re very responsive, so they were a good match for us.