HQSoftware

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO of Tutkut, a real estate business.

For what projects/services did your company hire HQSoftware?

My company wanted to create a seamless rental experience for both property owners and tenants. We needed a software development partner to build a platform and mobile application for iOS and Android.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to create a user-friendly solution. We needed to accommodate local market needs and requirements while adhering to a budget and timeline.

How did you select this vendor?

We compared vendors in the US, Europe, and India. My team selected HQSoftware based on their relevant development experience.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

First, HQSoftware’s engineers analyzed the local market and determined platform functionality based on the gathered requirements. Then, they developed a platform and a cross-platform mobile app. They provided consulting and support. The team adjusted the platform as needed. 

What was the team composition?

My company worked with a project manager, a UX/UI designer, a business analyst, a QA engineer, and three developers.

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

HQSoftware designed a novel solution that meets the needs of both property owners and tenants. Owners can post their available properties while tenants can filter properties based on desired accommodations and timeframes. The platform and app have become key drivers of our business, and we are confident they will foster market expansion. 

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project managers were engaged and easily accessible. Communication was 100% effective.

​​​​​​What did you find most impressive about this company?

HQSoftware was fully committed to delivering the best product. The team presented several innovative solutions, such as user testing.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I did not see any. My only hope is that HQSoftware will continue to grow.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO for an air quality monitoring device that measures different metrics of chemicals, temperature, and humidity. It analyzes the data and gives recommendations on how to improve.

What challenge were you trying to address with HQSoftware?

There’s a physical air monitoring device. We needed an agency to develop the app component where users can see what metric is measured.

What was the scope of their involvement?

HQSoftware developed an IoT device for iOS and Android. Their team built the technical sections from scratch, using JavaScript for the backend, while our team provided the designs. They are currently fixing minor bug issues.

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact was the project manager. In the beginning, we worked with five to seven developers, now only two or three are involved in the maintenance services.

How did you come to work with HQSoftware?

A colleague recommended HQSoftware. We requested quotes from various companies and received the most detailed and inexpensive one from HQSoftware.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between €60,000–€70,000 (approximately $68,000–$80,000 USD) so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with HQSoftware in March 2017, and the work is ongoing.

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

We are launching the app at the beginning of the year. Their team is flexible with our time sheets. Even if their team is busy, they find the time for us. I have nothing negative to say about HQSoftware.

How did HQSoftware perform from a project management standpoint?

Our supportive project manager provides excellent communication. We frequently talk through Skype, and they answer quickly. They deliver comprehensive work, especially in their quotation. Everything has been exceptional.

What did you find most impressive about them?

There’s been transparent communication throughout our relationship. HQSoftware’s responsive team was dedicated to understanding our business needs and providing detailed information.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There are none that I can think of.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be prepared for any surprises that may come up. Keep in mind that there will be bug fixes that will need additional funds.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an Australian-based superannuation audit firm specializing in retirement funds. Our company size is around 50 staff and we have offices in Australia and Sri Lanka. We are the second-largest company of our type in the Australian market. I am the director of operations for the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with HQSoftware?

We have built a cloud-based superannuation audit software which streamlines and automates the process. Up until now, it has been used in our internal business, but we are planning to market the software.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our tool was initially developed by another firm. HQSoftware provided coding services, taking our business specifications and redesigning the platform on HTML5. The development was brought to a much higher level of quality. HQSoftware also has built and continue to build new modules for the platform from scratch. The team has worked out a technical strategy, creating a development plan for making the software white label ready. This included creating the server infrastructure that allowed us to house the software.

How did you come to work with HQSoftware?

HQSoftware was referred to us by an Australian technology partner who had used them in previous development projects.

How much have you invested with HQSoftware?

The average cost of HQSoftware's services is $20,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with HQSoftware a year and a half ago. The project is ongoing. We are planning to take the platform to market, so we will have continual iterations for its improvement.

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

The project has been completely successful. I couldn't be happier. The quality of the developers and the consistency of our core team has been above and beyond what was required.We do not engage HQSoftware to provide QA, so testing is done internally. Because we're involved in that process, it's not relevant for me to mention the bug count. Compared to our previous developer, the quality of the code has improved. HQSoftware has had to start with a hard base, but they worked out strategies for ensuring that the quality would get better as we went along.

How did HQSoftware perform from a project management standpoint?

HQSoftware's project manager and 2 of our developers have been working with us since the project was started. The staff turnover is very low, which I personally find reassuring. Since the work is very complicated, I don't want to have to pay for training new people.

What did you find most impressive about HQSoftware?

HQSoftware is a part of our business. I haven't worked with a project manager as good as the one from HQSoftware. I feel that they are personally invested in the project, which is great. We don't want people who will simply write the code and hand it over. The work is very complicated, but HQSoftware's understands what we want and how we want it. We have developed a relationship by which HQSoftware knows what to do without even asking. The project management side of things is top-notch.

Are there any areas HQSoftware could improve?

Our company is based in Australia, while I work from America. Working through these time zones can be a bit difficult, but this is not something that HQSoftware can improve. There's nothing negative I could say about them. We've had issues at 10 PM on HQSoftware's time, but we could reach 2 developers online and fix the problem.

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

Clients should work with HQSoftware as if they were part of the team, giving them as much knowledge and exposure as possible. We always get the best out of people if they're made to feel that they're adding value.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a software company. We provide various software development and software projects management services for clients worldwide.

What challenge were you trying to address with HQSoftware?

We had a large-scale project that exceeded our capacities. We also had a strict budget, so we were looking for an offshore dedicated team in order to have more flexibility with our resources. Our goal was to find a long-term partner to balance resources during peak times. Reasonable pricing was an important point. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

The plan was to start out with the development of a booking engine for one of our customers and involve them with other projects as needed. The project we started out with was a booking system similar to Airbnb. HQSoftware developed the system from scratch, including the web platform and mobile application. They worked as a full-cycle team and were in charge of all stages, from business analysis to testing and delivery. HQSoftware also provides maintenance and support. From time to time, we ask them to implement new features. The core team from HQSoftware consisted of 7 developers. We were directly involved in the selection process.

How did you come to work with HQSoftware?

During our selection process, we contacted 11 companies from different countries. HQSoftware turned out to be the most suitable based on their technological background. We also liked their approach to communicating with us.

How much have you invested with HQSoftware?

The overall project budget was over $350,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have worked with HQSoftware for more than a year. At the moment, we are still working on the project.

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

The biggest achievement was that we managed to decrease development costs, thanks to our collaboration with HQSoftware. We had a successful preliminary launch a while ago and we got extremely positive feedback for that project.

How did HQSoftware perform from a project management standpoint?

Even though HQSoftware handled project management, we could easily track progress and adjust as needed. They always stayed within the specified budget and I always got responses to my questions. Communication was very important for us, and HQSoftware was very proactive and straightforward. They would always warn us about any changes beforehand. Moreover, they proactively informed me about possible risks and suggested mitigation measures. We had very clear management workflow setup and I was always kept in the loop of everything that was going on. They were very agile and successfully handled any changed requirements. They were also very good at project estimation. For any additional features, they could quickly come up with an estimate. Basically, we were always on time with project deliverables.

What did you find most impressive about HQSoftware?

I was especially impressed by how HQSoftware managed urgent issues. Typically, they were resolved within a few hours.

Are there any areas HQSoftware could improve?

None that I can think of at the moment.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of OneTee, an online reservation system for golf courses. Basically, we integrate with the golf course’s local tee sheet or their central reservations system. We take their available inventory, which are tee times, and put them online. The system self-manages from there. Our system allows customers to make reservations, book tee times, and pay for them.

What challenge were you trying to address with HQSoftware?

I work for a company that owns and operates 5 golf courses. Most of the tee sheets that we have are low-tech and they’re local. We didn’t have the option to put tee sheets online. There were other companies out there that can do what we needed, but they charge an arm and a leg. I did hire a few developers before. Some worked out, some didn’t. I started with 2 developers before HQ. One was a single developer. We worked for a couple months but that really never panned out. Then I went with a team, another company called DataArt. DataArt helped us build the initial project. We ran that for about 6 months, but it really wasn’t up to speed or up to what I wanted.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Another company did the initial designs, development, and hosting. When we worked with HQ, we got in a little deeper with the development. We asked them to optimize the way that tee times are grabbed and how it reads or integrates with the API from the local tee sheet. HQSoftware really optimized it so it was a lot quicker. The UI/UX was a lot better. Then we added features that we wanted from the beginning but either didn’t have the money or we didn’t prioritize them at that time. PHP was used. It’s all web-based; there are no native apps yet. That’s something we’ll be working on next year.

How did you come to work with HQSoftware?

I decided to look for a team because we needed everything from the ground up, from the design to development. I started locally and I interviewed a couple of companies. One of the companies that did not make the cut had a girl that I really liked. She ended up moving to HQSoftware. When it was time to start up the rebuild this year, I contacted her. She said she’s with this new company, so I checked them out. That’s how I found them. After a few meetings, I chose HQSoftware.

How much have you invested with HQSoftware?

We spent $35,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in January 2016 and ended in July 2016.

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

Year to date, since we’ve been with HQ, we’ve booked about 6,500 reservations. Right now, that’s $500,000 in revenue for 5 golf courses.

How did HQSoftware perform from a project management standpoint?

That was one of the best parts. The project manager, Angelina, really had a great understanding of the technology side. Her team responded to our requests quickly and efficiently. She was always getting back to me. We’re on an East Coast time zone here; she’s 6, 7 hours ahead. She’d be available till mid-afternoon our time, which was almost midnight her time. She was always able to wrap our conversations up and put them into a timeline. She organized and kept everything on task. She was one of the best parts of working with HQSmart.

What did you find most impressive about HQSoftware?

They’re a smaller shop. I liked how they were able to work with me about our payment schedule. HQSoftware were flexible and let me dictate the terms depending on what would make sense. We could do it bi-weekly. If I wanted to wrap it up after 40 hours, 80 hours’ worth of work, we could make payments then. I think that came down from the owner who made it possible for us to work with him.

Are there any areas HQSoftware could improve?

No, I was pretty happy with them. 

Please describe your organization.

Benelizer is a startup company. What we do is a cloud-based service visualizing for companies the project portfolio they have ongoing, and it stresses which initiatives to best support to best achieve their strategy.

What is your position?

I’m the founder and CTO of the company.

What business challenge were you trying to address with HQSoftware?

It’s a startup company, and we basically developed the cloud service from scratch. We needed a partner that could complement our own resources with development resources.

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

They do PHP development for the cloud service for us.

How did you come to work with HQSoftware?

It was a classic internet Google search for partners, and it took us about three weeks to identify a partner that responded well and who seemed to have the capability and the quality of the services we needed. It was poking around for a few weeks and then deciding on which potential outsourcing provider to go with.

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

The cost they bill us is about $6,000 to $10,000 per month. Actually, we plan on a long-term relationship, so it will be on an annual ongoing basis. We expect to continue the relationship at that sort of level. So far it’s roughly about $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working in February or March, so it’s about six months now.

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The way we work is that we have an agile development process, so we have deliverables every week. The projects are relatively small, so it’s like a chain of projects. So far they have delivered I think four or five major deliveries, which have all been on time, on budget, and in very good quality and a good dialogue in the process.

How did HQSoftware perform from a project management standpoint?

Actually I wouldn’t comment too much on that because the project size is so small that no classic project management was required. They have managed the scope, and the specifications, and the deliverable delivery just fine, but the project size is not so big so you can really evaluate their capabilities in terms of project management from the work we have done with them.

What distinguishes HQSoftware from other providers?

I’ve worked with a few outsourcing companies, and I think HQSoftware are very responsive and they provide unusually high level of constructive feedback. We have a specification; they may come up with some idea on how to improve it, which is much appreciated. I think that’s a bit of a differentiator to many other outsourcing companies.

Is there anything HQSoftware could have improved or done differently?

No, I couldn’t really think of anything at this point.

Please describe your organization.

We are a website development and Internet marketing company.

What is your position?

I am the owner of the company.

What business challenge were you trying to address with HQSoftware?

We got into a situation where we had more work than we could get done. We were looking for a partner to supplement our team and alleviate some of the bottlenecks we had.

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

HQSoftware has been responsible for development in various projects. Usually, we'll create the designs, but HQSoftware will do everything from design to development to planning. We have a good working relationship where if I do the designs, we work together to figure out what's going to work best. It's like they're in the office with me. They used two technologies – PHP and .NET – for these projects.

How did you come to work with HQSoftware?

I found them on oDesk. I found one designer who worked for HQSoftware. We started on one small project as a test, and it just kind of grew from there.

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

All the projects together cost between $200,000 to $1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

It's ongoing.

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

There really hasn't been any problem. I've never had a client say, "Oh, this is a mess. This isn't working." Everything is complementary. When somebody needs a change, HQSoftware is good about making changes fast and being accessible even with the time change between here and there. As far as revenue with them, I would say that it's probably close to $100,000 a year in profit. 

How did HQSoftware perform from a project management standpoint?

One of the reasons why I wanted to find somebody else was that it's hard to find good people with quality. Working with HQSoftware has been amazing. It's freed me up from tons of time and stress, and the results are exceptional.

Is there anything HQSoftware could have improved or done differently?

It's not a problem anymore and part of it was probably me with communication and things. But, when we first started working, the quotes were  a bit off. Things were over budget. But, now, we work much closer, and we make sure we have all the details in the beginning. For the past two years, everything has been super smooth. If anything, we're always coming in under budget now.

Please describe your organization.

Our company is CleverLEAF Technologies. We are an IT [information technology] outsourcing provider for our customers. We focus on web, mobile, and data management application development.

What is your position?

I am the business development director of the company.

What business challenge were you trying to address with HQSoftware?

They provided us with support and resources in web based application and mobile application development. The app is a matching system for foreign exchange spot transactions.

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

We combine our development team with HQSoftware's team for this project. We built the concept of the whole solution internally. We also provide the project management and system architecture. HQSoftware developed the front end of the web-based application using PHP. They were also responsible for mobile development for iOS and Android. They provided the back-end development and the data management solutions.

How did you come to work with HQSoftware?

They were recommended to us. 

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

The project cost less than $100,000

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working together since 2013.

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

I don't have any numbers to share, but it's a widely used application. We've received a lot of positive feedback.

How did HQSoftware perform from a project management standpoint?

HQSoftware's project management is very good. We've been working with them for a long time. This would not be the case is the quality of work and project management didn't meet our standards. We are very satisfied with our partnership.

What distinguishes HQSoftware from other providers?

They are very responsive. We like working with them.

Is there anything HQSoftware could have improved or done differently?

Sometimes, communication could have been a little better. It depends on the project manager.

Please describe your organization.

I run a consulting company. I was in the printing business for many years but, during the last 10 years, I've been doing web-to-print applications and print automation. I had a request from the United Nations Development Department to help them build something in Belarus because of my background in printing, communication, and software development.

What is your position?

What business challenge were you trying to address with HQSoftware?

The United Nations Development Department offered the state of Belarus an electronic trade facility for their textile industry, which would provide a way for companies to put their products online. In this case, we had about 250 companies who wanted to promote their products outside of Belarus.

The challenge was that we had to work in a country like Belarus. I was not familiar with that country. It was my first experience over there. But, I was surprised to see the high level of computer programmers there, which was good. In the city of Minsk alone, they have 8,000 highly skilled programmers.

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

HQSoftware was fully responsible for the development of TradeBel, an e-commerce website designed to promote goods for various Belarusian companies. HQSoftware was involved in the design, .NET development, and testing of the website.

Once we chose HQSoftware, I was in very close contact with them to help them understand the software requirements and specifications so that we could actually see they were meeting those requirements. I was very surprised to see the professional level of the people I was working with. They were good in their software requirement specifications, and we ended up coming up with a deliverable list of about 40 different things I wanted to check before we could approve the development of the software and release the funding. I finally settled on 37 of them. They worked under these conditions, and I was 100 percent satisfied.

We ran into a few issues that had to be corrected  at the end of the project, but we managed to finish the project two weeks before the deadline, which was very unusual. Software companies are always behind, but HQSoftware finished our project ahead of time. I had phenomenal communication with them all through the project. I was happy with their work, as was the United Nations Development Department. They actually told me it was the first software development project they've had that was delivered on time and on budget.

How did you come to work with HQSoftware?

We first developed a requirement specification, and then put that into a public tender. We then chose five companies who could provide the services we were looking for. Based on skills, price, and many other factors, the United Nations Development Department chose HQSoftware as the provider.

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

The United Nations development department spent around $100,000 on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project took about a year and a half. There was some delay between the time when they came up with their proposal and finally received approval from the United Nations, which had to have all the formal confirmation in place before we could go on to the next steps. We started in the summer of 2013, and we ended delivering the results in the spring of 2014.

Could you share any statistics, metrics, or other feedback from this engagement?

My job was to put the electronic trade facility online and to manage the staff needed to get it off the ground. You can imagine working with 250 different companies in Belarus. They couldn't provide the exact details we needed – like images, text, and prices – in a consistent form that we could put into the database. We had to have people to do that for them and put everything into a spreadsheet so we could import everything. All that was taken care of by the United Nations development department after I left the project. I know for sure the project is still running, and they are very happy with the results. I have had absolutely no complaints at all.

How did HQSoftware perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management from their side was perfect. I couldn't point out a single problem, which was unusual for me. I've worked with people in Switzerland, Germany, Denmark, and many other places where they had good programmers, but HQSoftware was spot on with everything.

What distinguishes HQSoftware from other providers?

HQSoftware will go the extra mile to understand what kind of project they are involved in. In some cases, I took them out to see clients so they could see what kind of material we expected them to deliver. Because they saw how poorly that was being done, they actually took the initiative to put up a website so they could input the material directly, which helped a lot because everything came out in a consistent format which was easy to put in the database. They made the extra effort to understand the project, and I think they wanted to have this as a strong reference for their international business.

Is there anything HQSoftware could have improved or done differently?

Their work was excellent. I had these requirements that they had to meet. They did that perfectly, and the ministry of their own industrial services in Belarus approved everything. I don't see how they could've done better.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO a company that provides cost and profitability modelling and analytics as a service to clients with demanding costing environments

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

A feasibility and requirements planning study of a special software to facilitate costing projects in demanding environments

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

They approached us directly. After reviewing their references, reviews and discussing potential execution, we made the selection.

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

We started with a live project planning and kick-off session and requirements specification.

We continued remotely with technical specification including backend estimation details and frontend features with wireframes.

Key deliverables were a complete technical specification package and budget estimations for execution.

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

There were 3 people in the core team: project manager, lead developer and business analyst

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

The project gave us the needed information to review our options for next steps.

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

The communication was smooth and timely despite the corona that hit in the middle of the project.

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

Direct communication between all team members. Great attitude. Hospitality and openness.

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

Some key technologies concerning our requirements were not that familiar to the team.