Huenei IT Services

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work in HR for a technology firm. We’re primarily dedicated to developing IT solutions for financial institutions. The company has about 1,000 employees and around 30 years in the market.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Huenei IT Services?

My company has been working with Huenei IT Services for about 10 years now. We hired them to provide staffing services. 

SOLUTION

What is the team composition?

I’ve been directly in touch with three people.

How did you come to work with Huenei IT Services?

They were already working with the company when I started here, which was about ten years ago. We have continued working with them because they’re very professional, serious, efficient, and kind. We also consider the feedback of the rest of the inner-IT team, and they are happy with their work.

We have a very high demand for development, so we work with other companies along with Huenei IT Services, and they are one of the suppliers we don’t want to lose.

How much have you invested with them?

My company spends between 10–20 million Argentine Pesos (approximately $167,500–$335,000 USD) per year.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our needs change over time, so we don’t always have active contracts. My company has been collaborating with Huenei IT Services for a long time, but we had a reactivation of contracts in 2017. We continue to work with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They make us feel secure and calm. We know that they have good operations and take good care of their staff, which is very valuable to us. 

How did Huenei IT Services perform from a project management standpoint?

We don’t use any project management tools. We handle the hiring processes and payments with them, but we manage the projects ourselves. We usually communicate by email. They’re very responsive and have good communication. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their reliability, security, constant communication, and willingness to collaborate has been most impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Huenei IT Services could be more proactive about offering candidates. They could also have more professionals than the ones they have now.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT business solutions manager at an insurance company. I’m in charge of technology, apps, and business solutions. We’re a branch of an Italian insurance company that has about 75,000 employees around the world. We work with companies and individuals through about 50 local offices and digital channels. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Huenei IT Services?

We needed help managing our site and developing various projects.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have been working with Huenei IT Services for a while on different projects. They help us with payment management. They also provide indirect channel management to our site for our strategic partners and producers. The team has worked on digital frontends and mobile apps. They mainly use SQL and PL/SQL for our projects. They’re currently doing site maintenance.

What is the team composition?

This always depends on the project and our needs. 2–3 people are working with us on site maintenance. Someone else was also working on the website.

How did you come to work with Huenei IT Services?

We have been working with them for so long that I don’t remember how we found them in the first please. We continue choosing them, though. They are very professional and honest, and we feel comfortable working with them.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve had several projects, so I couldn’t tell you.

What is the status of this engagement? 

The partnership began in 2014 or 2015, but I don’t remember exactly when. The work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’re great at selecting which developers work on specific projects. The developers are high-quality. Huenei IT Services does a great job on the HR side keeping their employees motivated.

How did Huenei IT Services perform from a project management standpoint?

We manage the projects ourselves, so I couldn’t say anything in that regard. 

What did you find most impressive about them? 

I think I have already mentioned it all.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I couldn’t say anything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work in the IT department of a retail company based in Argentina.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Huenei IT Services?

We needed to hire more staff for some of our IT projects.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided staff augmentation services. We hired a project leader, a developer, and a functional analyst. One of our requirements is that the developers must be on-site at our offices.

What is the team composition?

Currently, I am working with two people.

How did you come to work with Huenei IT Services?

Our procurement team has a catalog of suppliers. Whenever a project comes up they do the bidding process and choose among those suppliers the option for a given project. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them 2 years ago. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They have been very good. They have presented us with candidates who met our specific needs in a very short period of time. The ones we hired adapted to the projects very well. It's hard to find companies that can work on-site, but they did. 

So the results were great, we are still working with them and are looking forward to continuing. We hope to renew our contract with them.

How did Huenei IT Services perform from a project management standpoint?

They just provide the staffing resources and we manage the projects ourselves.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are very agile. Huenei IT brought us the resources we needed very quickly and offered a very competitive price.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Maybe they could work on getting closer to their own team as they have developers working on-site on other projects. They often feel more like a part of our team than theirs.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the development manager at an insurance company called Experta.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Huenei IT Services?
 
We rely on Huenei IT Services for staff augmentation. They supply resources mainly for our Java and PowerBuilder development projects. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our core software is developed on PowerBuilder with an Oracle database. The other part of the development is on Java. Huenei IT Services is one of several companies that support our development efforts.

What is the team composition?

There are currently around seven developers working with us. 

How did you come to work with Huenei IT Services? 
 
They’re very well known in Argentina, and their account managers provide good services. That’s why we continue working with them.

How much have you invested in them?

We spend around 10 million ARS (approximately $180,000 USD) per year.
 
What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve worked with them for around 2–3 years, now, starting in 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their developers are responsible and professional, and they provide good work. Even though we’ve only hired them for a specific service, their developers have become a part of our team.  

How did Huenei IT Services perform from a project management standpoint?

We manage the project ourselves using their resources, so that’s on us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are always available and have great communication.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could work more on integrating their developers into their own company. I imagine, if they only work directly with us, they might start to lose contact with their own company.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the technical project manager for an AI voice assistant platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Huenei IT Services?

We reached out to Huenei IT Services to help develop the Spanish language functionality of our AI voice assistant platform. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Huenei IT Services is assisting with the development of our AI platform, using our internal technology to incorporate features that allow the app to understand Spanish speakers. 

What is the team composition? 

Our team has evolved over time, so we've worked with 8–10 developers throughout the engagement. 

How did you come to work with Huenei IT Services?

I wasn't involved in the selection process.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working together since around July 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They've been a great partner overall. They're flexible when it comes to dealing with shifting priorities and timelines as needed. The tools they're using to accomplish their work have also evolved well. They're able to employ creative workarounds to some of the problems we've encountered along the way. 

How did Huenei IT Services perform from a project management standpoint?

They've had a very consistent approach to project management, providing regular summaries of work in progress and next steps. They've been agile and adapted well to rapid priority changes, handling the work on a week by week basis as it evolves. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They've provided a very competent technical lead. They have been very reliable overall when it comes to keeping the team at capacity, even as resources working on our project have changed.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing major comes to mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT manager at a financial entity.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Huenei IT Services?

We hired Huenei IT Services to develop a system aimed for client segmentation.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It is a central system used by different applications to know what business executive is assigned to each client. Their team used JavaScript as a development language. They also provided personnel to outsource services.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a team of six.

How did you come to work with Huenei IT Services?

Huenei IT Services had a commercial operation with our bank. One of our branches referred them to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Huenei IT services about six or seven years ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It was a great experience working with Huenei IT Services. The development their team did was key for our business. It has an excellent performance.

How did Huenei IT Services perform from a project management standpoint?

All deadlines were met. We had project follow-up committees with excellent communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We have a very good relationship with them. We can reach agreements easily. Communication with their team makes everything flow and work better.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes we had delays, but they were fixed quickly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the software development manager at an airport management company that controls over 20 airports across the country. We’re in charge of all the systems and apps, and also hire and manage solutions for them.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Huenei IT?

We developed our core systems that manage the airports and their air cargo. Huenei IT works with us on the roadmap and maintenance of those systems.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

For airport management, we use .NET and JavaScript. When managing the air cargo, we use mainly JavaScript and Oracle. Sometimes their team works on developing mobile apps for us.

What is the team composition?

We work with seven people at our offices, and there are seven team members working at their office.

How did you come to work with Huenei IT?

We employ an open bidding process. For another project, we chose Huenei IT and saw great results. They were scoring higher in other bids, so we selected them for more new projects.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them for about 2–3 years, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The results are excellent. Huenei IT is well-organized, helping us manage roadmap and development matters, separately. Before they were all mixed up, but now we have two working groups. One is dedicated to long-term projects, while the other is focused strictly on development.

How did Huenei IT perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team connected to our project management software. Each month, I receive a report that displays all the tasks and hours per person. This helps me keep control of the work and projects.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Huenei IT’s team exhibits many strengths. The developers they have based in our office are frequently checked on by their staff. I appreciate that. Also, as we hire more developers, they assign a single point of contact that distributes the work amongst them. This process is a great advantage in time and resource matters. The developers are productive and capable. We save money because they don’t have a high personnel rotation.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have anything negative to say.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT manager at a portfolio investment company based in Argentina.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Huenei IT Services?

We engaged with Huenei IT Services for development work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Huenei IT Services built our company an app for iOS and Android.

What is the team composition?

I met with a few people including a project manager, three developers, and a QA tester. I’m not sure if they had a bigger internal team working on the app.

How did you come to work with Huenei IT Services?

I had talked with them before this project came about. I found their profile interesting and heard great things. When we started the project, we made a list of potential suppliers and chose Huenei IT Services. We were impressed by their references and price.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Huenei IT Services in June 2017. The work continued until a few months ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As with every project, adjustments need to be made, but their team did an excellent job. Huenei IT Services created a successful application for my company. They were honest and worked to make proposed improvements when needed.

How did Huenei IT Services perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team was exceptional at communication. If there were any issues, we could talk to them, and they were open to hearing our feedback. Jira was our main project management tool.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their biggest strength is their communication.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything at the moment.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a development manager for an insurance company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Huenei IT Services?

 They provide us with outsourcing services. They find and manage developers for us, most of them work home office. We lead .Net development projects with coordinated teams.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Development projects have included .NET, C#, Model View, and SQL databases.

What is the team composition?

The team has scaled from two to eight developers.

How did you come to work with Huenei IT Services?

The team reached out to us with a proposal for serving as our supplier. However, we wanted to diversify and eventually formed the current development-based partnership.

 What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2017 and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are very happy with their work. They are very efficient, retain excellent resources, and have ideal HR policies.

How did Huenei IT Services perform from a project management standpoint?

Our team does project management. However, communication with Huenei IT Services is great.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication skills and HR policies stand out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We are very pleased with their work.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Our company is a major retailer in Latin America. We operate out of several South American countries. We have several areas, including department stores and home improvement. We have supermarket shopping centers, and finance divisions that have banking. The area that worked with Huenei was the department store division.

What is your position?

I'm the CIO [chief information officer] of the department stores division.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Huenei IT Services?

We were looking to build our first app for our customers. It was an app intended for the smartphones of our customers. We wanted a store locator, a product catalog, news about operating hours or if there's a holiday. We also wanted contact information and a checkout process. We wanted customers to be able to add from the catalog that is in the app to the cart. The cart is the mobilized version of the web. The app interacts with the cart and puts in the cart all the things that I'm selecting while I'm browsing the app. That was the first goal. We wanted an app with those features at least.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

We had very clear goals. We contacted a company for the user experience. They worked with the users making all the mocks of the screens and how to navigate and the difference between iOS and Android and different devices. We ended up with all the user experience that you need to navigate the app. These are back office systems – the Legacy systems and for this screen we think that the information we have there we need to get there. 

How did you come to work with Huenei IT Services?

Our home improvement division was the most advanced as far as apps go. We tend to look at them as an internal provider. We compared what that division knows with three providers. One of them was Huenei. Because of price and because of experience we thought it was a good provider to start with. We went ahead with them.

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

I can't give you that information. I can say we wanted to do the first and second step for a certain budget, and we only got to the first step with that budget. There are many reasons behind that. First is inexperience from our side in working with apps. 

What is the status of this project?

We started in April 2014. The first phase was completed in February 2015. You can download it. It's on the App Store. We're still working with Huenei for the next steps.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We haven't launched the app with marketing yet. We just published it and it's out there. But, we never did a campaign. There are people downloading the app and using it. We have a very high rate of usage. We didn't know that it was going to be used so frequently. It was a surprise for us. The end product is very good. I like it. There were two things to improve. One was the speed. Sometimes, when you're working with 3G, because of the architecture, it's a little bit slow. We had two or three issues around the app, but it wasn't Huenei's fault. It wasn't something we needed to record or republish. It was more in the middle layer. It was because of this lack of knowledge of how to deploy the architecture. If we go back in time, that regret is the only thing that's still hurting us today. In the other areas – usage and how it looks, how it behaves, and some comments of the people that use it – we are OK.

What distinguishes Huenei IT Services from other providers?

Huenei IT Services is easy to reach. Sometimes, when you work with developing companies, you only have contact with the programmers. In this case, they have some senior people and also the director of the company [Jorge Attaguile] and the CEO [Gustavo Commisso]. I can call them, they will answer, and they will take care of things. That's a very good thing. You are speaking with business people. They will listen to you and take care of the things that you are proposing. They were flexible with us. 

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

In the beginning, they didn't offer guidance as much. But, as time went on, they started to help. In the beginning, if you're going to get an expert in something and you say "these are the sketches I have," you're expecting the transference of knowledge from the provider to you. For instance, "You're going to use APIs [application programming interfaces] but, for what you are going to solve, that's not the best architecture. We can say that this will work better."

In the beginning, we had trial and error, and we learned inside the integration layer how to integrate and how to get the information available for the app and stuff. So, in that process, there was a lot of reworking to be done, and then we had to redefine the contract because that resulted in changing code for the app or changing some services. That's the main issue that I had with them. Otherwise, they're an excellent company. They have people that know how to do things and how to program in the different platforms. They're a good company. They should put more effort in at the beginning to transfer some of the knowledge and to redefine some things. Their approach was, you tell me what you need, and I will build it. We were thinking more of, "Go this way for what you want as far as user experience and the kind of information you want to put in the app. I will suggest you go this way." That didn't happen. 

The budgeting issue I mentioned earlier wasn't all on Huenei. We thought it was OK, but when we started working, and we needed to do all the redefinitions and rework, we ended up having half of what we planned for the budget. It was more of a methodology problem. We're developing the second phase, and we changed the methodology, and they were OK with that. We are now going into an Agile way of working. They reshaped their team to work with us.