Industrial Resolution

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the vice president of a third-party logistics company. We also license our custom software to other logistics companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Industrial Resolution?

We wanted to develop some new interfaces for our website and take advantage of some new programming languages.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were building out new interface pages for our vendor pages internally. That was the first project we brought them on for. Along with that project, they were working on some data modeling and documentation for our systems. They also helped us to optimize some of our processes in spinning up copies of our applications. They were working closely with our in-house developer. The new languages we’re using with them are Node.js and GraphQL. They do the frontend interface as well.

We brought them in for several other projects after that which have a similar scope. We also worked with them to develop a prototype for a warehousing application. It was a prototype that used cameras to scan QR codes in warehouses and distribution centers. 

What is the team composition?

Initially, we worked with Tyler (Software Engineer) and Melissa (Senior Software Developer). We work with four developers now.

How did you come to work with Industrial Resolution?

I had worked with them in a prior job on a custom application. I knew they had done good work for us back then and that’s why we brought them on at my current company.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June 2017, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’re good communicators. It helps in our case that my programmer and I have a background in software and development. Overall, they’ve done a good job of scoping, helping the users determine requirements coming up with some solutions, and clearly communicating deliverables.

Our in-house developer had been working by himself for a long time. It was very helpful for him to work with a team that had experience in a number of different languages and projects. They were able to guide him on modern best practices for a few things and some newer programming languages and software frameworks that would help him with existing things.

How did Industrial Resolution perform from a project management standpoint?

They make good use of Jira. They’ve been pretty clear with the timing of projects, with the availability of their developers, and involving us in planning their team’s workflows. They’re very good at managing projects.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their involvement in a number of community and technical groups helps to illustrate that they’re linked to more than just the projects they’re involved in. They’ve got their ears to the ground in terms of what’s happening in the industry. It’s helpful to operate in a way where you’re not closing yourself off.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve done a good job of being mindful of overall issues and communicating. We had an issue in the past where we were working on integration with another software. Integrations are often only as good as the company that you’re integrating with. Unfortunately, the API we were trying to bring in had bad documentation and a lot of incongruities with how it was supposed to be operating. 

That wasn’t the fault of Industrial Resolution, but we wound up putting a lot of time into this API. From that experience, we improved our processes and Industrial Resolutions’ processes to raise red flags a little sooner if you’re working on something and the process goes over time. The outcome of that was if those issues arise earlier on and they’re taking longer than they logically should, the issue needs to be escalated to us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Talk to them and run your project past them to see what they have to say. They’re excellent at problem-solving and offering solutions. Give them a chance to outline what they can do for you. Try to verify that the API you’re connecting with is being used by other companies and is well-maintained and well-documented.