What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Their design and approach to development were much better than we anticipated. We can never have perfect results, but we had a specific product in mind, and Intelegain helped us improve it significantly, in terms of design and code, without charging us extra.
How did Intelegain perform from a project management standpoint?
The communication has been largely done through Skype, phone, and personal meetings. We tend to have a review meeting every 30 days or so which helps us get an idea as to what is happening. We haven’t used any project management tools. We have a single point of contact, so I don’t have to reach out to 10 different people at their organization. This makes it easier for me to get things done.
We set a deadline with them and broke down the scope into 20–25% segments. We’re probably behind schedule by 30 days, but this is more to do with the amount of work we added. Exceeding deadlines by 30–45 days is not a significant issue for me. We anticipated this delay when giving out the project to a vendor. The work never gets completed on the dot; there is always a plus or a minus. I am not fussed about this, as long as the product coming out is good. The planning stage was a lot longer than I anticipated, but it was better to plan longer than to rush into the job.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Though Intelegain is our first IT vendor, we’ve interacted with more than 100 vendors in other business areas, and I’ve found them to be right on the money for the job they’re doing. They’ve been professional in terms of getting the job done so I extended their contract. We did have an operations and maintenance contract in place, but I’ve also given them work for three additional projects.
We had multiple discussions before actually starting the work, so as a result, the subsequent back and forth was cut down dramatically. An earlier vendor I worked with would always deliver products that were different than what I had explained we needed, so we had to go back and forth again and again. Intelegain planned the project a lot more professionally. As a result, the time-to-market was reduced significantly.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I would like Intelegain to improve a bit on the marketing front. Intelegain was the least aggressive of the six vendors who came back to me at the initial stage, so we need to be a lot more aggressive in sales, in terms of trying to catch the client.
Development is still ongoing and testing is currently in progress. Intelegain undertook a thorough planning process which decreased time-to-market. Though they could bolster their marketing services, their high-quality work and efficient communication make them ideal for ongoing relationships.