Intellias

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

The quality of work is always excellent. They are cooperative and flexible and always come up with the best options for us. They provide the right people for our projects and engage in a timely manner. The collaboration is very satisfying.

How did Intellias perform from a project management standpoint?

We have an agile model with them. We work in scrum mode and tailor their work to each sprint. They deliver what we expect at a good velocity and their performance and productivity are good.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They communicate well in our steering meetings. They look for good compromises with us and are supportive. We always find the right solutions with them and they bring us to the next level of engagement.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There are little things that could improve, but I have no complaints about their work. They’re engaged and proactive and are responsive to last minute changes. They perform very well and I can’t think of any weaknesses.

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

They had a huge impact. The collaboration provided a lot of backend-focused capacities which we can utilize differently. A lot of tasks were transferred to Intellias, which was done well in a reliable way. The quality of the outcome has been great.

How did Intellias perform from a project management standpoint?

They utilize Jira to help our development process as we are all dealing with Scrum.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One of the most impressive things is their amazing team spirit and engagement. I have loved working with them every day for the last five years. During stressful phases, they are just as engaged. Sometimes additional work is needed, and they are always reliable.

It seems more usual that people change jobs all the time, but this isn’t the case for us. We’ve only had a couple of changes, but in general, it has been very stable and all the people there have been part of the team for a long time and want to stay there for the long term. Their team has evolved as an offshoring provider. We haven’t regretted trying an offshoring approach with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We have identified points of improvement in terms of team collaboration, but we are constantly working to improve the things we identify. For example, at a workshop here in Munich with all the team members, we identified improvement possibilities as well as the next steps in how to resolve them; we plan to have another workshop in the spring. We work very well together. Any issues are addressed and solved together.

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

They’ve delivered on everything we’ve asked them to. They produce a great product. They commit, deliver, and go out of their way. It’s not like they put their 8 hours in and say they’re done. If there’s work to be completed, they will spend all night working on it to hit deliverables. It’s been fantastic.

How did Intellias perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been very flexible and allowed us to dictate everything in terms of project management. They conformed to using all our project management tools the way we wanted to. They’re absolutely customer-centric, which means they’re there to make us happy. They also take ownership of things and accountability. Overall, it’s what you would hope for working with any contract company. We work with a lot of companies both in the U.S. and internationally, and I rank them as one of the best partnerships we have.

What did you find most impressive about them?

There’s a fair burden of risk on both parties. It wasn’t like they weren’t willing to talk to us on the phone until they’re billing us $150-$200 an hour. They were willing to run it on their dime to prove to us they are the best. They assumed risks on that because they had confidence in their work. We try and be a good customer to them and we’ll assume risks at times as well. 

It comes back to being a really good partnership. I’ve never felt like they put us in a difficult or compromising situation. Anytime anything has come up where there’s any question, it’s very collaborative and both parties come to the table. It’s always fair, honest, and genuine. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The one disappointment was the cultural adjustment period, but I don’t believe that’s their fault or any way around that. They adapted really quickly. 

Do you have any advice for future clients of Intellias?

We’ve been thrilled. I genuinely love the guys and think they’re amazing. They do good work and, as a company, we wouldn’t have been able to do what we’ve done without their help. In a lot of ways, they’ve made our success happen.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?
Five years after the project started, customer satisfaction, conversion rates, and overall system performance are at an all time high. Project management is now in our own hands, and I wouldn’t want to change it back. Our original concept of separating product and project management encountered too many challenges, which resulted in schedule and budget overruns. I am still not sure whether this concept could have been more successful or whether it completely contradicts the idea of agile development. The most significant result has been that Intellias developed our main (and pretty much only) product. Our revenue depends on its maintenance, so if our continued existence and growth as a company can be considered results, then we’ve been successful!

How did Intellias perform from a project management standpoint?
We are using Atlassian software, namely JIRA and Confluence. The most important part of project management is having a structured approach using tools like these. We had some minor issues in the beginning sticking to deadlines, but we’re currently on a very good track. This may have been a communication problem, and it’s normal that with every new project and from both sides, some expectations aren’t met in the beginning.

What did you find most impressive about Intellias?
Our initial expectation was that we would have access to management if we had any problems. We did have some issues in the beginning, but we always found a solution. I’ve seen projects fail at points like these, but we always got through every problem with Intellias.

Are there any areas Intellias could improve?
We wanted everything to run smoothly from the beginning and, looking back, Intellias couldn’t have done a better job. Nothing negative comes to mind.