Intertec International

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an applications development manager at a fuel services company.

What challenges were you trying to address with Intertec International?

We collaborated with them for staff augmentation services related to Salesforce and web development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Most of the projects their resources have worked on are based on Java and .NET. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with around 7–8 people. 

How did you come to work with Intertec International?

We interviewed 8 different vendors. Based on prices, portfolio, and other strengths, we ended up choosing Intertec International as our main technology partner.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started collaborating with them about a year and a half ago.

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

They are the first nearshore company that we’ve worked with. The engagement has allowed us access to new markets, and it’s been very valuable for the company. The developers they assigned have been very skilled and have done a great job. 

How did Intertec International perform from a project management standpoint?

One of the main reasons we liked working with them is that they have great delivery times and always stick to deadlines. They respond to our inquiries in record time. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The availability and skills of the resources they provided impressed me. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Maybe the initial requirements intake could be better; sometimes, we have to interview several candidates before finding the skills that better match our needs.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the assistant VP of software engineering for a financial solutions firm.

What challenge were you trying to address with Intertec International?

We were looking for a team extension. We needed to expand our capacity on-demand with external resources because of the job market as well as rules, regulations, policies, and procedures. We couldn’t expand quickly as our business needs change with that kind of policing in place.

We had two goals. The first goal was to expand and contract on demand with additional resources with a remote nearshore team. The second goal was to do so at a good price point that was better than what we could get domestically.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Intertec International provided resources and a team extension concept that embedded them within our processes and alongside our existing associates and domestic contractors for software services and support.

We’re a .NET shop and 100% Microsoft. We’re doing software development from a SQL server standpoint for database management as well as the .NET stack. We use .NET core and .NET framework. There’s also web-based software and Angular.

What is the team composition?

Initially, there were six team members. As of right now, there are about 35.

How did you come to work with Intertec International?

We used a firm that finds software consulting vendors. The first step is that they listen to our needs, culture, and requirements. Then, they go into their database of vetted candidates that they routinely review on a consistent basis.

They provided us with three potential partners. Our key requirements were having a certain proximity and time zone. We interviewed with all three vendors and selected the top choice. Then, we did a due diligence visit and decided to move forward with Intertec International.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in February 2020.

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

We’re able to get more done, more quickly. We’re more agile and responsive to evolving business needs. If we didn’t have the relationship prior to COVID-19 happening, we’d be in dire straits right now. Intertec International provided us with the ability to spin on a dime and change priorities as needed.

Having our Intertec International relationship allows us to increase team size, get the capacity we need, cross the finish line, and make the business happy.

How did Intertec International perform from a project management standpoint?

We have twice-monthly touchpoints where we discuss issues, risks, challenges, and current team status. They’ve been very responsive and immediately take action into any concerns that are raised. However, they’re also very pragmatic. We measure KPIs and developer expectations on a regular basis. There is an open dialogue as well as discussions to ensure we get the value we’re paying for.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re great at finding good talent. It took them 3–4 months to understand our mindset and what we value in terms of resources and talent. Once they got there, every candidate they sent had a high likelihood of being onboarded. Their developers communicate well, are technically strong, and have the acumen of dealing in our environment. They ask good questions, participate, and are present in meetings.

Frankly, I can’t tell the difference between our associate team and the Intertec International team. That’s the highest praise I can give to any partner. They’re alongside us. The team extension concept has worked brilliantly, and I have nothing but praise for them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The flow of candidates has decreased recently compared to what it used to be. However, that’s a byproduct of the effects of the pandemic. It’d usually take one month or 45 days to find eight people, right now we’re halfway through the list of eight going on past 45 days. So they've slowed down, but I don't attribute that to a deficiency on their part. It's the reality of the conditions we find ourselves in.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the vice president of R&D for a supply-chain software company. We’ve been in business for about 30 years, and we do software for logistics, warehouse and distribution management, and other supply-chain problems. We also provide POS solutions. We have around 24 applications, and my role is to oversee the research and development of those applications.

What challenge were you trying to address with Intertec International?

We had a massive development project moving our primary order and warehouse management applications to a native cloud architecture. Given the magnitude of those applications, each would involve 6–8 million lines of code. Those were pretty massive efforts, and we used Intertec as a staff augmentation partner.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Intertec mainly provided Java development. We use various frameworks in the stack, including Spring. We migrated to a much more componentized, microservice-based architecture. From a UI standpoint, we used AngularJS and Ionic. Intertec helped with that as well, but most of the developers we employed were for Java.

What is the team composition?

We’ve used up to 70 developers from Intertec. We started with a small group of about 10, and grew rapidly from there. We’ve reduced the team now.

How did you come to work with Intertec International?

We evaluated 3–4 geographies. We already had a large captive development center in Bangalore, India, but we wanted to have a close-to-onshore model. We wanted to work with a team closer to the US because our primary headquarters are in Atlanta, Georgia. Costa Rica came to our attention. 

It ended up being the final choice, and we evaluated a bunch of companies in Costa Rica. It was hard to pick, given that all the vendors came to us with good references. We ended up going with three different partners, but the other two weren’t able to scale up to the same level as Intertec. They were also willing to work closely with us. They were attentive to our needs, and they could bring in talent rapidly. That’s why Intertec has become our go-to partner. 

How much have you invested with them?

We were spending $6 million–$7 million per year with them at the peak of our engagement.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Intertec in September 2018, and the peak in terms of resources was in early-2020. We’ve reduced numbers significantly since COVID-19 and after the project came to completion, but we’re still working with them in a small capacity.

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

We’ve had a really good experience with Intertec. The quality of their resources has been phenomenal. As with any other engagement, a few developers were middle of the road, and we did have to replace a couple of them, but most of their resources were top-notch. They’re independent, self-motivated, disciplined, and extremely talented.

How did Intertec International perform from a project management standpoint?

We integrated them into our own development team, so we didn’t necessarily have independent deadlines for Intertec. The collaboration has been excellent.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very good from a relationship perspective. They’re very attentive, and they were always there for us when we needed them. They integrated into our culture, and that helped establish a one-team philosophy.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have nothing negative to say about them.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a Business Services company

For what projects/services did your company hire Intertec International?

We needed to move parts of our applications to Google Cloud.

What were your goals for this project?

Seamless set up without loss of data and user-friendliness.

How did you select Intertec International?

Intertec was recommended to us by a business partner.

Describe the project in detail.

From interacting with Intertec's Sales staff to the Technical team there as a smooth transition, they understood the requirements after a brief kick-off call, drafted a project plan, and went to work.

What was the team composition?

Our developer, business team and Intertec project manager. I'm sure Intertec had more people involved but, our project manager handled this "in the background". Good communication.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We got our cloud environment set up in less than a month, our staff was able to operate and use it without glitches.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

No problem. Regular video team meetings were seamless.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Customer focus and responsiveness. Our project manager was super proactive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

It took us a moment to get to the right person but, once identified, things took off rapidly.