KAI Software

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

SOLVERMINDS Solutions and Technologies Pvt Ltd is a leading global technology company providing enterprise resource management solutions, consulting and data analytics services to a maritime industry where business meets the technology.

The vision of the company is to develop a “Truly” integrated Enterprise Application Suite for the liner shipping company. Deeper domain expertise and advanced technology platforms offer a complete range of technology products for liner operations management, ship management, agency management and advanced analytics.

Solverminds solutions run on an advanced web platform that not just reduces the overall cost of IT but also ensures superlative user experience, global scalability, and quicker implementation cycles. Powered by Advanced Data Analytics and Optimization engines, our solutions not just automate the business processes but provide the actionable insights, predictive results, help make informed decisions and also prescribe the best actions for optimized business results. For more details visit www.solverminds.com

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire KAI Software?

Since our resources are mapped to different projects we looked for instant UI/UX and Java resources who is ready to work with our team. That's how we got introduced to KAI Software and they did wonder and we met our client expectation on support of KAI Software

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We searched online for the best UX/UI developers and shortlisted few vendors. After interviewing them, we chose KAI Software based on their past projects, design skills and cost estimation

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We have used KAI Software resources in various projects and few of them are SEDGE which is Solverminds own product, Data Quality Management System (Data Governance) etc. For which we were in needed of UX/UI experts

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

My team worked directly with the UX/UI designer and the Java developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With support of KAI Software we surprised our client with the high-quality UX designs and delivered various projects in advance.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The key is the communication for the success of the project. We have the channel for project meeting, daily scrum for entire team along with KAI Software resources. They are easy to reach and understood our business and worked well with our team and delivered on time

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

I appreciate their UX/UI work

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

I didn't find any point to highlight. They are perfect to proceed with.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Based in Israel, we’re an IoT business focused on security and airport, logistics, and railway products. I’m the international program manager, handling projects and deliverables for customers around the world. I’m also responsible for international business development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with KAI Software?

We asked them to help us develop a management and dispatching solution for railways.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They were key to providing us with a railway freight management system that enabled our customers to receive orders through a web application. After they receive orders, we needed the system to dispatch them on freight wagons within locomotives. On top of that, they enabled users to monitor and track the freight. Those receiving the freight are also able to track their location through automatic messages.

The system was meant to serve a fleet of 50 locomotives with 700 wagons. It’s a large operation that stretches across borders. They handled all aspects of development, including the creation of a compatible mobile application for freight tracking. We provided the design documents, but they programmed and implemented according to the needs of our customer.  

What is the team composition?

We have a commercial and a technical product management point of contact. The technical contact is responsible for managing the development team. 

How did you come to work with KAI Software?

We looked at several options on the Internet. Our sister company did several jobs with their company and highly recommended them. They seemed like the best fit for the work.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in November 2019 and just initiated another phase of the project with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It was a very fruitful relationship. Our team lacked key web knowledge, and they were able to compliment us with their expertise. They’ve been accurate in meeting our milestones, providing what they promised according to the timeline. Our customer requested many changes to the project, and they were fair and responsive throughout that process as well. In that time, several development hours were given freely to ensure that our customer was satisfied. 

We were very satisfied with the quality of the work as well. There haven’t been any critical bugs in their work, and the functionality of the product is strong.   

How did KAI Software perform from a project management standpoint?

We have weekly meetings during which we discuss issues, milestones, and bugs. After that information is communicated to our point of contact, he disseminates it to developers and other relevant departments.

The response time is fast, and we don’t need to interact with too many people to get our message across. We were also given written reports, always able to provide them with feedback and direction when needed. Everyone was satisfied. We mainly communicated over Skype, Google Meets, and conference calls. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was very happy with their responsiveness. They’re agile and open to making changes to make sure that their customers are satisfied. They were very professional in their work.   

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had some small communication issues due to language barriers. However, they were sorted out quickly and our project ended up going very well. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Prepare and invest in your design carefully beforehand. Then, make sure that the design makes sense to their team. As long as there aren’t gaps in design interpretation, they should work very well for you.  

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an aggregator of online capital raising platforms that provides an entry point into the market for online capital raising.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with KAI Software?

I am not a tech developer, so they served as the technology providers for the platform that I was hoping to build.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

KAI Software built the entire aggregating system from the ground up, which primarily involved effectively pulling information from disparate sources, as well as the ability to then effectively search across all of that information. We wanted to be able to pull the relevant resources together and allow people to easily navigate them, and their team provided that functionality for us.

They worked in Vue JS, Node JS, and React Native for mobile, as well as other languages on the web

What is the team composition?

I work with two individuals in particular: a team lead who manages the relationship on the business side as well as a technical team lead who funnels any questions from their dev team up to me.

How did you come to work with KAI Software?

Originally, I was looking for references online to get help on the project, and they reached out to me directly. I responded and was impressed by the impression they gave, so we continued from there.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $55,000 so far on the project.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in March 2019 and is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I have a few technical advisors who are not affiliated with their team that have reviewed the code and poked around on the backend to try to test the build so far. All of them have come back with positive feedback and very encouraging comments on the quality of the work and processes.

Personally, I’m very happy with the customer-facing side of the product as well, which they have worked closely with my designer to implement. The backend is technically quite difficult because of the nature of aggregation, and they have been very nimble in their response to changes and various difficulties as they arise.

How did KAI Software perform from a project management standpoint?

Their performance in project management has been very good. They are always available when I have questions or issues, and their team lead has done a great job of navigating any challenges we face from the technical side.

On the management side, they use JIRA and a few other tools that make it really easy to follow tickets that come up in the implementation process. They make all of their tasks easy to monitor and track, which I really appreciate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s a big project as a whole, and quite a technical challenge to be able to bring all of the resources involved together. Their ability to handle the range of skills that the project requires for the price they are charging me is truly impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Working with remote teams can always present challenges, but their team handled all of the issues that arose very well, so I had no reason for any complaints about the process or how they handled it.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure your scope is well-defined and be specific about what you’re asking from them. That clarity will help them give you as accurate an estimate as possible and will help give you what you want in the end.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The organization I work for is a company that is targeting patient management and health care in the cannabis space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with KAI Software?

KAI software is helping us develop an app to better serve medicinal cannabis patients’ needs. We had a very ambitious scope and a very tight timeline to get the project finished.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The goal of the app is to measure the medicine’s performance against the symptoms of the patient in real-time in order to provide better data to the patient and their insurance companies. cannabis is one medicine with a million variants, so we want to take human experiences with the medicine and quantify it into rigid tables to see what is really benefiting a person and whether there may be a better strain for them.

They gave us everything including the entire design, frontend coding, and actual backend architecture for the application. It’s a cross-platform iOS, Android, and desktop application, so it runs on pretty much any device. We a lot of different programming languages like Python, Microsoft SQL, and JavaScript react.

On top of that, the programming standards are relatively cutting edge for 2020, where instead of being one monolithic data package everything is compartmentalized and removed from itself. We are able to use servers outside of servers to pass and pull the data and then aggregate it in front of a patient on another external host, so on the frontend, it’s pretty cool, but the real magic is going on in the backend, which they delivered for us completely.

What is the team composition?

I worked with a team of three people from KAI Software. The designer was the shortest term, and I worked with a frontend developer relatively consistently, but their backend specialist is my point man for most of the technical aspects of the development. All

How did you come to work with KAI Software?

We were vetting multiple companies at the time, but the thing that made us pick KAI Software was how quickly they understood our actual goal. Beyond the coding, they seemed to immediately comprehend what we wanted the finished product to look like and be able to do better than any other company. They were also really competitively priced, so at that point, it just made sense.

How much have you invested with them?

We’re at around $35,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in December 2018 and the project is ongoing but scheduled to finish in January 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m really pleased with the work we’ve completed on the project so far. It’s looking really tight and clean, and exactly the way we designed. We haven’t needed to make any changes to accommodate anything that was natively transferred from the designers work into the live code.

When we do code reviews, everything is always effective and efficient, which speaks to how closely their team adheres to best practices. They know how to hit everything in a very strategic, technical, and clean way.

How did KAI Software perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m actually the project manager for the project, and from that side of things, I really can’t complain. At the end of the day, they bring me results early or on time, and that’s the best I can hope for.

The entire team — whether it’s a designer, developer, or someone on their administrative team — does a great job of keeping me posted on what our achievable targets are and whether we can accomplish them within an agreed-upon amount of time. Their whole company also seems to excel at communicating best practices to executives on our end who might not necessarily understand those, which I think is something very valuable.

What did you find most impressive about them?

KAI Software is just very connected to their work. They don’t come across as a team of engineers or even individual coders merely processing a day’s work. It is clear that they are genuinely interested in the project and are delivering the best that they can.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they really hit home runs every time. We haven’t had any problems.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just make your idea as easily communicable as possible. They’ll walk you through their process to understand it, and the faster they can get a grasp of it, the more easily you’ll be able to hit the ground running.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are building a collection of Career Management tools for professional performers that give them access to tools and analytics previously not available to them.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire KAI Software?

Kai took our idea and built it into a fully functioning prototype with users on the platform.

What were your goals for this project?

Build a version of our product that will allow us to raise money, and begin receiving feedback from an initial user base.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We were connected through a cold outreach email. After a couple months of research and talking to other clients we chose them as our production partner.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

From the beginning the built every aspect of this project from the ground up. Working with us on our goals to build the most cost-effective, comprehensive version of the product we had access to with our initial budget.

What was the team composition?

They had a distributed team of designers and developers who were available to us and our needs, all managed through a single point of our lead product manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

KAI built us a solution that has allowed us to raise funds, and showcase our concept in full. Our business took a huge step forward because of their work.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We had a dedicated project manager who worked with us 24/7 as needed. Anya was an effective manager and able to take our ideas and concepts and deliver them to the development team.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

KAI's tools and design team were extremely capable in giving us cost-effective, sleek work that has been a fantastic tool to start our business on.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We had to go back and forth from the original understanding and initial meetings to what ended up getting pushed to version 2. A few things we felt were laid out in exact detail in our original scope of work ended up being pushed because they weren't built into the app. A few compromises were made that we weren't expecting from our initial conversations with KAI.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I´m co-founder at Etinity, the ethical community. Etinity is a social network that connects sustainable businesses and people. It enables you to find sustainable suppliers and clients, while learning and interacting in a transparent and welcoming platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire KAI Software?

We needed to design and develop our webpage so after talking to many companies across the globe, we decided to work with Kai. They helped us to develop the back and front-end of our pc and mobile friendly website.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to develop a first version (MVP) of the platform. It was very important to us to have a webpage that was functional, where users (people and companies) could log in, create their own profiles and share content on the web. It was also important to have functional web mobile since we were not developing an app yet

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We contacted about 6 other global companies, but at the end we were between 2. The choice was made because the response time was very quick, they seemed professional, we were very pleased with the quotation and most importantly they understood what we wanted as a startup.

Language (easiness to communicate) and time zone similarity were also considered by us. Relation between price and time was ok, even though we ended up spending much more time than expected.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We started with an idea and a technical quotation, but after we started working together, we jointly developed an SRS which served as a guide throughout the whole project.

The Functional requirements were:

• Back-end rest API (node JS)
• PostgreSQL
• Vue JS – Front-end of the web application

What was the team composition?

From the beginning we had direct contact with the project manager who worked with us the whole time of the project. She was very helpful and open to listen our requirements when needed and worked as a liaison between us and the developer’s team.

The only contact we had with developers was through their daily update email during development. Communication was wide, clear and open, just how we expected it to be.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

It is too early to report impacts as we just launched the website.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We used google hangout for meetings as our team is in Singapur, France and Peru. We also used whatsapp for quicker responses and emails. The project took longer than expected (50% longer) given delays on both sides, us and Kai.

We also did a contract addendum to extend the project scope which collaborated to the longer timeline. Language and time difference were not an issue.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We were very positively impressed by their front-end work. Their design team went above our expectations and always went the extra mile on their job.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Something to improve on is to have a Gantt Chart with the whole project schedule which would serve as a guideline for weekly updates to understand why some points are getting done, others getting delayed and to inform us of any obstacles being faced that could impact the project´ schedule.

This clear project schedule (Gantt chart) would also avoid the urgent requirements that we did not have the chance to prepare in advance.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder of a tech startup. We’re an organization that simplifies the financing of renewable energy projects with a focus on Asia. We help product developers who build solar or wind farms find investors. We help them work together towards an investment decision.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with KAI Software?

We needed a partner for platform development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

KAI Software helped build a complete online platform that supports collaboration between developers and investors. When we engaged KAI Software, our team had created a rough idea visualization and a high-level functional design, which was a clickable prototype. Their team developed the platform more or less from scratch. We provided them with functional requirements. Their team identified issues with our design as well as mismatches between our design and functional requirements. Basically, they redid the entire design. As KAI Software designed the individual pages and screens, we reviewed their work. In June, the first iteration of the platform went live.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a few people. Initially, we communicated with business developers to scope the project. KAI Software included their project leads very quickly. Their team leads ran daily developments, but we spoke with the project manager mostly.

How did you come to work with KAI Software?

The moment we felt that we had a sufficient high-level understanding of the platform’s logic flow we started a competitive tender process. We looked at a few firms that seemed to be in line with what we wanted. We shortlisted four of them. Ultimately, we chose KAI Software. Their price was highly competitive.

How much have you invested with them?

At this point, we’ve spent between $50,000–$70,000 but are scoping follow-up work.

What is the status of this engagement?

We formally appointed them in December 2018 and the first version of the platform went live in June 2019.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They remained on budget, which is extremely rare for IT projects. We made several scope changes and KAI Software accommodated the new requirements, trying to implement them. In some cases, we had to get rid of ideas, which their team communicated in an honest, fair, and reasonable way. We plan to continue working with them on a more intensive basis than before.

How did KAI Software perform from a project management standpoint?

When we went live, we were only one or two weeks late, which is quite good. The process was flexible because KAI Software worked in sprints. We used Jira because it’s easy to prioritize tasks. We had a WhatsApp group for urgent assignments and had phone calls for more complex work that was difficult to capture on paper. They were highly responsive.

We had a time zone problem because we’re based in Singapore. The development team’s based in Ukraine and KAI Software’s located in New York. Naturally, we couldn’t always have live calls.

In the early phases of the collaboration, their team did their best to understand what we did. Starting early, they rewrote our specifications in their own format. I liked that they tried to translate what we do in a form that was workable for them. This supported total quality control as their team tried to confirm they had the right specifications.

What did you find most impressive about them?

KAI Software tried to code according to our business needs, not just code processes. They didn’t complain about changing schedules, completing extra work, or when we hadn’t specified a feature properly. Their agility and flexibility were good. They have experience in both MVP as well as financial startups, which meant their team understood our ideas easily.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Overall, no. There aren’t many negatives to point out.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Explain in detail what you do. KAI Software will try to understand and help. You can only expect people to be helpful when they understand what you do.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a senior technology consultant working with gotmold.com. We offer a DIY mold test kit that allows customers to assess if they have a mold problem at home or in their office.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with KAI Software?

KAI Software helped us update an enterprise application that manages the customer experience from the air sampling and testing process to the delivery of the final lab reports. We’d developed part of the system years ago, but it was on a Windows platform that had fallen out-of-date.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

KAI Software developed an MVP version of this tracking software. The solution tracks the status of the product from initial shipping to the customer. The customer performs the testing, submits sampling location information on our app, and sends the samples back to our laboratory,  Laboratory analysis data is sent back to the enterprise application, where our algorithm interprets and presents the results in a customer-friendly report.

We wanted to create a responsive desktop application for customers, plus iOS and Android versions, and a web application for administrators. The customer application is used to activate the kit and later receive a report.

The first stage of the development involved gathering specifications. We provided KAI Software with as much as we could in a written requirements document. They then translated our document into their preferred SRS format.  This allowed them to ask more detailed questions regarding our business model. It was a very thorough process.

For the second stage, KAI Software created design mockups that showed the flow and business logic in action. They created a graphical display of our requirements that reflected what we were looking for.

This led to the final stage—the coding of the MVP. The first version that KAI Software built was excellent, but in the process of development, we, of course, found things that we wanted to improve or fix. We’ve started phase two of enhancing the product and hope to go live in one month.

What is the team composition?

For the initial development phase, we worked with four people and Anya (Co-Founder, KAI Software) who serves as our project manager. We still work with her and one full-time developer for the second phase of development. Volodymyr (Co-Founder, KAI Software) was deeply involved in the initial specification work and continues to be active, especially when there’s an issue that no one else can figure out.

How did you come to work with KAI Software?

KAI Software came in right at the time we were considering developers. They sent a cold call-type email, and their pitch just resonated with us. We agreed to a conference call, and their approach further impressed us.

How much have you invested with them?

We plan to spend about $50,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

The first phase ran from February until June 2019. Since June, we’ve been doing minor bug fixes, and we launched our second phase in September 2019. That project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The software solution hasn’t gone live, so we can’t tell yet how users will respond to it and how it will scale. However, the way that the enterprise application interacts with other components —such as the laboratory data— is seamless. We’re very happy with how it’s working so far.

How did KAI Software perform from a project management standpoint?

From the start, KAI Software made a considerable effort to understand our business model and requirements. They came back with outstanding technical solutions. Anya is an excellent communicator and a strong manager —she keeps both our team and the KAI Software team in line so that the project can keep moving forward efficiently.

What did you find most impressive about them?

KAI Software uses a modern technology stack that allows for high-quality, rapid implementation. Their team is very cost-effective for the quality of work they do. They’re excellent problem-solvers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, no, I'm a very satisfied customer.

Any advice for potential customers?

Before meeting with KAI Software, make sure you understand your own business as well as you can. Describe what you’re trying to accomplish and provide thorough documentation. KAI Software will implement exactly what you ask for and then flesh out areas as needed, so you need to make sure you know what you need.

I think we did a good job working together to refine our specifications, which has contributed to the success of our project and partnership.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Renewable Asset Partners is a professional services in the renewable energy industry specializing in data analytics and asset management strategies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire KAI Software?

I decided to contract KAI to develop some custom enhancements for a web portal used by one customer to access data & reports.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal of this project was to develop reusable & flexible front-end web application components in conformance with functional requirements and user testing. This project, as scoped, was fairly low-risk and designed to save time for RAP while potentially enhancing our supplier base in case of a positive outcome.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I chose to work with KAI because of a positive impression during initial interviews and, of available options, their ability to efficiently get started with a straightforward and low-risk contract structure.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

KAI provided us with one React javascript developer to whom RAP could directly delegate tasks. Management was very responsive and accessible, and I coordinated with the developer through requirements documentation and daily web conference calls.

The work performed by the developer was the development of React UI components to enhance user experience when accessing information from a data warehouse. The solution was developed in the specified technology (React javascript), met a set of functional requirements, and was improved iteratively based on feedback from user testing.

What was the team composition?

One junior developer (no project manager), and general & contract coordination with company management. The developer worked in company office space where they could refer to colleagues for informal support.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Working with KAI has freed up internal resources as expected, and user feedback of the work developed has been positive. (Note that the project was small specific).

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Coordination with the developer was done through requirements documentation, shared task management and daily web conference calls. It was effective.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

KAI's management is very responsive. The developer I worked with was very committed & easy to coordinate with. I believe their speed and flexibility appears to be a great strength.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Understandably, KAI was cautious about sharing which specific resources/ personnel would be assigned to the project - I only had access to "representative" resumes before the commencement of work. There could be some marginal room for improvement in this upfront information exchange.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a technology company that provides an on-demand marketplace that connects gig workers with businesses for jobs by the shift.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with KAI Software?

We needed a partner to develop the minimum viable product (MVP) for our web and mobile app, and we wanted something quick, yet affordable to show investors.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

KAI Software began by working with us to outline our software requirements specifications (SRS), which itemized all of the features and capabilities for both the web and mobile app. We provided a basic wireframe and color scheme that KAI Software was able to further build upon. We then signed off on it, and their team began development. The process provided several different revision stages where we refined our concept towards the final deliverable. They used the Node.js framework and Vue for the responsive web app. The backend for both the web an mobile apps was built on PostgreSQL. Everything is containerized making DevOps and scalability a cinch via Cloud66.  Other integrations include Intercom, Stripe, MailGun, and MapBox. After launching the product, we then began adding additional features, and it was convenient to work with them again.

What is the team composition?

We were assigned a primary contract, a project manager, and roughly 4 to 6 developers.

How did you come to work with KAI Software?

They contacted me and were willing to do the work at a decent price, so I hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership lasted from August 2018–April 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We got a custom app at a great price, and they made it scalable so that our internal team can manage it. We can deploy the app to servers around the world, in minutes, with little hassle.

How did KAI Software perform from a project management standpoint?

They were responsive and always answered our questions. Whenever we brought up an issue, they addressed it immediately and didn’t stop until the problem was fixed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their developers are overseas, but the project managers are in the U.S., which makes communication very simple.

Are there any areas they could improve?

For first-time clients, a clear step by step discussion of what level of detail is expected/required from the client could be extremely useful in facilitating a smoother process.  

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Know clearly from the beginning what you want. The more details you provide them, the better the engagement will be. If possible, work with a graphic designer to make wireframes that show exactly how you want every page to look.