Kellton Tech Solutions

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Send Mammogram. We offer an online service that helps women obtain mammograms faster than through the services currently on the market. Our aim is to help women get their images ahead of appointment times instead of after.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kellton Tech Solutions?

I had prototype issues that I couldn’t solve myself with my current workflow diagrams. Kellton helped me figure out how I could solve the issues I couldn’t see technically.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started out with a blueprint and a discovery phase. Kellton laid out the framework for the solution step-by-step, starting with the mobile app. They listed all of the features and pretty much everything a person would go through when using it. 

Kellton is currently finishing development on the mobile app and website MVPs. We’re developing the app for iOS and Android, and the platform has a blockchain component.

What is the team composition?

Kellton assigned a project manager, a business analyst, developers, QA engineers, and designers to my project.

How did you come to work with Kellton Tech Solutions?

They found me through their own marketing efforts. I reviewed their website and read their reviews. I found that they were one of the fastest-growing technology companies of the last few years. 

One of their principals was traveling to Atlanta, Georgia, and he contacted me about a possible meeting. I shared my solution with him, and he thought I had a great idea. He talked about how he thought Kellton could help me, and I was impressed with the proposal. I got quotes from other software companies, and I decided to go with Kellton Tech based on the scope document they gave me. It was detailed and professional, containing the whole layout of the project.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost so far is $35,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The discovery phase started in July 2019, and the project is ongoing.

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

Their quality is exceptional. I've been very pleased. Going through a discovery phase allowed me to determine whether or not it was a viable solution before going into development. It saved me money in the long run. I was able to look at my product on paper from A to Z and determine if it was something I could actually bring to market.

How did Kellton Tech Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

This is where I've been the most pleased. They haven't missed a single call, and I can get in touch with them whenever I need to brainstorm something. I always look forward to my calls with them. They've been responsive whenever I need to change anything.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What they do exceptionally well is make me feel like a partner in the journey. I feel very connected to them, and they feel like the lifeblood of the project. As the customer, I feel I have someone there that can work with me as a partner. They help me brainstorm ideas on a moment's notice and execute on them. I'm not a very expressive person, but I really feel I have a good team of people on Kellton's side. I highly recommend them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I usually have calls with the project manager, and I've talked to someone on the development team. Having calls with other people on the team from time to time would be nice.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

They should make sure that they're on top of the emails from the developer and respond to them in a timely fashion. When Kellton sends an email asking for content, assets, or any type of information, getting that to the team as quickly as possible will speed up results.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re India’s leader in battery and inverter electronics manufacturing. I’m a senior IT manager for the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kellton Tech?

We were entering the solar solutions market, and we wanted a good partner to create a complete digital strategy.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Kellton Tech designed and developed our solar solutions website. The site integrates with our channel partners and distributors in order to create custom estimates for customers.

The site is a combination of multiple technologies, including WordPress, Magento, AngularJS, and PHP. The team is also managing the security part of the solution.

What is the team composition?

We have an account manager for the business side, a project manager, and an escalation manager. There are teams for cloud configuration, UI/UX design, and technical development. There are 10–15 people involved in total. I mainly interface with the account manager and the project manager.

How did you come to work with Kellton Tech?

They had done some work for us 10 years prior to this project. At that time, we found them through mutual industry connections. Kellton Tech was an existing vendor, so we included them in the evaluation for the second project. 

We evaluated four other companies, both existing vendors and new ones, and we found that Kellton Tech had the right industry experience for our requirements. They’d worked for some large companies, and they had all the domain experience we required.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost so far is 12,000,000–15,000,000 Indian rupees (approximately $163,000–$205,000 USD.

What is the status of this engagement?

The current project started in 2016, and Kellton Tech continues to provide development and management services. We’re continuing to make implementations based on what we discover from the market.

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

Kellton Tech is a professional digital partner, and we’re looking to get more solutions from them. Everything is working as expected, and we have no challenges to speak of now. They apply the latest security patches in time, and they’re always ready to update the solution.

How did Kellton Tech perform from a project management standpoint?

We have one dedicated project manager on our side, and one on Kellton’s side. They deliver as per our requirements, and we have technical discussions with them every fortnight.

What did you find most impressive about them?

As a customer, we always want more from our partners, and Kellton Tech is willing to accommodate whatever we’re asking for. They’ve done the best job possible for us over the last four years, and that’s the reason we’re continuing to work with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re good on the technical and project management side, but they could improve in terms of business development.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a director at Berrison LTD, a management consultancy that specializes in leadership training and team coaching.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kellton Tech Solutions?

We needed support building an online digital learning platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Kellton Tech Solutions is responsible for building the product. We provided the team with a wireframe at the start of the engagement, and they’ve taken over the development from there. 

Though we’re only in the initial phase, as of now the platform itself is an interactive micro-learning solution that includes video streaming and text components. We use questionnaires and quizzes, and the entire learning process is gamified.

In the future, we’d like to explore machine learning capabilities as well.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked directly with four people: one primary point of contact, and three developers.

How did you come to work with Kellton Tech Solutions?

One of our contacts, who we’d worked with previously, joined the Kellton Tech Solutions team, so we were familiar with their services. They visited our offices, and we ultimately decided they were a great fit.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between £50,000-£75,000 (approximately $64,000-$96,000 USD) on the project so far.  

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership began in August 2018 and is ongoing.

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

We’re still far from deploying the solution, but going forward it’s going to be a large part of our business. We’re confident that Kellton Tech Solutions’ work is going to impact us positively. 

How did Kellton Tech Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been very timely, and have handled all the delays from our end superbly.

Kellton Tech Solutions is an absolute delight to work with. They’re patient and have been mindful of aligning communication between our teams. They do a great job of paraphrasing and relaying our requests, which has been both useful and impressive. 

We keep in touch through emails and Zoom calls. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We've been really impressed with Kellton Tech Solutions’ ongoing patience and understanding around our limitations.

They have an excellent ability to speak to us in a language we understand. As non-technical people, we’ve struggled with other vendors in the past who didn’t take the time and attention to make sure we were aligned in terms of what was happening in the project. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t. They’ve been superb.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go into the engagement knowing what you want. Make sure you’re prepared and clear about your goals.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing director of Protected Trust Services. We offer a software solution within the travel industry that allows companies to manage new inquiries, control bookings to suppliers, provide information to consumers, receive payments, and manage licensing requirements in line with EU regulations.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kellton Tech Solutions?

We were looking to combine a multitude of systems into one product, allowing for the distribution of information throughout different departments, like sales, administration, or accounting.

This would allow us to aggregate consumer information and licensing requirements in one area. 

We were starting at the ground level and needed support figuring out how to integrate multiple facilities and module requirements within one product.

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we brought Kellton Tech Solutions onboard, we had a beta version of the solution that had been operating for about five years. Together, we ultimately decided to set that version aside and start building a new product.

We used ProtoShare to scope out the project work, and after sending it to the team, they responded with a quote, project plan, and milestones. They worked to develop knowledge of our industry, using user research we’d previously conducted to have a better understanding of how our product would work. 

Kellton Tech Solutions started from the ground up to build the system, which operates mostly as a backend platform. The only frontend component is the consumer-facing portal, which displays information from the CRM system. We relied on the information we’d gained from the first version of the solution to determine the UI direction we wanted to go in.

What is the team composition?

We have one main point of contact who works with the admin team and the sales team. Aside from that, we worked with actual users on the beta version, who provided useful feedback we’ve been able to implement in new iterations of the solution.

How did you come to work with Kellton Tech Solutions?

We met them at the Travel Technology show in London. Eventually, I traveled to New Delhi to meet the team and ultimately decided to partner with them.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent between $200,000–$1,000,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Kellton Tech Solutions around November 2016, and the work is ongoing. We don’t have any plans to end the engagement.

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

We’ve experienced two main benefits from working with Kellton Tech Solutions: the consistency of their staff, and the excellent project management team. 

The communication, specifically of system requirements, between our main contact and the developers who are actually building and testing the portal has been excellent.

It’s clear that the team has a deep understanding of our product. We’re really happy with the platform they’ve developed.

How did Kellton Tech Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project managers are fantastic, and the developers are very skilled. There’s a lot of depth within the organization. When they don’t know something, they’re quite prepared to say it and find someone within the business who does. It’s very difficult to criticize them.

Everyone on the team is easy to communicate with. The developers use a screen sharing and board system that allows them to assign individual tasks. The project is divided into small, piecemeal assignments, allowing the developers to link smaller tasks into the larger system on a consistent basis, rather than doing it all in one go. We use Jira to track progress.

Hitting deadlines can be challenging when working on multiple modules, but Kellton Tech Solutions is consistently able to pull it off. If there is an extended deadline, there tends to be a very good reason, such as additional testing requirements or questions. If there’s a module that absolutely needs to go live by a certain date, the team provides extra resources to meet the goal.

For Kellton Tech Solutions, deadlines aren’t just a date — they have real meaning, and the team strives to meet them. That element sets them apart from other providers.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’ve been consistently impressed by their level of communication. 

Also, they’re very prepared and well-equipped to handle growth. They have impressive documentation in place to bring in new developers. As our team is growing consistently, they’ve given us the opportunity to develop the product at a faster pace.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve on design, but we understand that we didn’t hire them for that. We brought Kellton Tech solutions on board to focus on the code, and they’re doing exceptionally well.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Clients should go and seek out Kellton Tech Solutions.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director for quality program management at Alexion Pharmaceuticals, Inc.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kellton Tech Solutions?

We had a very distinct need for a single source of truth for our data. We wanted to take that data from two system types and be able to collect it in an easy interface displayed on a dashboard that could be presented back to the sites and/or functions through visual display units or TVs. We wanted to bring up real-time performance metrics on service for those sites.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a very difficult brief concerning the constraints we had with procuring software from the mainstream. We had to go with some of the more readily available free-wares and maintain a very light touch.

When the app was ready, there were revisions to be made. We did a prototype where I was given access, so we went through it and gave comments and notes back and forth. Those notes were transcribed into issues for the team for them to work on and create a version two.

We went through 3 or 4 iterations in total to fine-tune it. What I had asked for by way of requirements was what I perceived the solution to look like through mockups. When the solution was actually delivered on screen, in terms of the end state functionality, we were able to take those minor adjustments and deliver.

What is the team composition?

I dealt with three senior managers and four SMEs and developers. There was a project manager on their side as well, which was key to working with such complex requirements.

How did you come to work with Kellton Tech Solutions?

Through my own research and network. We’d used Kellton Tech Solutions earlier in the year on a more strategic initiative in relation to the IT functions. It was from that presentation and ongoing discussions of that engagement that I reached out for additional engagements. That resulted in this smaller, yet just as strategically important, piece of work.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January until March 2019.

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

They built a solution that delivers data in a dashboard and shows real-time metrics. The measures of success are that we’re now making decisions based on that data and we’re making them faster than we used to. It’s been very successful, and we’ve gotten very successful feedback.

How did Kellton Tech Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

I was very happy with their project management abilities, which displayed at the offset. Having a project manager on their side, it really felt like we had somebody sitting beside us. That personal touch was very important for quick responses, understanding the feedback and business requirements, and translating that into a technical requirement. It was seamless and very well executed.

I was able to easily navigate from the general managers down to the functional heads. They were very approachable and pleasant to deal with. They identified the needs and the leads required to make this initiative. I communicated with them via phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They truly understand the business problem and deliver a solution to solve it. The vendor management and relationship management is very strong, and it was all backed up by their delivery. They don’t make cookie-cutter solutions.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We are very regulated as a pharma company. They’re not as familiar with this sector as they are with others, so I would have taken the time to onboard the developer to our network. He would have been able to access our network a lot easier, making the process quicker. We ended having to connect in the developer as we went through the process, and that took a bit of time. That’s really on our vendor set-up/onboarding piece.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If anyone is engaged with them, you’re going to be engaged with digital transformation initiatives. Any initiative like that comes with a level of complexity. My advice is to be very clear about your business requirements. Understand the problem you’re trying to solve. The solution is only as good as the requirements.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and director of a software development company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kellton?

We had a client software development firm in Ireland that wanted us to enhance their delivery capabilities. We went to Kellton to subcontract the project.

Personnel availability was one of our challenges. This was all based in Ireland, which is a competitive market for developers. The budget was another challenge, and offshoring developers are cheaper, but the quality of personnel is really important. We wanted a consistent team as well, and one that could be quickly scaled up or down. If someone was to leave, we wanted to have alternatives lined up. All of those factors needed to be addressed.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Kellton provided everything from junior front- and backend developers to scrum masters, senior developers, UX designers, and project management. Effectively, it was personnel for all parts of the software delivery lifecycle.

We’ve worked with them on Java and AngularJS, and we use all sorts of continuous integration toolsets that go with those. We use SQL Server and Oracle Database too. We have a number of things running in parallel.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 12–14 of their staff, on and off. They’ve done work ranging from frontend development and backend Java development to UX design. They’ve provided scrum masters and full-stack developers, in and out. General technical delivery would be the summary of the whole thing, with all the roles required for that.

How did you come to work with Kellton?

They have European headquarters in Ireland, and I found out about them through networking. I discussed a couple of opportunities with them and got to know them fairly well. When this project came up, I was very confident that they’d be able to deliver, and that’s exactly what they’ve done.

How much have you invested with them?

Our budget with them is a high six-figure sum.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Kellton in September 2018, and it’s ongoing.

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

Everything is monitored on a project by project basis with our client, and the primary KPIs are the schedule and budget. Internal to that, there’s velocity per sprint, but the overall project success is measured by customer satisfaction, a timely delivery, and whether it fits within the budget.

Kellton has succeeded on all of these fronts on every project we’ve gone through. We’ve been thanked very graciously by our client as well. A couple of the projects we’ve done have been the biggest successes they’ve had in software development. The end client is very happy, and that’s reflected in our continued relationship with Kellton. The team is being expanded even today.

How did Kellton perform from a project management standpoint?

One important thing is that Kellton has a presence in Ireland, as well as being offshore. Representatives and personnel from their company have traveled and worked with our client in Dublin for around three months at a time. Communication isn’t only electronic, though. They’re available on-site when needed, and their representation in the country is very useful. We have senior management from Kellton meet with us and our client once a month, as well as being available on the phone any time we want. In terms of day-to-day communications, there are standup meetings every day and scrum meetings every two weeks, conducted over Slack and Zoom.

The fact that they’re available whenever we need them is extremely useful, and the fact that they onshore means that we can meet regularly. We can get on top of anything, should any escalation be necessary, but that seldom happens. All the projects they’ve worked on have come in on schedule and under budget. We haven’t had any issues with project management at all.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality standard of the software they deliver is excellent and doesn’t need much in terms of rework. The communication is also good. The people in the teams we’ve worked with are quick to understand the requirements. It hasn’t been an issue we’ve experienced ourselves, but I know from other people who are outsourcing that language can be a barrier, and it really hasn’t been, which is great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not at this stage. Everything’s gone smoothly with them over these last 16 months. That’s a long time for a honeymoon, but it’s still working out pretty well. The collaboration is steady and predictable, and I’m pretty happy with what they’ve done so far.  

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

One thing that helped was getting the offshore team to the client’s office for a period of time to understand the context, individuals, and organizational culture. I strongly recommend that people engaging an offshore team from Kellton bring the people onshore for an induction period. We’ve done that with around 70% of the team, for a period of around three months each time. We also visited Kellton in India, which was worthwhile as well.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of product management at Accucode, a system integrator. We do a lot of different projects, including traditional IT reselling, wireless networking and networking in general, 3D printing, and drone and software development. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Kellton Tech Solutions?

We have very high standards because our internal staff is excellent; it’s hard to find people who are in the same ballpark as our development team. We’ve worked with other outsourcing development partners in the past with mixed results.

When we need to develop new customer or internal products and don’t have the internal bandwidth to do so, Kellton Tech Solutions augments our team.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve done multiple software projects with Kellton Tech Solutions, and we’re getting ready to have them quote another one. They do both partial and complete projects for big enterprises.
These projects vary in nature; Kellton Tech Solutions has done everything from mobile app deployments to more hybrid solutions, where they create a new software app that has desktop as well as iOS and Android components. 

In our work with Kellton Tech Solutions, we tend to utilize open source components. We use Java quite a bit.

What is the team composition?

We keep a core team of about eight people from Kellton Tech Solutions on staff. We work with project managers and QA specialists. We also work with different types of developers, depending on what we’re doing. For instance, we do a lot of integrations with accounting systems, and Kellton Tech Solutions has developers that specialize in that area. They also have people who are more UI-oriented.

How did you come to work with Kellton Tech Solutions?

Accucode is a multi-national corporation, and our AI group is located in Ireland. Kellton Tech Solutions is headquartered in India, but they also have some of their employees, including a VP of sales, in Ireland. After a few conversations, we began working with them. 

Kellton Tech Solutions has a US presence, but I’ve never interacted with their US team. It’s been great working with them out of Europe, and I continue to work with that team from a project management perspective. Their developers are in other areas of the world, and it seems to work out just fine. One of the key things about Kellton Tech Solutions is that they’re a Java shop and also good with both Apple and Android. 

How much have you invested with them?

My company has probably spent close to $400,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We initiated conversations around June 2017, and the collaboration is ongoing.

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

What I like about Kellton Tech Solutions is their customer-focused attitude. They want to make sure that we’re happy. We deal with large, complicated software projects, which means issues are inevitable. Kellton Tech Solutions works hard to take care of these problems, and they’re willing to add extra team members to a project to ensure they meet the set timeline. They put a lot of effort into making sure they’re meeting expectations. 

From the very beginning, both their VP of sales and I have wanted to establish a partnership, as opposed to a customer-vendor relationship. There’s success for both sides if we’re able to create successful products. For instance, if they develop a product that doesn’t meet the needs of the marketplace, I’ll stop engaging them for development services. 

It’s in both of our best interests to have a successful product that generates growth and revenue so that we can continue funding additional development work. This is a simple dynamic, but it’s amazing how many people out there don’t focus on establishing a relationship in that way. Kellton Tech Solutions strives to establish an ongoing, long-term partnership by creating a great product that people love. 

How did Kellton Tech Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve performed very well and have been better than the other outsourcing firms we’ve worked with. I wouldn’t keep going back to them if they weren’t meeting our expectations, and we’ve done multiple projects together. They make it easy to work with them. The team adapts to time zone differences. We have multiple meetings each week with them to ensure that we stay on the same page. I don’t just engage with the project managers; I often speak directly with the developers over the phone and explain any issues we’re having or what we’re trying to accomplish. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a good range of knowledge within their staff. They’ve done a lot of different software projects for other companies, and that knowledge is useful; for example, if I need to do an integration with SAP, they’ll bring in the person on their team with that specific expertise to provide advice. Sometimes, they’ll even put that person on our development team to help with that particular part of the project. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Overall, I’m very happy with what they do. They put a ton of effort into their work and try to meet expectations. Regardless of whether you’re working with Kellton Tech Solutions or somebody else, getting good requirements in place is hard. I will say that they’re willing to put in the hours to get the requirements right. For the last project, we went well over the allotted time period to define the requirements. They put in the time to ensure the requirements were done correctly, without charging us extra.

Any advice for potential customers?

Treat your work with Kellton Tech Solutions as a partnership. The more invested you are, the better the outcome will be. Make sure everybody is on the same page and focusing on the same goal. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the development manager of a refrigerant tracking firm. We specialize in refrigerant leak protection and energy monitoring products for military and commercial customer bases.

I’m responsible for the hardware and software development teams that generate our products. This is split into physical product design, manufacturing and development, and a software product. We have a web portal that goes alongside our physical product. It allows our customers to see the information collected from all of our equipment located in various installation sites.

They can see various metrics from that system and receive automatic alerts about events they may be interested in. For example, since we manufacture products that detect refrigerant leaks, the web platform allows customers to subscribe to be notified when a leak is detected. They’ll get these notifications via email or via a dashboard in the system.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kellton Tech Solutions?

The product we have is about 10 to 15 years old. The technology is outdated, and the product has evolved rather than being designed from the ground up. 

We didn’t have the ability to scale that legacy platform very easily. As we grew and won more customers, it was difficult to scale the platform because of the way it was structured. 

It has become big, complex, difficult to maintain, and difficult to extend. So, we made a decision to start from scratch and redesign the system from the ground up. 

We wanted a partner that could help us determine the most appropriate technologies and tools to use to develop the system. We also needed help designing and developing it.
 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Since we wanted to make the web application easy to maintain and scalable, so they recommended that we use Microservices Architecture. They also recommended that we use Angular for the frontend and Laravel Lumen for the backend.

Previously, the web application was one large codebase with lots of different modules interlinked together. Microservices architecture allows us to split the system up. It’s compartmentalized into a collection of very small services that communicate with each other through APIs.

Each one of those services could be running on a different server around the world. You can have as many different servers as needed, and there could be many different combinations of services running on them. 

An arbitrator sits above those servers and targets your traffic to wherever it’s best served. It is very scalable and very maintainable.
We had a pretty strong idea of what product features were required, and we didn’t really need any assistance in that respect.

What is the team composition?

The team size flexed over the duration of the project. We started with four people, and we had nine people at its peak.

How did you come to work with Kellton Tech Solutions?

Our product manager was involved in finding the candidates for us to review, so I can’t comment.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent around £350,000 (approximately $449,440 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in September 2018, and the work is still ongoing. 

The work will continue, and we’ll continue to use Kellton Tech on the same system. But now, it’s less of a formal project as we’re moving into the sustaining period. They’ll also be involved in another project that deals with adding a major new feature to that platform. 

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

The product that Kellton Tech helped us develop has won four awards. We had some issues with quality, which is a reason the team size increased. We realized we needed some quality assurance from their team. Once that was in place, we saw the quality improve. However, the delivery times were longer because the QA had to be implemented on their side before we saw it.

How did Kellton Tech Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

Initially, we didn’t have a project manager on the team, and we realized fairly quickly that we needed one. The project manager did a good job of managing their team.

During the project, our internal team had resource issues, meaning we couldn’t feed the right level of details to the Kellton Tech team. Since there were these issues with resourcing and design input from our side, they were kept waiting. Consequently, the implementation didn’t happen as quickly as it should have. Or, if it happened it wasn’t as we needed it because we hadn’t defined it clearly enough.

What did you find most impressive about them?

This is the first time I have worked with a partner in this area, so I don’t have a reference to compare them against.

One really positive aspect of the project has been their commitment. During the first phase of the project, which was a really intense period of development with a hard deadline, they worked more hours than I would have liked. They worked very hard and long days to complete it, and that was really appreciated.

In the end, we were a couple of weeks late, but had they not put in that effort, we would have been a couple of months late. We made changes in phase two to ensure they didn’t have to work in that way again.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Quality is the main thing they could improve. Unfortunately, we haven’t had the resources to back up the work they’ve done. 

Ordinarily, I would expect to do our own quality checks, but because of the time pressure of this project, we’ve had no opportunity to do that. So, we’re in an unpleasant situation of not knowing the code as the system is built out.

As a result, we’ve become aware that the code isn’t ideally structured. For example, we’ve seen evidence of sections of code being reproduced elsewhere rather than being reused. If we were to run the project again with more resources, we would have spent a lot more time reviewing the code quality. 

Also, their developers seem to be a little quick to mark a task as complete. Rather than doing their own testing and reaching a point where they’re confident in the code, they send it to QA right away. Within a few minutes, QA finds a problem and sends it back to the developer. This leads to longer development times. 

I asked the project manager and management team to encourage their team to take responsibility for their own development rather than developing something quickly, handing it off, and moving on. They should pay close attention, make sure it’s working correctly, and then hand it over for QA testing.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a healthcare-related startup currently operating in stealth mode. I am the president and CEO of the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kellton Tech Solutions?

We needed to develop our company's website. We aim to provide web-based solutions, so the site will be an important part of what our company is.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Kellton Tech Solutions is developing our website. We've had many discussions around our technology options. In our first meeting, Kellton Tech proposed an architecture which we didn't see as a right fit. After deliberating, we chose AngularJS, JavaScript, and Django Python as our technologies. Kellton Tech arrived at the same conclusion.

How did you come to work with Kellton Tech Solutions?

Kellton Tech's senior VP of marketing for the US is a good friend of mine. Even so, I wanted to make sure that the company had the right expertise and scale for delivering our expectations. We talked to several companies before deciding that Kellton Tech was a good fit. We visited their offices in India and had discussions around our plan. After the groundwork was completed, we negotiated a price and selected Kellton Tech.

How much have you invested with Kellton Tech Solutions?

I cannot disclose this.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Kellton Tech in October 2016. We have started our fifth development sprint, with 2 more to go.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The product hasn't been launched yet. As a startup, we receive feedback constantly and have fast-evolving requirements. Kellton Tech's team was quick to respond to our changes, some of them major. From a success point of view, this is a good example.

How did Kellton Tech Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

We receive status reports at the end of every sprint, showcasing what was accomplished and what is planned for the next sprint. We have conference calls and in-person meetings with Kellton Tech.

I have a background in IT consulting and have managed large programs, so one of my first questions was around how the collaboration would be managed. I was assured that the pushing will be done from Kellton Tech's side, and that they would be proactive on the project management front. I was happy to find that the team came up with the right questions, and were proactive in looking at requirements and discussing issues ahead of time. This gives me a lot of confidence in their capabilities.

What did you find most impressive about Kellton Tech Solutions?

I am very happy with the proactive nature of Kellton Tech's team, and with the effort they've put into researching issues, proposing alternate solutions, and discussing them with me.

Are there any areas Kellton Tech Solutions could improve?

I would appreciate having access to a portal for checking the project status. We've only started working with Kellton Tech 3 months ago, but I've been very happy with the team so far.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

FirstRain Business Analytics Platform enables high-quality decisions by executives, sales, marketing, and finance professionals. For over 10 years, FirstRain has assisted Fortune 500 companies in building their go-to-market strategies, creating smart context-aware lead generation campaigns, discovering and developing new sales opportunities, and identifying business risks.

I am working as senior program/product manager for FirstRain. I maintain the overall product roadmap. I own the product feedback and work in close collaboration with the customer support organization and enterprise sales team. I also closely monitor the trends and feed the same into the product roadmap. Besides this, I am the go-to person for clear visibility for executive management at all times on what is coming in releases as well as the broader product outlook. I’m responsible for efficiently managing the Agile product development cycle of the FirstRain product which consists of a web app and mobile apps for iOS and Android.

What challenge were you trying to address with Kellton Tech Solutions?

We were rolling out a completely revamped product, and one critical need was to update our mobile apps also in time for the launch. We lacked the resources and skills to get this done in-house. Our previous mobile partner was acquired and no longer available. So these were the key goals for finding a new partner who had the skills, manpower, and experience of building a product of our nature.

What was the scope of their involvement?

For the launch, we had to completely rebuild our native apps for iOS and Android. The timeframe available was around 4 months to do so. We required native app development, testing, design, and business analytics services.

How did you come to work with Kellton Tech Solutions?

We received a list of recommendation from our previous vendor. We went through a rigorous selection process in which we asked each new possible vendor to do a proof of concept for us. It was a time-based, small project. Besides that, we looked at factors like size of the company, pool source, and previous experiences of app development, customer profiles, and intent to work for us. It was critical for us to find a vendor who would understand our dynamic and slightly demanding needs. Those were the key decision criteria. Kellton fit us the most.

How much have you invested with Kellton Tech Solutions?

The initial major project of building our new mobile apps, which we continue to engage with them for enhancements and maintenance, had a cost between $40,000 and $50,000. We had a 8 member team: 1 project manager, 1 business analyst, and 6 developers (3 each for iOS and Android).

What is the status of this engagement?

It was an 8-10 week project in order to launch the new apps. The new apps were launched/published in November 2015. After that, we have continued to work continuously with Kellton in a much scaled down way for incremental enhancements and bug fixes.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The project was successful. Our primary goal was to make our new mobile apps live with our revamped web app. We were able to achieve it.

What did you find most impressive about Kellton Tech Solutions?

In my opinion, what sets them apart is their commitment to their customer and the availability of a good pool of resources for both iOS and Android platforms. I have also found them very fair in billing practices.

Are there any areas Kellton Tech Solutions could improve?

I think one area for improvement I see is where more focus needs to be given on doing more than what the explicitly said/discussed requirements. What I am trying to say is that we look at them as a technology partner and not just executors of requirements. So more suggestions, best practices, and options for building better solutions need to come more from their technical team.