KodXL Technologies

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of a company called AppoloEx, a last-mile delivery service startup for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). We take whatever they want to dispatch to a specific region in Chile. We take those packages into our warehouse and then deliver them to the end customer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with KodXL Technologies ?

We use a last-mile delivery software that was built in Chile. Although the software is very nice and we love it, my partners and I wanted a more automated solution for our clients and their end customers. We realized it was a bit difficult. Everything was sent by email and Excel Sheets, and we needed to follow up via email afterward. 

One of my business partners suggested we create a portal so that our customers can upload an Excel sheet and see everything there. That way, we’d upload that information to a tracking system we built. Then, we began printing labels and building APIs for our customers to connect to, as we were experiencing great success. A new business was coming up, so we were also thinking about a mobile app, as we wanted to remain on the cutting-edge of technology. At that point, we hired KodXL Technologies.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

KodXL has been my hands-on developer since the beginning. Beyond that, they’ve also come up with amazing suggestions on how to improve the information flow, make the system and the Excel sheet better, and improve the end customer experience (CX).

The services are focused on software development for web apps. Currently, we’re doing web design and, within 1–2 weeks, we’re moving to mobile apps. We’re trying to make a Scrum-based methodology, so we’re making comments every 2–3 days to the repository that we have. These changes are mostly for end UX for performance enhancements. From the first deliverable until now, we’ve made a lot of progress.

For the web app, I shared the idea of what we wanted with them. They started building a small schema based on the information we exchanged. I’m not a scrum master nor a PHP web developer, but they were able to understand all of the requirements we had and what we needed to transfer our vision into this project. 

We're trying to put all of the requirements in the backlog so that we can have advanced KPIs. This will allow us to see where we’re struggling, if we need help from other providers, or if there are third-party technologies that we may need to involve.

Both the back- and frontend were built on .NET. In the future, we’d like to keep the backend on .NET and transition the frontend to Angular, which they said they could do. However, for the moment, we’re keeping it as it is. We’ll focus on building all of the requirements, and then we’ll make it more UI-friendly. 

What is the team composition?

In the beginning, there was only one teammate. Last week, we got a second developer, and in 1–2 months, we might add another one.

How did you come to work with KodXL Technologies?

I had never heard of them before our collaboration. I was looking through Fiverr, a freelancer community. I was searching for people who could do the job that I wanted. I was doing it around 11 p.m. in India, which was around 7 a.m. – 8 a.m. their time. I was a bit frustrated because I couldn’t think clearly about what I wanted. 

I contacted 4–5 people, and one of KodXL Technologies’ lead developers replied to me first. He seemed like a very nice and knowledgeable person, which is why we got along so well. We started talking about what I wanted, and he said he could do it. He also gave me a few suggestions on what else we could do.

I’m more of a confidence and hunch-type of guy. If something goes wrong, my gut will tell me what to do. I didn’t make any solicitations nor send any requirement documents to 3–4 companies to actually see the best one; rather, I just wanted someone on the other side who could understand what I wanted and transport all of my requirements into the application. I wanted a partner on the other side and not a company that just wanted to be there for the job.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $3,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2021, and it’s ongoing. I'm 100% confident this is going to be a long-term partnership. We’re 2–3 months into the  development, and I can say for sure that everything is set up. Everything has been working fine and we’re making more and more adjustments to make the platform work very well for our customers and for us, too.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Currently, four of our customers are using our platforms. They really like it and have given a lot of suggestions. We’re making sure that the functionality works first before moving on to our customers’ feedback and suggestions. 

How did KodXL Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve been using Azure DevOps for project management. We have a daily call to see what our blockers are. All of the enhancements we need are being made every 2–3 days. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

KodXL Technologies’ commitment and willingness for us to succeed set them apart from other service providers. For KodXL, our success is their success. When we ask for something, they try to make it within 2–3 days, so we can test it quickly, make the changes, and extend the success of our work to our final customers, too.  

More than the quality in which they deliver is the type of people they are. The team has provided us with solutions every time we’ve had an emergency, even if it’s 2–3 a.m. for them. We always get an answer, and they come up with ways to fix it. I think KodXL shares a legitimate wish for us to succeed, because it’s their success too. I like that type of commitment, which makes a great collaboration.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think so. They actually asked me the same question last week, and I couldn’t answer it. It'd be difficult to say what they can improve on. Until now, everything has been perfect from their side.

Any advice for potential customers?

Trust them; they'll do the best they can to do everything that they need to with the information that they have. That's what happened to me. I didn't know what I wanted, and they helped and guided me through my ideas. That is something very valuable for a partner. Right now, KodXL is transforming into our main developer partner, and we like working with them.