Lambda Digital Consulting (Out of Business)

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a risk management platform for construction workers and developers, allowing users to aggregate best practices and apply that information to monitor their organization’s risk level in the field. We sell to contractors, architects, owners, and governments. We manage about a million best practices through various mobile applications that are essentially modules within our recently created platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Lambda Consulting?

Our previous developer ended up going bankrupt and left us with a lot of bugs in the system, which affected our clients. We hired Lambda to help us create an overall strategy to address issues in the code and find ways to get rid of existing bugs. We wanted to add features, but due to budget constraints, we’ve focused solely on getting rid of the bugs. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our backend does predictive analytics for data with about 24 different executive dashboards. We spent a week going through our roadmap trying to understand various features. The system’s more complicated than people typically expect. It’s an app generator, so different APIs tie into the backend that generates these mobile apps. We had to spend time trying to understand how the code worked. Using the roadmap, we spent 3 months going through and eliminating those bugs. I think having the app-generator capability was more complicated than Lambda originally anticipated. We had a huge learning curve, which wasn’t quite as smooth as they thought. I think there are still hiccups due to different fonts and such. Lambda continues to provide maintenance.

How did you come to work with Lambda Consulting?

Our previous developers didn’t want to leave us in the lurch, so they introduced us to Lambda, who they trusted to take over the development work. We looked at other developers, but a couple of my executive team members met with Lambda and liked their approach. So, we decided to go with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent maybe $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Lambda in March 2017 and have been partners since. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Lambda always bent over backward to try to help with various things. For example, this weekend we had an issue with a large client. Lambda had somebody working over the weekend to release a patch fix, which went into production today. It was a good turnaround.

The web application definitely has fewer bugs. I think that they have the capabilities to make it faster, more responsive, and more effective. We haven’t pushed the button that yet.

How did Lambda Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

I think they did well. Drew [Co-Founder and COO, Lambda] is our point person. He coordinates with a mobile developer and a database administrator out in California, both of whom were in contract positions. I spoke with Drew 2 or 3 times a week. We had a quick run through of the Agile screens, taking a look at the priorities, moving things around, and getting additional user requirements. That happened once a day with my team.

The team started with only 1 person and then slowly grew to 3. We had 2 database administrators, a mobile developer, and Drew.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve been professional from day 1. They could have gotten hung up with various issues—things weren’t packaged correctly or our requirements were too rigid—but they were very willing to work with us. They wanted to make sure that we improved our processes.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any recommendations for others considering working with Lambda Consulting?

I don’t have any ideas from my side. Other people from my company who work with them on a closer basis might have some good recommendations.