MAS Global Consulting

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and co-founder at Wisy Inc., and we develop retail intelligence solutions for startup companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MAS Global Consulting?

We had a surge of customers and needed to increase the scale of our development capabilities.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

MAS Global Consulting provided good and talented engineers and made them available on short notice — they assigned them to our projects for as long as we required. We gave them the documentation for the profiles we needed and prepared some presentations to onboard them. They then assigned the candidates to us as an extension of our development team. In addition to that,  the senior engineer coached part of the team.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a senior software developer and a software developer.

How did you come to work with MAS Global Consulting?

I was referred to them because they've been growing fast. When I spoke to them, they were professional and knowledgeable.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $16,000with them on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June–September 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They helped us speed up the development process because we didn’t have to go through the hiring process ourselves. The two developers were delivering at the speed our engineering team was and quickly learned what was required. They started producing immediately, which was a great surprise because usually, when you onboard someone, it takes months for them to get up to speed, and this wasn’t the case with them — they were very committed and talented.

How did MAS Global Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was excellent; we had daily standup meetings via Zoom and sprint planning meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team was very involved; from the start, they felt like they were a part of the team and were accommodating to the startup environment. Their attitude was also suitable for our startup culture — we were surprised by the level of their expertise.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think there's anything they can improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Know what you want and trust the team. I recommend working with them because of the structure that they have. You only have to have your requirements specified. They will deliver high-quality work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of a nonprofit that focuses on empowering Latino and Latina business owners through a collaboration with a prominent university. We have three main focus areas, namely research, education, and ecosystem development. 

On the research side, we research Latino business owners across the country to understand the factors that impact their businesses. Meanwhile, on the education side, we co-facilitate a biannual program where we bring in entrepreneurs to change the mindset of business owners and give them tools to scale their businesses. Lastly, the ecosystem development area is where we provide growth pathways and leverage the network of entrepreneurs, mentors, and capital providers to elevate people and entrepreneurs. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MAS Global Consulting?

In our education focus area, applicants came in on a rolling basis for our scaling program. We’d run multiple programs with over 800 alumni. While doing this, we faced a challenge around data control and management. We didn’t have a process to track applications or advance the applicants through a review committee. Our teams also couldn’t collaborate internally and seek information from applicants. In short, we lacked the structure and process for application management. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

MAS Global helped us with our data access through Salesforce. Our programs were facilitated in our partner university, and the applications were run through them. As a result, when we needed to access data, we had to access it through the university. 

With the help of MAS Global, we connected those data sets to our Salesforce account. We conducted plenty of back-and-forth collaboration to ensure the data was fed from the university to our account. The MAS Global team also helped us check whether the right structure and processes were built into Salesforce. These processes flowed with how we evaluated a candidate for our education program. 

What is the team composition?

In the beginning, I had a call with a couple of their teammates. However, I mainly worked with only one person throughout the project. 

How did you come to work with MAS Global Consulting?

I learned about MAS Global on a couple of channels, including LinkedIn, where they were active. The name of their company was quite interesting for me because I spoke Spanish; their Spanish wording intrigued me, so I approached them. 

Apart from that, I knew that their founder was an alumna of our education program, though I’d never met her. In other words, she was close to the network. Since I wanted an organization that could meet our needs, someone who had been in our network was certainly a bonus. I then connected with someone on their sales team who also served as a mentor in our organization — we had a lot of connections in MAS Global. That was how our partnership started. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent somewhere in the ballpark of $15,000–$20,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from October 2019–March 2020. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The immediate result we saw was that we gained tremendous time internally. There was also the component of sustainability. All of our data previously lived on multiple versions of spreadsheets and desktops until MAS Global transferred them in the cloud to a centralized location. That was extremely powerful and crucial to the sustainability of our organization. 

How did MAS Global Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was challenging for us for two reasons. First, I led the project, and I wasn’t a technical or IT person. In fact, nobody was a tech person in our organization, which had only three full-time employees. As a result, my time was divided and my responses were delayed. 

There was also only one person on the MAS Global team, and that was our second project management challenge. In the end, we had a lot of back-and-forth communication, and both sides’ efforts were greatly extended. This also slightly extended the project. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

MAS Global Consulting was flexible. Our program had many moving parts from the university to the third-party vendors. We also had many internal inputs from our review committee, which often made us rethink and reevaluate the design that we wanted to implement. Throughout all of this, MAS Global was constantly flexible as they worked through our ever-changing needs. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their timeline management could improve. It would’ve been better if they’d helped us stay on track in terms of the timeline. Even though this wasn’t totally in their control, being a little more aggressive with time management and responses could’ve helped the project. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Truly understand the project’s scope of work, the things that it encompasses, and the timeline behind it. This applies to any technology-related projects. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for Western Union, a well-known money transfer service all around the world. We service pretty much every single country for cash and digital currency. 

My role is running our global product engineering organization. I'm responsible for all the products that we offer to our customers, not just money ordering and transferring, but also our B2B solutions and digital products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MAS Global Consulting?

We were expanding significantly in Latin America, offering the same products in Spanish and Portuguese. Our principal offices in the region are in Costa Rica and Argentina. In Argentina, we do most of our engineering work, and in Costa Rica, we do a lot of operations work. We’d been in Argentina for two years around 2019 and we hadn’t been able to find the right digital skills to deliver our mobile apps for Chile, Ecuador, Brazil, and Argentina. MAS Global took on the delivery of some of our mobile apps from end to end, including all the engineering, testing, and scrum support. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tasked with developing our money transfer mobile applications for Chile and Argentina, MAS Global Consulting started by learning our existing platform. They were able to reuse some of our components, including our construction layer and APIs. Based on this knowledge, they extended our existing application template and built new features and products for our targeted countries. We also provided a structured document that they would use but they mostly brought themselves up to speed.

Each country requires a unique set of features and capabilities in its mobile apps. For example, in Argentina, users require a verifiable tax ID, as well as to provide their first and second last names, to create a profile. These types of features were what made each app unique. MAS was able to build a look and feel for both applications that was similar to our existing standard. 

Beyond creating requested solutions and features, MAS Global Consulting also pushed us to begin working with new technologies. Most of our engineering was done with old technologies (like Angular) and on-premises or in data centers. MAS suggested we work with React Native. They also advised us on pricing capabilities via plug-ins. 

What is the team composition?

Around 10–12 people were involved in the engagement. In 2021, we reduced the team by half because Western Union shifted their focus. 

From a role perspective, we interacted with senior developers, testers, Scrum masters, and business analysts, which filled out a full Scrum team. 

How did you come to work with MAS Global Consulting?

I met their CEO through a US-based nonprofit organization for Latino executives in technology. I needed to onboard great skills at a reasonable price with bilingual capabilities. This final point was crucial, as I also have developers in India and the US. Finally, having developers in a similar time zone to myself in the US was helpful, and Colombia is only 1–2 hours ahead of us in the US and about one hour behind Argentina. 

Ideally, I would have searched for a company in Argentina but we didn't find the right organization. I'm Colombian, as well as fairly engaged with the technology community there, so I knew I could find top-notch resources. The CEO of MAS and I started talking about potential opportunities. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $1.2 million–$1.3 million. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from November 2019–December 2020, though we still reach out to them if we have specific needs. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The evidence, more than anything, is that the mobile application for Argentina is up and running. MAS Global Consulting did nearly all the engineering work. 

How did MAS Global Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very proactive and engaged, as well as hungry for more information and more work. 

The work was done remotely, with MAS using laptops that we sent them to connect to our network. Their resources collaborated with ours in San Francisco and even met with us in person in San Francisco at the outset. 

We used Zoom for communication, as well as Jira, Skype, and Microsoft Teams. These allowed us to share documentation and talk through open issues and tasks. MAS worked in an Agile manner and provided all the sprint check-ins required. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The key to producing results with a consulting company is to build a great partnership, and we did that with MAS Global Consulting. We found a lot of committed and engaged resources, and MAS certainly pushed us not to simply redo what we’d always done. They actively suggested new technology. 

Sometimes when you work with partners in all areas of the world, you only get what you ask for, but MAS Global Consulting was very proactive, actively suggesting new technology and bringing topics to the table that we hadn’t considered. Their expertise was on full demonstration, reflecting the full ownership they took of the project. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

This wasn’t so much a gap as it is an area for MAS to continue to grow, but they could enhance their product engineering offerings. It would be good for them to suggest projects to build together and think of more ways for us to build new connections in Colombia. I’m aware that they’re currently hiring more architects in the US, and that will be positive if we work together again. 

Any advice for potential customers?

Trust them. Sometimes people are concerned about allotting the correct number of hours or instituting the correct code review and testing processes when working remotely, but you need to trust MAS. If you attempt to micromanage them from however many miles away, it will be painful. Put the right metrics in place and the results will follow. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of Blue Eye Soft, a veteran- and minority-owned innovation startup in South Carolina. I manage our product development and the healthcare side of our business using AI.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MAS Global Consulting?

When the COVID-19 pandemic struck, we got the intellectual property from the University of Dayton to use the deep learning portion of the AI models that they developed in their lab. We were bringing data out and making the enterprise ready, but we had a very short time to build a good frontend that healthcare providers could use, and we also had to power AI models. That combination of creating an enterprise-level application with AI created the need for expert advice and support.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

MAS Global Consulting’s technical and design teams helped us visualize, design, and develop our entire frontend and application integrations. First, they created the project roadmap document for the UI/UX design and development. 

They selected Angular as the technology to build the web application’s frontend. Additionally, they chose a cross-platform technology to make our products work on all of the cloud platforms such as AWS, Azure, Google Cloud, and others.

Aside from helping us choose the right technology, MAS Global Consulting built the complete solution, front to back, for the user-facing portion and integrated it with our backend systems and database structures at the same time. This whole process was necessary for us to enable continuous integration and development. That way, any changes are automatically pushed from GitHub, and the code is deployed on the Amazon cloud.

Overall, they mainly handled the IT work, including the development and design. We often had to do quick proofs of concepts (POCs) because we were dealing with new technology, and they helped us with that as well.

For example, there’s something called PAC systems (picture archiving and communication systems) in healthcare, which are essential for any hospital. In there, they store all the images of our AI models with chest x-rays. It was important for us to integrate with PAC systems, but at the time, we didn’t know much about them.

To achieve this integration, we first had to do the POCs and review them with the subject matter experts to ensure that we were doing the right thing. Apart from the actual development, MAS Global Consulting helped us with this process as well. Among many other things, they also created automatic registration and emails by logging all of the messages and using the AWS services.

What is the team composition?

MAS Global Consulting assigned a Scrum team to us with its own self-contained structure, including a business analyst, testers, designers, and developers. In total, 14 people were working with us. For the initial roadmapping and POC, they assigned five people.

How did you come to work with MAS Global Consulting?

Both of our companies are growing quickly, and both our CEOs saw potential in each other. We knew that going with another big brand company would cost us a lot of money due to the challenges of transferring knowledge and working remotely during the pandemic. Startups like us, on the other hand, tend to go the extra mile.

We saw how MAS Global Consulting’s CEO was very dynamic, and we realized that we would get their full support, which was an important factor for choosing them while being under a time crunch. We also chose them because they seemed very skilled, and I was confident that they understood what I wanted.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent almost $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around the end of March 2020 on a fixed 3-month contract because we had to get the product out under a tight deadline. Thus, the project ended in June 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’ve been in IT for the last 30 years, and I’ve used multiple types of software development lifecycles include Agile, waterfall, and others. One of my favorite things about MAS Global Consulting was their test coverage. They made sure that the code worked as we described it without us having a big staff on our side to validate the tests.

Their continuous integration approach also gave me several metrics to review, like how many lines of code were being created and how many of them remain in use. MAS Global Consulting used the industry best practices and latest approaches, especially when focusing on continuous integration.

Now, the system builds the code entirely and deploys it anytime there’s a change, and past versions are maintained on GitHub so that we can go back anytime. There are certain things other than actual code that I look for, so I can always go back to an older version to test and compare results to my satisfaction with all of the versions.

Additionally, I didn’t want anything holding up the process, such as moving code manually, because this isn’t characteristic of well-developed software. MAS Global Consulting impressed me with their focus on code development while automating everything else. They put all this automation in place so that there was no manual work involved and, therefore, no room for mistakes.

I was ready to compromise on certain things because of our time constraints, but they blew my mind with their great quality.

How did MAS Global Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team was very good and open to understanding new concepts and requirements. We had our own project management team, but they managed most of the business requirement gathering, design, development, and testing. They also had a Scrum master who acted as a business leader.

Additionally, MAS Global Consulting was in constant communication with our project manager and business analyst, and their technical lead was also constantly sharing the progress with my team and me.

We used the Extreme Programing (XP) Agile methodology because we didn’t have much time due to the pandemic, and we had to get to market fast. MAS Global Consulting is an expert at Scrum, so they worked fast and didn’t require much documentation. We found a way of speeding up our communication using XP models, so we hardly gave any detailed documentation. 

Many times, we gave them ambiguous requirements. However, as we were getting constant feedback and weekly demonstrations, we could share all of our corrections — it was a very lean way of communication.

We used Zoom and Microsoft Teams to communicate. We met for regular updates and used the chat feature, which was very helpful for tracking interaction, progress, bugs, and any other issues that arose. We also used Teams for document sharing.

What did you find most impressive about them?

MAS Global Consulting’s technical ability and the speed at which they delivered were impressive. We work fast, so we needed a company that could work at our pace — they were the perfect team.

They also had a well-structured team, so I didn’t have to worry about communicating with a lot of people. They gave us an initial view of how their process worked, but we wanted to go even faster than that. However, they helped us balance everything out, and they matched our speed, exceeding our expectations.

Overall, they were very technically solid. We definitely recommend working with MAS Global Consulting based on their ability, and we will be using them again.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Our project was very short, so I don’t have any constructive feedback. Perhaps, if it would’ve been longer, I would’ve found opportunities for them to improve. However, they were very good, and they blew my mind with their efficiency while working remotely.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Engage with them and make them responsible. Many companies treat a service provider as such, and they only give them tasks to deliver. Working like this underestimates their ability to give advice back to you.

Give MAS Global Consulting the opportunity and let them take charge. In return, they will make your product fantastic — they’re not an ordinary vendor.

They may not be subject matter experts at everything, but they’re very intelligent and use common sense. If you engage with them, know that they can contribute way beyond code development and question your thoughts and vision, so they become stronger. Let them be part of your vision and design; they have great contributions.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an IT delivery manager for a manufacturing company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MAS Global Consulting?

We were looking for an IT delivery partner, specific to the .NET codebase.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

MAS Global Consulting helped us launch one of our largest sales tools, a selection navigator solution. They built the codebase using a .NET side of the open globe platform. They also provide non-coding resources such as business analysts, release management, and a Scrum master.

What is the team composition?

The team was initially 12 people but has grown to roughly 60 people now.

How did you come to work with MAS Global Consulting?

They were working with the company before I joined. It was an executive decision to work with them, helped by the fact that they’re in the same time zone as us. They started with small projects and as confidence was built, the engagement grew.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $10,000,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together around March 2018, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’re a good partner for us. MAS Global Consulting always invites us to their headquarters for partner building at the start of a new project. Their team goes above and beyond, providing services such as English coaching and skill-building, to optimize the performance of their resources.

How did MAS Global Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

We do project management internally. They’re responsive in addressing any resource issues we may have, replacing the resource if needed. We communicate via Microsoft Teams, doing a lot of video calls and face-to-face interactions as much as possible.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They truly care about each of their resources as individuals and about delivering quality work to us. We appreciate the partnership we’ve built with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The market is very aggressive, so there’s a struggle with resources leaving their company for different ones. It’s not something they can help but it is the one area we struggle in with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Spend time with Monica (CEO) and some of the team members, face-to-face if possible, and get to know them. That should help you determine if they’re a good fit for you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former director of engineering for digital money movement at Western Union.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MAS Global Consulting?

We were looking for staff augmentation. We already had offshore engineers in India, but we wanted to add nearshore engineers to the existing engineering team. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

MAS Global Consulting provided software development services by modifying the codebase to enable money transfers across countries in South America specifically. The team used a combination of Java and Angular to develop the software.

What is the team composition?

We work with approximately six teammates including a project manager, a stroke scrum master, testers, and front- and backend engineers.

How did you come to work with MAS Global Consulting?

They were introduced to me by my former boss who is the CTO of Western Union.

What is the status of this engagement?

Western Union started working with MAS Global Consulting in January 2019 and the engagement it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We measure the quality of the work by the quality of unit tests, which were very well done. Additionally, the quality of the deployment to production has improved over time as MAS Global Consulting has learned the ropes.

How did MAS Global Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been improving over time. Initially, they were struggling because they had to pick up what was a new codebase for them. It took a while for them to understand how we engineer at Western Union, the expectations and nuances of the code, as well as the policies and procedures.

What I liked about MAS Global Consulting is that they worked through those obstacles and we all recognized that it would take time for them to become acquainted with the codebase and be proficient and efficient. In terms of communication, we had daily stand-ups and met three times a week for about half an hour.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What was most impressive was their willingness to communicate and overcommunicate. They were always available to sort through the problems. We had lots of issues but they couldn’t have been solved if MAS Global Consulting wasn’t as accessible as they were despite the three-hour time difference.

In any collaboration, it’s not so much about the experience when things are going well as it about the experience during adversity. The team did a very good job of sorting through the problems and did that by listening to our feedback. Before I left the company, I could see that they were really starting to be a lot more efficient and were delivering as we wanted.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We could have resolved the problems sooner if they had been more transparent about the problems that they were having. The team had a tendency to muddle through it, which delayed resolutions, as opposed to surfacing the challenges earlier and addressing them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a close relationship with their account managers who have a strong connection with the engineers. The account management team is always there to sort through any issues. Give them regular feedback. Once I started to do that, I saw a shift in the approaches and bahevior of the team at large.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a senior manager of global enterprise data analytics for the sustainable chemical manufacturing company.  We are leaders in the global chemical industry, creating solutions for everyday sustainable living.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MAS Global Consulting?

We wanted to automate our analytical catalog processes through technology and implement our platform automation and governance.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

MAS Global Consulting provided expert resources who worked alongside our data and analytics leaders and team members to best utilize their skill set for the use cases.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two teammates from MAS Global Consulting.

How did you come to work with MAS Global Consulting?

We found them through a referral. We chose them because of their nearshore existence and expertise in the data and analytics domain.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2024, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We accomplished all the milestones we had for our projects, including completing automation for the analytics catalog, conducting Snowflake migration testing for Power BI, and implementing and automating the CI/CD framework. We measured success with the automation object completion, technical stories completed, and adaptation of those automated objects.

How did MAS Global Consulting perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was handled internally, but their resources delivered on time. We primarily communicated through virtual meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their account managers and teams were involved throughout the project, and they had a very regular cadence to be successful. They were flexible in supporting our key objectives that delivered value.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing I’d have them improve at this time.