Modus Create

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the lead business analyst for a financial services company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Modus Create?

We initially hired Modus Create to help with a server migration.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Modus Create came on board to move us from Jira to a self-hosted server, but throughout the engagement, they educated us on the benefits of going to the cloud. 

Ultimately, they helped us make the switch from the server to the cloud and handled all the data migration that went along with it. They also helped us get all the plug-ins we needed and other things like that. They worked closely with our system administrator to understand the technical requirements of the project. 

The whole engagement was fully remote. 

What is the team composition?

We worked with Chris (Principal Consultant Atlassian Practice), who brought in additional resources on an as-needed basis.

How did you come to work with Modus Create?

We’d asked for proposals from several companies for what was initially just migrating from one self-hosted server to another. Modus Create dug really deeply, and didn’t just come with a proposal, but with the suggestion to move to the cloud.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $10,000–$15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from July–August 2019.

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

Modus Create’s involvement helped us in a lot of “soft” ways. Being in the cloud has had a significant improvement in our internal processes. The burden of our self-administration being gone is priceless. They also saved us about 200–300 man-hours if we’d done the migration ourselves.

How did Modus Create perform from a project management standpoint?

They managed the project plan and specs excellently. They directed the whole engagement very clearly and in a very organized manner. We stayed in touch over emails and phone calls, and they were proactive in their communication. We had no complaints.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It was clear that Modus Create understood our business because they recommended a solution we hadn’t thought about. Their expertise sets them apart. They have a lot of insight and knowledge about Atlassian that others don’t. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Honestly, no. They did a great job; I wouldn’t change anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Trust that Modus Create knows what they’re doing. They’re looking to provide you the best solution.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a project manager at a full-service event management company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Modus Create?

We hired Modus Create to assist with migrating our on-prem applications over to AWS. We also had continuous integration challenges with our current software. A bigger part of the project was to create a new housing interface that would replace our existing application.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I’ve worked with Modus Create for three engagements. The process starts with their senior architect analyzing our needs. They let us know what staffing and the result of the analysis to move the project forward. From there, the work begins.

Part of the engagement involves them assisting our in-house team and giving them the tools we need to handle these applications and updates.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with Richard (Principal Architect) every time. We also worked with seven staffers at the beginning of this engagement. Then we cut it down to five and then to two.

How did you come to work with Modus Create?

About ten years ago, their senior architect worked for another organization that we had an engagement with. I wasn’t involved, but then soon after, that individual moved over to Modus Create. Since we trusted him, we moved over to have an engagement with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent a little under $400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started this engagement in November 2019, and it ended in March 2020.

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

We have a new engagement in place with them with a smaller team. Most of the deliverables were completed. Part of this engagement was the migration to AWS, which we achieved. We also create a solution for our continuous integration tool. For the housing frontend, we provided a beta version for a client that requested it.

How did Modus Create perform from a project management standpoint?

The team is fantastic to work with. They’ve performed well, giving us results. We used JIRA, Microsoft Teams, and Confluence. Since it’s an agile project, we have daily standups and planning meetings twice a week. A lot of them work overseas, so we made sure that there was a four-hour overlap in the mornings so that we could all communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I haven’t worked with too many other vendors, but Modus Create knows their stuff. Their team is experienced in their trade. From an architecture and skillset standpoint, they’ve been great to work with. Throughout all of our engagements, they’ve guided us to where we’ve needed to be.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing that jumps out. They’re a pleasure to work with.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're a professional education company. We serve higher education students who are looking to get certified, and we also do insurance licensing and securities in real estate. I'm the principal designer. I manage a team of nine people, and our objective is to make sure that the user experience aligns with our business goals.

What challenge were you trying to address with Modus Create?

We were looking for a vendor to help us with user experience research.

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, Modus Create helped us understand what our customers are looking for, their pain points and anxieties. After identifying key performance indicators and what we should be measuring, they facilitated the UX research. They interviewed students, got their feedback, and applied it to the new strategy. They not only help us explore the solutions, but they also do prototyping and use those prototypes to conduct contextual and behavioral interviews with students.

What is the team composition? 

We work with a UX researcher, a UX/UI designer, and a program manager. 

How did you come to work with Modus Create?

My boss started a relationship with Modus Create. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent about $1.5 million. 

What is the status of this engagement? 

We began working with them in January 2019, and the relationship is ongoing. 

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

We're currently building an incremental testing and beta program, which has been successful for our learning management system. We've done some risk projects for our clients, which were also a success. After we deliver a common instructional design for the employees of an organization, their admins can manage risk levels of their students.

How did Modus Create perform from a project management standpoint? 

They're very responsive. We use Slack for direct communication and we also use email after regular business hours. On the planning side, we do a lot of sprint planning, and they make sure we maintain a backlog of work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're committed to ensuring the success of our business. They provide top talent when it comes to removing the risk and waste of production from design. Also, they're passionate about what they do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

One opportunity for them is to help our organization prioritize our own work based on our needs.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Based on the goals that a business has, Modus Create can help prioritize work. It's better to have those discussions sooner rather than later.

This review was updated by the former executive director of product engineering at the client company on May 22, 2020. New content is below:

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former executive director of product engineering at a large education company.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Modus Create?

The team was to build a mobile app for a learning management system (LMS). 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They started off with a project kickstart, during which they brought in product specialists and designers to take us through the process for the project. That gave us a strong direction and some general wireframes. From there, that developed into an engagement centering on an educational mobile app that would help coach users through the CFA certification exam. The mobile app would supplement our main LMS product. The team also redeveloped that system for content and delivery.  

Over the course of the project, we updated our tech stack from .NET and PHP to React.js and React Native. Their team also helped train our internal team on best practices for future development work. That helped us adjust to the learning curve in-house. There were also some cloud-based DevOps tasks involved in the production of the solution. 

What is the team composition?

In total, their team was composed of about 20 people. That includes React engineers, PHP developers, designers, a UX researcher, two project managers, and mentoring resources. 

How did you come to work with Modus Create?

I came across them after running a Google search for React developers that were recognized thought leaders in the field. It was essential that they understood the importance of UX in a mobile app. Their website was very compelling, and they had the right idea of what we needed.  

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $2.5–$3 million on their services. 

What is the status of this engagement?

The first phase of the project lasted from July 2016–January 2017. The second phase of the project is currently underway.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The final product was high-quality and fully-functioning. It significantly improved operations. The professionalism of the technology department notably improved due to their team. I even received a leadership award in our field for it. While there were a few bugs that popped up after the initial launch of the app, their team took care of them quickly. They understood that I didn’t have much experience in mobile application development and were willing to consult on issues and roadblocks.

How did Modus Create perform from a project management standpoint?

They were strong communicators through Slack and Jira. When they knew they’d be unable to meet an upcoming deadline, they’d immediately alert us of those potential delays. We wouldn’t have been able to move things along so quickly without a partner like them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Through this effort, I was trying to create change within my organization through upgraded technology and improved product quality. They understood the importance of quality UX and had the manpower to meaningfully augment my team. Their understanding of customer values and a streamlined product development process was incredibly important. 

They were on the cutting edge of product design and how it was evolving. We leapfrogged the competition when it came to product design due to their work.   

Are there any areas they could improve?

When it was clear that one of their team members didn’t understand what we needed from them, that resource was taken off the project.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CIO at Modus eDiscovery, an organization that manages electronic evidence and performs analytics for law firms and corporations.

What challenge were you trying to address with Modus Create?

We hired Modus Create to integrate Confluence and Jira into our production environment to manage our web infrastructure, which is a web database application that protects information security for both commercial and FedRAMP.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We manage quite a bit of infrastructure for the software as a service we provide our clients. The Jira and Confluence integration would help execute that work and processes. Modus Create conducted that implementation for our team.

What is the team composition?

Chris (Product Manager & Atlassian Expert, Modus Create) is our main contact.

How did you come to work with Modus Create?

I googled them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $20,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement began in February 2019.

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

We’ve been tracking the success of the internal product. Our executive management and staff have been impressed with their ability to develop meaningful processes. There are many functionalities and features built into the software. If a person isn’t skilled in technology, it can be like walking into a brick wall. Chris listens to our business needs. We can describe to him what we’re trying to accomplish and he’s able to immediately interpret that in the best way. Chris advises us on how to build our business processes as well as how to make our product fully functional.

How did Modus Create perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is outstanding.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate the expertise that Modus Create brought to the table. Their attention to detail and responsiveness is all noteworthy.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything that would be helpful to another client.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise clients of Modus Create to rely on their ability to interpret business needs and translate that into Atlassian processes.

Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the owner and CEO of Roundup Internet Livestock Marketing. We are a web-based platform for marketing and selling cattle. Users can purchase and sell cattle on a listing page, and sellers can also advertise their cattle via a live auction functionality. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Modus Create?
We had an existing live auction on our webpage, but we wanted to incorporate video streaming and make the feature available on mobile devices. We also wanted to enhance existing functionalities, such as the audio performance of the live auctioneer. 

What was the scope of their involvement?
They analyzed the legacy solution and addressed our needs in various meetings. After producing a functioning solution, they fine-tuned it according to stakeholder feedback. 

What is the team composition?
We worked with three team members, including Drew (Director, Modus Create) as the project manager and two offshore developers. 

How did you come to work with Modus Create?
 I’ve known one of their employees, Drew, for a long time, and he recommended the company to me. He’s done work for us in the past and was familiar with the outcome we were looking for.

How much have you invested with them?
We’ve invested $30,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?
We began working with them in October 2018 and launched the solution in April 2019.

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
I couldn’t be happier with the outcome. The product is superior to anything that has been built by our competitors, and the value for the cost was really impressive. I’m still communicating with the team, and their service is excellent.

How did Modus Create perform from a project management standpoint?
They worked very effectively in a short amount of time. Besides maintaining communication with the project manager, I was also able to contact the developers at any time and receive a timely, professional response. They formed a positive relationship with my company.

What did you find most impressive about them?
As one of their smaller clients, I was extremely impressed by the high level of service we received. The quality of the product was great, requiring very little changes after the first iteration.

Are there any areas they could improve?
I don’t have any complaints or suggestions. They were great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Potential clients should clearly define the project scope and objectives at the start of the partnership.