Narola Infotech Solutions LLP

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a software development company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Narola Infotech Solutions LLP?

They’ve helped me with software development and on four website projects. Moreover, they assist us with our mobile app projects which run on both iOS and Android devices.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Narola helps us build B2B SaaS products that have a website and mobile app components. The website is comprised of a dashboard, and it also has centralized data storage. Narola ensures that everything that occurs on the mobile app is also available on the web dashboard. 

They’ve also handled programming and extensive product development projects. Furthermore, they're involved in complex geocoding and localization services. 

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked with many people, including team leaders for the web and mobile app side. Additionally, I’ve collaborated with individual programmers and project managers.

How did you come to work with Narola Infotech Solutions LLP?

I found Narola through Upwork and started working with them exclusively. I was looking for an outsourcing solution and tried a number of different companies. However, I was not satisfied with the quality of work and communication they provided.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $350,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve probably started collaborating in April 2016, and we continue to work with them on a daily basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve been involved in the daily aspects of our business, and their quality of work has always been outstanding. The team is capable of developing the products we need.

In fact, they’ve made our products scalable to attract and gain end users. As such, they've been creating stable and functional products for us. Overall, we’ve been happy with their services.

How did Narola Infotech Solutions LLP perform from a project management standpoint?

They have excellent communication skills. We typically communicate through Skype or Whatsapp, and we talk on a daily basis. The Narola team also provides an email summary of all the work that they finish within the day, and it has been extremely effective. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their high-quality work and excellent programming skills have been impressive. They also have the ability to grasp complex problems, and their professionalism and honesty also stand out. Most importantly, their president came to our office in the US, and that just goes to show how much attention they give to their customers. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’m very pleased with their services. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go into the project with a clear understanding of what you want to accomplish. Additionally, do the preparation before you start the project, and that includes clearly identifying your scope of work and objectives.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a mobile application that crowdsources data about the local bar and restaurant industry and utilizes it for a user within native iPhone and Android application. We've been live in the Baltimore market for just over a year now. I'm the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Loople.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Narola Infotech?

Both myself and my co-founder were not technical co-founders. We needed some extra help in that space to be able to build out our product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Originally, they were only doing the native iPhone development and filling the backend of our early application. They did a great job doing that. We released a beta for iOS. It went well, so we decided to quickly do an Android version of the application. We got that up to speed and got them both released by June 2015 in the app store. Since then, it was constant iterations. We've updated 30 times in the app stores between the builds over the course of the past 13 or 14 months now.

How did you come to work with Narola Infotech?

Originally, we searched trying to find an equity team member to build it, but it just wasn't working well. Our networks weren't built for that. We ended up deciding to outsource the development for our application just to get an MVP [minimum viable product] built. We ended up using Upwork, which was then oDesk. We put up the job and interviewed about 30 companies. We ended up with Narola for both the price and quality of work that we believed we would receive. We've stayed with them since then.

How much have you invested with Narola Infotech?

To get the beta and MVP ready it was under $10,000, to get fully operational with iOS and Android it was under $50,000, and to continue managing that for the past year was another $40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in June 2014 and is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I've had a great experience with Narola. I find that a lot of companies absolutely get taken when it comes to development. I actually love this concept for Clutch. I'd never heard of you guys before until you reached out, but I think it's genius. We're doing consulting work for a company right now that just got taken. We're not technical co-founders. We've learned to manage, and we've been really good at project managing, especially an outsourced development team.

I've seen some of these firms just taking companies for crazy amounts of money and not doing it correctly. They're advising them to build things the incorrect way. They definitely don't have a long-term interest or the best interest of the company. I've never had that issue. I've always found that Narola has been excellent to work with. They've always shared the vision. I've also been able to work through communication barriers.

The first six months we had lots of communication barriers. It was a nuisance in the early stages to learn how each other manages and how we need to build a process that works for everyone. Since then, it's been absolutely great, especially for the price we're paying for a development firm. We're probably a tenth of the cost that we could be. We've been quoted many times to work domestically, which for a small firm like us means that we can exist for two years, whereas we would have spent all of our money in two months.

How did Narola Infotech perform from a project management standpoint?

They're good. I will say it's on the entrepreneur or the company that's hiring them to be on top of them. I think they do great work, but this is consistent with all development teams. If you're not on top of them, the communication error becomes much higher, and they might build something that's not what you were originally managing because they thought this is what you were thinking. I would say they're just as good as I've experienced with any other development team I've worked with.

What did you find most impressive about Narola Infotech?

I've found that I've built a relationship with them. I feel like Narola cares about our product. They're not just there building it. They want us to be successful. I find that most development firms we've seen think they'll be hired for two months, and that's it. No application nowadays is going to be stable for a long period of time. They do two months of work and just stop all of a sudden.

Are there any areas Narola Infotech could improve?

No, I think they do a good job of putting everything together. Some of the communication was my fault, just being a first-time entrepreneur and learning how I should be managing them, the basics of writing test scripts and how to project management with any development firm, especially one that is abroad. We've actually referred multiple companies to them.