Navyug Infosolutions

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

CrossCues Corporation provides machine learning-based customer engagement solutions for banks. I am the founder and CEO of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Navyug Infosolutions?

We are a startup trying to get from the concept stage to the first MVP [minimal viable product]. We engaged with Navyug Infosolutions in order to achieve that goal.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We process data from client banks and run it through our backend data processing pipeline. Navyug Infosolutions has worked on a series of applications around customer engagement, particularly on the Cassandra and Spark Framework parts, storing and retrieving data. Navyug Infosolutions also built a frontend customer administration panel for our application.

How did you come to work with Navyug Infosolutions?

I've known the company for a very long time, ever since I founded another company 10 years ago. Navyug Infosolutions helped us build our first product set there, and have been continually engaged in that company as well. I was also the CEO of an Atlanta-based company called PrimeRevenue, and engaged with them for around half of our development there. Our entire Indian team basically consisted of Navyug Infosolutions' company, and we had a very good experience. When I started my own venture again, Navyug Infosolutions became an obvious choice.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our CrossCues project with Navyug Infosolutions started in May 2016. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The general feedback is that Navyug Infosolutions' quality of work is very good. From a value point of view, Navyug Infosolutions hires very smart people who are willing to explore new technologies, instead of boxing themselves into traditional ones. Navyug Infosolutions' team goes the extra mile in doing the right thing for the customer, which has made a big difference for a company like ours, which is transforming every day. We don't have a fixed scope or fixed targets, but rather work with loose, unformulated ideas. Navyug Infosolutions has navigated through this very well.

We haven't had any issues with the product. We've been in the driver's seat for most of the collaboration, defining what we wanted. Navyug Infosolutions has delivered on our requests very well, and also performed exploratory work.

How did Navyug Infosolutions perform from a project management standpoint?

Navyug Infosolutions is running an Agile Scrum cycle. We made weekly iterations for a period of time, after which we switched to longer runs, trying to conceptualize new ideas and explore new technologies. Throughout all of this, Navyug Infosolutions performed well and had reliable deliveries. Project management is all about setting expectations and managing them clearly and transparently; Navyug Infosolutions does a very good job of that.

We had daily Google Hangout sessions and also used GitHub and Pivotal Tracker as a feature pipeline.

What did you find most impressive about Navyug Infosolutions?

Navyug Infosolutions hires very good people and works on developing them. They're also very technology-centric, able to embrace very complex and new technologies. We were able to make things happen with them. Navyug Infosolutions makes sure that they're doing the right thing for the customer, so I've been able to have them critically reexamine our challenge during every project.

Are there any areas Navyug Infosolutions could improve?

Navyug Infosolutions could promote itself better. They have struggled in a very noisy market, but they really do have strong differentiations.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder and chief executive officer of Patient Next Door, a mobile-only platform for the healthcare industry. We have developed it as a global platform for connecting patients with the same medical conditions. Doctors can also use it to provide feedback and opinions on certain chronic conditions. The company was started in October 2015.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Navyug Infosolutions?

I spotted a business opportunity that would also allow me to contribute to people's general welfare. At that time, I needed help developing our health mobile app for iOS and Android.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Navyug Infosolutions built our iOS and Android app from end to end, using the Apache Cordova platform, Ruby on Rails, and EmberJS. Testing was done through Selenium or a similar tool. I provided a few mockups based on my idea, but the features hadn't been thought through from the start. As we went, we developed new ideas and had discussions around what technology should be used and how. All development, testing, support, and maintenance was handled by Navyug Infosolutions. They did a great job of creating a quality product.

Our platform is similar to Facebook, allowing people to come together around healthcare issues. It's a complex product, allowing users to share opinions, chat, and have a newsfeed. The main idea behind the platform is finding patients, so the search functionality became a part of this. Users can find other patients globally, based on conditions and treatments. Another feature I've liked are closed groups, which can be created for any non-profit organization, hospital, or anything else we can think of. By default, we have condition-based forums where patients can connect to each other and ask questions.

How did you come to work with Navyug Infosolutions?

I wanted to find a partner who I could trust. I am based in the US and was apprehensive about giving work to offshore companies, mainly because of the time difference. I received a reference from a close friend. I talked to Navyug Infosolutions' team and decided to use them.

How much have you invested with Navyug Infosolutions?

The cost of Navyug Infosolutions' work has been between $10,000 and $50,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Navyug Infosolutions in October 2015. The apps have been launched and we're now in the marketing phase, trying to reach a US audience. Depending on the patient feedback, I will continue to make changes using Navyug Infosolutions. I have no reason to use another team since they have a good technology team as well as a deep understanding of my product.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have launched recently, so I don't have any significant metrics. The feedback has been good; we can create specialized closed groups for any company who contacts us. I have to do more work in order to market the platform to a wider audience. So far, I've been satisfied with the job done by Navyug Infosolutions. The overall process was very good. Any bugs were identified in collaboration with Navyug Infosolutions' team and we've made an effort to minimize them. The product is quite stable, so I focus only on adding new features. Navyug Infosolutions was not only professional, but the team gave me more ideas than I had initially thought through. It was my first experience building a product and Navyug Infosolutions taught me how it should be built.

How did Navyug Infosolutions perform from a project management standpoint?

Navyug Infosolutions provided a project manager who planned sprints with us and remained responsive overall. The communication was perfect. This was my first development project, so I was learning constantly. It was on me to request the features that I wanted, but Navyug Infosolutions identified essential elements which I missed, without which the product wouldn't have been complete. Navyug Infosolutions' members hold themselves to pretty good standards and told me whenever there was something missing. We used ftrack for creating tracking sprints and bug management. I also had a daily call with Navyug Infosolutions' team during mornings on US time, discussing what issues we were facing and what was expected from me. This was very helpful, especially considering the time difference. We used myBalsamiq for mockups. I was given back updated designs in PDF form, based on my requests.

What did you find most impressive about Navyug Infosolutions?

I'm satisfied overall with the level of support and detailing in Navyug Infosolutions' work. It's been my first project and I was able to learn a lot from their team, expanding my initial mockups.

Are there any areas Navyug Infosolutions could improve?

We've had a couple of delays for iOS releases, usually 1–2 days in duration. But that may have been due to Apple's review process. They were minor issues and not related to the product itself.