Ogma Inc.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the co-founder of Load Connex which is a platform that allows shippers to work directly with carriers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Ogma Inc.?

Cloud based software development

What were your goals for this project?

To create a virtual fleet of class 8 freight trucks in an extremely fragmented industry. This fleet's footprint will be the entire North America and it will be able to haul shipments regardless of whether it requires dry vans, refrigerated trailers or flatbeds.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Initially we tried to develop the project by hiring our own IT staff in Asia. When that was not successful we made a second attempt in Europe which was also unsuccessful. We finally decided to outsource it to Ogma because I personally knew the CEO.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project is designed to reduce the cost of shipping truckloads and eliminate the arcane methods used by shippers in getting pricing, truck availability and tracking information from their trucking companies.

What was the team composition?

The team that Ogma's has assembled for us consists of various specialized developers ranging from database to UI to team leads etc.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

What has been a great money saver for us has been using resources that we only occasionally need which they share among various clients.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

They have a great infrastructure that consists of team leads and our own project manager that is our liaison.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Fast development, super reasonable rates, and basically a really good group of people to work with.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No but if we come across any, we bring them up to their attention.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

From 2009–2013, I was the CTO of LeisureLink, which was an online distribution company focused on travel and vacation rental spaces. We helped independent and boutique hotels, as well as larger timeshare companies, expand their distribution outreach to more than 40 channel partners.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Ogma Inc.?

We hired Ogma to develop the user interface of our MarketSpan product, a robust but intuitive pricing engine that property managers used to price their inventory strategically.  

What were your goals for this project?

The interface needed to be accessible to users with varying degrees of technical experience. However, we wanted to develop the interface to offer more complex abilities to users who wanted or needed them. Finally, we also needed to sort complex data and simplify it to be actionable for all users.

SOLUTION

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We relied on Ogma to fully develop the user interface for our MarketSpan platform using C# and HTML/CSS. The product assessed real-time market changes and adjusted a property’s inventory based on the property manager’s objectives. These changes would then be distributed through all of the property’s desired distribution channels.

What was the team composition?

We worked with a project manager, four C# developers, one HTML/CSS developer, and a QA team that varied in size based on the workload.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

We received positive feedback for how the MarketSpan UI delivered an experience blending both data and charts in a clear and concise way. We were able to provide what we believed was the most advanced pricing decision engine in our space. This created opportunities for property managers to see progress in reducing unsold nightly inventory while maximizing the cost per room per night.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Strong project management was a key to our success given the 12-hour time difference between our teams. To ensure constant communication, our project manager coordinated with a project coordinator in Armenia to manage the development work overnight. The managers communicated in the morning in the US office and at the end of each day in the Armenian office. They reviewed tasks, discussed requirements, and addressed any outstanding issues. This created a near 24-hour development cycle.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The Ogma team spent a great deal of time trying to understand what we were building. In many ways, they became experts in the subject matter. We were able to reduce the amount of required paperwork because both teams had a deep understanding of what we were creating. They also had watchful eyes in case anything in the documents was incorrect. Those issues were flagged quickly and did not result in wasted development.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We were limited in our available technology stack because of a small team size.