Praxent

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

GS: It was a fairly elaborate engagement, and I have nothing but praise for Praxent. Since going live, we’ve sold five homes with the platform, and five clients have given us perfect Net Promoter scores (NPS). It seems our product is resonating with our consumers.

From a quality perspective, the system hasn’t experienced any downtime nor major issues. We caught all the minor bugs during the QA process, so there haven’t been any surprises post-launch. Recently, we’ve hired a senior CTO, a head of engineering, and a head of QA who have all been impressed by the quality of the platform.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

GS: Considering all the moving parts, this was a project management masterpiece. Besides our group, there were other internal tech teams, outside consultants and branding agencies, and a new engineering team who were touching the project on a daily basis. Praxent did a great job of keeping us organized.

Every week, they gave us an updated dashboard about how many hours they’d spent, if we were on track, and where we were at risk. Not only did this ensure a transparent process, but it also allowed us to effectively budget our expectations. We assigned story points to each feature, looking at the effort involved at a granular level and translating them into monetary terms. It was a tough task, but they were mindful of our threshold and managed to deliver under budget.

BG: We developed a strong rapport, too, particularly with their product owner who was the liaison between our teams. He had both the technical ability to manage their developers and the foresight to keep to timelines. We’re looking to emulate that role internally because we had such great success with their project management. In addition to coming up with unique budgeting methods, they made sure that we followed agile scrum rituals, using modern day tools such as Jira and Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

BG: The body of work they produced under our circumstances was no joke; they did a fantastic job. Although we had so many stakeholders with varying cultures and priorities, Praxent’s team was helpful in mediating between our partners. They displayed a nuanced project management approach and made sure that we got what we needed. They’re a growing business that exerts a high level of professionalism.

GS: They were critical in getting our product out on time, and I never had to guess about project status. If we had any concerns, their senior-level staff responded promptly, remaining open to constructive criticism. It always felt like they were working in our best interests.

Are there any areas they could improve?

GS: No, nothing specific stands out. There are always challenges on projects of this magnitude, but we would resolve everything together. They really felt like part of the team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

BG: If you have a clear understanding of what your objectives are and what kind of output you're seeking, then Praxent is the right group to reach out to. They can fulfill any role needed to execute the project, providing a small, nimble team or scaling up as necessary.

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

Our corporate website was presented with an award by an industry group. We were one of the first companies within our industry to create a wholly responsive website. While the site functions as more of a brochure than a lead generation tool, Praxent’s work seemed to cause an increase in page views. That wasn’t one of our specified goals, but it’s a nice bonus. The finished product received positive feedback from multiple department heads regarding its attractive design.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project manager is wonderful. He kept us up-to-date regarding the project’s progression and ran efficient meetings. We ended up having quite a friendly relationship with their team. We looked forward to calls with them and always felt like each party communicated steps to push the engagement forward.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We appreciate their openness and dedication to pushing us in new directions. Praxent started the project by understanding our goals and letting industry-specific challenges inform their design decisions. They’re a responsive and thoughtful team. Also, we enjoy working with them because they take pride in each project as if it was their own. They care about their clients more than other vendors I’ve hired in the past.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their project manager struggled to coordinate some things, but that was a small issue overall. We were going through processes internally that likely kept us from communicating as thoroughly as we should have. However, the project wasn’t slowed down or hindered in a meaningful way.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re willing to have fun and engaging conversations about how to improve businesses. Tim is passionate about learning the reasons why people build things, and I find that valuable. Future clients should keep in mind that their approach to challenges sets them apart from similar vendors.

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

Most of our research subjects held the disposition that either these industry problems didn’t apply to them or they would find a way to address the problems themselves. Once the click-through prototype was introduced, the entire panel changed their minds. They realized that the prototype was revealing information that they could not otherwise get.

How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?

They adhered well to our timeline. I don’t think they ever missed a date. Overall, they communicated really well. Not long after the engagement started, they had a strong grasp of the industry vernacular I was bringing to the project. Being able to discuss the problem and solution through that language was advantageous.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I know that they're in business to make money. Still, I gathered that they were genuinely passionate about helping people fix a problem. They wanted to facilitate my ability to help businesses reduce their costs and have a better relationship with their vendor. I thought they identified that this was an ethical issue, and it resonated with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Considering that we’re working with a deep niche—industrial laundry—I think they did a good job of finding a sample of customers that could use this product. However, I wish they could have found more. We agreed that I wouldn’t be involved in that so that my bias wouldn’t cloud the research findings. To their credit, they found a good representation of consumers, but I wish we could have found more.

Any advice for potential customers?

When you first engage them, don’t worry about the solution. Don’t talk about your vision for the solution. Focus instead on the business problem and rely on Praxent to ask the right questions. From that, the solution will become more clear.