QDS Asia

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Director of Operations of an SME that does manufacturing and sales of various garments. I oversee operations and systems in place.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire QDS, and what were your goals?

We got QDS on board to revamp the aesthetics of the website and implement certain systems to meet the needs of the COVID-19 situation and that of our clients and customers.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We shortlisted several web developers but chose QDS due to their industry knowledge, portfolio and experience, and mainly how they communicated their ideas and what can be done.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Had several video meetings prior to beginning the project to communicate our objectives and to work out a plan ahead before we began web development, and to also ensure we were all on the same page. Although understandably deliverables could not be promised, a rough timeline was provided and steps to achieve each smaller objective. Trello board and slack was used for communication and monitoring of progress on both ends.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

1 project manager 1-2 web developers 1 web designer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Clients found the appointment booking system intuitive, and were pleased that front end ops were now more organised. Within a week of launch, we gained 1 new client.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Frequent updates and check-ins, if they needed further information they will promptly clarify and seek whatever was needed. They planned how they wanted to approach each objective and ensured objectives were systematically tackled. The team was very organized and all of our objectives were met.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

There were naturally bugs found during constant testing towards the end of the project, however Tony and his team were committed to ensuring we were satisfied with the product such that they were willing to help beyond the project end date for 2 days at their expense. Truly client oriented.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Could propose more design ideas, e.g. what looks or works good from their experience and what doesn't.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company provides compliance workflow automation software for banks, insurance companies, and large financial institutions in APAC. It is an award winning RegTech company, mostly notably it has been featured on the Global RegTech100 list of top RegTech companies 3 years in a row.

As the COO, my main responsibilities included product design and commercial strategy, sales lead generation and customer development, marketing and other operational roles.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire QDS?

We hired QDS to initially help with building our first AI-powered MVP of our enterprise regulatory library and the surrounding functions to support. We also engaged QDS to help our team migrate to serverless, modular structure and change the code base for our platform.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to build an first MVP for our platform and take it to market to gather feedback from our largest prospective clients and then make improvements on the functionality and regulatory coverage.

The goal for Serverless migration and changing he code base was to accelerate development processes for new features and make the platform easier to onboard and implement across organizations of any size.

SOLUTION

How did you select QDS?

We selected QDS on a few factors.

1. based on a referral and previous experience working with their team when I was at an e-commerce company,
2. Quality of work and type of clients they have worked with before,
3. They were one of the only teams that could provide team members that could pragmatically help with our AI development and build complex software architecture at the standard we needed for banking institutions.
4. Located in Vietnam so we know there is a strong team but with regional and global experience.

Describe the project in detail.

Our MVP included a AI-based regulatory intelligence scanning feature that identified new documents from regulators from around the region and added them to a database. Then it used NLU algorithms to parse the document to extract various data entities, taxonomies, and assign categories and labels to better organize the content for compliance officers.

The platform MVP was a complete process for regulatory analysts and helped them save time during regulatory changes. Initially built in python and Angular (frontend) the MVP attracted the interest of numerous investors and large financial services companies in the region.

Based on feedback and our desire to scale the feature set faster, QDS completed a migration of the entire platform from Python to Node.js and from a traditional server setup to serverless architecture to ensure each feature set was modular, that they would be able to work on their respective parts without impeding the rest of our team from working and that the platform could also be deployed modularly.

What was the team composition?

From QDS we had one backend developer, one front end developer and one AI junior member augment our team of 1 lead AI data scientist, 1 backend, and 1 frontend. Later on we had one more backend developer from QDS support us with more complicated system architecture and application functionality.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Based on the code base migration and conversion to Serverless architecture, our company was able to successfully secure a PoC with a high value client and generated much more interest in the platform due to its modular design.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

As a augmented team there were no issues with workflow as QDS team members participated in all product design and development solutions and were active contributors to the company at all stages for the duration of the project(s).

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The familiarity with multiple technologies and code bases was quite impressive. Also QDS team’s ability to seamlessly transition between multiple technologies when we migrated our platform was remarkable. Speed of execution to building functioning product was also impressive. The team was open-minded and good at understanding workarounds that our team had missed as well.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Team is solid in many areas especially technical capabilities. One area to improve is to think bigger about the wider solution and approach other than the productized, code solution. This is a challenge for many development teams not just QDS.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Managing Director

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire QDS, and what were your goals?

We carried out a major relaunch of our website and online store. We are a small business and we don't have in house developers, so we needed shopify-familiar help in our timezone to help us implement the changes we wanted to make to the site.

SOLUTION

How did you select QDS and what were the deciding factors?

We chose QDS following an initial discussion about the project goals. QDS was responsive and able to start work quickly for us, which was a major advantage.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We implemented various changes and fixes, some basic and some requiring more innovative solutions, including coding work. QDS was able to manage everything we threw at them and helped us get ready and launch on time with the site experience we were looking for.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with three members of the QDS team, two developers and a project manager. The developers worked on the solutions and we discussed progress and deliverables with the account manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We've seen increased traffic, conversion and sales in our relaunched site, with no reported bugs so far. A great result for us!

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

We worked directly with the developers for the most part but had a direct channel of communication with the project manager at all times. This worked well for us.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They were quick, responsive, and got the job done for all the tasks we gave to them. That's exactly what we needed as a small, hands on business.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Can't think of any. They did a great job!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Training You is a platform providing online courses for students looking to enter the M&A and strategy consulting sectors

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire QDS, and what were your goals?

We worked with QDS on the revamping of our user dashboard. The aim was to improve the user experience of our platform, by providing them with a dashboard that is clean in terms of layout and intuitive to use.

SOLUTION

How did you select QDS and what were the deciding factors?

QDS was the evident choice once we spoke with them. Tony, with whom we spoke, very quickly understood what we were looking to do, and provided input that was pertinent and insightful.

We got the sense that we would be working with a team genuinely looking to help us best achieve our goals, rather than simply clock in the hours. Our working experience so far has proven this impression to be accurate. Tony and the team (Dinesh and Xuong) have been responsive, efficient and helpful throughout our collaboration thus far. We are glad to have made this decision to work with them!

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

Working was done on Thinkific, to rework the user dashboard using Javascript and html

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

3 in total - a project manager, and 2 developers, front and backend.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We are currently still in the midst of collaboration. We are confident however that the end product will help us to improve customer retention.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

We worked mainly with Slack and Trello. The communication has been efficient - deliverables and status updates are posted regularly, enabling us to keep abreast of how the project is developing, and to provide our input as and when necessary. The fact that we are working in different time zones has not at all affected our ability to collaborate.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The efficiency and quality of work, as well as communication, has been impressive. In our experience working with several agencies and freelance developers, these traits are not always easy to find!

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

-

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Taembe.com was an online sale of products for babies and adapted diapers. I was the company CEO and co-founder

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire QDS, and what were your goals?

Outsourcing. I want the company to be more sufficient

SOLUTION

How did you select QDS and what were the deciding factors?

A friend of mine referred me to

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The team helped my business to outsource, makes our workload much easier to handle and able to work more effieciently

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

The whole team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The outcome was great.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

Effective project management style. Great communication and delivered great results.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The company was very easy to work with and efficient

Are there any areas for improvement?

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

The company: manufactures & wholesales apparel My position: financial controller and operations manager

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire QDS, and what were your goals?

Start our online channel by launching the website Goals: company and product information available online; and online sales

SOLUTION

How did you select QDS and what were the deciding factors?

Peer recommendation

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We engaged QDS for the development of our ecommerce site to bring our garment business online. From day one the team at QDS was very helpful in guiding us through the various stages of the project from the design, development, to the final launch of our site. It was a collaborative effort with a lot of support from QDS.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We had a dedicated designer and web developer available throughout the entire project. They felt like an extension of our team and were in daily communication with us to ensure a smooth and successful project. They were always available and offered feedback and options to several issues that came up during development.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

With QDS expertise and experience, our site was delivered on time and within budget. Within the 1st month of launching our ecommerce site, we exceeded our estimated site visits and marketing goals.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

We worked directly with our dedicated developer and were in constant communications via Slack & Trello. It was a simple process with effective tools for project management.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The QDS team was always available for communications and fast in responses. Bug fixes were fast and efficient, with our developer delivering tasks and features faster than we could sometimes test. Their process makes you feel like their team is your own IT team and meets your expectations.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

no, we would happily recommend them to anyone looking for an outsourcing partner.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

A rising star startup founded in San Francisco with engineering office in Lisbon. Our vision is to enable everyone to speak foreign languages with full confidence, which helps to reach a better life and career opportunities. I am the Vietnam Country Manager

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire QDS, and what were your goals?

Leverage our AI speech technology to create a SaaS testing platform.

SOLUTION

How did you select QDS and what were the deciding factors?

QDS experience in web and API development as well expertise in AI were among the initial factors to shortlist QDS. Their developer quality, project management, quality and speed of development were the deciding factors for us in the end.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The scope was to create a multiuser SaaS test platform ready to sell to potential clients using node.js, react.js, PostgreSQL technologies.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with 2 members of QDS, a senior dev and their CTO.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Project was broken down into stages:

1. Working demo
2. Trial (issue trial accounts)
3. Live - Ready to sell Each stage was delivered ahead of schedule and expectations.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

Extremely detail oriented and frequent, allowing us to move quickly and sort through issues early on.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The speed and quality of output response time of the QDS team are amazing.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

None that I can think of

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Box Gofer, a valet storage company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Quodisys Co Ltd?

We needed website development with full backend support.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Quodisys Co Ltd built our web-based platform using PHP. Customers can access our services and schedule billing. The team did code programming and provided hosting.

What is the team composition?

We work with 5–6 developers.

How did you come to work with Quodisys Co Ltd?

A third party introduced us to about six different developers. We chose Quodisys Co Ltd because they were a good fit; the team understood our business and had the best solution. Furthermore, they were responsive and able to prioritize tasks.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $45,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2016 and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

While we don’t have quantitative metrics, the site’s utility and ease-of-use have already benefited our business. The site has received positive user feedback for its functionality and intuitive UI. Our team continues to work on business strategy and we expect to adjust the site accordingly.

How did Quodisys Co Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

Quodisys Co Ltd not only prioritizes work, but also knows exactly what we need. The team also accommodates the time, maintaining responsive communication via Trello, InVision, and evening phone calls. They understand our problems and demonstrate expertise when ideating solutions.

What did you find most impressive about them?

No, nothing has stood out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the owner of a few online marketing businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Quodisys Co Ltd?

In order to improve the performance of our brands, we started developing an internal platform and microservices. We brought in Quodisys to help us scale our development efforts and enable the platform/microservices to take on external paid clients.

Primarily we work in PHP/MySQL on the Wordpress end and Python/Lambda/PostgreSQL on the microservices end.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed to further build out key launch features, implement Sentry bug tracking and bullet-proof the software for our paid clients. Quodisys helped us greatly improve upon what we initially built as well as turn what was originally an internal tool into a SaaS business. At this point, far more of the project has been completed with Quodisys then without them.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We shopped around and ran a few short development tests with various teams. Quodisys wound up being the clear winner when it came to experience/capability.

The founder, Tony, has worked closely with us for years now to ensure that we always have the team and that everything runs smoothly. We get US quality work/communication for a fraction of the cost which I can attest to as a Senior Developer located NYC for the past 13 years.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

While I won't get into a ton of detail on the specific product, I will describe technically what we've accomplished.

Wordpress:

• A robust, custom UI for our plugin.
• Multiple detailed background processes that allow us to do some heavy lifting without holding back the user.
• Data tracking and analysis for what amounts to thousands of objects per install with multiple associated data dimensions. Data integrity is rigorously maintained through processes we developed together.
• A multi-step initial installation wizard that processes quite a bit of work in the background.

Microservices:

• A centralized management constellation of services that serve plugin updates and track data on installations.
• A communication interface between client installations and our backend that allows various features to function.
• An automated deployment pipeline from Github that compresses releases and services them up through an expirable link that is integrated into our software.

What was the team composition?

We currently have two team members with hopes to grow that further this year. Both team members are senior developers who are managed by Tony and his senior team. They provide our developers with a space to work together, internet, hardware, handle their salary/benefits, etc... We simply pay Quodisys and they make sure everyone is happy.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The ability for me to disappear for days or weeks to manage my other businesses and have complete confidence that work is progressing as expected is a *huge* benefit. I provide guidance/direction but the team essentially runs itself which is a literal life saver for me. In my experience a lot of "hired gun" developers need quite a bit of TLC to get the job done - that is broadly not the case here.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The team and I communicate almost exclusively on Trello. We use Slack occasionally but I think we all appreciate asynchronous communication so we can focus on getting our work done.

The team tends to come online at 9:30 pm EST which is perfect because I can get my core work done during the day, catch up with the team at the end of the day or after dinner and then progress is made while I sleep. Since I'm largely not required there isn't much management and the project to make progress around the clock.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

How well refined the Quodisys internal processes are such that I don't really have to deal with anything other than guiding the project. English is excellent and I don't have to worry about wording/phrasing and misunderstandings. All that said, the actual value we receive from Quodisys is incredibly high which has made it easy for us to consistently invest in development.

Are there any areas for improvement?

The owner of Quodisys, Tony, makes himself available whenever an issue arises both via Slack and Skype. He is originally from the US so communication with him is flawless. He often understands my exact pain points such that I really don't spend much time talking to him. He acts quickly and really takes our success very seriously.

Things happen but with Tony so dedicated to making sure everything is working, I honestly don't have anything to complain about. We are very lucky to have found Quodisys. They have become an integral part of our business to the point that I wouldn't even consider switching away or hiring locally.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder and CEO of an online ethical investing service, the first of its kind in Australia. We match people with a suitable investment portfolio comprised of ethical investments based on their risk profiles.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Quodisys Co Ltd?

We used Quodisys to accomplish many tasks: designing the website, coding the risk-investment portfolio matching algorithm, coding and designing multiple APIs’ frontends and implementing several APIs (opening a bank account, opening a trading account, monitoring investments).

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted a fully functioning robo-advice service where clients could answer a few questions, receive legal documents required for portfolio recommendations, fill out an online form, open bank and trading accounts, and monitor investment performance.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Two start-ups I know recommended them to me. I spoke with other developers, but they were unable to give me a quote because they said there was too much uncertainty. Quodisys based their quote on mutliple assumptions and provided an hourly rate for work outside the scope. We chose them because their scope accurately represented the project and they provided a quote quickly.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

They provided a number of website concepts for us to choose from, including a color scheme and design, and we worked together to find our desired approach. We then gave them the content to design and code. Regarding the matching algorithm, we gave them an excel document with all the necessary details, and they translated it into code and implemented it in the system. Quodisys handled both the technical and business side of our APIs, liaising with the companies behind them to ensure ours were set-up correctly and coding and designing their frontends. They ensured information flowed from one API to the next.

What was the team composition?

Our project team had four people: a project manager who allocated work to the appropriate person, a designer, a lead developer to implement the APIs, and a junior developer.

As the project neared completion, and work slowed to a few hours per week, I worked with different developers and designers depending on who was available. The project manager stayed the same.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They built exactly what we set out to construct. The system’s automation allows us to work on more profitable aspects of our business.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

They used Trello to allocate tasks, and I used it to track our progress. Their project manager and I had a weekly call, and I didn’t deal directly with other team members because of a language barrier. There was a few hours’ time difference, but it didn’t impact the project.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their communication was outstanding. They noted any issue I raised and acted on it. I didn’t have to constantly chase things down because they handled everything promptly.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

Sometimes they’d try to work around problems when they first arose, until that became impossible. It would've been nice to hear about and address those issues sooner.