QDS Asia

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of Face 2 Face Date. F2FD is a video dating for iOS and Android that lets you be as dynamic online as you are in person while connecting with people around the globe.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

My previous developer couldn’t complete my app due to a lack of experience, so I hired Quodisys to finish it and correct the mistakes they had made.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted the app to run faster and facilitate quick video uploads and streaming as needed. Along with AWS configurations, we needed to make various changes to the admin console and integrate external analytical tracking like firebase.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I found Quodisys on a hiring platform and hired them because they were able to work within my budget.

Describe the project in detail.

Essentially, Quodisys took our partially finished video-based app and completed it.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the results of your project? 

Quodisys resolved all issues the issues in our app. Now, it runs great. 

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I really liked how easily I was able to work with the team. Quodisys uses Trello heavily which keeps all the different tasks organized and easy to manage. 

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was most impressed with the team’s speed. Quodisys was on point with all their tasks.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There are none that I can think of at the moment.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an agency of the United Nations. I was the head the head of our Ho Chi Minh office.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Quodisys?

We were trying to create a platform that could connect managers across the country, and provide information related to their work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Quodisys built a standard informational and registration mobile-responsive site. It had a modern design created by Quodisys. The goal was to create toolkits which allowed people to download from the site on an account basis. Quodisys also took over the donation site we already had in place; it was designed for electronic funds exchange.

Quodisys provided 2–3 developers for our project. I worked directly with the head of the team, who acted as my focal point.

How did you come to work with Quodisys?

Quodisys was referred to me. The organization has strict selection criteria, so we sent out a general RFP [request for proposal], listing Quodisys as one of our referrals. We reviewed criteria around past historical work, skill sets, and so on. Once the initial screening process was done, we narrowed it down to 2–3 candidates, and looked at the pricing. Cost is not necessarily the least important factor, but it's considered lastly.

How much have you invested with Quodisys?

The cost of our original site was supposed to be $20,000, but we were only charged between $7,000 and $10,000. Quodisys was generous with us, considering that we're a non-profit. This fact was entered into their quote, which was a winning item for Quodisys.

What is the status of this engagement?

The timeline of our project was between the summer of 2014 and the end of 2015. In addition to creating our site, Quodisys also maintains it. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I left the organization before the project was completed, so I have no metrics. While I was there, we kept track of social impact metrics related to the site in terms of registrations and finance. We accounted for close to 400,000 employees from different companies, all registered by their respective HR departments.

There were a few glitches with the site, but this is typical for projects like this. Our designers discovered details to be improved, working on them together with Quodisys' team. The need to switch from English to Vietnamese was one of the technical difficulties; the layouts are harder to maintain, given that the written Vietnamese language takes up more space.

How did Quodisys perform from a project management standpoint?

Quodisys was extremely timely, responding to any issues or questions we had. Quodisys' principal is a hands-on individual, providing special care to us, as a client. He did a terrific job in managing expectations and fleshing out the timeline. Our designers used Trello, but that wasn't a key project management tool for us. We mainly relied on email and other standard channels.

What did you find most impressive about Quodisys?

Quodisys is a more advanced and modern company than what is standard for their industry, especially within Vietnam. Quodisys understood the latest technologies and formats and offered guidance on what would be best to use. The advisory service was a big point within the RFP stage.

Are there any areas Quodisys could improve?

Our perfectionist designers would have preferred that Quodisys' teamwork a bit slower. We have dotted every i and crossed every t, to the degree of ridiculousness at times. It wasn't a weakness for Quodisys' team, but they did move things quickly, which led to more mistakes than what we expected. I assume that this is standard from a web development perspective.

BACKGROUND

Please introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder of Real Happy Living, a New York-based company focused on DIY home decorating with a Feng Shui edge.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Quodisys?

I wanted to build a Real Happy Living website and an iOS app. I wanted the app to provide information about Feng Shui, generate analyses of customers’ home energy based on their input, and offer well-designed home decor items for purchase that would balance or improve the energy flow of the homes.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Quodisys was engaged to develop the app for iOS and the Real Happy Living webpage that would link to the app. The project included the design and development of the app and webpage, and the submission of the app to the App Store.

How did you come to work with Quodisys?

I worked with Crew Lab to identify app developers, and then went through a competitive proposal process. Quodisys was selected from among five developers who submitted proposals for the project.

How much have you invested with Quodisys?

We have spent something in excess of $10,000 working with Quodisys.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in June 2015 and was completed in June 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project resulted in the successful launch of the Real Happy Living app on the App Store and the Real Happy Living webpage.

How did Quodisys perform from a project management standpoint?

My main contact at Quodisys on the project was very responsive and understood the scope of the work well. He did a great job working with the developers to implement my vision and requirements. His knowledge of Feng Shui was helpful when trouble shooting design and other issues.

What did you find most impressive about Quodisys?

The Quodisys team was very proactive in sharing ideas and providing suggestions, many of which I incorporated in the app. The team had a “can do” attitude which was very accommodating, and they always found a way to bring my ideas to life.

In addition, Quodisys utilized cool apps like Trello and Invision to communicate designs and the project status efficiently. The weekly call with them was also very productive and helped to ensure that issues were resolved in a timely manner and the project continued to move forward.

Were there any areas Quodisys could improve?

Initially, the Real Happy Living webpage was frequently inaccessible due to various errors, but those errors were corrected promptly each time. The design phase took longer than I had expected because of the number of pages and the need for several rounds of corrections. There were some obvious spelling and grammatical errors, but those are easy fixes and to be expected when working with an off-shore company.

Finally, because of the twelve-hour time difference, issues could not be addressed in real time, even though they would usually be handled the following day. In spite of these minor problems, I am quite satisfied with the end products.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

This last October, I started a company called Innovative Educational Technology. Our primary product is an iPad app for high technology schools. High technology schools are basically schools where all the students have either an iPad or a laptop.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Quodisys?

I was needing the app coded and developed. I also need a supporting website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped me from start to finish. They were essential to me as far as guiding me through this entire process. I'm a school teacher. I have a basic technology background, but no coding or programming background. I came to them with an idea and they helped me from start to finish with all the design and development. They even helped design the logo for the company. We worked for two months just on the designs and the wireframes, getting them to look the way we wanted them to. It was a real collaborative process from start to finish.

How did you come to work with Quodisys?

It's kind of a funny story. I had reached out to a former student of mine who got into computer coding. I asked him if he would be able to do something like my idea. He pointed me to a Canadian company called Crew. Crew, if you aren't familiar with it, basically functions like a middle man for entrepreneurs and people with tech ideas, and matches them up with developers. So I contacted them. They gave me a list of four different possible developers that I could pick from. Just based on Quodisys’ responses, feedback, and portfolio, I decided to choose them.

How much have you invested with Quodisys?

It’s between $20,000 and $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the design process in October 2015, and we just launched it officially this week. It's been about 9 months or so. It could have been done a little sooner had I not been as picky as I was with some of the initial designs and making sure the format was what I wanted. One thing I really give Quodisys a lot of credit for is that I never felt like they were rushing me through anything. They made sure I was happy with every single thing. They never said that something would cost more if we did it a certain way. They made sure that my satisfaction was of upmost importance to them. I really appreciated that.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As far as the results, I've shown this product to a few different school districts and a couple of non-profit educational companies. There has not been one person that has not given glowing reviews of my idea and my product. I started showcasing it to school districts. In fact, I'm sending it out to 500 school districts this morning, fingers crossed, but so far the feedback has been amazingly positive.

What did you find most impressive about Quodisys?

One of the things that I appreciated the most as we progressed through this project was that Tony [Mai], the managing director who I worked with through this project, felt just as invested as I did in the project. He knows it inside and out as well as I do because he took the time to really make sure everything was perfect for me. I really appreciated that. Again, I appreciated that my satisfaction was his utmost goal, and there was never any pressure. He was with me every step of the way and has really helped guide me through this entire portion. His communication would be daily. We would Skype at least once a week.

One of my initial concerns with choosing a company that was based out of Vietnam was scheduling conflicts and language barriers. I never once had any sort of language problems with Tony. In fact, he grew up and spent the majority of his life in the US anyway. In addition to that, I found that working on Vietnam time was actually quite perfect for me. They're 11 hours to 12 hours ahead, depending on whether we're on day light savings or not, so by the time I would get home from work and put my kids to bed at 8 o'clock at night, we would have our meeting. By the morning, when I would wake up after we finished with our meeting, he had gotten to put in a full day's worth of work, so we were able to touch base again before I went to work. For me, as far as having a second job in addition to taking this one on, this was really perfect.

Are there any areas Quodisys could improve?

I really don't know. They really have been amazing.

BACKGROUND

UNICEF promotes the rights and well-being of every child in everything we do.

In the context of Vietnam, the wealth and rapid economic growth of the country masks the magnitude of poverty, disparities, and typical challenges arising from fast-growing urban migration that negatively affects children. These migrant families often remain hard to reach by the public system, and thus, they lack the awareness and access to life-saving basic services. Coming from rural areas, the majority of migrants seek working opportunities in large industrial zones near the cities. We found that factories provide an optimal infrastructure in which to target information, promoting positive behavior that will impact children’s health and education, to low-income salaried women who are young working mothers or of childbearing age within the migrant population.

To reach this vulnerable population, my role was to work with factory-based employers in a partnership in order to provide access to their workers, who are mostly women and of migrant status, with regular communications beneficial to the care of their children on health, education, and protection.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Our challenge was to reach the migrants at their workplace, where they spend most of their time, and give them access to good parenting information. Factories from large industries such as garment and textile, footwear, electronic, and wood manufacturing are dominant in Vietnam. To get the buy-in from factories, we knew we had to provide a simple, low cost, and easy to implement communication toolkit that could easily be updated and scaled for all factories across the country to implement.

At the time, our initiative, named the ZEROworkplace, was leveraging on the urgent call to action of the Measles Campaign nationwide aimed to contribute towards the specific goal of preventing the number of measles deaths to ZERO, and vaccinating 23 million children.

The initial toolkit focused on communication materials related to measles, but we wanted to provide a one-stop platform to further include knowledge and practices related to immunization, exclusive breastfeeding, seeking prenatal/antenatal care, healthy hand washing practices, prevention of abuse and exploitation of children, and information about children’s rights to access free healthcare and education.

SOLUTION

We met with Quodisys through the network of donors established during our first Fundraising Event in Ho Chi Minh. Quodisys was picked following a bidding process along with two other companies. They were genuinely engaged in helping and tried first to understand the challenge of migrant parents. They were very attentive to our needs, and were always quick to respond and willing to find solutions for us. They did it always with professionalism and care.

Quodisys helped developed a website for ZEROworkplace where factory managers could access UNICEF communication toolkits and promote critical health information within the factory to their migrant workers. The communication strategy included the use of a range of channels widely available in the factory setting such as culturally appropriate print materials, radio broadcasts, information brochures distributed at the factory clinic or within the workers' pay slips. These could be downloaded and applied throughout the factory.

The design of the website was done by a creative agency and the development was handled by Quodisys. They were part of the initial conceptualization until the launch of the initiative online. The coding work was done very fast. We worked on testing and final edits together before the website was live. They trained us on the use of the CRM [customer relationship management] in WordPress, in order to update the content of the website and to track the companies that have registered in the program.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

The service we received was impeccable. Quodisys' understanding of our brand standards and of what we needed, along with their openness to communicate with us on the progress of the development to fix any issues, made us feel cared for. They never hesitated to support us for additional edits pro-bono. The development of the website done on time was critical in the launch of the ZEROworkplace initiative. We were very happy with the work Quodisys did for us. What is unique about Quodisys is Tony, its founder. Tony always knew how to solve our concerns and we always felt confident that he had our best interest in mind. He was very responsive and always on top of things. We could always rely on him for any questions and get his perspectives on improving the website for our goals.

BACKGROUND

Please provide a description of your company.

I run a consulting firm based in Vietnam that helps tech companies expand in Southeast Asia. I provide operational support, which in many cases involves connecting tech companies with local IT [information technology] firms.

What are your role and responsibilities?

I am the owner and sole employee.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal in working with Quodisys?

The first project we worked on together involved building a website for a professional services firm. 

What were some of the challenges you faced?

The project was frustrating because we were working with very broad specifications, which can be difficult for some developers to handle. Quodisys did not let the very imprecise instructions intimidate them, however, and I was very impressed with their ability to work in less than ideal conditions. 

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their work.

They did everything from start to finish. There was a designer who came up with some mockups, which guided them initially. During the project, however, we discovered that the mockups were built more for form than function, so we had to change them quite a bit. Basically, Quodisys did the design and the development, both front end and back-end.

What was your process for selecting Quodisys with which to work?

I started with a Google search of Web developers in Vietnam and talked with them on the phone. I started working with another firm briefly, but the service was quite bad and the pricing wasn’t transparent. So, after three days, we fired them.

I had previously met the owner of Quodisys at a conference and, because he impressed me, we decided to go with them. I’ve vetted a lot of different IT companies in Vietnam, and for the small- to medium-business segment, I really like working with Quodisys. I’ve found that their service is really exceptional. They’re new and they’re hungry, and they really want to prove themselves, so they go above and beyond.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

We’ve spent somewhat under $10,000 working with Quodisys.

What was the timeline for the project?

The project took about three months, which was a little longer than average, but any delays in the project were on our side, not theirs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How do you feel about the results of the project?

The speed of the website and its stability have both been impeccable. A lot of it ultimately comes down to feel because it’s as much about design and experience as it is about just the raw numbers. Some things you can’t measure, but when you feel good about something you know it. I felt really good about this project.

How do you think Quodisys performed in terms of the quality of their work?

The quality of their work is phenomenal. I'd recommend them to anyone I could. 

Is there anything unique about Quodisys that really makes them stand out compared to other companies?

The owner of Quodisys is easy to understand, and we can communicate with each other clearly. Unlike some developers I've worked with, he's very culturally aware, and he can read between the lines of what you're asking for. 

If there's ever a mistake, he’ll own up to it, or if there’s a bug, he’ll fix it. He always goes above and beyond. He really cares about my business and me as a person.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think Quodisys could improve upon or something that you might do differently?

I think Quodisys would be the first to admit that they are more developers than designers. But, if I'm not mistaken, they've recently hired some new designers. So, I think they're trying to address that weakness. 

What advice would you give a future client of theirs?

You’re going to save lots of money by working with Quodisys. But, be aware that you will be working with people of a different culture and some things will be lost in translation. You have to be prepared for more iterations than you might expect from a U.S. shop.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CTO of Kalibra, an AI healthcare company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired QDS for some front end and back end project work on our web and IOS applications. Our goals were to develop additional features and connect existing digital assets.

SOLUTION

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

We found QDS through a referral and were impressed with the professionalism, speed and responsiveness of their very capable CEO, Tony.

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

They developed react-native front end screens and did some API integration data with our back-end as well as a third party service, Garmin.

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

there were 2 people on the core team, a project manager and a senior developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All work was delivered on time and on spec, and there was substantial goodwill shown whenever the brief or the timelines changed, as is often the case in a small company. We received patient, objective, and considered advice with honest estimates of their timeline.

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

The project management and communication were excellent, and milestones clearly articulated.

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

Flexibility, professionalism and range of capabilities of senior staff.

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

None.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

CEO, custom women's fashion

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired QDS for Shopify development services. Our goal was to upgrade some of our layouts, content, images, and add some new features to the site.

SOLUTION

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

They had a location in Vietnam and were certified Shopify Development Partners.

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

QDS helped us with updates and enhancements to our existing Shopify site. We sell custom women’s fashion to US buyers.

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

They assigned us a Senior developer who had extensive experience working on Shopify and e-commerce sites. He was very fast in resolving issues and meeting our short timelines.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our tasks and deliverables were done within the estimated timelines.

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

We managed the developer directly and had daily communications with him. They are efficient and very responsive in dealing with clients.

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

Our developer was great at resolving issues quickly and finding solutions to built in limitations on Shopify. Communications and responses were fast and we had regular status updates.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is nothing we would change with our experience working with QDS