Qilin Software Lab Pvt Ltd

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a coach, advisor, and investor in NIWE Academy through my company called Idea2Inception.

What challenge were you trying to address with Qilin Software Lab Pvt Ltd?

NIWE is a beauty academy, and one of the challenges was the delivery of the courses as we continue to grow. We felt limited by the physical size of our school. 

The idea was that if we could deliver our classroom part online, then we could use the physical space for a lot of practical and apprentice work. We would essentially turn the school into a fun playground-style space for all the students where they can do their hands-on work. That is where we reached out to Qilin, and they developed the learning management system for us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The platform was developed in Django and React. We have all the basic features where we can deliver lessons, assign student quizzes, mark attendance, and more. There are also reminders for students with Zoom links and passwords. 

The system also tracks credit hours for transcripts and certificates, which makes the process of granting certifications much easier for our administrators. 

What is the team composition?

We had two main points of contact. One is the owner, and one was a project manager who was assigned to us for daily updates. There were a couple of meetings throughout the month where the developers showed up for a demo, so I’m sure there were other people, but I didn’t work with them.

How did you come to work with Qilin Software Lab Pvt Ltd?

I reached out to a bunch of my contacts in the industry. I believe we had three different proposals. We chose Qilin because of how detailed and reasonably priced their proposal was. This gave us a lot of confidence in their abilities. 

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent $28,000–$30,000 so far. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April or May 2020. The platform is live, but we are still uploading all the content from our instructors, so our engagement is ongoing.

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

We’ve shown the platform to a couple of our graduates. We have tested it with them, and the initial feedback has been pretty positive. 

Our instructors are also happy with the platform. In the beginning, there was some resistance, but by the time we got to the end of it and showed them, every single instructor was excited about it. 

The platform solves many problems and concerns like manually marking quizzes and doing attendance. All of these things will free up so much of their time so that they can go back and focus on working with the students and helping them learn hands-on skills even better. We are super excited that the internal stakeholders are happy and see it as a success already.

How did Qilin Software Lab Pvt Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a Kanban board, and that is where they give you access to everything. I personally like Google sheets, and they did accommodate me with that, and they gave me a Google sheet tracker.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with how easy they were to work with. Developers get a bad rap of not being personable or being too egotistical. Working with Qilin was a completely different experience. The owner is very down to earth, humble, and reasonable when it comes to changes in scope. They take everything in stride. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

QA can always be improved. If a customer finds a bug, it means that the QA could have been tighter. If I were to say they could do something even better, making their QA even stronger would be one of those things.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Diamond Star was formed in Vietnam. It commenced operations early 2016 in Vietnam and has now operations in 35 locations across the country with four offices in Ho Chi Minh City, Hanoi, Da Nang, Can Tho.

We provide a digital marketplace for demand & supply. It employs more than 2000+ sales staff as of October, 2018 and is expected to grow to 10,000 by end of year 2020. The key clients include all the leading banks, finance companies and Insurance companies.

More are in the advanced stages of sign-up. The aim is to have 9 of the leading local banks, 3 of the leading foreign banks, 3 consumer finance companies, 6 life insurance and 4 general insurance companies among the clients in order to complete the panel.

I have been Heading the Digital Marketing and Telesales Process Excellence for the Vietnam Market

For what projects/services did your company hire Qilin Software Lab Pvt Ltd, and what were your goals?

Our Business lacked technical platform on enhancing our business goals. our business had only 20% online transaction and 80% offline which was getting difficult for our goal to big one of the top aggregator services in Vietnam.

How did you select Qilin Software Lab Pvt Ltd and what were the deciding factors?

Qilin approached us with a vision and commitment to support and ensure 100% customized development of ERP system to connect the Finance, HR, Sales, Operations and other field activities backed into a centralised CRM with their expertise on Odoo.

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

Create a System which integrates all the business verticals and operations into one centralized system.

Stages Involved:

• Client Management: Onboarding of Client Approval Matrix Agreement Creation Tender Management
• Finance: Approval Management for all transaction(internal and External) Budget Management PNL Payroll Management
• Sales: Campaign Creation Omnichannel Integration Lead distribution Funnel Management Field Sales Management Performance Reporting
• HR: Employee Onboarding Job Search Internal Job Posting Rewards and recognition Shared Services Leave Management
• Technicals: Cloud, Odoo 7, Odoo 13, Asterix Dailer, Drool Engine, GSM Gateway Integration of all Data Channel

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

There were 6 People in the Core team, Project Manager, 3 Backend Developers and 2 Frontend Developers.

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

Based on the solution provide we were able to launch a centralized ERP with CRM System well on time as per the milestone defined. Our business have got a wider reach and more visibility allowing us to take appropriate actions.

Technical difficulties has not been a problem for Qilin as they have addressed each requirement by showcasing their ability to provide solution and research for best tech integration in benefits of the Business.

We feel proud to built a system at an economical and more valued proposition better than a Big Tech companies systems like SFDC and IBM BPM. Its not just a business improvement but a digital transformation of business helping us lead with future.

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

The milestone were well delivered before timelines and the approach of analysing the GAPs at early stage avoided Change requests in the later stages. All the tracking of deliverables were done on JIRA

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

Qilin has been more innovative and their thought process is inline with the current market goals. There is never "No" from them to design and develop any solution. We ask and they study the market to get us the best technical support and development.

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

They are very good in what they do, they need to work on the way to communicate with clients in different time zone. Thou the support has been 24/7 in case of critical issues.

Based on the are working on expansion to provide with On Prem development for Bigger project in other countries. And we are sure their way of work will allow them to expand and create more values offshores too

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and founder of SpendTheBits Inc., a fintech company that provides the easiest and fastest payment for the bitcoin cryptocurrency.

What challenge were you trying to address with Qilin Software Lab Pvt Ltd?

We needed someone to develop our mobile app.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed our iOS and Android app. The Android app is in the Google Play Store, and we’re still working on the iOS version. They also created the backend to allow us to monitor signups. They used React Native and Django for the development. There are new technologies we’ve implemented in the app, including a PID implementation.

What is the team composition?

There were five people.

How did you come to work with Qilin Software Lab Pvt Ltd?

I had hired a team but had to fire them because they weren’t up to the task, but these people are really knowledgeable. They were recommended to me.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from January–August 2020.

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

They created a very intuitive platform for us. The Android app is live and the iOS app will be finished this month. They're knowledgeable and made the app look amazing. We definitely consider them to be top experts in the field.

How did Qilin Software Lab Pvt Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is really good. When we find bugs, their fixes are on point. I don't have to chase them or give much direction to the development. We use a Trello board for collaboration and had weekly follow-up meetings to discuss progress. They delivered the product on time, which isn’t common. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They accommodate all feedback.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t see anything that they need to improve. They were so professional.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Sit down with them and show your requirements. They sometimes have more exposure to the field that the client doesn't have access to.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a group director of Mr Mark Overseas Group. We’re a manufacturer of construction chemicals used for building dams, hydros, tunnels, and concrete roads. Apart from that, we manufacture specialty chemicals used in waterproofing commercial buildings and residential homes. We also produce specialty lubricants used in nuclear units and aircraft construction.

What challenge were you trying to address with Qilin Software Lab Pvt Ltd?

Customers today research companies online, but our business establishes one-on-one relationships and presents our offer directly. We decided to create an online presence, including an app, where customers could see our company profile and inquire about products.

We also sell our products on the retail market, and we wanted to offer loyalty points through the app to contractors using our products.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Qilin Software Lab designed and developed our WordPress website and hybrid mobile app, and they’re providing support services. We gave them our business requirements and they designed the app accordingly. They also handled all the changes we require.

We decided to launch the app first on Android to identify any necessary changes over a two-month period. They’ll launch the iOS version from there. 

Within the app, they built the functionality to provide loyalty coupons. After a contractor buys a product, they can scan the QR code of a loyalty coupon through the app, and add the points to their account. The points can be converted into money through the use of third-party vendors, and sent to the contractor’s account. 

What is the team composition?

I worked with four of their members, including a frontend developer, a backend developer, and the person in charge of the business logic. Their owner oversaw the project.

How did you come to work with Qilin Software Lab Pvt Ltd?

We had a project around four years ago, converting raw data from our marketing department into Excel reports, and a teammate from Qilin Software Lab supported us.

They understood the logic very well, and asked us for money only after we were satisfied. We continued working with him from there. I also took a lot of quotes before starting the current project, but Qilin had the best price.

How much have you invested with them?

This project cost $17,500.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from February–June 2020. 

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

I found the app to be very good, and so have the people who’ve used it. They remark on how very impressive, quick, and smooth it is. We haven’t gotten any complaints on the technology side, either for the app or the website. 

How did Qilin Software Lab Pvt Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

We gave them our business idea at the start of the project, and they gave us a two-month timeline for converting it into technology. The project got delayed because of COVID-19 but we were still able to expect it within 3 months. 

They were very responsive and accommodated the changes we requested after the project started. In terms of answering our questions and addressing any changes we ask for, they were very quick. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve worked with one other software company, which required additional payments for any changes we requested, but Qilin Software Lab integrated all the extra things we asked for.  

Though it was our responsibility to get in contact with our third-party vendors for our API integrations, Qilin Software Lab did it themselves and negotiated the final rates. That saved us time and went very smoothly.   

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing.