QSoft Vietnam

Introduce your business and what you do there.

At VMDOC, we deal with patient engagement. We provide a platform for physician providers, hospitals, and anyone else medical related to have direct communication with their patients and peers. I’m a co-founder and CTO.

What challenge were you trying to address with QSoft Vietnam?

Our platform is a centralized health record system for patients, as well as a HIPAA communication platform. It provides a number of functions for patient engagement, including appointment scheduling, appointment reminders, messaging, video calls, sending pre- and post-questionnaires from laboratories, etc. I wanted to develop a mobile app version for iOS and Android.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided the mobile app framework, and I told them the functionality we needed. I talked to their project manager and they brought their “super engineer." Having understood my requirements, they put together a business plan to quote how long it would take them to complete the project, breaking it down by milestones.

We have two different versions of the mobile app. They started out from scratch with leftovers from a different vendor. After that, we added enhancements and more functionality, and they completed that for us as well.

What is the team dynamic?

The team is 6 or 7 people, including the project manager. They start out with design, along with UX and UI, get the approval, and then pass it on to the iOS and Android teams. They all have to agree on the designs.

How did you come to work with QSoft?

I was on a quest to look for a new team. I'd worked with a few developers before but hadn't had a good experience, mostly because of the language barrier in understanding the healthcare industry in the U.S. I posted the job on a website, and QSoft bid on it. I contacted them and gave them a project to see their capacity. They needed to understand how the IT portion of healthcare works, with HIPAA compliance and other aspects. They did a good job, so I tried them.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent roughly $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2016, and the work is ongoing.

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

We don’t have any metrics yet, but we know it’s a major enhancement in terms of the upgrades, the look and feel, and the intuitiveness of the app. The reception from the audience is better than what we had before, and the feedback has been positive in terms of aesthetic, performance, and capability.

How did QSoft Vietnam perform from a project management standpoint?

On a scale of 1 to 10, I would give the project management a 7, to give them room to improve. They’re very responsive. We communicate almost every day via email, Gchat, or the tool we have. I've had no problems with their communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The standout thing is that they work really hard, burning the midnight oil to get things done. The time zones are different, so sometimes I work with them at night when it's daytime there and vice versa. They have a strong sense of urgency, so we can rely on them when we need them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They need to beef up the QA team so they can catch issues and bugs and fix them. My team and I did a lot of QA and got back to them. Maybe the problem isn't that specific resource, but they do need to understand each project and what it’s about. Ours is the U.S. health care system, so they need to put together a QA process flow for that, though I’m not sure if it would be easy for them to do.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO of a software engineering company. We create web and mobile computing software. We offer disruptive solutions in retail focused on high digital user experience. Our company was founded in 2010.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted help building quality, stable software with good designs.

How did you select this vendor?

We already work with several partners in Vietnam for various projects. I always try to visit new partners before working with them. Once the trust is there, I plan a few small projects to see if we share the same values, not only technical competencies. I also try to figure out what the strengths and the weaknesses of future partners are, their experience in different domains, and the company culture. Nothing is perfect, but QSoft had a good balance for what we needed. 

Describe the project in detail.

They worked on design, telecommunication, and development for us.

What was the team composition?

We had 4 resources assigned to us: a developer, a designer, a project manager, and an account manager.

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

It's too early right now, but the demo was well accepted and received positive feedback. We will see in the upcoming months, but QSoft finished their work and we're happy with it so far.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was good between the various stakeholders on a global level. The coordination between the project manager and the designer was probably the weakest point. We had time constraints that were impacted from the designer side, but ultimately, it was not an important issue.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Once the project was underway, their responsiveness was very impressive. They have a high-service culture and are very kind. They are also able to question themselves and to listen to their client's needs.

Are there any areas for improvement?

They could improve in design. To be more independent, to propose new things by themselves and have more creativity instead of just execution.

Please describe your organization.

We are an online provider of wedding disc jockeys, videography, and photography services.

What is your position?

Head of operations and IT [information technology].

What business challenge were you trying to address with QSoft Vietnam?

We were developing a mobile app for wedding guests to shoot and share images at the weddings.

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Mobile app development.

How did you come to work with QSoft Vietnam?

They were referred to me by someone else I know who I respect.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It was less than $10,000

What is the status of this engagement?

I've done two projects with them. They did a first version and a second version. Right now, we aren't working on anything. We finished the project last week, so very early August 2015.

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

It's a little early to have any numbers. It hit the app store yesterday. We are happy with the user testing.

How did QSoft Vietnam perform from a project management standpoint?

We are satisfied with their performance.

What distinguishes QSoft Vietnam from other providers?

I've worked with overseas companies before and the killer is communication. It's very hard with time zones and language barriers. QSoft Vietnam really went out of their way to make sure we were communicating and, when there were issues, we got them resolved quickly. They did a good job of keeping communication going.

Is there anything QSoft Vietnam could have improved or done differently?

It was pretty much as expected. 

We are an online review, feedback, and market research business based in the U.K.. We serve business clients. I was actively involved in project managing the development of the site built by QSoft.

Our goal was to build an interface and application between suppliers, consumers and our business, which was achieved to our entire satisfaction.

Our IT [information technology] supplier used the Zend framework and created API [application programming interfaces] with various third parties. We conducted references with credible previous users/partners, all of which came back with glowing reports so we felt QSoft had a good understanding of our concept from the outset, furthermore their quote was within our budget.

The duration of the project was five months.

We are at the early stages of implementing the software but, so far, they have been both supportive and creative in finding solutions and delivering. We are happy we made the proper choice of supplier and would certainly use QSoft again without hesitation.

Our company is a consulting firm based in Australia. We specialize in the development of energy efficiency programs and policy development and evaluation primarily for governments both in Australia and overseas. I am a program manager.

The challenge was to develop an online product registration system for use by the Ministry of Industry and Trade in Vietnam for the Vietnam Energy Efficiency Standards and Labeling (VEESL) program.

The Web facility is intended to provide an online facility by which enterprises, known as "applicants," wanting to sell certain regulated energy using appliances and equipment into the Vietnamese market can submit for approval applications for either energy labeling and or Minimum Energy Performance Standards (MEPS). Applications for approval are submitted to the Vietnam Ministry of Industry and Trade or MOIT, known as "the regulator."

Applicants or their agents initially apply for approval to register products online via a password-protected user account, which also involves the uploading of some documents. Following approval of that account application by MOIT an account is activated by MOIT. From their account, an applicant can then create registration applications online and submit them, along with attached uploaded documentation, for approval by the MOIT.

The regulator uses a special account that permits access to all records and uploaded documents for review, prior to either approving the application, or alternatively refusing or returning an application for amendment and possible resubmission by the applicant. In addition to maintaining a register, or related database, of approved applicants, the regulator also maintains a register of approved testing organizations and accreditation bodies via their portal.

At the heart of the facility is a set of interrelated databases where official records are maintained. The key databases are the product registration records supported by a number of smaller interrelated databases. These databases are populated by data input primarily by applicants and to a lesser degree by the regulator via a set of purpose-built forms.

The Web facility also provides various users with a number of specialized facilities to aid the registration process, maintain records, process data queries, and deliver information to various end users, including the public.

Software technologies used were MS SQL Server version 2008 or later for the database, Windows 2003 server or later operating system, Web server with IIS 7.5 - HTTP Server or later, .Net Framework 4.0, C# programming language, and G6FTP FTP server.

QSoft was selected via a limited tender process. The initiative included design, development, support, and some training.

All parts with the exception of the functional specifications were handled by the service provider. The main part of the project was completed in about six months. Support services are ongoing.

The software is performing as required and has met our expectations. The service provider offered exceptional value for service coupled with the requisite skills and a "can-do" attitude.

The software selection has been found to meet our needs and, for this type of application, we would recommend this software package. It is too early at this stage to gauge the value of the initiative.

QSoft performed very well, delivering on time and on budget. QSoft was attentive to our needs and managed well with the language differences. QSoft always sought to provide solutions to any issues that arose during the development process. The service provider always displayed a proactive attitude and there is little scope for improvement in their performance.

Please describe your company.

We are a vertical software provider for the equipment industry. We have software that works for construction equipment, lift trucks, and off-road vehicles throughout North America. We provide accounting and inventory control service software for dealerships of that equipment. We work with manufacturers, such as Case or John Deere. We establish communication links to our software and sell our software to their distribution channel. We automate the flow of information between the manufacturer and distributor.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I am the chairman of the board.

What was your goal for working with QSoft Vietnam?

We have a number of enterprise information portals that we use in our marketplace, and some of them have been around for a long time. The technology has shifted toward the mobile environment, and we wanted to update the user experience with mobile applications that interfaced with the functions for the EIP. I was tasked with coming up with designs for these mobile applications and finding a way to develop them. Most of our programmers were involved with wireframe processing and programming. They lack the necessary experience. I was looking in different places and found QSoft a few years ago.

Please describe the scope of their work.

We did some internal test projects so we could learn about outsourcing offshore. This was our first experience doing that. In late 2012, we started on our customer project. We introduced our first application in November of 2013, we’ve been at this for about a year and a half with QSoft. Overall, we’ve worked with them for about three years. They’ve been very successful with this project, and we just wrote our first major enhancement to the product a week or so ago. Now we're on to Phase 3. It's been a good experience.

What was your process for selecting QSoft Vietnam with which to work?

A friend who works for another company was a few years ahead of us in this process. He works with a group in India, and they had expressed some issues that they had found with a company in India. I steered clear and looked for other places, and Vietnam and the Philippine came up. I found several in Vietnam that I was impressed with. I found QSoft because I thought they had an expertise that matched what we were looking for. They were a size where we would be a significant player with them. They’re a boutique type of organization. A company our size can get lost with some of the big companies.

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

We have 22 developers from their organization. We’ve probably gone further in our relationship with them than most companies have. Our relationship with QSoft has been very strong. They are very responsive to our needs. We decided that we had to have our own facility and have some of our personnel onsite.

That was fine with them, and they made adjustments in our contract to accommodate that. We have an office with people that they supply. They provide all of the support services, such as payroll and government issues. It's worked out very well. They’re very flexible and very easy to work with.

We’ve spent about $600,000 a year. The work is ongoing. On this current track, we'll probably work with them about five to seven years. With vertical software and EIPs, once they make it through their initial development cycle, it clear that they will be enhancing the software.

Do you have any statistics or metrics to track improvement from the project?

Our first app went into the Apple and Android stores in November of 2013. It's selling very well in North America. We're generating good revenue from it, and we have virtually no issues with the software. It's been clean as can be.

We trained the staff in TBD [track-before-detect] techniques, so we're running good, strong test cases.

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

When we were searching for someone to work with, we did a test project with two of the other large providers in Vietnam. We did a contract job with one of them for a period of time. We found that QSoft had never lost an individual. The other organizations had a tendency to swap people out all the time, so they constantly had new people. That’s been a real key feature for us because there’s a lot to learn about our marketplace and the piece that we're connecting to. You spend several months in training. We bring people over to the U.S. for training. If you spend several months and a lot of money training people only to lose them, that’s very painful. We haven’t had that problem with QSoft.

The other thing is that we found that in order for a project to be successful, you need to have a very strong project management in an outsourcing situation. We’ve been extremely pleased with the management at QSoft. They are so focused and dedicated to our project, and they don’t seem to be distracted by other things that seem to be going on in the organization.

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

We’ve learned so much in our first experience with offshore outsourcing and about the process. We struggled a little with communication in the beginning, but I can’t think of anything specifically that I would suggest to QSoft.