Quantilus Innovation Inc.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of The Nourished Group.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Quantilus Innovation Inc., and what were your goals?

We hired Quantilus to create an online platform to run our events. Pre-Covid, we ran 10 in-person events per year and needed to continue to connect our community during the pandemic and beyond.

SOLUTION

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

We found Quantilus through a mutual entrepreneurial group. I interviewed numerous firms and new I wanted to work with them after their first presentation. It was complete, creative and competitively priced. The main selling point was that they had a team on the call, not just some random sales guy.

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

The SOW was to build a robust online event platform that was user friendly for all users. From conception, development, testing and even show management, Quantilus worked with us and ensured the platform was a total success.

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

We worked with 4 people from Quantilus. Debarshi, the CEO, John G, Project Manager, Amabel, Project Coordinator, and Ajey, Developer

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to launch our first event on time and took our in-person events of 5,000 to over 100,000 people online.

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

The project management team was amazing. They were easily accessible, had clear communication and were an overall delight to work with on our projects.

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

We had very easy communication with our team. They acted as an extension of our company and were always there to support us.

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

Honestly, we were thrilled with our Quantilus team and will continue to work with them in the future.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO and co-founder of a SaaS company called Gamyte. We mainly cater to construction companies, helping subcontractors bid on commercial construction projects. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Quantilus Innovation?

We hired them for their custom software development services. The task was to implement automated testing capabilities and other functionalities to our existing application. This would allow us to deploy features more efficiently.
 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

After walking Quantilus Innovation through the different aspects of our problem, they spearheaded the entire development process. They worked on both the front- and backend using key technologies, such as MySQL, Azure AD, ASP.Net, MVC, and more. They built new screens and some automated testing capabilities. 

We also plan to reengage with Quantilus Innovation for their maintenance services once we secure more funding.

What is the team composition?

I worked with three people — two developers and a project manager. 

How did you come to work with Quantilus Innovation?

I did some research online and then met with Debarshi (Founder & CEO). Our meeting went well — he spoke clearly and understood the industry and what I exactly needed, so I decided to go with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from February–June 2020.
 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve noticed a 7% improvement in the efficiency of our internal development cycles. We’re now able to deploy new and existing features at a faster rate thanks to the automated tests set up by Quantilus Innovation.

How did Quantilus Innovation perform from a project management standpoint?

Overall, they did a great job. Their team put in the extra effort to understand each aspect of the project. They also explained their work clearly and followed our deadlines. For communication, we had weekly meetings through Zoom and kept in touch regularly via email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with their customer service — they really care about their customers.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I honestly don’t think there’s anything they need to improve on. They were the best company I had ever worked with in terms of outsourced development.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to follow Quantilus Innovation’s process and always listen to them — they really know what they’re doing.
 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the senior technical program manager and run the technology department for Best in Class Education, a tutoring service for higher education for grades K–12. We have individual teachers working with small classes of 4–6 students. 

We also have a sister company called Adaptively Education, which is a digital version of Best in Class Education. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Quantilus Innovation?

We were looking for a company to build our digital platform for Adaptively Education to facilitate classes and the curriculum for the students.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I was hired when the entire process began and did my best to create order and give Quantilus Innovation clear direction on the project. When the project began, it was lacking specificity, but the project took shape as it progressed. 

I served as a product owner and broke down the project requirements — we had a series of ethics and user stories put together already using Jira for the project management. The requirements we gave them were broad and were basically just the features we needed our users to be able to utilize. We then had Quantilus Innovation build the back- and frontend of the platform — they built it from the ground up. 

It was a very iterative process — we installed new features and then determined if they looked good and if they were what we wanted. Quantilus Innovation used AWS, Canvas, and several other associated applications to build the platform. We used HubSpot for our CRM. We also worked with them to determine the best UX/UI for the platform. They laid the foundation for Adaptively Education’s platform. 

They also did the day-to-day maintenance, including troubleshooting and bug fixes.

What is the team composition?

The team fluctuated quite a bit. On average, there were 1–2 scrum teams made up of 3–12 teammates, including developers, testers, and project leaders.

At the beginning of the project we had the full team, but after three months we scaled back to about 2–3 full-time teammates.  

How did you come to work with Quantilus Innovation?

We initially met with a few different groups, but Quantilus Innovation was referred to us by our CEO — he is a part of the Entrepreneurs’ Organization network that Quantilus Innovation’s CEO is also a part of. A mutual colleague connected the two CEOs, we had a discovery call with Quantilus Innovation, and then hired them because they were a good fit. 

Part of the fit was the personality and cultural alignment of our companies, but they also had the background and experience of working with other education companies. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around $150,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Quantilus Innovation from August 2020–February 2021. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had little experience with software development and the software development lifecycle so Quantilus Innovation really helped us. They went above and beyond and delivered more than the original scope of the project. 

How did Quantilus Innovation perform from a project management standpoint?

I had to do some hand-holding when it came to project management because the part-time project manager on their team was occasionally absent. It would have been nice to have more structure and communication regarding project management. 

Regarding the development process, Quantilus Innovation followed agile methodologies to create a series of user stories. They worked in sprint cycles, iterating stories every cycle.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve found that when working with consultants, their developers work quickly but speed often takes precedence over quality. However, throughout the process with Quantilus Innovation, whenever we gave them specific requirements, they would deliver 100% of the time. 

Even in situations where requirements were not as clear and therefore the output didn’t meet expectations, the Quantilus Innovation team would edit their work and ensure we got what we needed. They did all of that without incurring any additional charges or going beyond the hours they originally estimated. Quantilus Innovation was very good about meeting our expectations for deliverables, even if they weren’t clearly communicated to begin with — that’s a testament to how committed they are to serving their customers. 

We have them on speed dial if we ever need support or subject matter expertise from them. We plan to continue the partnership and work with them again in the future. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think the speed of delivery was a double-edged sword because in some cases it was detrimental to the output. From a technical standpoint, the quality of the code could be improved upon and a lot of the website’s bugs were from code changes that developers implemented. 

Their team could have taken a little more time and done a little more robust testing to reduce the bugs in the platform. They need to find a better balance between speed and quality. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Potential customers shouldn't let Quantilus Innovation start writing code until they’ve done their due diligence and written up clear and straightforward project requirements that are as literal as possible. 

The Quantilus Innovation team will take written requirements literally, which is great and exactly what engineers should be doing, but if you leave any sort of wiggle room, there will be aspects lost in translation. It’s important to be very deliberate and specific about the project requirements before the coding begins.