Rao Information Technology

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the director and the owner of Platform-Oms. We provide bespoke software solutions to the rail industry.

What challenge were you trying to address with Rao Information Technology?

Currently, there is a specific audit process to follow in the UK market to be an approved provider to the rail industry. That's very disjointed in collating information, so we wanted to create a software and a platform to enable organizations to collate all of this information in one space. From that, we then moved into other solutions around asset management, incident management, competency management, and managing the fatigue process.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Rao Information Technology developed the software we use from scratch, and they also did our website, helping with the design of the site in terms of how it'd look for our customers. We started by discussing my ideas and the concept, and together we designed the workflow and procedures around how we'd make the system work.

Moreover, over the last three years, they've built the platform, ensuring each module could work separately and together so we could split the system for each client to make it bespoke for them. Regarding technologies, they've used Python and MongoDB.

Regarding functionalities, it is like an HR or business management system in which we have admins, operatives, training, and QA logins. Each login gives access to different platform areas relevant to their roles. We collate information on individual workers that work for the business and store that info on the cloud. Moreover, we can upload information about that person and record their fatigue and timesheet process. We then get all the information on their competencies and provide notifications on when the competencies will run out. We have a full asset management system for both movable and immovable assets.

Currently, they're offering maintenance and hosting.

What is the team composition?

I work closely with the co-founder and sales director.

How did you come to work with Rao Information Technology?

I posted a LinkedIn RFP on a design for a business card, and someone from Rao Information Technology's staff messaged me. We liked what we saw when we first engaged with them and started on a very small scale with small ideas. From there, we realized they were capable, could carry out the work, and were reliable and hardworking, so we engaged with them further.

How much have you invested in them?

We've spent around £120,000 (approximately $138,100 USD) with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in August 2019, and the work is ongoing.

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

The platform they created for us reduces the workload and ensures that the business remains compliant. Equally, since we have commercialized the industry and gone out to other clients, we have done the same for them. It saves them time and money on the amount of input they have to collate all of the information needed to stay compliant with the audit process we must adhere to.

How did Rao Information Technology perform from a project management standpoint?

They usually meet deadlines; there may have been a couple of occasions where they have gone over time, but they tend to stay on time and within budget. Regarding tools and communication, we use Google Meet, WhatsApp, email, and in-person meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They've easily grasped an idea and a concept to bring it to reality without complicating things — they keep everything simple and as lean as possible in terms of the process so that it works for businesses in keeping this information all in one place and making it easy to collate.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think they can improve anything — I'm satisfied with their work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Map out what you want to do and break each step down as much as possible so they can understand what you require — the more detail you give them, the better.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a biotech startup located in Reading, UK. I’m the CTO of the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Rao Information Technology?

We were developing a platform-independent web app.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Rao Information Technology developed a web and mobile analytics platform for blood tests. The platform consumes and analyzes the data we collect. We made the design internally.

The web version was built in AngularJS. They also ported the code to Ionic, to build Android and iOS versions.

What is the team composition?

There were up to three people from Rao involved: one key developer, a project manager, and an additional development resource.

How did you come to work with Rao Information Technology?

They were referred to us by a contact. We chose Rao Information Technology because they focused on AngularJS.

How much have you invested with them?

We had a monthly budget of around $2,000, and the total cost of Rao Information Technology’s services over one and a half years was around $40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Rao Information Technology in July 2019, and we released a beta version of the app for trials in July 2020. We’ll work with Rao Information Technology to develop further features.

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

We have an agile development process, with sprints and tracking of number of completed tasks and adherence to the timeline. We had a productive relationship with Rao Information Technology, their performance was very good. The quality of work was consistently good. We engaged them as AngularJS experts, and I think that it worked out quite well.

All our expectations were fulfilled. We had a learning curve, but the collaboration was overall productive. We achieved the things we set out to achieve.

How did Rao Information Technology perform from a project management standpoint?

We used the Atlassian suite, with Jira and Confluence as our main tools. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They don’t overpromise things. Based on our experience, people tend to overpromise and not deliver. With Rao Information Technology, everything was on par.

They never promised the sky, and they had a great approach. Rao Information Technology was down to earth and flexible. We needed to work quickly, and it’s not always easy to adjust to an external company, but it worked out great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could have more knowledge sharing internally. We encountered areas where that would’ve been beneficial. The individual resources Rao Information technology delivered were very good, but having a better internal exchange of knowledge would help them deliver better.

Please describe your company and your position there.

It was an educational project initiated by my wife. I was looking after the concept and development of the product, specially UI/UX and other necessary requirement

For what projects/services did your company hire Rao Information Technology, and what were your goals?

They are hired for the development of an educational and informational app and followed by another WP website. App was compatible on both Android and IOS devices. Both needs to be simple with user friendly UI and with smooth navigational features.

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

Searched online and found them on a freelance website and finalized them from multiple proposals received during the period.

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

Wanted Android and IOS compatible app with push notification and with a simple back end for admin/sub -admins to operate. Same for the WP website as well.

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

One dedicated project manager was assigned with 2 additional resources, one for the front end and the other one was for back-end developments. Most of the time I was interacting with the project manager where he used to explain to me step by step the development activities with due consultations and consent for further developments.

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

App was quite user-friendly and has received good ratings and reviews so far. The website was launched recently and received few good reviews already.

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

The major communication tools were - WhatsApp, skype, and email.

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

It was the team who were available at any point in time to resolve any kind of queries with full satisfaction throughout the development phase and till now. That has built up a huge trust and confidence in me that our project is in safe hands.

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

Being a freelance development team for me, I don't see any kind of lag was there during the project development. However, if the development time could have been reduced then it would have been a wonder for me. They were a fully dedicated team that delivered awesome outputs.