Red Cherry

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CEO of Hutch Communications, a telecommunications company. Over 10 years of business, we’ve scaled up to 51 employees. Our services include PVS, backhaul, Internet communications, POS systems, satellite telemetry, and Wi-Fi.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Red Cherry?

Our company has recently seen exponential growth on the market. This expansion required a more comprehensive platform to track assets and employees, and integrate our accounting software.

Red Cherry helped us develop a custom app that functions offline in the field, and syncs data when back in cell service range. Since our employees often complete jobs on sites like oil rigs, this is a critical function. We needed a better method to coordinate our project management and handle the complexities of specific job types.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Red Cherry uses a software build process called User Centered Design (UCD). Initially, they created a working prototype using a tool called InVision. Persona mapping helped us identify potential systems users, rationales for use, and applications. We organized this data in an “information architecture” flowchart. Once we agreed on the specs, they started building the full-scale solution. Due to our in-depth collaboration, the prototype looked very similar to the finished product.

The apps itself, built for iOS and Android, is for employees who work in the field. All of the populated information is funneled into a web interface, which I can access as an admin. It allows me to oversee all of my staff, monitor inventory, and complete accounting, work, and job orders. The interface shows the live or last known location of employees in the field, and their respective tasks. This real-time program eases asset assignment and tracking, allowing staff to indicate when they need equipment like tools and ladders. The software easily ties all this data into our billing and invoicing.

What is the team dynamic?

I’d often have Join Me sessions with the founder, Dan Carter. He's my main point of contact. We go through the project together, and I’ll show him problems or needed tweaks. He takes notes on our meetings, which makes organization easy. After I tell him what needs to be done, he makes it happen with his team. Having someone who works in software understand you is key, and helps to avoid things getting lost in translation.

How did you come to work with Red Cherry?

I found Red Cherry through a web search. After meeting with Dan and seeing their process, I felt they were the best fit. He seemed to really understand our needs. I was impressed by their portfolio; he showed me software builds they’d completed over 16 years of business.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $750,000, and recently decided to move forward with several new projects. One update for iOS, in particular, will improve our schedule. Rather than giving us a flat quote and building it out, we paid a "discovery fee" upfront to work with them on customizing the prototype. Their pricing was fair for the work they performed.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working together for two years now, since 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Red Cherry’s involvement has improved our workflow immensely. We wouldn't be able to run our business without this system. It helps our staff perform work efficiently, organizes all our necessary data, and prevents us from getting into lawsuits. Inventory and staff tracking are critical to our business. The system handles all of our company’s functions, from project management to billing and invoicing. I don't know what I do without it; it would be complete chaos.

How did Red Cherry perform from a project management standpoint?

The time and effort they spent to fully comprehend my ideas streamlined the build. Smooth communication and an organized methodology prevented unexpected curve balls. After we gave feedback on the prototype, they provided a Gantt chart that showed the entire timeline. Everything was met on time; they actually over-delivered from the deadline we’d signed off on.

When we’ve worked with past companies using a flat rate, everything seemed up to chance. When the project was midway, we’d discover things we needed cost extra fees, or weren’t completed to our specifications. None of these problems occurred with Red Cherry.

What did you find most impressive about them?

A commitment to excellence keeps them on time and on budget. They nailed down the scope and completed all the technical aspects properly. They're concerned about our business doing well, not just about making money. That's how you gain long term customers, and that's why we chose and will continue to choose Red Cherry and recommend them to all our clients. I’m a happy customer, and can see why they mostly work from word-of-mouth recommendations.

Their rationale and UCD approach for the prototype was incredible, and made for a smooth software build. Considering the size of this project (ongoing costs are going to surpass a million dollars), I expected many more complications. If I could get my bigger projects to run like this one, I would be very happy.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

The company is WellTraxx Limited. We do oil and gas administrative and software support for private landowners in rural municipalities.

What is your position?

I am co-founder and president.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Red Cherry?

We were working with another developer, and came to the realization that, in order to get to the levels that we wanted with regard to our deliverable products, the current developer wasn't going to be able to get us there. Through our research and talking to some folks, and just working through online, we came across Red Cherry. We were motivated to get to a company that had a little more power to it, the ability to deliver more diverse and dynamic products and could more readily respond to service issues, bugs, maintenance, and so on. It was time to find a better partner going forward, I guess.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They began with a complete rewrite of our website. We were looking for almost a rebrand when we started, so it was a complete revamp of our website. We have a custom software system called WellTraxx that land-owners and use, and it was a complete re-write of that custom software as well. We changed from the initial .NET platform to a new platform. It was a rebrand and a rewrite of the entire software package, as it was getting pretty old.

How did you come to work with Red Cherry?

We did a Google search, and we talked to a few folks that pointed this direction as well, but as far as the initial survey to find what services were out there, it was basically online search.

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

We are closing in on $150,000 now.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working together for almost two years now. We're still working with them on a contract basis, still doing custom development but a lot of maintenance and tweaks.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any feedback from this engagement?

I'm extremely happy with the end product. They have a process that we hadn't gone through with other developers, as far as being very specific and creating a roadmap on how things are going to happen. I'm very happy with the success of the project. Just as importantly, Red Cherry delivered on everything they promised and on the budget that we agreed upon.

How did Red Cherry perform from a project management standpoint?

Traditionally with other developers, you would start into the project and get to a certain point. If they had under-quoted, there were a lot of hard conversations and phone calls of, "We need another 50 or 60 hours." Whereas with Red Cherry, they give you a hard quote, and they stick with it. There were certainly points where they ate hours to meet their quote. They weren't putting that on the end of the client, that they had under-quoted and expect the client then to extend from their original budget. The product was exactly as we wanted and came in on time and on budget. Unfortunately, you can't say that about a lot of contractors.

What distinguishes Red Cherry from other providers?

Probably the number one thing is Dan [Carter, CEO at Red Cherry]. Traditionally with these companies, the leaders of the pack are either really strong technically, but they lack the ability to then communicate the technical side in laymen's terms, to people like me or the business the guys that don't understand IT [information technology] at all. What makes Red Cherry unique is that Dan has an extremely strong background and understands the technical side, but he can then take that technical side and make it make sense to the layperson who really is just putting all their faith that he knows what he's doing.

The ability to interact with him pretty much on a daily basis and have him help you understand what the next steps are, and not feel like he's talking over your head or that you're talking to an alien. In my view, that's probably what makes them the most unique of any other companies we've dealt with.

Is there anything Red Cherry could have improved or done differently?

Nothing jumps to mind to be honest.