Sciant (part of Sirma Group)

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of finance ERP strategy for a global logistics company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sciant?

The selling and buying rates for freight operations is challenging. We had a business issue with freight rate operations, particularly integration issues for the transfer of rates between applications.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sciant developed a solution using Oracle and a combination of different platforms, including an internal one. They delivered an entire interface between two core applications that we have within our network.

What is the team composition?

There are roughly five people.

How did you come to work with Sciant?

Sciant is reputable in Sofia, Bulgaria. They’re very well known in the market, especially in the logistics area, which is why I decided to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

My company has spent $85,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2019, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Sciant delivered an end-to-end solution for our industry, which is quite an achievement. The solution had complex development requirements and a very technical design, and they’ve successfully made it from the early stage to testing and implementation. I’m very pleased.

How did Sciant perform from a project management standpoint?

They have strong communication skills. Sciant knows the industry very well, and they understand the business problems we deal with. They have a couple of very strong guys that are PM-certified. They’ve spread discipline throughout our organization. They have us document change requests and requirements so that they can do the best they can on their side. Project management is good.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Sciant has strong technical expertise and can work in an international environment. They’re a very big company and are present in multiple countries, and they can discuss and translate business requirements from different countries into one global requirement. They’re very knowledgeable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’m very happy with the deliverable. I increased the scope of their responsibilities.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

iVvy is a cloud based hospitality solution. I am a founder of the business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Sciant?

iVvy engaged Sciant to develop integrations between iVvy and other third party PMS platforms.

What were your goals for this project?

To reduce the red tape in dealing with some of the third party vendors by using an organisation from the industry that understands each of the platforms.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Through a referral that we had received.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We have an ongoing project for Sciant to develop middleware between iVvy and other third party PMS solutions.

What was the team composition?

The team is made up of a project manager, one or more developers and a QA person.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The sciant team has made it possible to engage new customers and meet their needs quicker than we might have.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Shaf has been great at keeping on top of managing each of the stakeholders, and pushing them to keep the projects on track.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their experience in this space is fantastic.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Product owner of a hospitality & leisure company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We offer upsell software for hotel chains 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Sciant (part of Sirma Group) to accomplish?

• Build 2way PMS integrations

SOLUTION

Why did you select Sciant (part of Sirma Group) over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit

How many teammates from Sciant (part of Sirma Group) were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Build new 2way PMS integrations and maintain them. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Number of bugs, customer feedback, growth numbers 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The team that we work with is very flexible, nice to work with and the projects are well managed. 

They meet deadlines and deliver high quality.

What was your primary form of communication with Sciant (part of Sirma Group)?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The team that we work with feels like they are part of our company. Values are alligned, communication is going smooth and they really care about us and our projects. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something Sciant (part of Sirma Group) could have done differently?

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BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Sr BA, Data Integrations of Cendyn LLC

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We help hotels around the globe drive profitability and guest loyalty through an integrated technology platform that aligns revenue, eCommerce, distribution, marketing, and sales teams with centralized data, applications, and analytics, so they can capture more demand and accelerate growth.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Sciant (part of Sirma Group) to accomplish?

• Contracted with the Sciant team to provide cloud consulting and development services to strengthen our Hospitality products and offerings.

SOLUTION

How did you find Sciant (part of Sirma Group)?

Worked with them previously

Why did you select Sciant (part of Sirma Group) over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Sciant (part of Sirma Group) were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

After an initial discovery session, we spent time with the Sciant team discussing how we integrate their team into our processes to ensure smooth and consistent workflows. They were very receptive and assembled the necessary team members and became an extension of our internal team. There were bi-weekly meetings scheduled for progress updates as well as demos of the product being delivered.

Based on the strategic planning and preparation, the integrations were delivered on time and on budget. We discussed and developed application workflows for which they provided the necessary supporting documentation that enhanced the understanding and support of the product deliverable. There has also been post-delivery support provided by the Sciant team which has been outstanding.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Delivery of the solutions we contracted for on time and on budget. Delivery of supporting documentation

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Sciant's vast knowledge, industry expertise and experience, as well as industry contacts within the Hospitality space were invaluable as we moved thru the project. These qualities allowed us to collectively create, define and deliver exceptional solutions and to achieve the results we intended. Their responsiveness to scope change, questions, etc. were always well thought out and timely so as not to delay our timeline.

What was your primary form of communication with Sciant (part of Sirma Group)?

Virtual Meeting

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

I find their professionalism, domain expertise, adaptability, and attention to detail to be most impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Sciant (part of Sirma Group) could have done differently?

None come to mind as everything we put before them, they were able to address effectively and efficiently.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Technical Program Manager - DevOps Team Leader

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Sciant?

Sciant is providing us the DevOps capabilities we need for setting up our environments based on Azure and Google Cloud.

SOLUTION

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

Good experience coming from previous projects we worked on.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The project is related to the setup of a Digital Bank totally based on Cloud environments. The infrastructure is spread betheew Google Cloud (80% - Kubernetes) Microsoft Azure (15% - VMs) and AWS (5% - Other services) and considers 6 environments connected via a complex and efficient CI/CD system based on Tekton.

From a DevOps perspective the team went thorough a first phase of analysis of possible solutions and in the meanwhile provided the teams with the required environments for effectively deploy the software. Second phase was the systems and technologies consolidation. Third phase, definitive andc stable solution setup.

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

4 senior DevOps

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We completed 2 major infrastructural phases on a list of 3. The third is ongoing.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Daily advancements meeting, slack and the emails helped us to be always aligned and to not have "surprises".

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

The team is always available, and they respond and adapt our needs. Speed of learning new required technologies.

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

In tech environment, there are areas of improvement everywhere. Technologies changes and evolve continuously.