Sensiple

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

At the time of this project, I worked for an ERP software company for small businesses, primarily targeting clients with 10 to 100 employees. I managed all aspects of software development starting from product management, capturing the requirements from clients, all the way through the development cycle, testing, and deployment. I also managed bug reports from clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sensiple?

We had an in-house development staff and hired Sensiple to augment our team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sensiple worked with us on two different projects. They fixed existing bugs that were reported and implemented product enhancements accordingly. We had one developer working on mobile, one on portals, one on API, and one more on desktop.

They were also working on our REST API. The primary intention was to allow for third-party integrations with our software. We had one developer dedicated to doing integrations for us. Prior to this project, we didn’t have the developers in-house to do the integrations, but Sensiple picked it up and managed the process. They integrated marketing automation software and several other third parties that synced with our platform. Sensiple was responsible for all aspects of development. They provided initial designs, wrote the code, and sent to us for testing.

Our software was written on Visual Basic 6 platform and Visual Basic .NET hybrid. VB 6 is an old technology and most of the developers were working on converting the 500 different screens. They converted 50 or 60 screens from VB 6 to VB .NET. Over time, the goal was to get rid of VB 6 and replace everything with VB .NET.

We started out with one developer, and moved up to four as the project progressed.

How did you come to work with Sensiple?

I know one of the founders as a friend, and I’ve seen their work in the past. When we decided to augment our team, I gave two or three vendors small projects to assess their quality of work. Based on the results, I decided to go with Sensiple. I liked their approach. They were very professional, and they backed their presentation up with their actual work. When we gave them that small project, they defined what the scope was and were able to deliver on time.

How much have you invested with Sensiple?

We spent $16,000 to $17,000 per month. The total over the course of our relationship was around $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

They were definitely a good addition to our resources. It’s very hard to find developers locally. Sensiple was able to take care of a lot of maintenance and small enhancements. Getting the third-party integrations developed was a big value add for us. They also helped with the conversions, which we weren’t able to do with the developers we had in-house. Sensiple also helped us with service tickets that came in from clients.

How did Sensiple perform from a project management standpoint?

We had some initial struggles, but the last project manager we had was a technical person with project management skills, so that worked out well. We had access to the ticketing system they used. We also used Visual Studio Online extensively to manage all aspects of software development. We could capture user stories, keep track of bugs, do code reviews, etc.

What did you find most impressive about Sensiple?

Their commitment and their openness to feedback stood out to us. I worked with one person who coordinated with people in India, and any time I had issues or questions, he was always available to answer. I also appreciated Sensiple’s scalability. They were always able to bring good people on the project on short notice.

Are there any areas Sensiple could improve?

Managing the productivity of the developers was a challenge. Working remotely presented its own issues. A developer here corresponds to half or three-quarters of a developer there. We measured the number of functional story points that they delivered, and I knew what part of a project they delivered over time. I would’ve liked their productivity to go up a bit. Sensiple had proposed that they add a full-time developer here in-house to allow that developer to act as a bridge between the two teams.

It would’ve also been helpful if they went deeper into understanding the functionality of our software. That’s not just specific to Sensiple; that’s across the board for offshore developers.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Sensiple?

Start small and have the process established, then scale it up. Also, make sure to give enough functional training to the people there so they understand the background of the project.