SETA International

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

My company works with event-based messaging. My primary customers are banks, telecom companies, and energy companies. We do voice, SMS [short message service], and email, along with any kind of interactions from billing customers to emergency notifications.

What is your role and responsibilities?

I'm the founder, CTO, and the guy that does it all.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal for working with SETA International?

I've got more projects than people to take care of them. Certain projects need development while other systems need better functionality. SETA was a good place to help get those projects finished. I have a team of six there working on my projects.

Please describe the scope of their work.

They were involved in enhancing different features and subsets. We do online IVR [interactive voice response] building tools. They worked on reporting and processing; generally, all different aspects of what I do. They were developing projects to enhance our system. On some occasions, I had ideas that were in need of functionality. These ideas were taken to their project manager. I'd tell him what I needed to get done, and they'd come back and get it done.

Were there any specific technologies they were using for you?

They used Java and Cold Fusion, JQuery, and HTML. They used Xcode for an iOS app, and Java was for the Android side.

SOLUTION

What was your process for selecting SETA International?

We ran an Internet search to find an agency, and selected SETA.

Can you give a sense of the size of the initiative? 

In the last three years, I've spent around $100,000 annually, on average.

When did your relationship with them begin, and is it ongoing?

It began three years ago. I've used them off and on since that time.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics on the project?

In general, the stuff they've created works, and they always get it to me on time. I don't really have any metrics that can be attributed specifically to their work. We've had no issues with their work. The software and technology is performing flawlessly. SETA was the right partner at the right time.

Is there anything unique about them that really makes them stand out, compared to other companies?

They have great responsiveness and onshore project management. Their team is in Vietnam, but they have onshore project managers to manage the team, which helps get the projects complete. Working with offshore companies can sometimes be difficult. That hasn't been a problem with SETA's team.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or something that you might do differently?

If I have a bigger budget, I would have hired more of their team working for me.

What advice would you give a future client of theirs?

The more you know what you want, the faster they can do it for you.