Seven Hills Technology

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a cofounder of Joey - On-demand Delivery. My role in the company is managing partner and I also fulfill the role of Business Consulting, and Chief Technology Officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Seven Hills Technology, and what were your goals?

Seven Hills took over the development and architecture design for the entire Joey system. This includes a web based admin portal for management of all the drives, drivers, businesses, and reporting. The system includes two mobile apps as well. SHT is the development team for Joey.

SOLUTION

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

We had previous experience with a developer and needed a company to jump in and take over as fast as possible. Seven Hills was one of 3 companies we reviewed and due to their culture parallels, location, and overall leadership team, we decided to partner with them.

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

The project is a multi-year development and management relationship. Throughout the last 3 years, Seven Hills has effectively taken ownership of all the technology aspects of Joey.

The Joey team and leadership has been able to communicate process and strategic initiatives and Seven Hills has been able to meet or exceed in every area. The key deliverables are the ongoing success and stability of the web based admin portal, two mobile apps, including a consumer facing progressive web application.

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

The team has ranged from 3 people to as many as 6 over the past 5 years. The roles are all typical for a development relationship of this size, including:

• developers
• project managers
• design
• testing resources

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The deliverables have nearly always met our expectations. Seven Hills actually provides a good bit of leadership and feedback as we build out new functionality and provide our strategic direction.

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

While timelines have slipped in the past, I would have to say Seven Hills does a very good job of communicating and most of the timeline issues have either been due to an unexpected complexity, or in most cases a scope or process change that the Joey team proposed.

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

The culture of Seven Hills Technology is very entrepreneurial and matches very well with startups, especially Joey. The local resources and management team really help us feel like SHT is more of a partner than just a consultant doing work for the company.

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

Of the normal, better, faster cheaper options I think the only one I could think of improvements for would be faster. While budgets have stretched a bit, it's typically because of the Joey team and scope changes or timeline adjustments. Seven Hills could do a little better at managing estimates and pushing back on the Joey team when enhancements are requested.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a software company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Seven Hills Technology?

We had some special projects we needed to complete that we didn’t have the resources for, primarily because it wasn’t in our area of expertise. We contracted with Seven Hills Technology for them to write custom solutions that aren’t directly related to our software but to the other services we offer.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Seven Hills Technology has built a customer access portal for us where our customers and resellers of our products can log in. The product is web-based, heavily dependent on SQL databases, and integrated into our ERP system. We collaborated with their team on the design, working closely on its iterations. They handle all the development work. 

One of the portal’s main features is password security and login credentials. Users can also relocate to third-party tools through the platform. Our customers use these tools as part of their service, and we didn’t want them to log into 3–5 different places. Seven Hills Technology integrated the third-party tools and created a secure process to send over their login information. 

Another major component of the portal is a document management system the team has built. Our company has customers worldwide who need to share files with us. For example, customers send diagnostic files to our support team when they have a problem. The document management system enables customers to input files, which are then stored securely in Microsoft Azure, and our employees can access them. That way, we can provide support from anywhere in the world. The system also enables us to share files back with the customer.

Seven Hills Technology has also integrated this document management system into our ERP system. Since our customer records are in our ERP system, this integration allows our support team to find a customer’s name, find out what products they’re using, and ensure they’ve paid their maintenance fees before providing support. 

Another feature the team has added is portal visualization of our ticketing system. The portal takes the support tickets from our ERP system and displays them for the customer, who can see them when they log in. They can also add messages or files to their tickets. Seven Hills Technology currently does maintenance for the portal. We’re also starting to scope phase two of development with them. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve had around eight teammates from Seven Hills Technology working on the project at one time or another, including a QA person, six developers, a designer, and a project manager. 

How did you come to work with Seven Hills Technology?

We initially made contact with them through mutual acquaintances on LinkedIn. I interviewed them, and we agreed that there were many opportunities where their expertise aligned with our needs. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $130,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2020, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I'm delighted with Seven Hills Technology's work. We've rolled out phase one of the portal to all our employees, customers, and resellers globally. Hundreds of our customers are already registered and using the platform. Although I expected users to find things that needed improvement, the feedback has been overwhelmingly positive. We don't have any metrics because it's a brand new project, so we don't have something to compare it to. 

How did Seven Hills Technology perform from a project management standpoint?

I would give them a fairly high score for project management. We use Jira, where I have access to their board. We have a retrospective every two weeks for the sprints. Since we're in the same city, we meet in person quarterly for long-term strategic planning.  

As for communication tools, we use our company's Microsoft Teams channels, where I have individual contact with the team. We also have groups within the platform where we do calls. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Seven Hills Technology's biggest strength is their willingness and ability to work with customer needs. They're very focused on giving us what we need. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The area where I want us to improve together next year is tightening up the organizational management of our projects. Although the work is getting done, there are times when we could benefit from more tightness of the organizational structure. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You need to know what you want. However, it isn't easy to know what you want and communicate it clearly when starting a project with a third party. Seven Hills Technology is better than most at receiving requirements. However, I've learned that I could have done a better job thinking about the frontend to know what I wanted and needed ahead of time.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a software developer at AFS Dealers, a software company. We have a product that car dealerships use to run their businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Seven Hills Technology?

We needed someone to do some development work and handle our Azure systems.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Seven Hills Technology has provided custom software development services. Initially, we described what we needed. Much of our work uses Azure functions, so our development and implementation are done in C#. On the other hand, we use Alpha Software, a low-code environment for the frontend.

They manage and keep the database healthy, making design recommendations and backups. Also, we have a lot of domains, and they handle the infrastructure piece, routing it into Azure and the virtual machines.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with Brad (Partner) and Spencer (Full Stack Software Engineer).

How did you come to work with Seven Hills Technology?

It was a referral.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve probably spent between $50,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working with them since June 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our systems are up and running, and our sites don’t go down. Moreover, they’re great partners; they’ve met our expectations. They’re always responsive during our development cycle, including testing and fixing. 

How did Seven Hills Technology perform from a project management standpoint?

Regarding the budget, we just pay for time and materials. They’ve done well on project management. We communicate via Slack and weekly Zoom calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very flexible with working after hours. Most of our clients work during typical Monday to Friday business hours, so any maintenance or development work is done after hours, on the weekends, or early in the morning. Seven Hills Technology is very responsive, which is great.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, it’s been excellent.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am co-founder of our mobile app. that specializes in stock market information.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Seven Hills Technology, and what were your goals?

We wanted Mobile app development for IOS and Android. We wanted a user friendly site with simplicity and easy access. We also wanted an appealing application.

SOLUTION

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

One of our co-founders works closely with Seven Hills with other businesses and startups.

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

We had meetings to discuss our vision and submitted images and information. We first had Seven Hills built a clickable prototype and then held more meetings to finalize the structure in order to now begin Mobile app dev.

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

A project manager, a few developers, and the CEO has worked closely with us as well.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have gained interest with our clickable prototype.

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

The project manager has been very communicative. We have had meetings, updates, and communication frequently to discuss the project.

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

They are very easy to work with and put customers first. They are both flexible and reliable.

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

No areas for improvement at this time.