Soko Solutions

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a social networking company. We focus on building capable and tech-driven dating solutions that help connect people.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mototech Group?

We were looking for offshore developers who could supplement our internal development team to assist with our dating app solution.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We already had a complete UI for our mobile app, but we changed from a mobile design to a web-based format, so a designer from Mototech Group’s team took our mobile rendering and did that for us. We scoped out the contract and what we were adhering to, and then we went through the concept of what we were building from start to finish.

What is the team composition?

We have Monica (Project Manager) for the app side and another project manager for the website part of the process, to whom I speak directly, and then they delegate to their development teams. We also have calls with the UI designers.

How did you come to work with Mototech Group?

They were referred to me by a group of CEOs and founders that I’m part of. After that, I interviewed them with about four other companies but chose them because they seemed transparent, flexible, and had other qualities that I was looking for in an outside development team, like their pricing.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $50,000–$100,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2021, and the engagement is ongoing — we’ve been experiencing a scope expansion.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They have great team members, and this has been the most enjoyable experience I’ve had working with a development team. They’ve also been reasonable in how they approach any frictions or issues that arise, along with good client expectations management — they’re a reasonable team.

How did Mototech Group perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re communicative and responsive, and we also have a very active Slack channel. In addition to that, our project manager is detail-oriented and has a great chain of command, which helps to reach deadlines on time. We also have weekly based stand-up calls and demos for the products they build for us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have excellent internal processes, and their client management and interaction are great. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could do deployment testing more in detail and frequently.

Any advice for potential customers?

Ensure that the expectations are clearly communicated and that things are correctly defined in the project’s scope.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Owner

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Consensus, and what were your goals?

Consensus was hired to design and develop a custom software platform. Our common goal was to Deliver the project, on time, following ISO 9003-2015 practices to deliver it well documented, fully operational and testable.

SOLUTION

How did you select Consensus and what were the deciding factors?

The deciding factor to hire Consensus was its ISO certification as it indicated the level of documentation, expertise and best practices that were in place. Price was only secondary to this.

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

Deliver a platform to Beta for client-contróleles release. Scope: Functional Analysis UX UI Design Development Testing Automation IT Services Technology .Net Vue.JS Third party integrations (licensed and OS)

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

Consensus placed a team of 8 people with some variants and scale during certain times of the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project is still on going and Busch testing needs a to still be gathered from end users, but at this stage, we have a stable product with a healthy roadmap.

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

Project management software used was Azure/Teams. Provided by client. The style of management is at times, reactive and asynchronous. This is an area of improvement for them. They have great technical PMs and great Client Managers. They just need a hybrid in between.

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

They work with you. There is a general sense they will go above and beyond.

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

Projects management Time management

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder of the platform called Kamino.

Challenges the platform is solving for? It gives access to the right information, to the right people, in the project finance processes. Most companies rely on an accounting software that allows for little front office visibility or collaboration. Sales teams rely on CRMs, but their data is not bridged efficiently to finance and accounting. Lots of effort and valuable resources are spent here with poor, outdated results.

Who is it for? Made for B2B professional service- businesses such as Marketing, Talent, Architecture, IT firms.

What does it do? It provides project-based orgs the set of tools needed to understand and control their project finances. Manage your entire project cycle, from sales activities to cash flow management in one collaborative system.

How does it do it? Kamino is an innovative web-based platform with workflows, dashboards and reporting via a seamless integration with your accounting software.

Why using Kamino? Scalability without compromising on the best financial practices.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Consensus, and what were your goals?

Consensus was hired to develop the platform from scratch. The objective was to build the MVP within a specific budget and timeline while maximizing the value for the future clients of the platform. The goal from a user standpoint was to have the best user experience as possible.

SOLUTION

How did you select Consensus and what were the deciding factors?

Consensus was a great choice given these factors: - Price vs value - Timezone - Entrepreneurship level - Product ownership

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

The platform went thru the normal stages of a project (discovery, design, dev, testing, releases). We use an agile methodology and sprints. We use .net.

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

The team size fluctuated a lot during the mandate. Currently, we have this core team (PM/PO, Senior Back-end Dev/PL, Senior Front-End Dev, Automation Developer, Full Stack Dev, QA tester).

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to launch the Beta version of the platform in January with most of the features working. The team was successful in replicating the user experience we designed originally.

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

We use Teams and DevOps to communicate and manage timelines, resources and prioritization.

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

Direct access to the resources. Be able to get feedback from the Dev on specific technical issues and recommendations from a front end standpoint as well. Also, their great product ownership during the development made the platform better.

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

Building more automation from the start of the project (testing). Manage timelines and expectations better as well. Turnover of resources delayed the development of some features as well.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the director of grants and business affairs for an environmental nonprofit dealing with data and technology around ocean sustainability and commercial fishing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mototech Group?

We have teams all over the world. We employ people, but we contract them in other places. In some cases, we have intermediaries that make it easier for us to contract or employ people. We have about 10 people in Latin America, and Mototech has been contracting them for us. They're providing services for the work we do from Latin America.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Mototech supplies people who have expertise in technology. They contract and pay people to work for us, and then they bill us. In other cases, we identify a person in Latin America, and they contract with that person. They pay the person and also do the billing to us.

This setup prevents us from having to contract individually with all of those people. They're an American company, too, so we can pay them here in the US. Then, they can pay their people directly. 

The work they do is mostly technology development, project management, systems engineering, and frontend design and development. We also have some people for data analysis. Some of them do program-related work, such as nonprofit programs or policy work.

What is the team composition?

I have two points of contact in Mototech in addition to the 10 people that we work with. We also work with a project manager who’s also the technical director, and he’s been with us since the beginning. 

How did you come to work with Mototech Group?

One of our founders has worked with them for years at various companies. He had brought them into one of our founding companies. When we stood our company as an independent entity, he became the interim CEO, bringing in Mototech with him. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spend around $600,000 a year. This number has grown since the beginning of our partnership. Initially, they were providing only around three people to us, and so that cost only around $200,000–$300,000 a year. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Mototech in July 2017, and the partnership is ongoing. We’ve worked with them before that time but not as an independent entity. Then, one of our founders might have used them for 2–3 years prior to that.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Mototech has been easy to work with and very responsive. As for the people they provide, the ones they've found are outstanding. The people that we've got through them have been unbelievable. Meanwhile, the people we bring to the table have had no complaints or issues. They're all happy to be contracted with Mototech, and that's all we care about. 

How did Mototech Group perform from a project management standpoint?

They've been very responsive to us, and that's because we do a reasonably sized business with them. The head person we deal with seems to be fairly high up, at least from my perspective.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

They offer a great solution for contractors in Latin America, so we can get people in any country. We have people in Mexico, Argentina, Brazil, and Costa Rica — you name it. That's what we love. Anywhere in Latin America, they can offer what we need. They're very flexible. 

The other thing we love is that they're a US company, and they're very easy to deal with. In terms of their core business — the technology services — all I can say is the people we found through them have been excellent. That's an extension of what they do well. Their technology people are really good. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. They’re acting more as an enabler for us than they are providing services. They have great people who provide great services to us. When we find people, they make it easy for us to get their services. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s all about the people on the project. All that really matters is that they get the right people through Mototech to do the work. So far, we’ve been able to find amazing people. If Mototech is doing the same thing to other clients, then their customers are getting people with great abilities. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

I’m an IT systems manager at a national bank with branches all over the country.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Consensus?

We have two main projects with them, the first one is related to outsourcing services. For the second project, they’re helping us develop two digital platforms.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provide us with highly skilled IT staff. One is related to our risks and regulatory processes, the second one is a business intelligence platform for management and process automation.

What is the team composition?

We are working with about 20 people as outsourced staff, and about 40 people are working on our development projects.

How did you come to work with Consensus?

We had a licitation process. They were selected because they provided greater agility and other benefits that would allow us to grow our team rapidly and with reasonable costs. 

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent about 2 million dollars since the beginning of our collaboration.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2009 or 2010, and it is a continuous collaboration.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One of the platforms they developed for us allowed us to have better processes of compliance with regulations. We have reduced a long process to something that can be done with just a couple of clicks. As for the management platform it has allowed us to lower costs and to improve processes and save time, in addition to allowing us to have organized and precise information.

How did Consensus perform from a project management standpoint?

They are very precise and have a strong methodology. They are always one step ahead and have great quality standards.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We keep on choosing them after all these years because of the high quality of their work and their great time to market. They help us solve issues related to the market in record time and with great quality. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything now. We are often meeting up and finding solutions to any issues that might come up.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of YaSabe.com, a digital media company that helps brands and multilocation enterprises in the US reach American-Hispanic consumers online.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mototech Group?

I have in-house technologists, but those are my CTO and a couple of high-level people that can manage a relationship with someone like Mototech. We don’t have a development staff other than that, and things are moving fast. 

We’re constantly in build mode, and I tap into Mototech’s services when I need projects and routine maintenance done. They take care of a huge part of the administration for me.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We specify projects at a high level. For example, we’ve had to deploy a job board, which was not a small feat. The project involved integrating with various APIs to get content from CareerBuilder and Monster.com, and writing crawlers for content aggregation.

Our ambition was to publish a Spanish-language job board, and Mototech was responsible for all the pieces of it, from getting content to translating and publishing it. They gave us resources for finalizing the requirements document, business analysts, and developers and project managers.

What is the team composition?

We’re working with three people from Mototech right now, but we’re not building anything at the moment. We’re in routine maintenance mode. We’ve had up to eight people working on a project, including UI/UX designers, business analysts, developers, and database, hosting, and optimization engineers.

How did you come to work with Mototech Group?

Argentina has great development talent, and I’ve known that for 25 years. I met Pablo (Member of The Board of Advisors) 20 years ago, when he was doing something different. He and I were involved in several projects together, so I had trust in him.

Most everything I do isn’t rocket science. There might be some of that involved, but I don’t need fulltime rocket scientists. Mototech has those as well, but, for the most part, they have very talented developers, especially when it comes to managing very large datasets.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost so far is below $300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with Mototech around 2015, but I’ve known Pablo for much longer. We have the kind of relationship where I can obtain resources from them as needed, with 90 days’ foresight.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Mototech built a site that attracted 11 million people in 2019, and we didn’t spend a dime on marketing.

How did Mototech Group perform from a project management standpoint?

My team is working with analysts from Mototech, who manage the development. We have tight deadlines, scrums, and ample testing. Whatever comes out of the shop, works, and we’re talking about millions of pieces of data and loads of 1,000–1,500 queries per second.

There are complicated search algorithms involved, with machine learning and AI components. If Mototech didn’t know what they were doing, they wouldn’t have lasted very long.

Our projects move faster than ones in the US, they’re generally under-budget, and we deliver good stuff. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They don’t just build what we tell them. With Mototech, we end up with the right thing. They tell us what they’re thinking, and, a lot of the time, they’re right and we’re wrong. 

When building technology, we need competent people with an understanding of the underlying technology, who can tell us the truth about what it’s going to take to build what we want.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We’ve made a lot of suggestions to them in terms of office space. We really thought about having a captive team of our own at Mototech, for another project. We’d have a kind of coworking arrangement, where we’d pay them to take care of the administrative work for those people. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the SVP of a data analytics company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mototech Group?

We had compliance requirements from a number of our customers. In this case, the requirement was to have a directory assistance platform that deals with daily directory assistance data that we generate ourselves and share with other directory assistance data producers. 

We have a file of about 100 million names, records, and phone numbers that change on a daily basis. The requirement was a search engine that would allow people to go online and put in a name or a number or an address and perform a search. So, we worked with Mototech Group to adapt their search engine capabilities to our specifications.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

After choosing the platform, we had to onboard the data into the system that we chose. We developed a set of business rules and worked with Mototech Group to get the platform up and running. We worked with them to integrate new locations, as well.

What is the team composition?

When we first started, we worked with 5–6 teammates and one primary software expert. 

How did you come to work with Mototech Group?

Mototech Group was working with a company that we had bought. We chose them because they’re experts in the directory assistance field. We looked through a number of platforms, and we chose the Mototech platform because it had a number of unique characteristics and allowed us to search and match using an advanced algorithm.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $1 million with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in 2012, and the commercial product launched in 2013. We’re still working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The platform performs flawlessly, and we rarely had any third-level issues. Mototech Group delivered a fantastic product that had the flexibility to accommodate recent requirements. We track the response time and keyword searches, but the key is the data.

How did Mototech Group perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management was good. Mototech Group had some really expert teammates. We used Skype because they were outside of the country, and everything went fantastically.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We deal with bid data, stringent requirements, and sophisticated search criteria, and Mototech Group was good at working with all of that. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You need to have your requirements in place. If you know at a detailed level what you’re going to do, Mototech Group will work well with you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

PotholeRepair.com is a unique business. We’ve developed a process for efficiently doing small-scale asphalt work, and we’re filling that niche. We’ve been very successful and have grown to the point of operating in eight states. We’ll be opening a ninth in January 2021.

I’m the president of the company. I was originally hired to found the company and be its general manager, just over 10 years ago.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Mototech Group?

I was basically running the business as a proof of concept, using spreadsheets and handwritten notes to track my work. We engaged with Mototech Group because it would’ve been impossible to scale or run efficiently at any kind of significant revenue volume without a full platform.

I spent over a year looking at existing platforms, including Salesforce, but none of them offered a solution that would fit my company. I could use many of them and get some relief, but I’d be using one platform for sales, another one for dispatching, and so on. 

I wanted to develop a custom platform that would accommodate all of our business processes.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Mototech Group is developing our platform using MongoDB. We have multiple APIs to integrate with banks, credit card companies, and payroll companies. Our system is a complete workflow platform, with dispatching, invoicing, customer relations, sales, communication, and more.

Mototech Group is able to use AI and machine learning to do things that I think are ahead of the curve. As a result, they were able to develop an interface that includes mapping and calendar APIs to make route planning easy for our dispatch teams. 

What is the team composition?

I’m working one on one with the primary developer. He’s based in Argentina, and I’m on the East Coast. 

There are occasions where I’ll deal with Mototech’s CEO as well.

I dealt with the project manager of the documentation team for a wiki project. We developed a documentation tool and training platform for our employees. 

How did you come to work with Mototech Group?

A mutual connection referred them to me. The decision was partially cost-driven. The US companies I approached were fairly inflexible and said the project would cost millions of dollars.

Mototech Group was much more flexible. They recommended building the system in stages and starting with the more critical, time-consuming, and repetitive functions, and continuing to build on it from there. That allowed them to be much more competitive. 

How much have you invested with them?

The cost at this point is over $1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Mototech in the spring of 2014, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been thrilled with the work and have continued to build on the system and refine it.

Our company literally couldn’t function without the platform. Going back to 2015, I had a salesforce of 25 people and at least four administrative employees pushing paper around. Today, I have three salespeople and two administrative employees, and we’re doing double the volume. That simply wouldn’t be possible without the platform.

In the early days, if we wanted to send a team out to fix potholes, we’d put together paper dispatch documents and post them in a physical room. If a crew was going out on a three-day run, they’d take three-days’ worth of paperwork with them. If another job came in and had to be worked into that schedule, it’d require phone calls, texts, and emails. It was just very awkward, and, when they completed or failed to complete those jobs, we wouldn’t know and couldn’t invoice anything until they finished that three-day run, got back, and turned in their paperwork.

We got rid of the paperwork four years ago, and it’s all done by app now. We have real-time data and can see everything that’s happening: when workers arrive at a site, start a job, and finish it. We get documentation and pictures as each repair is completed. The job’s invoiced before they can pack up their truck and leave the lot.

We’re also able to recruit independent contractors that can work at will. They use the app we provide through the Play Store to report potholes. The data they report gets processed by a BPO organization in India. The three salespeople We use that data to produce 5–7 times the revenue we used to be able to produce. We have a steady source of leads that we can convert into business. 

How did Mototech Group perform from a project management standpoint?

I have a direct pipeline at Mototech Group. If I have a question or an issue, or if I want to speed something up or prioritize something else, I can Zoom the head of the team, and we do what I want to be done. I give them 10/10 on communication.

That doesn’t mean that there’s never a missed deadline, but there’s never a surprise. There’s always a reason, and it’s usually because they made a suggestion or change that I found to be better. 

There’s only a one-hour time difference for most of the year and two hours for the rest of the time, so communication is easy. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

The level of service they provide and their attitude are most impressive. I haven’t dealt with a lot of other providers, and most of those were selling off-the-shelf products. They were telling me how I could change my business to make their stuff work, which I didn’t really want to hear.

The people at Mototech Group never gave me a reason to even consider looking elsewhere, because nothing I asked for was ever a problem for them, and they always suggest better approaches. What they do is very cutting-edge. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Repairs fail sometimes, and I’d be lying if I said that I’ve never had a problem or a glitch with Mototech Group, but they’re few and far between, and, when they happen, they get corrected quickly and not at my expense.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

I would suggest picking someone from your team that fully understands the business and has communications with the various functional areas of it, to be a point person for the company and partner with Mototech on their technology destiny. I wouldn’t say that it’s Mototech’s job to figure out how I should run my business. It’s critical that they understand it, but it’s my job to tell them what’s frustrating and costing me money.

It really needs to be a partnership, and, in order to have one, we have to have two partners, one on each side.