SOLTECH

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I lead recruitment at Bakkt, which is in the process of building various platforms and services related to digital assets (such as loyalty, rewards, points, and retail payments.)

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SOLTECH?

In creating our mobile payments platform, we hired SOLTECH to assist us with staff augmentation.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SOLTECH connects us with available software developers whenever a need emerges. They seek out qualified engineers, vet them, and send them over to us. I do a quick interview with the candidates, and if everything goes well, I onboard them onto our processes.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Veanne (Senior Vice President & Owner) and Ellen (Account Manager).

How did you come to work with SOLTECH?

We were told that they were exceptional at finding specific talent and skillsets.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve relied on them since September 2019 and have an ongoing partnership.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve provided us with high-quality candidates who we’ve been successful with. We have a pretty high bar for what we’re looking for, and they’ve succeeded in meeting our standards. It’s clear that they take the time to vet their candidates.

How did SOLTECH perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re attentive to our requests and are excellent at finding people in due time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve been most impressed by the quality of the candidates that they send over.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just tell them what you want, and they’ll meet your needs.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the director of IT for a professional association of scholars in the humanities. Our membership consists of nearly 8,000 academics around the world. We host conferences, publish academic books and journals, and provide additional online services to our members.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Soltech?

We first hired Soltech in 2016 to supplement our in-house full-stack developer to help maintain our custom extranet, intranet, and online journal site.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their team provided ongoing maintenance for our existing sites. We later engaged Soltech to replace our legacy online journal site with a more enhanced and robust research platform for our members.

What is the team composition?

During the first phase of development, Soltech’s team included a project manager, project architect, designer, front-end developer, back-end developer, and quality-assurance tester. Once the infrastructure for our new site was in place, we reduced the Soltech team to a dedicated full-stack developer to complete the project.

How did you come to work with Soltech?

Our organization was looking for an established, Atlanta-based organization that had a critical mass of staff with expertise in the Microsoft technology stack. After interviewing several organizations, we hired Soltech because they checked all the boxes, we were impressed with their leadership, their fees were competitive, and we liked the structure of the maintenance contract that they offered.

How much have you invested with them?

To date, our total investment for both new development and software support has been at least $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in July 2016, and the partnership is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

On our existing sites, Soltech made substantial upgrades to the underlying framework, credentialing technology, and payment processing technology so that our sites could apply current security standards. In addition, they successfully developed and launched the first version of our new custom website, and we’re approaching the launch date for version 2.0.

How did Soltech perform from a project management standpoint?

We found that the first project manager for new development was stretched too thin. However, management reacted quickly, and we were very satisfied with his replacement. Now that we are working directly with the Soltech engineer, we utilize Soltech’s portal in Jira for communication and feedback. We’ve been happy with this process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of their engineering team is very impressive. They are all highly skilled and professional, and it reflects well on Soltech’s ability to hire and manage talented resources.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would recommend their team consider bringing on a database administrator to help provide expertise and oversight in that specialized area. This isn’t a problem with Soltech specifically, but most developers also aren’t familiar with the web accessibility standards for people with disabilities, so they could certainly go some way in providing more of that service as a default on their products.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Soltech is extremely flexible in the range of options they provide for how they can serve you. If the structure ever doesn’t feel like it’s working, just let them know so that they make the necessary adjustments to serve you better.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CIO of a heavy equipment dealership.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SOLTECH?

We brought in SOLTECH to create a custom quoting system.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created a mobile application for us from scratch. It serves to help our salespeople make a maintenance agreement on a machine or group of machines. They were also brought on to develop the architecture of that system, and the way it would interact in a mobile device. Currently, we also engage them for staff augmentation as needed.

What is the team composition?

We had one project manager, one UI developer, and one data architect.

How did you come to work with SOLTECH?

I learned of them through a mutual acquaintance.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $60,000–$80,000 on app development, and another $60,000 on staff augmentation.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2013, and our work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The projects have been very successful. We choose SOLTECH because they follow through in terms of quality service and commitment.

How did SOLTECH perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very good. They were very thorough in assessing how to make our product as good as possible through a series of meetings. We communicate via phone and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

SOLTECH always goes the extra mile to learn what the problem is and how to best solve it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I wouldn’t recommend them for a project that needs 20 developers, since they probably wouldn’t have the bandwidth for that.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t just treat them as a vendor. Make sure they’re engaged at a level throughout your business that’s relevant.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive for a SaaS company called Nexus. We provide accounts payable automation through payments to the real estate industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SOLTECH?

We had upgraded to Salesforce Lightning and had hired a Salesforce admin to help pus make that transition. It ended up going very poorly, and we fired the resource. SOLTECH was hired to dig us out of a deep hole after we spent $100,000 already on the upgrade. We were trying to organize our entire company around the CRM, which meant bringing in different bodies of work into the software so they could be shared across the company.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We hired them to not only help us think through the logic of how we should use the software but also to use their software developer to bridge existing systems into Salesforce to use it to the best of its ability.

After a series of 7-8 interview meetings with key stakeholders, they had the whole structure completely outlined in a couple of weeks. Then, they started developing and holding review meetings with each stakeholder.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a developer and an account manager. There was also a team of people on the phone with us every time.

How did you come to work with SOLTECH?

I had heard, through word of mouth, that they did a bunch of Salesforce adaptations. They were recommended to me.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $150,000­–$180,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from February until Q3 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were in a world of hurt going into this project; it was a complete mess when they came in. We were unbelievably pleased with their work, taking us from an unusable software to something that is the heart of our company.

How did SOLTECH perform from a project management standpoint?

They may have used project management tools on their side but we interfaced with them through emails structured according to their liking.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to do the development work while both holding conversations about how to structure the work and outline it in a logical fashion stood out. This allowed us to continue operating as a company while they made the necessary changes.

The strength of what they delivered was the human contact. They discussed the problems with us and built requirements when we didn’t even have a good sense of what it should be We didn’t know the power of the software but they converted our raw needs into actionable code.

Are there any areas they could improve?

This tough for me because it was a really well-managed relationship. We may have wanted to go a little faster but we kept changing everything. They could have mined us for additional business but they didn’t. They didn’t pester us like some other companies we’ve worked with have done.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’ve recommended them to others, and when I do so I say that they’re great at figuring out what needs to be done, in addition to doing it right. Don’t direct them to much into what you want them to do. Explain your business need and problem in addition to your proposed solution to get the most out of their delivery.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of Cognia, a nonprofit organization for school improvement.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SOLTECH?

The difficulty we faced initially was that we didn’t have the blend of skill sets we needed at the time to carry things forward from a technology point of view. SOLTECH was able to offer us a very diverse team of frontend, backend, and full-stack engineers with experience in a wide set of technologies.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SOLTECH is our software development partner, and we’ve worked on a combination of projects together. Initially, we were starting a new technology platform, and the nature of the work was a bit more turnkey. We were developing modules within the platform for conducting surveys for our institutions that went to students, parents, and staff. We were also developing a school implement planning module and a module for conducting our institution assessment reviews. 

It was a diverse set of products, and SOLTECH was able to look at the platform in a comprehensive way, rather than just individual software requirements, and understand the value of what we were trying to do from a business perspective. The team could then assess what made sense in terms of architecture, design, and development.

As we began to strengthen our internal team, we blended the SOLTECH team with our own, to the extent that they really work together on the same projects. Additionally, they’ve been a recruiting resource, helping to find staff for our team.

What is the team composition?

The team has varied in size, but it’s typically around 7–10 people. They always make sure there’s a technical lead on board at both the architectural and software development level for each project. My primary point of contact is Veanne (SVP). 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with SOLTECH in about Q3 of 2007, and we’re still in contact, though we’ve suspended some of the work we’re doing as a result of COVID-19.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One strength I would emphasize is that they cover a lot of ground from a technology point of view, in terms of technologies we already use and some we’ve decided to introduce into our own organization. That’s been a very beneficial point of the relationship.  

They’ve been very flexible in terms of adapting to our needs and how we want to work to provide our deliverables. SOLTECH’s recruiting efforts have been excellent as well; they’ve been really effective in finding individuals not only with the right skills but who are also the right cultural fit. 

How did SOLTECH perform from a project management standpoint?

The technical leads for each project are always key in coordinating with the SOLTECH team, but they also work very closely with our internal team. They’ve been excellent in helping us manage the timeline of deliverables because we often have various projects going on at the same time.

They’re very tuned into timelines and deadlines. If I give them a turkey project, they’ll work through the actual design phase in order to generate a development plan. They use agile methodologies along with more conventional project management methodologies.

SOLTECH’s team works onsite with us, and they’re very much embedded with my team. Our communication is face-to-face, along with messaging. We use Smartsheet and Jira as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Several things about SOLTECH stand out, one of which is the caliber of their staff. They’re highly skilled and they know their technology very well. They’re savvy and can make technology decisions based on business considerations. Further, the team has a really high level of emotional intelligence in how they relate to each other and our team. There’s also a sense of high professional integrity within the SOLTECH staff and leadership. That combination makes SOLTECH a great choice for us. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their developers are very well-rounded, and I think they could really benefit from expanding more into the UX/UI design space.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a property management company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SOLTECH?

We hired SOLTECH to build our property management software platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

It was reasonably robust. We started with a solution design process that took about 60 days. We wanted to establish clarity about the requirements about the MVP were.

The solution allows people the ability to list their properties as well as take applications, screen tenants, approve applications, set up accounting systems, and collect rent online with Stripe and TransUnion integrations. It also handles work orders, an online store, and a training component. Currently, they’re finishing up the final components of the MVP and we’re going into production next week. Then, they’ll continue to provide backend support.

What is the team composition?

I had one project manager, and we had 3–8 developers working on the project.

How did you come to work with SOLTECH?

One of my close friends and advisors helped me source 7–8 different companies. I interviewed five of them, and we ended up choosing SOLTECH not only for their technical capabilities but also the backend support they could provide. They’re also able to offer placement services where they can recruit and onboard a full-time staff member if we get to that size.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2019, and our work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were able to execute my original design exceptionally well. The design is contemporary, extremely clean, very intuitive, and simple to use.

The integrations with Stripe and TransUnion were significantly more complex than we initially anticipated. It required a substantially higher investment in time to build out those components.

How did SOLTECH perform from a project management standpoint?

We had weekly meetings for the entire process and at times it would even be 3–5 times per week. Their project management software had reporting about which phase of the project we were in, with QA components.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their level of communication was excellent. In fact, I’ve learned things from them that I’ve been implementing in my own business. Their accountability metrics were great and they always stayed on task and on track. We never got stuck in the weeds on anything.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, this is my first development project, and if anything, there’s a lot I could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Having a clear vision of what you want before you start the process is critical. I’ve spent years in the business of property management and have been able to have great clarity on what I’ve needed and why. That forethought helped us stay on course. Software is an expensive investment and you can easily spend a lot of money changing your mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a client services planner for a financial planning and investment management firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SOLTECH?

We’d gone through a conversion from our old CRM software into Salesforce. The company we’d originally hired to complete the migration did not complete the work.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SOLTECH came on to do the remediation of the original Salesforce migration project. They were responsible for getting our data from the old database into the new database. 

First, they did an assessment of what they believed the remediation would look like. We wanted a very clear, precise picture of what it would include, with exact dollar amounts and hours. The team did a download of our database and looked at where the holes were. 

Then, we did step-by-step implementation in the order we needed it because we were actually live with the Salesforce database at the time and some of the actions needed to be completed quickly.

What is the team composition?

I worked with five people in total, including Nick (Project Manager).

How did you come to work with SOLTECH?

I was searching for a company that was either registered or experienced with Salesorce. SOLTECH’s name came up several times at the top of those lists. I read some reviews about them, and then we had an initial call. I felt like they really knew what they doing and could provide what we needed. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement took place from December 2019–April 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The results have been great. The team did everything in the test environment before they pushed it into production, which ensured our Salesforce database wouldn’t have any issues. It made our team’s lives so much easier, because before, we spent a lot of time bouncing back and forth between databases. With the work that SOLTECH did, all of our information is now in the same place. It’s been great.

How did SOLTECH perform from a project management standpoint?

Everyone on the team was extremely responsive. Our engagement didn’t necessarily require a lot of project management, but Nick still performed well when we needed him. We had weekly update calls along with written documentation regarding where we were in the project. We kept in touch with phone and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team is amazing. They’re extremely knowledgeable and never came up against a problem they couldn’t help with. No matter what, SOLTECH always found a way to solve the challenges we came up against.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I think they did great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They make it very easy to work with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder & CEO of eDea LLC. We’re a FinTech startup with a platform dedicated to advancing financial health.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SOLTECH?

We were looking for a responsive and accessible development studio to improve an unstable, problematic platform developed by another vendor.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SOLTECH collaborated with us to go back to the drawing board and improve our financial health platform. They did front- and backend development, developed code, and addressed technical issues that arose.

What is the team composition?

Ann (Client Lead) was the account representative and our main point of contact. There was a technical team of 6–7 resources, mainly front- and backend developers.

How did you come to work with SOLTECH?

We wanted to support the local economy of the greater Atlanta Metro area. When we spoke with SOLTECH, they had the technical chops as well as being compatible with our company regarding integrity and trustworthiness.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in November 2016, and the relationship is ongoing. We look forward to more projects together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

SOLTECH has delivered a product that demonstrates the basic attributes of what we need to bring to market. It’s a strong, scalable platform that we intend to build on. We just released the MVP and anticipate further releases. 

SOLTECH used established standards and frameworks to develop the code efficiently, and the design is clean and user-friendly. They’re quick to respond to and solve issues, working with a high degree of collaboration. 

How did SOLTECH perform from a project management standpoint?

We handled the project management ourselves. That speaks to the flexibility they have to work within their client’s comfort zone. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s been an easy working relationship, and the team was very clear in its technical approach. They weren’t religious about any particular technology or framework — they used whichever solution best fit the requirements. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Perhaps they could come up with a model of available resources when dealing with smaller, resource-constrained firms.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear view of what you need to build without restricting them to exact elements. And be ready to engage with them because the conversations can be meaningful.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CEO of Project Automation, LLC. We offer a platform for retailors to organize their products and purchases.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SOLTECH?

We wanted a cross-platform product that works on mobile devices, tablets, and computers and that operates out of the cloud.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I have a programming background, so I had wireframes, a beta version, and a partially completed frontend. SOLTECH took those materials, put together the platform, and built the backend from scratch. We used Node.js for the backend and React for the frontend.

What is the team composition?

We work with a few different people. Ann (Business Development Executive, SOLTECH) is my go-to person for any questions because she coordinates everything. Linda (Project Leadership Lead, SOLTECH) oversees our accounts and also some meetings. Jack (Software Engineer, SOLTECH) is our lead developer, and he’s doing bug fixes and improvements for me as we speak. 

How did you come to work with SOLTECH?

I looked up companies in my area and what they had to offer. After looking at several, SOLTECH was the one that stuck with me. I felt great camaraderie with everyone I met there. It was like love at first sight.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2019. The project’s first phase is wrapping up, and we’re ready to begin the second one soon.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve finished building the MVP and just launched it. Two weeks ago, we showed potential customers a preview of the product, and they were delighted with it. They said our platform would make their lives easier and save them a lot of time and money. We’re excited to hear that feedback, and we wouldn’t be here without SOLTECH’s work.

How did SOLTECH perform from a project management standpoint?

We have hour-long meetings every Friday as a check-in. I also use Slack to stay in direct contact with Jack, who’s online whenever we need him to be. I appreciate having a direct line to the developer. I can give him tasks and outline what I need without an extra layer of communication between us. That being said, I can get in touch with anyone, such as Ann, whenever I need to. I also use Jira to report any bugs or problems I come across. It’s been a smooth transition and an enjoyable experience.

What did you find most impressive about them?

SOLTECH creates an amazing atmosphere in their own team. They offer a beautiful workspace and treat everyone like family. Ann has asked our company out to dinner with some of the team members we’ve worked with to celebrate our accomplishments so far. We haven’t had a dull moment once in working with SOLTECH.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I only wish I’d called SOLTECH sooner. I’ve gone through multiple companies to find the best one, but as soon as I came across SOLTECH, I knew that I wanted to work with them. I can’t see any downside in our collaboration so far.

Any advice for potential customers?

Listen to what SOLTECH has to say—they’re very, very knowledgeable in their field and have experience working with many kinds of companies, both large and small.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the VP of IT for a nonprofit organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SOLTECH?

We had a legacy web application that we used for well over a decade. It was written in an old programming language and we didn’t have maintenance support options available to us, so we decided that we wanted to replace and redesign it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We replaced our previous development company with SOLTECH, and concluded the first phase of this large project. They replaced the old application and launched a newer partial Phase 1 application. The application had been started using Ruby on Rails so the development was continued in this programming language.

We then reevaluated the plan for the application’s design. We provided SOLTECH with all the information they needed in order to rewrite the application. We had a number of conversations onsite and through conference calls to put together an actionable design document.

We were initially going to utilize Microsoft.NET technologies to create the app. After beginning development, SOLTECH realized that a customized Salesforce platform would be a better option for us. Salesforce offered the features and functions we desired, relieving us of the need to program them entirely from scratch. SOLTECH used Microsoft.NET to develop a web application site that synced data to our Salesforce application. This wise decision saved us both the cost and time to custom-code a program.

We’re currently tweaking things and adding some new enhancements to improve the application’s usability.

What is the team composition?

The size of the team has fluctuated over time. We have an account manager, a brilliant business analyst, and a few project managers. We’ve also worked with two key developers and a UX/UI developer.

How did you come to work with SOLTECH?

I knew of SOLTECH and its services through previous networking experiences. I initially approached them because I knew of their familiarity and expertise with Ruby on Rails. They then came in to further discuss their service offering, and we felt that they were qualified to meet our needs.

How much have you invested in them?

We have invested approximately $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in 2016, and the work is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

While the new application is in production, we’re using it effectively. Their high level of expertise has allowed them to produce a well-designed product in a short amount of time. I’ve worked with vendors who aren’t as skilled, and it’s taken them twice as long. SOLTECH, on the other hand, has quickly pulled the right resources to get it done efficiently.

How did SOLTECH perform from a project management standpoint?

There is good communication; I’ve had access to everyone on the team. I appreciated that because, in some organizations, you can only interact with a project manager. It’s been great to have friendships with specific individuals on the project team— this dynamic has contributed to project success.

Our most common method of communication is email. We have conference calls and meet in person when necessary. They’ve come here more frequently than I’ve visited them, so they’ve been very accommodating.

What did you find most impressive about them?

SOLTECH has experts in critical operational areas, like project development, project management development, database architecture, and business analysis. They provide seasoned experts instead of having a single person attempting to manage different areas of work. SOLTECH’s team is comprised of specialists, a group dynamic that works very well for them (and us.)

Are there any areas they could improve?

Our previous assigned project manager was outstanding. He was fully certified and had all the skills and expertise. 

Right now, we’re in the maintenance phase, and I have to largely manage the requests still on the table, and that may be because maintenance and break/fix don’t typically require project management resources. So, likely with any company, the option for some level of project management during maintenance and break/fix needs to be agreed to by both sides.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Figure out whether you want a fixed cost or an estimated cost for a project. If you want a quote that requires SOLTECH, or any developer, to give you a fixed price point, it will take a little more time and money to establish that number. If you have an estimated cost, they might go over it during the course of the project, but it takes less time and money to come up with that quote.