Soluntech

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the President / CEO of Recovering Oklahomans After Disaster, Inc.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Provide free home repairs to vulnerable disaster surviving families who have little to no means of recovery on their own.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Soluntech to accomplish?

• Track Home Repair Projects
• Automate Work Flows

SOLUTION

How did you find Soluntech?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select Soluntech over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget

How many teammates from Soluntech were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Homeowner tracking across multiple disasters

Damage Assessment scheduling, materials cost listing

Contractor Bid Review tracking

Work Order tracking and mapping

Scope of Work tracking, funding, and mapping

Volunteer team registration, scheduling, and tracking per SOW and WO

Invoicing to funders

Automation through out

Mobile friendly

Multiple user types with unique views

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Functional features per workflow design

Data access and correct positioning after migration

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

PM was accessable and attenitive to needs. We did not have a fixed timeline which allowed for enhancements to be made along the way.

What was your primary form of communication with Soluntech?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Willingness to work through issues and suggestions even when not in original workflow. They're focused on having the best possible system for us and willing to modify and improve on the fly.

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

This was a collaborative project where we provided Soluntech with the workflows designed by Univ of TX MIS students.  What would have helped in hindsight was creating wire frames for each of the views within the workflows.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the IT Manager of Blakely Construction

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are an oil field maintenance and construction company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Soluntech to accomplish?

• create custom code for knack apps that I have built for the company.

SOLUTION

How did you find Soluntech?

Online Search

Why did you select Soluntech over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Soluntech were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Solutech has helped me in several projects within this year.  One of those was where an employee is not able to select an option twice in one day on different eTickets they created.  The custom code was to block the employee from doing this and get paid twice in the same day.  This helped in payroll corrections being reduced.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We are able to have no to little payroll corrections.  Employees are able to fill out forms faster and easier. Employees are training through the app what they can do and not do.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

They have always been on  time and even exceeded my expectations on how fast they can deliver. They are helpful afterwards as well with any questions I have.  They hvae helped me impliement the changes to our live app from the test app.

What was your primary form of communication with Soluntech?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I like the attention to detail with all the questions they ask and the time they take to understand my requests.

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

They have made changes for me when I have asked questions about pricing and hours charged. They have responded well to these requests and questions.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

New Capital Management is a financial advisory firm in Houston, Texas. I am the Director of Marketing and Communications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Soluntech?

We are developing software to store data so that it is easily accessible for our staff and our clients. We are also building in automation for internal processes. This project requires mid- and high-level technical skills and customization.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement? 

Soluntech is helping us develop our software app on the Knack platform with both high-level native and non-native (Javascript, programming) components. We have new projects and new ideas on a regular, if not daily, basis. The Soluntech team helps us apply those changes to our software.

Currently, we’re building in a lot of automation for in-coming and out-going emails, processes, and calculations.

What is the team composition? 

We regularly work with four Soluntech team members on a regular basis. Our main points of contact are Walter (Project Manager) and Carlo (Backend Developer). On occasion, as needed, they will bring in specialists for design, or specific technical tasks.

How did you come to work with Soluntech?

I was introduced to the project after the relationship with Soluntech had already begun. So I am not clear on the sourcing or interview process.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we have invested around $17,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started with them back in February 2019, and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The evidence is in our daily use of the software. There is still work to be done, but almost all of our processes (task management, data storage, scheduling, onboarding, communications, everything) is now being done IN our software that Soluntech has helped us build. 

In March 2021, we will be launching our client-facing side of the software to a handful of clients for beta-testing before rolling it out to our entire client base.

How did Soluntech perform from a project management standpoint?

We’re very pleased with their responsiveness. Each week, I meet with them to push projects forward and get updates. Outside of that, their team is completely available any time I need help.

Additionally, the communication is great. We have a channel where we can send one-off questions or responses. Then, there’s a Trello board where we manage tasks. The board lets us provide and receive updates, and it acts as a QA program. On their side, they also use Jira.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team I work with is very knowledgeable and highly skilled, and they are also backed by a team with different skills. If they don’t know something, someone else on the team will have the expertise, and they’ll make that person available to us as needed.

I’ll also add that the team is very patient! My knowledge and ability in building the database and native settings is developing. Soluntech has been very supportive in helping me solve problems.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There have been times when they’ve been understaffed or very busy, which I feel is unavoidable since they are a smaller company. During those times, they’ve done a great job communicating and providing expectations of when work will get done.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Consistent meetings help keep our project tasks moving forward. I’ll notice that, even if they are busy with other work, the team will get to our work before our next call so that they have an update.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Dynamic delivers IT management services (IT management for hire), project management and IS advisory services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SOLUNTECH?

Develop a coherent solution for some of our IT Management tools that we need/use.

What were your goals for this project?

Make a single solution that can be used by all of our clients with a good enough user interface

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Direct contact after Knackcon 19

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Provided documentation in form of user stories, system description, prototype, screenshots etc.

What was the team composition?

2 from our side, various people on Soluntech side, mostly one PM and one programmer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Not yet completed

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Weekly meetings, recording using Zoom used for reference/lookup in the coming week by programmer. Slack for discussion/files. Has been rather effective, but hard to track (on our end) what parts are delivered and not (we would normally use Teamwork Projects on our end to structure that part).

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They have a quick turnaround, good developer resources, and their eyes on the ball.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Could benefit from having a bit more structure to the ongoing tasks, track user stories or development tasks e.g. using kanban board in a suitable app (Teamwork Projects, Jira, Asana...), just to have a better overview of outstanding and delivered tasks.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We import Alcoholic Beverages from around the world. I am a partner in charge of operations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SOLUNTECH?

To build online Product Database with very specific customization for our industry and our own needs.

What were your goals for this project?

Cost effective. User friendly. Flexibility to evolve platform as we moved along.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Preferred vendor by Knack on the Knack website. Also research 6 companies and interviewed several potentials before deciding on Soluntech.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

I have worked with them to develop our Product Database. I did the initial design myself of the basic database using the Knack Platform. After defining the basic platform I realized I needed the expertise that Soluntech could provide... especially 1) In depth understanding of the capabilities of Knack and 2) the ability to Code for advanced features and functions.

What was the team composition?

Soluntech provides a Project manager and then uses different programmers depending on the task required. I have one main programmer assigned to me.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Our platform is used with public, industry and customers. The feedback is that there is nothing in our industry like it. We are now using it to form the backbone of our sales efforts. Our internal team loves it. Using myself, Knack and Soluntech I believe we have developed an industry leading platform for 25% of what it might have cost with more traditional solutions.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We used their Slack platform and they are very very responsive. We have used google sheets as well to manage more detailed to do lists. My programmer is always in the meetings so he interacts with me directly and that for me is #1 critical and has made a huge difference in advancing development.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The people. They are friendly, work hard at listening to the requirements, understanding my industry and then providing options and solutions. Frankly as recently as this week I commented to my programmer that his work on a very complex feature was nothing short of STUNNING. And he developed it quickly with far less input from me than I would have initially expected. It's brilliant! I had expected it to take weeks to evolve properly and it literally was 1.5 weeks including going back and forth. It seems these guys love to solve any challenge I give them and have yet to fail to find a solution for every request.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I don't find Slack to be a good overall project management platform... thou I love it for instant communications on specific issues, but it has not stopped us from achieving our goals.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a real estate brokerage, I work with the CEO on internal special projects

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SOLUNTECH?

Coding development

What were your goals for this project?

Code features that are not currently available via the platform we are using

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Reviews from Knack

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They coded custom APIs, worked with those external vendors in detail to get the APIs up and running. They also customized search functions with in the product as well as custom visualized charts.

What was the team composition?

We have a great project manager and two coders, with additional resources as needed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

It has allowed us to implement a system that greatly reduces the amount of human labor needed in manual updates.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

I always have a main contact of my project manager, with occasional direct interaction with one of the coders, usually a quick conversation clarifying a functional detail. Communication is via Slack with Google Hangout meetings as needed for further explanation and screen sharing for clarification. When this is needed, the team is always able to schedule a meeting within 24 business hours, and often the same day. The coders are always very realistic with timelines for product features to be developed and tested, and furthermore always tested all coding before implementing it. I have never experienced a language barrier, and we are in the same time zone, but I know that if I were not, time changes would be accommodated, as my project manager always clarified what time zone we were scheduled in. For example, when sending a meeting confirmation he would Say along the lines for "Confirming meeting for tomorrow at 3pm CST"

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They're always suggesting better ways to achieve an end result, even if it means less billable hours for them. Quick efficient communication, often times they were waiting on me for a response, and never the other way around.

Are there any areas for improvement?

nope

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Company is proposing a smart and easy to use Web platform for building's operation. I am responsible for the Product dev.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SOLUNTECH?

We hire Soluntech to make complex UI design for our Stackin Plan Web Page

What were your goals for this project?

We had to create an online Plan on the fly, taking data from our Knack Database.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We hired them based on their similar project Experiences with Knack.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Javascript / CSS on the user side was the proposed solution. They supervised every design detail from A to Z and made the complete solution embeded into our app.

What was the team composition?

A project leader and 2 developpers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

As of today, we are receiving great feedback from our customers. This module is a game changer and make our solution a MUST in the building management market.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Very effective, weekly meeting and peer reviews.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their capacity to listen and understand our needs was great.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Be more responsive . In some case we had to try a couple of times to reach the programers. But we understand their busy schedule.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of Head of Security. Our SaaS platform, HS3, enables physical security agencies to fulfill their client’s service requests more effectively and efficiently. HS3 also enables agencies to source security talent directly from Head of Security’s pool of security agents in the HS3 Agent Database.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SOLUNTECH?

I built the first version of HS3 in an online database called Knack in order to reduce and streamline our manual processes. After 2+ years of using the Knack app I built and growing our business with that version it was time to automate and upgrade our business model in order to be more hands off. So, I submitted a project request to Knack. Soluntech was in their list of certified Knack builders, so they reached out with a proposal to upgrade our current Knack app and implement the business logic, which is the project they are working on today.

What were your goals for this project?

Take the Knack app I built and upgrade it with: - Beautiful UI/UX - Business logic - JavaScript and other programming languages - E-commerce to incorporate our new subscription options and transaction model And many other upgrades.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I chose Soluntech because they specialize in Knack, but also have a great track record of success and a team dedicated to producing excellent results.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

- Interface improvements with UI design - Automation where needed with JavaScript those places where there's manual intervention needed. - Integrate with Stripe Connect API - Integrate with Upwire API - New features on existing user roles

What was the team composition?

We have a dedicated project manager (Fernando), lead developer and a designer assigned to our project with additional developers and designer if needed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The Knack app I built essentially looked just like an upgraded version of an Excel spreadsheet. What Soluntech is doing is making that Excel spreadsheet not just look prettier, but they are giving much more functionality and business logic, which will enable huge amounts of growth for us.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We met with Alejandro, the owner of Soluntech, who was great. He then paired us up with Fernando who is also great. Fernando has been leading the charge behind this project to make sure we are all on the same and expectations are set.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Quite frankly, their talent and pricing is very competitive. They are very responsive, very knowledgeable and transparent about things they may not be as familiar with, but they find an answer. I really appreciate that kind of partnership.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No not really. I thought there may be a bit of language barrier, but that has not been an issue whatsoever.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there

I am the chief technology officer for an education standards analytics company, founded by my wife who is a teacher and was awarded teacher of the year in Illinois. She came up with a great idea of a tool for teachers to be able to track education standards, and the like.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Soluntech?

I've been the director of education for a software company for 13 years and working in the IT industry for 35+. My challenge was converting from a cloud company that was helping us in the beginning with the development of our software. While developing the software, they made a horrible architectural mistake and wanted to charge us money to fix that mistake. I had to challenge this and I had to go to Plan B quickly, and have the development expedited.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Soluntech came in and did an amazing job and helped us pick-up the ball. We got to be in control of our application, had meetings, they had good customer support and the willingness to help quickly. I felt connected to them and the project at all times and we didn’t feel like just a number. I know when somebody’s going through the motions and I felt like they never went through the motions.

On a high-level overview, teachers are required in many states to track how their students are doing in education standards. We created a cool architecture where teachers can put in assignments, track students’ grade levels standards and more.

They used HTML, Javascript. They were very creative in helping with the design. It's an online application where teachers can sign-in and have access to a neat dashboard that helps them always know where students are at with every subject and the educational standards. We also created an interface where parents can sign in and see their child's progress as well.

What is the team dynamic?

They assigned around three to five developers from Soluntech to work on this project.

How did you come to work with Soluntech?

The company that we used before really came across as assertive. They were good at first glance and they seemed like a really good company. I've been in the IT industry for many years and I'm all about affirmation and doing the right thing. But if you also blow it, I think it's important for you to know it, to learn and to get that feedback too.

That company told us they can do all this and when something happened at the end, they said they would fix it but also wanted to charge us a crazy amount of money. It speaks volumes to me that this company made a mistake and didn't have the integrity to fix it, and then charge us a lot of money. I just thought that was the wrong answer to the question.

When I had to go to Plan B, I found another cloud company. They had a professional services type of network where you could actually bid your job and that's what I did. They called up and I did interviews with a few folks. I felt from the start that I could trust Soluntech to make a really amazing job and help with the development of the application for my wife's vision.

How much have you invested with Soluntech?

I think was just under $10K.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working in March 2017 and it's an ongoing collaboration.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Teachers do not do need more difficult things. They have enough to do and they need easy processes because they're busy enough. I've done some proof-of-concept demos with principals, assistant principals, and a few teachers and they were blown away by the quality of the application and how easy it was to use. We are at this stage where we're giving it to teachers so they can give us the feedback and ask for enhancements to see how it works in the trenches and we're about to launch. At first glance, the teachers and management work was just amazing.

How did Soluntech perform from a project management standpoint?

I'll give you a real life example. They had a really good infrastructure in place where I knew exactly what they were doing in the very worst case.

I actually went down to Colombia just recently in business for another company which was really great for the collaboration. I met with the president of the company and we’ve talked before on the phone, email, did a web meeting and it was an overall great collaboration. I mean, he had better English than some of my friends.

I was a little skeptical at first when I learned they were in Colombia. But as an IT person, we're all connected and thought this is going to be just fine and after talking with them for a week or so to get a feel of what the partnership was going to be like.  

What did you find most impressive about Soluntech?

I want to emphasize that we had such a good partnership. It was one of the best things that we could have done for our vision and our company. As I said, as a teacher of the year, my wife was so impressed with their professionalism.

Are there any areas Soluntech could improve?

There was nothing critical that I can think of.