What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Since they took over the entire technology team, we did not have to look and interview other candidates to hire full-time for our technology. This saved us a tremendous amount of money.
With the ongoing relationship, they're just one quick e-mail away and quickly jump into action on any issues. Their 24/7 support is very profitable for our business, because it allows us to promise fast delivery times to clients. As a result, we're able to expand our business faster.
They have a very good QA team that validates that all the business parameters discussed are met. They're also proactive in suggesting features that my team may have missed. In a few instances, we've adopted their suggestions and it's worked well for use.
How did Space-O Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?
Their team starts by gathering business requirements and creating a plan of action that includes a cost structure. The constant agile process lends itself well to the changing nature of the project.
Their Vice President of Operations is a great chap. If we have any issues, he jumps on the call first thing to troubleshoot. If required, he'll bring in additional specialists as needed. He does a good job keeping the development team and the project backlog updated so we're able to achieve our deadlines for releases and milestones.
We're in communication everyday. Since I've been working with the developer for over 3 years, I trust their work. Keeping resources consistent over the years has been a great benefit.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I find their responsiveness most impressive. They're able to turn requests around quickly and efficiently. There's always a clear place for escalation when needed, and they're very proactive in fixing any issues that may come up.
Space-O quickly rectified any bugs, which is one of the most important traits of a developer. With my personal background in development, I was able to bypass certain contacts and cut through a lot of red tape, which was also helpful in the process.
Are there any areas they could improve?
They charge you a little extra, so perhaps they could be a little bit more competitively priced.
For the QA process, I would also suggest that they move forward on decision-making rather than wait for a response from our team. There's a time difference, so their team would often wait to send an e-mail until business hours were appropriate on our end, but I'd prefer if they were a little more proactive in this area. I've spoken to their management team about this and they've taking steps to improve the situation.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Consider hiring their developers on a full-time basis to save on costs and develop longer relationships with certain developers to keep the same people on an evolving project. As our business grew, I realized that it was more efficient to hire them full-time rather than work with them on a project basis.
During the testing phase of the app, it performed according to the initial designs in terms of functionality. Their team was dedicated to creating the best version of the app and provided their own ideas to improve it.