Sundew

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a director at Noetek, which is engaged in the acquisition and sale of fine art and merchandise.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sun Dew Solutions?

I wanted to work with a full-stack web application design team to create a web publishing application from scratch.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I have successfully worked with Sun Dew on two projects - both of which are ongoing.  The first project I worked with Sun Dew required a user interface to be designed and cut to requirement.  This was achieved through the use of HTML5,  jQuery and AJAX calls.

The second project that I contracted Sun Dew on was to develop a web application from scratch to help deter remote channel fraud that I and others experience.  Sun Dew took the initial requirements I provided them and developed an MVP application for me.  The team had the freedom to choose the development frameworks for the frontend and server with requirement parameters for initial scalability.  The application was developed using the Laravel PHP framework for the backend development with HTML5, jQuery and AJAX, Google Maps API and charting for data visualization of the site analytics.

How did you come to work with Sun Dew Solutions?

I came to know Sarbajit through a mutual acquaintance who works in the technology division for a major international bank. We went with Sun Dew because of the relationship and the cost.

How much have you invested with Sun Dew Solutions?

We’ve invested over $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The first project I worked with Sundew on closed in 2012.  The second project I worked with Sundew on closed Phase I of the MVP web application development in early May 2017 and I am in the process of opening Phase II of this project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The trend is that we’ve given them more work, which is an indicator that they’ve been successful. The first project was big, but they didn’t design the server side or have complete control of the user interface. The second project is too new to give any meaningful data. They’ve been responsive to getting those worked out in a prompt, timely fashion, and everything looks real clean. We like to walk before we run, so we’re not even at a marketing stage yet.

They build sites that are aesthetically pleasing. For the most part, they deliver on what you ask. You need to have some technical understanding to be sure you are communicating effectively with them. They’re able to deliver everything that you communicate to them.

How did Sun Dew Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

I got a good deal because of the relationship, which probably moved my project down a little in priority at certain times. This was fine, as it was part of the agreement, more or less. I’m not criticizing them for that. I’ve had to be more accommodating on the deadline because of the special pricing that was available to me. The amount of work that was done for us was a lot more than would normally be done at that rate. Whenever there was a bug or defect that needed to be fixed, they were very responsive and it was generally resolved in 24 to 48 hours. By that metric, I would say they’re very good on deadlines. We kept a running spreadsheet to manage the projects, and track updates and integrations, and that worked pretty well.

What did you find most impressive about Sun Dew Solutions?

Sarbajit [Das, Founder and CEO] is my contact there. We go back five years, and he’s a great guy. Everyone at Sun Dew, including Sarbajit, tries hard, and they want to understand what you’re trying to do and help you get there.

Are there any areas Sun Dew Solutions could improve?

They’re overseas, so they can’t work while I’m awake That’s one of the tradeoffs when working offshore. You’re not paying $250,000 a year for a coder in the US. Everything has its pros and cons, and I think they’re right in line with where they’re supposed to be in the market. I know that’s something they can’t improve because they can’t be here and stay at the same price point.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the managing director at Sadekya Fiduciary Partners. Our company provides services to international clients. We help them navigate international legal arrangements, laws, and procedures and set up legal entities with which they can engage in international trading, focusing on various jurisdictions. We provide agency services to help them keep their companies in good standing and compliant with the laws of the countries in which they are operating.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sun Dew Solutions?

We wanted to renew our website since we were not doing as well as our competitors. Not only did Sun Dew Solutions provide us with a website, but they also created a database that we used to transfer all of our hard-copy documents to soft copy for security.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They produced our website from scratch. We also introduced Sun Dew to our clients needing websites, and they did that work as well. They were also in charge of web development and related services for other companies that we incorporated later.

We wanted the website to stand apart from the crowd compared to our competitors, and I believe we achieved that based on rankings we’re getting from Google and other search engines. We also wanted the website to function as a publishing tool for our monthly blog.

The website we have now has helped us to move forward, which was the goal we had when we approached Sun Dew Solutions. We are happy with the service and the results they delivered to us and the clients we’ve referred.

They managed everything for the design and development of the website. We’re not a technical company, so we don’t know about all the components of the site. We know what we like based on results. We leave the technical issues to the developer of the site.

How did you come to work with Sun Dew Solutions?

We had been working with some other companies, and we did some background checks to find a provider who could deliver a good-quality site at the best price. Together with the company who does our search engine optimization, we came across Sun Dew.

How much have you invested with Sun Dew Solutions?

We have invested $30,000–$40,000 with Sun Dew over the years.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement began around 6 years ago, and the work is ongoing. We engage them when we need website-related services and introduce them to our clients who need a website renewal or a new site. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We have an independent SEO [search engine optimization] company that provides monthly reports, but I don’t have that handy. The reports tell us how we’re doing in SEO rankings. We can see whether we are leading for certain keywords and if we moved up or fell in the rankings. We’re happy with the encouraging results we’re attaining with the new site.

To my knowledge, our website is among the best out there. I am not a technical person, but I can tell you that we see results, and we never have an issue with our website. People we do business with compliment our site often, so I can conclude that it’s okay. It’s stable and works without issues.

How did Sun Dew Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

They deliver on their promises without extensive direction. We give them room to use their creativity and apply their knowledge. We are always satisfied with the results they send us.

What did you find most impressive about Sun Dew Solutions?

We appreciate their hands-on attitude and the personal relationship they develop with each client. They don’t take a one-size-fits-all approach. They try to understand your needs and guide you through the process of what is useful, functional, and new when you are trying to create something. They don’t sit back and wait for you to tell them what to do. They take initiative and help you through what’s available or useful. Once you make a choice, they are able to defend the suggestions they’ve made.

Are there any areas Sun Dew Solutions could improve?

There is always room for improvement, but I do not have any specific suggestions.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a company that serves major Hollywood music companies and manages their catalogs on YouTube. This can lead to more than 20,000 core assets that are scanning YouTube at any given time. We are monitoring over 2 million illegal usages on YouTube and getting our clients paid for it. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sun Dew Solutions?

YouTube is a platform that’s so separate from basic programming. A programmer can write a code, but he doesn’t know how YouTube works. My first challenge was to get a programmer to understand the mechanics of YouTube and how its automated content works. The second challenge was the sheer volume of the data involved in segregating 2 million line items by using the right parameters to ensure the client sees information from his/her own assets and not someone else’s. These 2 million line items are distributed across more than 50 clients, and all the automation needed on the backend must show the clients their own information. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sun Dew was very proactive. I had worked with a few developers before who wrote the code, but they didn’t truly understand the final purpose of the product. That is why it always failed, more or less. Sun Dew had several Skype calls with the boss, the vice-president, and the developers. We had very constructive phone calls, and they actually understood the project completely before getting started. Once they got started, it was smooth sailing.

My previous website was built on Angular frameworks, and Sun Dew started a brand-new project from scratch with PHP. I usually interact with 4 team members. They did the development and the design for my site. They gave me a very detailed SRS [software requirements specification], which included every feature that would be on the website, with a very detailed description. It’s a 10- to 15-page document, and we revised it more than 8 times before they even got started on the project.

It was very important from their perspective, as the quotation they gave me was based on their understanding of the project and all the features. I modified some, and they revised their estimated man-hours accordingly. All the work was done within that final estimate, so Sun Dew was very good in that area.

How did you come to work with Sun Dew Solutions?

I was referred to them by an existing client. I know the owner of that business, and he gave me a very good recommendation for Sun Dew. I was also talking to several companies in Ukraine, the UK, and America. We decided to go with Sun Dew because of their professionalism, expertise, and price. They are very reasonable for the amazing services they offer. They compete with all the best developers for a reasonable price.

How much have you invested with Sun Dew Solutions?

The original website was roughly $15,000. I believe the additional work I’ve given them could be another $5,000 or $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together about 6 months ago, and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I’ve had many problems in the past when I had to give detailed reports to clients. I get a single CSV report from YouTube with more than 2.5 million line items. Even if I could tell clients how much money they made, it’s physically impossible to give them their line items and detailed earnings.

Sun Dew was able to implement reporting in a systematic and easy way. There were no bugs, per se, only some cosmetic changes. In some places, the way they mentioned the net earnings was not the way I wanted it, but that was more of a personal preference. The best part about them is that anytime I requested a change or a bug fix, they’ve done it on the same workday.

Clients are very happy with how easy the product is to use. They sometimes request additional features, but that’s nothing to do with Sun Dew’s work. When I forward this request to Sun Dew, I immediately get back a prompt reply with a time frame. When they tell me they need 5 working days to implement a feature, it’s done in that time. It’s really nice.

How did Sun Dew Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

Generally, when I work with developers, the owners of the company distance themselves once the project gets started. With Sun Dew, the owners, managers, and the vice-president are cc’d on all communications and always present on Skype calls. They’re very looped-in with the details and the progress of the project.

What did you find most impressive about Sun Dew Solutions?

They can match the best developers in the world at an unbelievable price.

Are there any areas Sun Dew Solutions could improve?

I’ve never had problems. They’re perfect just the way they are. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the co-founder of a company that does expert witness research on behalf of litigating attorneys.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sun Dew Solutions?

We needed a database and web application for our business. We had something rudimentary in place, but it was quickly becoming inadequate for our needs. It was an off-the-shelf solution that was chosen only due to our own naivete.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sun Dew developed a MySQL database and a fully functional, e-commerce website, as well as the interplay between them. They did some of the design, including the navigation system, but most of the design was done by a different agency. Sun Dew developed a database that allows us to produce confirmation letters and invoices. The reports that we provide to our users are custom designed and created.

How did you come to work with Sun Dew Solutions?

Our business is co-owned by an attorney in India who knew Sarbajit, the president of Sun Dew. We trusted his judgment and hired them. I don’t think we compared vendors at the time.

How much have you invested with Sun Dew Solutions?

We’ve invested $40,000–$60,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in June 2008, and the bulk of the development was done by 2013. There’s always ongoing custom work, specifically on adjustments to the data display for internal purposes.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We don’t have user feedback. Sun Dew did a solid job, and the project manager was reliable. There’s always going to be bugs, but he was diligent in fixing any that came up.

How did Sun Dew Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

Sarbajit was the project manager, and he was always very responsive. He always followed through and was committed to the project.

What did you find most impressive about Sun Dew Solutions?

The project manager from Sun Dew provided excellent customer service and was very attentive. I mainly interacted with Sarbajit, and I got to know him well. I visited him in India often and met his family.

Are there any areas Sun Dew Solutions could improve?

Nothing comes to mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a travel retail company specializing in duty-free stores in airports around the world. I am the executive assistant to the global CEO, and also his son.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sun Dew Solutions?

We had two or three projects in mind and wanted to find a company that could handle all of them. We had built a price-comparison site for duty-free products. Prices can vary from one airport to another, so having a tool like this could turn business in our favor.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sun Dew Solutions developed dutyfree.buzz. It’s a fairly simple price-comparison site that allows users to select the airports they’re targeting as well as the products they’re interested in. Users then receive comparative offers of products and pricing. One of the advanced features allows operators to issue coupons if they want to push a special price. It’s a way of bringing in business to the shops. Sun Dew Solutions developed a crawling feature for the listings on other websites.

We had another agency in charge of the original design, but the current version of the site was done by Sun Dew Solutions’ internal team. It was a very different website when it was launched two years ago, but we’ve preferred Sun Dew’s work. The current version was custom-developed using the Laravel PHP framework. There was a technical person from our side involved in the project, so I didn’t focus on the technologies being used.

We also worked on a platform that provided free booking of products. It’s similar to an e-commerce site, except that users can only book products and need to pick them up themselves. Duty-free is an allowance-based business, so there is a system in place that prevents users from going over certain thresholds depending on their nationalities. The system recognizes the location of a computer accessing it and assigns the appropriate allowance. At the same time, if someone is buying less than their allowance, they will receive notifications pushing them to buy more. Apart from this, it’s a simple e-commerce site.

Proxy, our third product, is an all-new concept that allows users to buy products and resell them. It’s a mobile application which connects buyers and sellers of certain products via an in-app messaging feature. If a user finds a buyer or a seller for their needs, they can chat with that person on the app.

How did you come to work with Sun Dew Solutions?

One of our managers had previously worked with Sun Dew Solutions in another company. She recommended them. Since we were looking for a long-term commitment, we also visited five or six other companies across India. We ended up choosing Sun Dew Solutions.

How much have you invested with Sun Dew Solutions?

The cost of Sun Dew Solutions’ work has been around $250,000 so far. We have a fixed cost of $11,000 to $12,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Sun Dew Solutions in March 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The first website is mainly for information. It has between 2,500 and 3,000 hits per day, which is very good for us considering that we’re not investing at all in marketing beyond social media. We have around one million users per year. The second site has generated sales of around $700,000 in 2016. There have never been problems with the first site, but we did have some bugs in the initial phases of our second one. That was more than one year ago. Since then, it’s been very stable.

How did Sun Dew Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

Since we’re one of their largest clients, we have a dedicated team on Sun Dew Solutions’ side. They are extremely organized, assigning a project head for all our work. Deadlines were always pushed from our side, but, if Sun Dew’ team commits to something, they will deliver with 80% accuracy.

What did you find most impressive about Sun Dew Solutions?

I find their owner to be an extremely hardworking person. He is involved in everything. If we have a problem with anyone in the team, or with a solution, the owner will stay in the office until 2 AM and find a solution. He has excellent technical knowledge as well, above anyone else’s in the team. With other companies we spoke to, we were only communicating with employees who didn’t really care about the work. I have a few friends who are working with Sun Dew Solutions based on my recommendation, and everyone is happy.

Are there any areas Sun Dew Solutions could improve?

The app development is taking a really long time, so I’m sure that there’s room to improve there. When we met Sun Dew Solutions two years ago, they had very little knowledge around app building. We were probably their second client on this front. It was a risk that we took on our part, even though they gave us a fantastic price.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Our company is headquartered in Chicago and we work with independent insurance agencies. We process their back-office transactions. In essence, we are an outsourcing service provider. Our delivery center is based out of India. That is where we process all the transactions for the insurance agencies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sun Dew Solutions?

When we approached Sun Dew Solutions, it was for application development and maintaining our operational processes in-house. Since we work with a number of different agency management systems, none of which talk to each other, it was important for us to have an in-house application to control our own workflow. We needed a dashboard to assign the work and see how our resources are doing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

One of the projects was an in-house CRM [customer relationship management] environment for sales and prospects. This was more for operations, with the customer being the employee, and the prospects being the workflows, operational processes, and more importantly, the metrics around that. So, it encompassed scorecard items for the processors, the quality control people, and piping the data in, then getting reports to ensure we could track the optimal utilization of the resources. This includes the managers and the training they need to work with, based on the feedback they receive from the quality control people reviewing the work.

Sun Dew has also worked with us on creating a corporate identity. We will be rolling out a new logo and website. They’ve also worked on our communication brochures. So, their work has not only included application development but branding work as well.

They used a number of technologies. They said they would be using PHP and a couple of other technologies to get the website published. Because they were creating a talking mechanism between various agency management systems, they also used a database based on MySQL. They used HTML to create our intranet help files, making sure we’re creating our own data repository for documentation and client references.

They did the design and development of these projects. I liked working with Sun Dew Solutions because they walked us through a gap analysis. We’re not tech people; we just know what we want to see as the end product. We got together to decide the milestones, the deliverables, and more importantly, to decide the audit points of how to ensure we are getting what we’re paying for and when. Once this was all done, they put together the project documentation, assigned the resources, introduced them to us, and then got the work done.

How did you come to work with Sun Dew Solutions?

We needed the website done, and I believe we had looked them up on Google, trying to search for someone based in Calcutta. I met with them and did an initial project. We just kept giving them more and more work as we developed a relationship of trust. They have delivered on their promises. They are not cheap, but they’re not a sweatshop like some other Indian companies that will lowball a project and not deliver.

How much have you invested with Sun Dew Solutions?

We’ve invested at least $25,000 to $30,000, if not more, for the CRM and corporate identity work. There are some bills that are still in the pipeline, and then some that we paid before for a couple of other sites they did for us. In total, it’s a little under $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together around November of 2013, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

On the CRM side, the metrics are far too many. We pretty much run our entire organization on the dashboard, so every key performance indicator is in there. I would say the broad metric is employee attrition, being accurate in our evaluations, which impacts our company culture and the front-facing customer experience when it comes to the turnaround time and quality of work. The biggest impact of the CRM is that I now have a dashboard allowing me to see where the entire organization is at any given point of time.

The employees are very happy with the CRM. We are all on the same page. When people are measured, it can be painful; however, at least we know that, across the board, we are all talking objectively about the same numbers.

The new logo will be rolling out soon, and it has already been rolled out at our office in India. It has been received very favorably as very chic and modern. The other marketing collateral that Sun Dew put together has been favorably accepted by all the stakeholders.

How did Sun Dew Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

Lots of Indian companies are in business because they are cheaper, but cheaper is not necessarily better. Sarbajit [Founder & CEO, Sun Dew Solutions] is the ramrod of his business. He understands delivery and understands how to break things down. He’s a taskmaster; he holds the client accountable as well as his employees. Their skill at project management is the reason they can work on many big projects at any given point of time, keep everyone on the same page, and deliver on what they promise.

What did you find most impressive about Sun Dew Solutions?

They know what they’re talking about, and they don’t make hollow promises. They are not cheap, but I don’t need them to be. All three of these put together makes them unique.

Are there any areas Sun Dew Solutions could improve?

Sarbajit is a tech guy, a great project leader, and an incredible entrepreneur. I’m very proud to know him as a business owner. If there is any room for improvement, it would be for him and his sales team to perhaps be a little better in English, especially when communicating with foreign clients.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We started out as an offshore sourcing company. We were basically developing engineer components in India. We have offices in India to manage the projects for clients over here. We had been doing this since 2004. We had Sun Dew Solutions do our first and second websites, and then do marketing for us.

Since that time, we’ve added a new product line. We’re now designing and building automation systems. We design them here and get the hardware and all the other stuff built in China. We bring it over here and do the programming to bring it up to running condition. I bought the company, so I’m the entrepreneur behind this whole thing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Sun Dew Solutions?

We needed a decent website. In the early days, we didn’t have the resources to bring in high-class web designers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Sun Dew Solutions was helping to establish an initial digital presence for our company. The first one they did was in 2008, and the next one was in 2012. In 2008, it was a basic informational website. We didn’t have the shop like we currently do back then. We did the shop ourselves, and I don’t really like it. That’s another thing we’ll be having them do. The upgrade in 2012 was with HTML5, but I don’t remember any of the other technologies used.

In addition to the development, they also did the whole design. I just gave them the content and asked them to make it look pretty, easy to use, fast loading, and have the appropriate keywords. They did all that, and it looked pretty neat. At that time, we had two websites, and now we have four.

How did you come to work with Sun Dew Solutions?

Sarbajit [Founder & CEO of Sun Dew Solutions] was introduced to me by one of our employees in India. I was impressed with his spirit. We had other companies in India design websites, and they were horrible. I spoke with Sarbajit, and he was just starting out at that time. He was still a student, but I liked his attitude and spirit. It’s very different from the other Indian companies we’ve dealt with. He did the first and second iteration of our site, then we brought the work in-house, which was not the best solution. We’re going to go back to them for another redesign.

How much have you invested with Sun Dew Solutions?

I’ve invested around $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October of 2008, and the most recent project was finished in 2013 or 2014. I’m going to be talking to them in a couple days about a new project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The first one was hard to gauge. In those days, it was informational, not something where you’re trying to pull future customers. For the second project, we were doing more email marketing and collecting names. I don’t have specific metrics, but we did track some things. The second website was much more productive in terms of hits and responses.

Content nowadays is so critical, and I’ve realized that I need to get it more organized. Our current website has become unmanageable, so I’m hoping Sun Dew Solutions can bring it under control and clean it up.

How did Sun Dew Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

They delivered on time and were very receptive to feedback. In some cases, I was more of a problem. I would change my mind, and they took it all in stride. They did everything without many additional charges. Everything went well.

What did you find most impressive about Sun Dew Solutions?

They try to create a product that stands apart from others. Sarbajit is always coming up with ideas and suggestions, which is so refreshing. We need the guidance he provides and he does a great job of it. He’s also brutally honest, and that’s one thing I really appreciate.

Are there any areas Sun Dew Solutions could improve?

Maybe the communication could improve in some respects. I don’t know if it has changed now, but Sarbajit was micromanaging a lot. He had everything come through him, and that sometimes delayed responses.