SynapseIndia

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CFO of B2 Architecture + Design

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

B2 Architecture + Design is an architectural-led interior design firm focused on creating aspirational spaces in the multi-family, senior living, student housing and hospitality sectors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Shorten time to enter budgets into inventory software.
• Reduce input errors
• Reduce costs

SOLUTION

How did you find SynapseIndia?

Referral

Why did you select SynapseIndia over others?

• Good value for cost
• Referral

How many teammates from SynapseIndia were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Summary: The BOT entered detailed information from an Excel budget file into an inventory software application. It also loaded images for each line item. Process Steps: 

• Excel files from the local folder 
• Accessing the input file using RPA. 
• Fetching the data from the input excel file using the UiPath tool. 
• Log in to the B2 architecture studio manager web portal. 
• Importing all data (code, room number, vendor 
• Verifying the data imported. 
• Moving the input file into the process.
• Accessing images from the local folder. 
• Importing images as per details into the web portal. 
• Notification after importing data and images via email or pop window.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Successful entry of line items with all necessary items. The budget in software matched the Excel budget. It should take significantly less time without disrupting the workflow of the procurement team.

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

The project management team was very responsive to questions and communicated well through out the entire process. The delivery was longer than expected, but out of their control. It was important to us that we had the opportunity to test the BOT on live projects and we had projects delayed.

What was your primary form of communication with SynapseIndia?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The speed with which they respond to questions.

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

I'm not sure. This technology is new to me and I was skeptical that it would work. I think my lack of understanding of the technology led to a bit of a bumpy start, but the next project will be easier to start.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work at a global development organization. I am a project associate there, in charge of communications for the project.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired SynapseIndia to revamp the website, which had an outdated design. Our goal was to make it more visually appealing.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Their proposal was in line with our technical requirements.

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

The work was divided into four stages: inception, design, development and post-implementation. The service provider met with our team on a weekly basis to align the deliverables of each stage.

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

A project manager was our focal point throughout the process. For each stage of the process, there were different people involved in the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website is not live yet, so we cannot share measurable outcomes at this point. However, when in comparison to the previous website design, the new website looks much more appealing.

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

The communication was done via email. The vendor's response was always very quick and helpful.

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

Very customer focused. They took the time to explain how to handle the website on the backend, and are always willing to quickly adjust any problems that can arise.

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

As we are about to launch, the team is noticing some minor bugs. However, they are quick to fix the issues.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of technology at a nonprofit organization for entrepreneurs. We’re a member-based organization with multiple chapters all over the world, and we create learning events for our members.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SynapseIndia?

We needed help with developing a Microsoft Dynamics integration and a web-facing frontend with SharePoint.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, SynapseIndia helped us create over 350 pages of documentation on how to build the new system, after which they started the development process. We had a pretty tight deadline considering the size of the project, and SynapseIndia delivered the system within a year. Once it was up and running, they started providing us with maintenance services.

Among other functionalities, this system helped us with chapter management, lead nurture management, event registration, and other big areas of our business. The technology stack included Microsoft Dynamics 2011 for the database and Microsoft SharePoint 2013 for the web frontend.

What is the team composition?

The project took place many years ago, so I don’t remember how many people were involved.

How did you come to work with SynapseIndia?

We launched an official RFP process, and SynapseIndia was very competitive in their bidding.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2014 and delivered the product around September 2015. We’re still using the product to date, and they provide us with support when needed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

SynapseIndia delivered a quality product for us. Thanks to this system, we had a very tight-knit collection of data and core processes hosted in one place for the first time. At the time, the system met our expectations, and to this date, it still works as intended. However, that technology is aging, so we’ve started seeing more problems with the servers.

How did SynapseIndia perform from a project management standpoint?

SynapseIndia’s project management was good. Their team was very responsive, and we established a very close working relationship. We primarily communicated via video calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

SynapseIndia adapted their schedule to meet our needs, which was great. Additionally, we had great and open conversations about what we needed to configure and develop, and they always strived to understand our business needs to meet them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open and upfront about what you want, and ask the questions you feel are important to ask.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chapter director for The Young Presidents Organization (YPO) in Indianapolis, Indiana. This project was for the organization’s wine network.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SynapseIndia?

We wanted to build a website for our YPO wine network but needed web development support. The goal was to create a site where our members could go to order wine through vineyards owned by other members.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We shared our vision, and then they gathered additional information from us to move forward with the project. They built the website from scratch using WordPress, which has WooCommerce functionality. They also host the site for us, so the partnership is ongoing.

What is the team composition?

I worked with 3–4 people, mostly the owner and a web designer. 

How did you come to work with SynapseIndia?

We found them through a referral. 

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent around $30,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They have definitely helped us increase traffic to the website. The project has turned out great, and we’ve been getting rave reviews from our members. 

How did SynapseIndia perform from a project management standpoint?

They are very thorough when obtaining information, always sharing constructive criticism regarding our ask. They often come to us with creative ideas and solutions; it is a really good partnership.

They performed well in terms of project management and were very professional. They met our deadlines and stayed on budget. We typically use email to communicate due to the time difference. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their ability to get the job done without any excuses is most impressive. I can’t say anything bad about them; they’re great to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything they could improve on; I just wish they were local.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice would be to listen to what they have to say because they have great ideas.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a project manager for Steve Madden responsible for mostly frontend project management work. We're a shoe, handbag, and accessories company in the United States that operates about 40 websites around the world. Our main one is Steve Madden US, and there are a couple of brands based in the US, but then there is Steve Madden International, which is the official website for other countries around the world.

I've been in charge of launching all of our new websites so far, focusing on the frontend in particular, like I said, but I'm also involved in the backend.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SynapseIndia?

Each country has its own specifics with respect to connecting the website to various third-party systems like warehouse management software (WMS), ERPs, and other systems. SynapseIndia has helped us throughout the years to establish those connections to systems in those countries, supporting development, studying the APIs for each system, and writing code to connect the two. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They're working on launching a new website right now. For some accounts, they support in the sense that if there is something wrong with a connection, they will fix it, but it is mostly development.

For example, in South Africa, there is a team of distributors who work with various WMS, ERPs, or financial tools. When a website that runs on Shopify is launched, we need to connect the website to those systems, and there is a flow in place with respect to inventory updates for things like returns.

SynapseIndia is involved from a programmatic point of view. They have worked on establishing those connections. As far as the programming language, it is mostly .NET, and they are also working with Azure servers. 

How did you come to work with SynapseIndia?

In 2017, we decided to switch Stevemadden.com to Shopify. We started to look for teams throughout the world that could help us with this. India is a good option in the sense that there are plenty of companies there that have the capacity to do this kind of work.

We looked on specialized websites — even on the Shopify experts page — where backend, frontend, and customer service companies are listed. I chose a few options, and we had a few kickoff calls where we described the project and everything from the rates and their capacity with human resources.

We chose SynapseIndia because they seemed to be the most reliable team, and they had several hundred people working there. We had an interview with their CEO, and it was love at first sight. At that point, the CEO was involved in all the communication, and he also made a trip to the US where he met the executive of Steve Madden.

They have good communication skills, they are very organized, and everything is documented and logged. These small details made us want to give them a try. If everything went well, we would continue working with them, which is exactly what happened.

How much have you invested in them?

I would say it is somewhere between $200,000 –$300,000 over the last five years.

What is the status of this engagement?

It began around June 2017, and the engagement is ongoing. We continue to heavily rely on them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Steve Madden is a public company, but some of the international accounts are in a joint venture with Steve Madden. There are six accounts in this situation, and the others are just official distributors who buy from Steve Madden and sell in their country.

We had to do audits whenever we launched an official market website because we're a public company. There were official audit sessions where we analyzed everything from the project plan to the final product, and various executives had to sign off on different phases. From that point of view, I would say that the outcome of the audits themselves were a good metric to take into consideration.

After we launched the websites — and not only the ones owned by Steve Madden — we could see from the sales and the business itself that they improved month by month.

I'm not sure exactly what is going on in the backend, but if the code didn't work well, then the business wouldn't work well either. 

How did SynapseIndia perform from a project management standpoint?

They are very organized and split into various teams, with a project manager on every team. There are specific key people that only handle the financial or accounting tasks: issuing invoices, making sure they're paid on time, and following up with the people at Steve Madden.

Communication takes place on multiple levels. One level is directly between the programmers and our team, and the other one is between project managers on both sides. There is also the financial and human resources management, who is communicating with the corresponding people on our side. Communication is done mostly through email, Skype, and video or audio conferences. 

They're available for meetings and conference calls to facilitate some of our ongoing issues. For example, instead of just going back and forth with email, sometimes a 15-minute call is easier. They were very flexible. Even if a meeting was one hour, they never said they couldn’t do it or would ask to reschedule.

We have an agreement that when 100 hours have been spent from their side, they will issue us an invoice, and together with that invoice, we get a PDF log with every hour that was spent, on what day, and for what. We are all very transparent.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I find them to be pretty awesome as a team, and I would definitely recommend them. They have a lot of people and the capability to handle multiple large projects at the same time. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Something that I think should be taken into consideration is the time difference with them being based in India. This isn't applicable to our business because they work with accounts that are 2–3 hours different than us, which is manageable, but for someone located in the US I would ask them to have people available during US hours. I am not sure if they can do that, or if they already have that, but that is something I would ask as a potential customer. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It depends on how big your business is, but if the business is big enough, I would ask for a full-time employment model as opposed to working by hours spent and paying by the hour as you go. I think it would be more efficient to have one, three, or 10 resources — depending on your needs — be available every day for the required working time and pay them a salary. This doesn’t apply to us because we don’t have eight hours of work to do daily, but I think it would be more efficient to have a deal where they are paid a monthly salary no matter how many hours they spend throughout the month. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of Equity Experts and TechCollect, which provide collection solutions for condo/HOA communities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Collecting delinquencies for a condo or HOA community has historically been a passive and punitive process. During my 25 years in community management, I observed communities struggle to pay an attorney for collection services while lacking the assessments needed for their daily operations. The lack of efficiency and substandard reporting was frustrating for communities, and the process was often punitive for owners that misunderstood their circumstances and the costly consequence of falling behind on their condo/HOA dues.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Synapse gave thoughtful consideration to the application we envisioned and a reasonable timeframe for completion.

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

Using predictive data analytics, we developed a system to help us address each delinquency with a unique sequence of communications customized to each debtor. Synapse developed a workflow automation that performs the outbound communication to each debtor on behalf of the community, increasing the likelihood of payment to the community without requiring legal action.

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

We used a team of 3 developers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Communicating with the team has been very good and the project has performed on schedule and on budget

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

Daily email communication from the development team and weekly phone meetings

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

Strong track record

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

The language barrier and familiarity with our industry has been challenging at times, but we have worked through those issues

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of Kaloud, a company that designs, engineers, and manufacturers award winning products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We developed our first electronic product, an LED called the Selestia, which includes some relatively innovative hardware, including a pressure sensor. We needed to create an App that would connect to our hardware via a bluetooth connection. The app would need to include a timer, the ability to select or deselect devices, to turn them on or off, and also change between moods.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We searched for several months and interviewed firms in the Netherlands, USA, Ukraine, Romania, and others in India, but finally decided on Synapse because of their track record, team, and pricing.

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

My team has weekly meetings with Synapse and we are also in constant communication via email. Synapse sends us daily updates which are very helpful. We worked to develop apps for iOS and Android.

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

We have a project manager as well as several developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our app was developed in about five months and it is currently doing very well on the iOS and Android App stores with very limited issues, that are mostly to do with functionality that our users would like to see added. Aside from that our App is performing really well and we will use Synapse for all our future updates, including our Version 2.0.

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

Very easy to communicate despite the time differences. They are good about using a wide variety of communication tools, email, Zoom, Skype, etc.

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

They are well known for their development ethos and they hire and retain some of the best talents in the industry. Having visited their offices, I can say that they are also conscientious about the treatment and development of their team members.

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

It would be great to see an interactive visual Gantt Chart that shows us past/future milestones, though they certainly do that via email and on our calls. Being that I'm more visual, it would be cool.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm president of a company called Knexus Research. We are an artificial intelligence, machine learning, and research and development company. Our primary customer is the U.S. Department of Defense for which we research autonomous and intelligent systems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SynapseCo?

We were doing something very different with Synapse. We do process management, and there's a specific software-as-a-service application that we were trying to build an infrastructure for. That's not our primary function so we contacted Synapse and had them handle that part of the development project. We are an R&D shop; they are a development shop. We needed development for internal use.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The software is used for internal task management. As an R&D company, we are fairly familiar with software design and development processes, but that's not what we do. I had a good concept of what I wanted in terms of the software requirements, and I had a few pages of written documentation. Basis this information, they provided their quotation, a rough number of hours, and their approach, which seemed reasonable. After verifying that, we started working on the project.

Their primary job was to develop a user experience design, follow that with the implementation given the software specifications that I've given, and develop the backend for it. I specified that I wanted it to be developed in Angular with the Mongo stack. They have a great deal of experience in some of the other third-party components that we needed in terms of messaging.

They laid out a plan, and we started to develop a proof of concept through storyboarding mockups. They took each of the requirements and conducted a detailed interview to make sure they understood how the system was going to work. They started to give me the UI design, which was very helpful for me to visualize how things would work. Every few days, they gave me pages to look at. They're fairly realistic mockups, and I critiqued them. They iterated and incorporated my design changes.

After that, implementation started. They published their code into our server, which we were able to look at and verify. They put up a staging server which I could interact with and see how things were going. That continued the iteration between UI design, HTML implementation, and backend integration until the project was recently finished. We are still in the process of fully integrating and testing.

What is the team composition?

There were three individuals involved. One was responsible for the frontend design, one was responsible for implementing the frontend, and one was responsible for Angular backend implementation. My main point of contact was the backend developer, and he relayed requests to the other two people who built the frontend. Occasionally, they interacted.

How did you come to work with SynapseCo?

I went to Upwork and posted a job listing, and they responded. The volume and quality of work they had done and the reviews they had gave me confidence that they had the technical competency to understand my requirements and do what we wanted. Rather than a one or two-person shop that I could not evaluate, they had a substantial body of experience. They seemed like a 300-person company. They had a well-defined process for gathering requirements, and they're very good at communicating. Every time they did something, they let me know. The interaction was on a daily basis and very thorough. That gave me the confidence that they're asking the right questions and that we'll get a product that's close to our specifications at the end of the day.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost turned out to be a little higher than I thought because I added a lot of requirements. We spent $14,000–$16,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started at the end of July 2017. We've given them a different project, but this particular one ended in November 2017. Right now, we're internally integrating and deploying it.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It produces a lot of advantages. We do task planning and tracking. Although there are other commercial products out there, we don't use them because they are not well-aligned with our R&D business process. While we follow a process, it's emergent and evolving tied to R&D. This tool that we built helps with that, keeps tasks on time, and at the same time gives our small team a lot of flexibility.

In terms of business advantage, it's like any other task manager. It helps us keep all the projects on track, keeps our costs manageable, provides much more efficiency, and improves communication between team members.

How did SynapseCo perform from a project management standpoint?

We interacted through Skype and Upwork. It was very frequent, almost on a daily basis, and I received immediate responses. At the end of the work day, they're clear in communicating what was done and what was posted. Any requirements and ambiguities were resolved through Skype. Examples were given and documents were exchanged through Upwork and our server. When I didn't feel comfortable having information in the public domain, we used our servers. They were very responsive. They clarified everything we requested. They were very thorough.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Everyone has a good work ethic and technical competency. Their graphic design was very nice. It's very good compared to some agencies I've worked with before. I think they're a very good value for the money for their skill sets. Communication in specifications was sometimes a challenge, but they were very proactive in clarifying exactly how they understood it, went back and implemented it and asked me to verify it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be nice if I didn't have to verify so many things. My specification was more along the lines of a narrative and not a software description. If someone could translate nebulous software requirements and turn them into more concrete, detailed design, it would be nice. It would save us some effort. I got some design ideas from them, but I had to ask them for it. Hiring someone with experience in requirements analysis would be helpful.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

The more defined your product concept is, the more efficient they'll be. They are very quick and thorough in taking a relatively closed implementation specification and doing it. They'll certainly get you to the point of success. The amount of time it will take going from your concept to the product will depend on how good you are at specifying it. If you leave things abstract, plan for more design and verification time, which is to be expected, but I didn't have a person with that skill set in the team. If you're looking to give abstract ideas and broad concepts, make sure you factor that into your overall process. They're capable of executing it, but it takes longer.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for an insurance company in the finance sector. My role focuses on admin and backend projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SynapseCo?

Our company needed to build an online program that would digitize clients’ compliance and disclosure documents. We’d been having them fill out on paper during in-person meetings, and wanted to ease this process for all parties involved.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SynapseCo provided extensive coding service to build a program that takes our clients’ documentation process online. In meetings, our staff can now use an iPhone, iPad, or laptop to access a website where clients can input their personal contact information, complete forms, and sign documents electronically. Clicking submit functions as a digital signature, and sends a PDF version to their email to maintain a record for the future.

The backend programming included the digital signature, designing "next," "previous," and "submit" buttons, and implementing content including field texts. They built an online quiz or program that lets a user select from multiple options, and then translates that selection into a PDF for each of our clients.

Using basic design programs including Canva and Microsoft Word, I created basic templates to show their team how I wanted the layout to look. Once they received those documents, they’d implement those changes. They're currently conducting a clean-up of the final draft, so we can start using the program exclusively with our clients.

What is the team composition?

Ashish Goenka was our project manager and main point of contact, who I spoke with via Skype calls and email. I occasionally spoke to Depak Kumar Sahoo, just to make sure everything was going well.

How did you come to work with SynapseCo?

We submitted a post on Guru.com to solicit interest from e-freelancers across the world. We’d received significant feedback and interest from other freelancers, but something about SynapseCo’s profile struck my attention. I was impressed by the revenue they'd made via this platform, and their many previous projects had good ratings. Work for other clients showcased on Guru and their own website looked well-done. Their reputation seemed promising, so we took a leap of faith and decided to hire them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $5,000-$7,000. Guru makes it difficult to track all the spending, because vendors withdraw from the money allocated in one’s paid account based. You have to trust your freelancer to log the correct number of work hours.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in October 2016, and our engagement has lasted a little over a year. Moving forward, I'm not sure if we'll keep them on retainer for ongoing web hosting, but we’ll definitely consider using for our many future projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The program seems quite functional so far. Although I don’t have specific metrics to share, I can speak to their value as a company. All the people I've dealt with have been very helpful, and they're excellent at staying in touch. They're always available to respond to our emails, despite the time difference; we're located in Toronto, and they're in India.

Over the last year, they've provided excellent influence for our project. I’d take screenshots of each webpage, compile them into a word document, and add content to show their team what I wanted to change. Several of these update documents evidence the impact of their work, and the nature of our progress over the past 6-8 months.

How did SynapseCo perform from a project management standpoint?

As my first time managing a project, I struggled to see the trajectory from a design and content perspective. They've been supportive in that regard, and consistently gave us useful suggestions to improve the program, including what things to add. I spent a lot of time testing and tracking the site, which may have made the project more expensive than we'd anticipated.

We used several threads on the Guru site to connect on a daily or weekly basis. We also communicated daily or every other day via e-mail and Skype, which is much easier. Despite being based in India, we had very few issues communicating with the group. There was a negligible language barrier, and we resolved incongruences by sending screenshots with additional context.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciated their constant availability, quick responses to emails, and regular updates on project status. If I was busy with work and missed correspondence, they'd send reminder emails and accommodate my schedule. They consistently indicated when they started work on new fixes, and would confirm receipt of my messages by the next day. It was never difficult to get in touch with any of them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes as the manager for this project, I received insufficient guidance on what direction to take. I would prefer them to provide specific outlines, rather than having to guess what best practice would be. I often gave them basic design templates to show what we were picturing, which they’d implement as-is. We wanted them to showcase our designs at a higher level, and upgrade these generic examples to fit our layout.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would suggest asking to provide specific examples of PDFs or web links from previous projects related to one’s industry, whether that’s finance, insurance, or marketing. That will give you a nice idea of the value they can bring to your project, or what types of programs they can build for you. Some of their work is shown on Guru, more specifically catered materials might be helpful.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the president of a company in which I build mobile apps for iOS and Android. My current project is an app for managing photo on a user's smartphone.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Synapse?

The biggest challenge was that I had taken classes in Android programming, but it was too difficult and I wasn't going to be able to complete the project on time. Therefore I needed to hire a consultant to assist with the Android development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Starting from specifications and sketches I provided, Synapse put forward a contract proposal and I was pleased with the cost. They then created a version of the Android app almost to the tee matching what I wanted it to look like. They brought experienced team members to work on the project, which included Android programming, back-end database work, and graphic capabilities. I was very impressed with the capabilities of the team. 

What is the team dynamic?

I was in contact with one main project manager, and he put me in touch with two developers who I mainly worked with, one working on the Android programming and the other working on the backend server configuration using Amazon web services.

How did you come to work with Synapse?

I did some searching using a tool called Elance for independent Android developers and I found Synapse India. They had a history of good reviews, so I decided to hire them.

How much have you invested with them?

This year I will have invested between $10,000 and $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The relationship with Synapse began in November 2016 and the first version of the product launched on the Play Store in October 2017. I am continuing to work with them on developing the future versions.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app only launched about one month ago and the feedback so far has been positive relating to the look and feel of the app.

How did Synapse perform from a project management standpoint?

I am very impressed with them. They politely and enthusiastically prod me to keep the project moving along because they are excited to work on the next phase. I get the sense that they really know how to do business. As an example, I just gave them specifications for an update on the Android development, and they turned it around and got back to me with a proposal in one day. They are also flexible with workflow, allowing me to break the development into five milestones, which is how I like to work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I found that they were able to bring a number of experienced people to the project, consisting of Android programmers, database programmers, and  SEO capabilities. They have provided me a complete team to be able to get my project to the Play Store, quickly and professionally. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Right now I am very happy with the way they manage projects and I don't have any improvements to offer.