TEAM International

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of engineering for Conversant, a digital marketing company that provides personalized digital advertising. We work for companies across multiple industries.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TEAM International?

We wanted to scale our engineering team but found we couldn’t staff up as rapidly as we wanted to.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’re aggressively building out a new system and framework to replace several legacy systems we acquired in the past. This involves rewriting a lot of the tools we have and bridging several different functional areas. TEAM International’s developers are focused on both front- and backend development for which they use Angular, Node.js, and Java. They’ve also contributed a couple of BI engineers to write SQL scripts for our data team. TEAM’s work is going towards managing creative content, defining and running campaigns, working with our publishing partners, and supporting microservices.

What is the team composition?

We work with Andres (Director of Operations, TEAM International), whom we have regular calls with, and George (VP of Sales, TEAM International), in Ukraine, who we have a call with every other week. He's sometimes joined by Chris (President, TEAM International).

We currently have 14 engineers working with us from Colombia who're augmenting a number of teams. Typically, two engineers will join a team and participate in all aspects of development.

How did you come to work with TEAM International?

We were looking at alternative ways to staff up (outside contractors) but wanted to keep good value for the price. Therefore, we leaned toward an offshore augmentation model. Someone reached out to my boss, the head of engineering, and he handed the evaluation off to me after some initial talks. I decided they’d be a good fit for what we were trying to accomplish.

How much have you invested in them?

We spend just under $2 million annually.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since July 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

TEAM International’s assistance has improved our efficiency and productivity. Overall, our teams have been satisfied. There’ve been a couple of rough spots, but they responded to the issues well and turned them around. They stemmed from a steep learning curve regarding how to incorporate remote members into teams that weren’t used to that work style.

How did TEAM International perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve performed well. We don't ask much of them from a project management standpoint because we've retained control over the projects their members are working on. Their communication and responsiveness have been strong and effective, and they’re constantly in-touch at the managerial level. They’re aware of our hiring needs and potential issues and are good about following up on everything.

We use Jira and Wiki software, as well as Bitbucket for code reviews and management. Microsoft Teams are used for group chats and meetings, though we’ll occasionally use Zoom; we’ve had more success with that than with Skype for business.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re constantly aware of how things are going. Whenever I speak to Andres about what’s happening with one of the teams, it’s obvious he’s touch with his people and knows what types of deliverable they’re working on. The engineering leads we’ve put in place (who come from the vendor) have been versatile in bringing their colleagues up to speed with our work style.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Once we selected our leads, we experimented with them being solely responsible for bringing on new hires and keeping our team out of the interview process. This caused some of the rough patches, but we’ve worked those out and discovered it’s important for our team to be actively involved in interviewing and bringing on candidates.

TEAM International has several different development centers, most of which are in Eastern Europe. Our teams in the US are in Chicago and on the West Coast, so we needed better time zone alignment. Therefore, we’ve been working with their Columbian development center.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be actively engaged in the hiring process because it’ll affect your whole team dynamic. Communicate with and treat remote team members like anyone else, engaging them in the entire process, from creating a design to doing code review.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a software development manager for BullEye Telecom, a data and VoIP provider.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TEAM International?

We engaged TEAM to provide software and web development support within our budget.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

TEAM provides .net full stack and BA development support, as well as testing. They work on our Microsoft, SQL, and Oracle servers. They follow our agile scrum methodology, checking in with our team every morning on the 11–12 projects they're currently working on.

One of the projects includes development for a web-based quoting engine and order entry system. It provides quotes for services we offer based on a list of locations, allowing customers to get a quote, submit an order, and go through an entire backend financial process to complete an order.

What is the team composition?

We work with a project manager, a BA, a product support engineer, two testers, and about 7 developers.

How did you come to work with TEAM International?

They were already part of our development team before I managed it, so I took over the contract as soon I transitioned over.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend about $50,000 a month on their services. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them since around 2013 or 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're very happy with the expertise TEAM provides. They've integrated very well into our team, despite their far-away location.

How did TEAM International perform from a project management standpoint?

They're in constant communication with us every day. We hold scrum calls with their team every morning and they're very easy to work with overall. We go visit them in the Ukraine each year, but also fly some of their team out to our office as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their retention rate with us over the years has been fantastic; we've been with the same core group of people since we started working with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I'd like to see more transparency in the salary structure of their employees overseas, which would help us determine average costs for different positions and how to best implement raises for different members of their team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

What's made the relationship successful for our company is sending an employee from our US team to oversee TEAM's staff on site in the Ukraine. While that's not a practical solution for every business, I suggest making frequent visits to their location and vice versa to improve collaboration.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and CTO of a high-end boutique consulting company that focuses on helping customers transform their business. We employ the top 1% of the talent in the software development world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TEAM International?

We needed to augment our staff with highly-skilled nearshore developers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

TEAM International allows us to scale our team and staff large projects that our clients bring to us. We teach them what we do, which typically focuses on three verticals: financial, healthcare (e.g., medical devices), and discrete manufacturing for energy fields like oil and gas. We usually begin a project by consulting with the client to determine what they need before helping them understand what we can offer. Then, our internal team works with TEAM International to implement the solution and develop whatever’s needed. We work on various projects, including cloud- and mobile-based software. Our projects are typically for next-generation technologies or involve helping clients modernize their apps.

What is the team composition?

We work with about 20 people across five different projects and three clients. We interact directly with the developers.

How did you come to work with TEAM International?

We were looking for full-stack developers with experience in .NET, React, Angular, and the like. One of our employees suggested TEAM International, so we reviewed them along with about four other companies. TEAM International understood our process and how we’d need to work together, so we hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They almost always deliver on time and create excellent code for all our projects. If there are any issues, they fix them as soon as possible.

How did TEAM International perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m pleased with their work and project management. We use Microsoft Teams to communicate and have thoroughly embedded TEAM International into our workflow. We maintain constant communication with their developers and treat them as part of our staff.

What did you find most impressive about them?

There are lots of people in the software development field, but TEAM International manages to bring in the best talent. They’re so good that we won’t do any new deals without writing them into the contract.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They sometimes have difficulty delivering staffing resources on short deadlines.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Use their project managers if you can.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the SVP of application systems for Lee Hecht Harrison. We’re a global human resources consulting firm. Our mission is to help people who are in the process of transitioning their careers or want to develop their career further.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TEAM International?

We're using TEAM International via a staff augmentation model to leverage their offshore development resources. We have internal resources available, but I hired some of their developers to function as an extension of our team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Team International provides us with senior project management and QA resources on an ongoing basis. Our engagement with them isn’t necessarily tied to a specific project; it’s more of an ad hoc collaboration. They work directly with our scrum master and lead software architect. We took the time to introduce their team to our products and the way we like to build and deploy applications. To facilitate that process, we brought their senior software developer over from Ukraine to spend a couple of weeks with our in-house team. Working through our standards and protocols face-to-face made it easier for them to accomplish projects for us in the future.

Their contributions include new feature releases, product launches, and overall system maintenance. So far, they’ve mostly built web applications using a Microsoft .NET stack. They’re also well-versed in AngularJS and SQL server development. We expect to increase our utilization of TEAM International over the next 18 months.

What is the team composition?

We currently have two developers and one QA person under contract. Their production manager interacts with us to organize the project and we also communicate with the company’s president on a regular basis.

How did you come to work with TEAM International?

I searched for outsourcing partners on Google and they came up. I noticed they weren’t too far from me geographically, so I gave them a call. We selected them over firms we’ve worked with in the past due to their onshore project management team. That makes it easy for me to get in touch with their president or our assigned production manager.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent just under $300,000 thus far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2017 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

My biggest concern is their ability to provide quality deliverables for a cost-saving price. They do an outstanding job at a much lower rate than the development firms in our area. Each web app they complete functions according to the project’s requirements. They work within our procedures and get along great with the existing staff. They’ve even been given several peer awards for exemplary work.

How did TEAM International perform from a project management standpoint?

Management responsibilities are mostly delegated to our internal team. But as far as allocating resources when we need them and having them place promptly, TEAM International performs excellently. We use Microsoft Team Foundation Server to track and manage code. Beyond that, we use Slack for day-to-day interactions between developers and managers. Lastly, we have daily stands-ups via phone calls or WebEx.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We appreciate their responsiveness and the quality of resources that they provide. In addition to a language barrier, other offshore companies often have low-quality phone connections. Having to repeat things over and over due to background noise isn’t productive. TEAM International speaks excellent English and uses up-to-date technology. Those factors make them significantly easier to work with than most firms in the market.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We were trying to ramp up quickly for a specific project and happened to ask a lot of them at the wrong time. They didn't have the resources we needed as quickly as required to complete the project within the timeline we were pushing. We worked through those issues, but that experience was likely an anomaly due to external factors. They also have subsidiary business units that we tried out, but those services didn’t deliver the favorable results we’ve come to expect from TEAM International. I’ve communicated these concerns to their president.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They work best whenever we come to them with a detailed plan of what we want to accomplish and how many resources are needed.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

erecruit develops software for the staffing industry. I'm the global head of software engineering for our Adapt products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire TEAM International?

We hired software developers, QA testers, and resources we call configuration analysts who use Adapt tooling to develop bespoke variations the product.

What were your goals for this project?

Adapt has been developed by a combination of on-shore and off-shore Indian resources. However, we were concerned with the abilities of the resources so were looking for higher skill levels to improve the output and quality.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They came highly recommended by a client so we visited their offices to check them out. We were very impressed and proceeded with small teams initially. As our confidence increased, we grew the team sizes.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

We had two teams, a Java-based development team with accompanying QA for our platform development, plus a configuration team with accompanying QA. They became the main team for developing and maintaining our U.K. standard system.

We later added another configuration team responsible for bespoke development for clients who require more than our standard offering.

What was the team composition?

The team sizes have varied over the years relative to our business needs. Currently, we have 30 resources.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

A number of our clients now employ resources who were originally on our roster to ensure they have good quality, which demonstrates the value that not only we, but all our clients, recognize. Since we merged with another company, we've begun a ramp up our TEAM resources to support our erecruit platform. This was due to the success we've had together.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The communication is excellent, with daily contact via Skype and video conference calls. Jira is used for tracking and the details are good. The high-level management is very cooperative and the fact they are American at that level allows us to get the strongest possible communication, given the cultural differences.

They always provide strong management and support to their staff, and we also integrate the team with our own local resources to ensure good communication and steering throughout our agile scrum process.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They employ intelligent people and have a strong affinity with local education. The people are their most impressive asset. They won't just say yes; they want to discuss and properly understand what it is you want them to do. Sometimes this comes across as a little arrogant for some, but this is where the U.S. management comes to the fore and ensures smooth running.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

Of course, nobody is perfect. For me, periodic proactive calls from the management structure—just to check we are happy—would be a nice improvement.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO for Vault Medical Records, a provider of online services to post-acute care hospitals and clinics. We work with places such as therapy clinics, inpatient rehab, outpatient locations, and home health facilities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TEAM International?

I needed a deep pool of talented development resources at an affordable price.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

TEAM International handled all of our web development services; all product development work goes through their technical and QA teams.

We didn’t provide TEAM International with any wireframes. We discussed the products and iteratively developed a solution. It’s a constant and highly collaborative cycle of building, evaluating, and adjusting.

Their designers work on user interface standards and create easy use workflows. We provide them concepts of what we want, and they’ll build the prototype. They built a custom solution based on a Java and JavaScript platform.

What is the team composition?

We have a team of 45 people, and we communicate with each of them directly.

How did you come to work with TEAM International?

They were a reference.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $2.5 million so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since November 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The product functions well, and TEAM International is always looking for ways to innovate and make it better. They want it to be superior to anything else out on the market. They’re keen to deliver the best product possible.

How did TEAM International perform from a project management standpoint?

We do more product management than project management, but the whole process is highly iterative. We stay in constant contact so that there’s no lag in communication. We use conferencing bridge tools, virtual whiteboards, and video conferencing to enhance collaboration. They’re approachable and pay attention to our needs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

TEAM International always finds superior talent to fill their roles. I’ve done outsourcing in other countries before, and this has been the best experience, by far. We get things done quickly, and they have lots of creativity and positive energy.

They have a high value for dollar spent; I get much more out of them than I could get from the same number of developers in another country or organization. They’re all incredibly talented, professional, and respected.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Make sure to use tools that allow for face-to-face collaboration. It’s the best way to generate ideas and create synergy in the partnership. Get to know their team and familiarize yourself with their skill set. A strong relationship will help everyone perform at their maximum ability.