Tech9

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Solution Manager of an education company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We provide education and self-reliance support for the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Tech9 to accomplish?

• EnglishConnect helps learners develop English skills in an environment of fellowship and faith.
• QuickReg helps people and groups connect to pursue learning and self-reliance.

SOLUTION

How did you find Tech9?

Referral

Why did you select Tech9 over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost

What was the size of Tech9’s team?

1 Employee

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

We have had the following deliverables over the last couple of years:

• Integrate EnglishConnect with common language learning platforms.
• Add audio review and grading options to the platform.
• Roll out QuickReg for a worldwide audience.
• Add 40 languages to the QuickReg platform.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Number of students.
• Number of practice hours/sessions.
• Number of users throughout the world.

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

Tech9 consultants joined our agile teams and delivered according to our regular scrum goals. All project management was provided by our internal team. Tech9 resources were fully integrated with the team. They are able to meet our team's expectations in all regards.

What was your primary form of communication with Tech9?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Resources and communications met our expectations. We used offshore resources and there was never a problem with schedules or participatioin.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Tech9 could have done differently?

No, we are pleased with their response and support.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of (a/an) Education

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We provide cybersecurity training and courseware to help educators and corporations help their students and employees secure the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Tech9 to accomplish?

• Build a courseware delivery platform
• Integrate platform with cloud labs
• Provide integrated learning experience for teachers and learners

SOLUTION

How did you find Tech9?

Online Search

Why did you select Tech9 over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

What was the size of Tech9’s team?

2-5 Employees

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

The goal of the project was to build a platform for the delivery of educational courseware. The scope of the project expanded to include integration with AWS so participants can interact with real-world environments. The scope also expanded to include grading, quizzes, an admin portal, and is still ongoing!

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Schedule
• Budget

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

Initially there were some issues in communication around scheduling and project management. What impressed me was the way Tech9 handled it. They took ownership, fixed the project management issue, and pulled in extra people to get the job done. I was very impressed with the way they handled project and am a long term customer.

What was your primary form of communication with Tech9?

In-Person Meeting

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

I was impressed with how they handle challenging projects and road bumps along the way. Every project has its challenges and Tech9 is extremely capable of managing adversity to ensure a successful product for their customer.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Tech9 could have done differently?

I'm happy with Tech9. I have no reservations to recommend them. If issues arise, communicate early and often to ensure a successful outcome.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the main contact, architect, developer, and all around IT for our company. Our company provides mental health help to first responders.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Tech9, and what were your goals?

Our current software was really outdated and suffering from failures, unreliable performance, and bursting at the seams causing significate slowdown and locking users out of the system as we added more clients. We needed to move the project from a single server to the cloud, rearchitect the backend for growth and completely update the front end from older synchronous interactions to more reactive, asynchronous actions.

Once we defined the processes, and architected the solution, we did our research, vetted quite a few companies, and then settled on Tech9. Our goal was to work with a company that understood the full development process, had defined processes in place, and understood our needs.

SOLUTION

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

After 3 months of vetting, demonstrations, and checking up on references, our team looked at the pro's and con's of each group, the costs and their processes. In the end, Tech9 was selected and has not disappointed.

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

We first met with Tech9 in a design session. Their design first approach allowed us to engage more of our staff, from end users to developers. It was important that we get the design done first to excite the users (many who are very non-technical) to see our vision. As we approved the look and feel, we quickly moved on to the backend architecture. We had already decided on the technology and cloud service, and iterated with Tech9 over our process, defining them and getting them laid out.

We also identified all of our partners we needed to integrate with, and laid out the system from end to end. We then started to scale back to the necessities to meet our release deadline. Ultimately we used Azure with .net Core 6 and a react front end. Our storage was Sql Server, and we used Azure Service Bus to serve as the communications platform for the microservices and azure functions.

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

We had a number of team members working with us. We had lead designers to kick off the project look and feel and flowcharting, we had systems architects to work with to break out the systems. We worked with front-end and back-end developers and a great team of testers. We also worked with a great project manager who kept things moving along and kept in contact with us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The immediate result was a more responsive website that was able to grow during peak times. The interface was more intuitive which helped the users increase efficiency and spend less time fighting the software and more time helping clients.

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

We had weekly updates with the whole team, and communicated regularly on slack. All of my questions/concerns were quickly acknowledged and solutions presented were great.

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

They were very responsive, and helped us while we tried to define our look and feel. Most times, we deferred to their design expertise for our site and were constantly pleased. They were also quick to adapt as requirements were changed giving us good feedback on budget impacts and timelines.

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

No, they did great, especially considering some extraneous conditions that came up. Tech9 went above and beyond to continue supporting us.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CTO of a dental solutions and billing company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tech9?

We needed their help developing software to make our workforce more efficient.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tech9 has supported us with project management, development management, UI/UX design, and architecture initiatives for an application. We provided them with documentation and wireframes, and they’ve helped us develop a desktop application. We install the software on our remote workforce's computers, allowing them to manage daily tasks more efficiently. 

What is the team composition?

We work with roughly nine Tech9 team members, including developers, designers, project managers, and development managers.

How did you come to work with Tech9?

Someone at our company had met Tech9 at an awards ceremony and referred their services. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested roughly $500,000 in the partnership. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Tech9 in October 2020 and are still engaged with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’ve been impressed with the quality of work Tech9 delivers; they're great development partners who meet expectations. 

How did Tech9 perform from a project management standpoint?

Tech9 manages their team well. If they need to change something, they do so quickly with minimal disruption. They maintain consistent communication and meet our timelines. We manage the project with Jira and use Slack and Zoom to communicate. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve worked with many software companies, and Tech9 has been the best at managing expectations and delivering on the vision without sacrificing quality.

I’ll tell them if I’m considering buying solutions from other sources, and they share objective advice; they don’t try to steer me toward only using their services, which I appreciate.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I have nothing Tech9 could improve on; they’re doing a great job.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

My advice is to approach Tech9 and find out if they can offer solutions for your project. Our project was extensive, so it made sense for us to work together. They will be transparent in telling you whether they can accommodate your project based on the size, so I suggest reaching out.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the COO of Infinite Mind. We are the makers of a training program that improves reading skills and enhances mental processing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Tech9, and what were your goals?

We wanted to develop a mobile app for iOS and Android using Flutter. We wanted a responsive team that would work well with our existing dev team.

SOLUTION

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

Tech9 came highly recommended. After several interviews and some discussion about vision and the possibilities of the project, we felt that Tech9 was the best fit for our needs.

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

The scope of work was to convert an online web app to a mobile app, with some enhancements, to create a minimum viable product that replicated our original training program, but met the needs of current users. We spent a good deal of time defining and designing the product. We use Figma to design and iterate on designs. We required that we use Flutter as a framework, which would enable us to create one codebase for iOS, Android, and web in the future. We manage our projects out of ClickUp and required also that Tech9 be willing to use that program as well. For day-to-day communication, we have used Slack and Email.

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

We used about five resources in the beginning: two project managers, a designer, two mobile developers. We are now down to four, having reduced one of the mobile developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have been very happy with the MVP we released in November 2021. We have 5 stars on iOS and 4.5 stars on Android. We are currently working with Tech9 on our fifth release since the initial rollout.

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

They have been very responsive and timely in their communication. They have used Slack and ClickUp as our main communication tools and project management for the development and design team. We use email for larger communication with our executive team and the PM.

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

They had resources who knew how to develop in Flutter. This was a key requirement for us and was something hard to find. We have also been impressed with their designers. Specifically Ingemar and Bre. They have been great at listening, studying, and capturing our vision.

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

We'd like to be more efficient with our time now that we are on an hourly agreement. It's easy to let the hours get away from you when you are not on a fixed bid project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Nurseio, a two-sided medical marketplace. We allow independent contractors in the medical field to offer their services on our platform to medical facilities, hospitals, and skilled nursing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tech9?

We needed help with developing a custom mobile app and web app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tech9 developed our custom mobile app and web app; they used Ruby on Rails for the web app, and the mobile app is built for Android and iOS. There are many things they’re helping us work through, but their team has been able to catch onto our platform quickly and start producing much quicker than we’ve seen in the past.

They've also helped with some of the designs on new products that we’re bringing to the platform — they implement everything we create.

We will continue to work with them permanently.

What is the team composition?

We work with around ten people from their team, including a salesperson and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Tech9?

The salesperson from their team used to work at one of our client’s facilities; he approached us after he made a move.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent $200,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

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

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I like that they can work from a small perspective or with a massive company — it’s nice that they can adapt and adjust to our needs because not many people can do that. Overall, their skillset is better than what we were used to with the previous company, and I’m 100% satisfied with their work exceeding my expectations.

How did Tech9 perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team does great with project management; they communicate very well and keep us informed on what is going on.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re able to come in and fill gaps wherever we need them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think there's anything they can improve on — they've been very helpful in getting us to where we want to be.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Figure out what your weaknesses are and focus on that.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder and CEO of Big Leap, a digital marketing agency located in Utah. We work with medium and large brands to improve their marketing performance.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Tech9?

We've partnered with Tech9 on many occasions to improve our clients technology - from web design, UX/UI, apps, and more. They've been incredible at taking care of those immediate needs but also identifying other opportunities for our clients to improve their digital presence.

What were your goals for this project?

We are very protective of our client relationships and need a dependable group to assist us with technical changes that help us drive better performance. Tech9 has been that and has come through anytime we involve them with one of our clients.

SOLUTION

How did you select Tech9?

We've worked with many dev partners in the past. Most have been okay but it's been refreshing to find a partner like Tech9 who has the expertise and flexibility for our project. They have a great reputation and lived up to everything I researched online.

Describe the project in detail.

Tech9 has helped us with complete website redesigns and launches, minor design refreshes, more complicated back end projects. In some cases, our agency is involved to communicate the needed changes and sometimes our clients worked directly with Tech9.

What was the team composition?

We work with a project manager at Tech9 who goes to bat for us. The PM works with their dev teams to make sure we get what we need. It's a perfect arrangement for us since we don't have the background to get into the technical details with developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Our primary goal is to implement technical changes to help our client's get better results from SEO, social media, referral traffic, etc. At the end of the day, they moved quickly to help us implement changes that helped us drive results for our clients.

On top of that, we want to make sure our clients have a good experience with any groups we refer them to and we've heard many positive experiences from our clients who have worked with Tech9.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Very good. Our team and theirs worked together very smoothly to get the work needed for our clients.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We've worked with many dev shops. I think the most impressive things about Tech9 is their organization and systems which help them get work done quickly and hit deadlines, their dev teams who are supremely capable, and just the positive, upbeat experiences we have with their team members.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None that we can think of.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of a skincare company. We provide consumer package goods for skincare treatments to licensed professionals throughout the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tech9?

We were changing our proprietary software and our former provider didn’t think they would be able to deliver what we wanted. Tech9 came in and hit the ground running; they keep our software up and running and have helped us advance our offerings.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They evaluated what our software was doing and identified areas for improvement. Then, using JSON, they stabilized the software, completed ongoing projects, and created new utilities. Where things weren’t running smoothly, they connected them with our ERP systems.

In doing so, they’ve created more features, handled more requests, and took administrative tasks off of our plate so our salespeople could focus on their work.

What is the team composition?

I worked with their chief sales officer, the CTO, CIO, CEO, a project manager, two developers, and senior software engineers.

How did you come to work with Tech9?

I did a comprehensive search for a new solution provider and called about 10 different partners along the west coast. I narrowed my list down to three teams in my region and Tech9 was by far the most responsive, proactive, and knowledgeable.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in August 2020 and the project is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project has had a positive impact on our business. The platform is stable and our team is satisfied with the work and what Tech9 has done.

How did Tech9 perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been very good about meeting deadlines. They are exceptional communicators.  I appreciate their responsiveness and proactivity. They work hard to get things done in a timely manner.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve provided valuable advice.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their invoices broadly cover the scope of what they worked on. Instead, I’d like for them to include line-items that clearly show what the senior software engineers and project managers are working on each hour. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be honest about what your needs are and what your biggest pain points are. If they have a firm grasp on what you expect the outcome to be, they will be able to project what the cost will look like going forward.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CPO of our organization. We’re a fintech company that builds accounting and financial software that integrates with QuickBooks to help automate accounting workflows. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tech9?

We were building a tool to sell to accounting firms and in-house accounting teams, but we didn't have any in-house development team members. Our founders were not developers by trade, so we needed to find somebody who could help us realize our designs into actual software. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tech9’s helped us develop our software. Their design team built wireframes in Figma and worked out all of the workflows.

What is the team composition?

Our team worked with one designer, a project manager, and a senior architect who was also a full stack developer. We also worked with a backend developer, a frontend developer, QA testers, and a US-based part-time architect resource. 

Nick (CEO) would step in on the more technical issues and help us as a consultant. Robert (Chief Revenue Officer) also collaborated with us.

How did you come to work with Tech9?

As the CFO of another SaaS company, I had quite a few contacts of developers who recommended Tech9. 

We looked at a couple of other outsourced providers who had resources both onshore and offshore, but the reason we picked Tech9 was that they were super flexible. Other dev shops made us commit to a team of four people, and we didn't know exactly how our budget was going to play out. 

Because we weren't software experts, we also didn't have a great concept of the scope of the project. Tech9 was flexible in helping us size the project correctly for the price we were hoping to pay without having a long-term commitment. We liked that flexibility in the initial decision making. After scoping the project with their salesperson and technical lead, we hired them and came up with an SoW.

What is the status of this engagement?

For this specific project, we worked together from July–Oct. 2020. The design took about a month, and the build took about four more months. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project has gone really well, and Tech9 hit the deadline for us. Getting the product launched when we needed it was the first success metric. The software hasn't been glitchy, which was exactly what we wanted.

We hired an in-house head of engineering, and there were things he’d liked to have changed from the code. However, we didn’t reach the point where he was concerned about the product’s performance in public. He said it was pretty good. 

How did Tech9 perform from a project management standpoint?

The team was amazing. They gave 120% all the time. A lot of them put in extra hours and worked late to meet deadlines. 

Tech9’s communication was strong, and that was also a huge measure of success for us. When they transitioned us to a new project manager, I was impressed at how quickly the person got up to speed. They communicated their historical tribal knowledge well from the previous manager to the new one, so we didn't miss a beat. 

When we had problems with team members or things didn't work out, Tech9 was proactive in addressing issues and good at taking feedback. There were also scope changes, but for the most part, they stayed within the budget. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We felt we had a true partnership. Not only did Tech9 do what we asked them to do, but they also contributed to making the product better. That was exactly what we were hoping for. They were super invested in our success, and we considered them as part of our team. Tech9’s energy and their people were super great. Each of them was super positive and had a great attitude, so it was fun to work with them. 

Their service was so good that this project turned into a long-term partnership. We currently have a roadmap of 18 months' worth of products that we are building, and we still work with them on a daily basis to build those other products. We love their team. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They need to catch up in their hiring. Their model is successful, and because they’ve been so good, they’re going through some growing pains. 

For instance, we didn’t love having our project manager changed, though we were glad we had the right one. We weren’t quite as happy with one of the designers they shifted over on us. However, I know that they're already trying to hire more people and balance their workloads. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If potential customers have a product where Tech9’s engineers can learn a more current language or tackle some interesting and unique problems, you’ll get their best effort. They'll be excited to work on your project. 

The reason we were successful was that our energy fed their energy. We explained why our product had such promise, and we were upfront with deadlines. We also had fun challenges for their engineers to solve. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm an sr. technology solutions manager for nonprofit

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Tech9, and what were your goals?

We needed assistance implementing custom functionality in an application implemented on Microsoft CRM. A previous implementation attempt had gone horribly wrong. I needed to increase work product quality and efficiency. Our goals were to complete a major upgrade and a cloud migration.

SOLUTION

How did you select Tech9 and what were the deciding factors?

Tech9 had a superior near shore model that seemed well organized. Their staff had already garnered confidence with previous engagements and the technical competence of those assigned to complete our statements of work were top notch and delivered excellent value.

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

Scope of work included upgrading a duplicate instance of the application from Microsoft CRM 2013 to Microsoft CRM 2016, migrating kendo grids to native Microsoft Dynamics 365 grid controls, upgrading SSIS integration packages to utilize Microsoft Common Services Data Model, and creating integrations via Azure Service Bus with other applications.

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

Four vendor resources worked with me. Their positions were Account Manager, Project Manager, Lead Developer, Sr. Developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Application performance load times decreased from minutes to a few seconds, First-attempt QA pass rate for work items completed by development improved from less than 20% to over 90% after switching to Tech 9

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

Agile project management style, online collaboration, and flexible time frames.

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

How successfully, efficiently, and flexibly they manage projects, resources, and their delivery model without sacrificing quality.

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

They are one of the best companies we've ever seen.