Tech9

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.  

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.

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.

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. 

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. 

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. 

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. 

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm an sr. technology solutions manager for nonprofit

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.

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.

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.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former VP of engineering at a residential solar company that installs solar systems on customers’ homes.

What challenge were you trying to address with Tech9?

We were looking for staff augmentation of software developers for a few projects we were working on.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We asked for their help with two projects. The first was an app that our customers could use to monitor how much energy their solar system was producing. They helped us build interesting metrics along with that. For example, a user might see their energy equated to saving a certain number of trees. The second project was developing an e-commerce platform that allows us to sell residential solar systems and equipment. Again, this was a staff augmentation engagement. We had existing teams with software engineers and asked them to provide additional resources with specific skills to enhance our teams.

The developers they gave us participated in all of our internal processes including our planning sessions and standup reporting meetings. They helped us plan, do releases, and write code, working side by side with our team.

What is the team composition?

We were in contact with Nick (CEO, Tech9), Robert (VP of Sales, Tech9), and a few others in product management and architecture positions. Our team worked with them from time to time, but we were most regularly involved with the software engineers working with us from Costa Rica. At least 90% of our interactions were with them.

How did you come to work with Tech9?

We were looking for and having conversations with different vendors. In our initial vetting phase, we found Tech9 to be very flexible and felt that they understood the culture of our team. Because of that match, we felt that they would be the best choice to find engineers to truly fit in with our developers.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $30,000 each month with them. The total operation will cost between $500,000–$1,000,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in February 2019 and are continuing our collaboration now.

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

Our primary metric for them was judging how well they integrated into our staff. Their team fit into our existing operation pretty easily, collaborating well with our developers. They were able to provide us with very good engineers that understood our tech stack and fit the culture of our team. Because of that, it was easy to treat them like members of our team. They were able to work transparently and productively.

How did Tech9 perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team would get on phone and video calls with us throughout the day to participate in our day-to-day meetings and updates. Since this was a staff augmentation project, we handled most of the management. Every once in a while, someone from their end would visit our offices to answer questions and share ideas. That was appreciated. We communicated over Skype and Google Hangouts.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They found high-quality talent that fit our needs very quickly. We were able to participate in the interview process, which helped us ensure that candidates matched our company culture. After those interviews, we were always shocked by their recruiting skills. Their ability to bring in top talent really helped our project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing drastic comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re very flexible, and I heartily endorse their services.

This review was updated by Scott Llewelyn (VP of architecture & software development) on May 20, 2020. New content is below. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m VP of architecture and software development at a solar software solutions company.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tech9?

We partnered with them to bring in good, long-term development contractors that are able to help with individual projects and move the enterprise further as a whole. They’re developing institutional knowledge.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have a broad set of development areas including e-commerce, payment systems, and hardware. Across all of my IT and engineering departments, there are resources from Tech9 embedded into each team. Some of these resources are leading teams and giving direction while others are more junior team members. Instead of outsourcing, I see this as a strategic collaboration. They bring in the remote resources that match up with our need for various projects.  

What is the team composition?

There have been 15 total team members that have worked for us. As of now, 14 of them are actively developing.  We also have interaction with their management and leadership team as needed.

How did you come to work with Tech9?

They approached our company for the contact, but I wasn’t here at that time and didn’t play a role in the decision-making process. However, I’ve watched our relationship grow from five resources dramatically to 14 across six of our teams. 

How much have you invested with them?

At the end of this year, I project that we’ll have spent about $1.5 million with them. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the engagement in June 2019, and they’re still collaborating with us. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their impact has been hugely demonstrated across a number of enterprise projects. For instance, they were key to the success of our customer integration app. 

How did Tech9 perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve been using several communication tools for our projects, including Slack and WebEx. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve been flexible and helpful in filling the roles and capabilities that we needed. When I change skill sets that I’m looking for on short notice, they’re able to bring on additional resources that meet our needs. They’re committed to helping us move our company forward, making sure that they’re providing to our needs.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’ve been instrumental in integrating their resources into my team. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be honest with that you need. That way, they’ll be able to best understand your requirements and fill those needs.  

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CIO for Pattern, an e-commerce reseller that allows brands to optimize online sales on Amazon, eBay, and other platforms.

What challenge were you trying to address with Tech9?

We wanted to build internal applications and scale our process in a cost-effective manner. To increase our technical development, we looked to outsource the project.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided full-stack developers based in India at a low cost. They primarily used Ruby on Rails for the backend stack with a PostgreSQL database. Their team also used React on the frontend. We provided wireframes and requirements for Tech9, but otherwise, they work as an extension of our development team.

What is the team composition?

We work directly with five developers and some account managers.

How did you come to work with Tech9?

I worked with Robert (VP Sales, Tech9) on a previous engagement. He reached out to fill our need.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in November 2018 and the project is ongoing.

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

Our feedback has been very positive. We were impressed by the speed of delivery. They’ve provided cost-effective and high-quality work. Their team has a formal approach to development that is valuable in the quality of code they provide.

How did Tech9 perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is very good. They were integrated into our internal project management system and they’ve always met deadlines. A project manager was given, but we discontinued that role. The timezone differences are a challenge, but we work through it. We mostly communicate by Slack, Jira, and email as well as a weekly video chat.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The first developer Tech9 assigned to us was very impressive and opened our involvement with their team. Whereas we’ve worked with other agencies in the past and it didn’t work out, their team has helped change our attitude. We plan to use them for quite a while.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Perhaps having a developer spend time with us would be valuable, but we haven’t made that happen yet.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a manager at a software company. We provide software and services for the education industry, including learning management software. My team develops custom applications per-request to provide functionalities that we aren’t going to build into our core SaaS platform.

What challenge were you trying to address with Tech9?

We wanted to augment our custom development team. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

After our engineer was selected, he came onsite for a couple of weeks to learn our processes.  He performs full stack development for us. The scope of work includes submitting code to our internal QA team and receiving feedback before starting on another branch of code. We’ve been structuring the work in three month increments, and we’re currently on the third statement of work.
 
What is the team composition?

The team consists of one remote developer and an account lead. 

How did you come to work with Tech9?

We were looking for quality, nearshore talent within our budget. We provided a requisition of our needs and reviewed incoming resumes. After looking over applications and interviewing two teams, we chose Tech9. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2018, and the project is ongoing.

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

The vendor delivers the quality required to achieve our projects. I’m continuing to hear good things about their work. We haven’t had any negative experiences with Tech9. 

How did Tech9 perform from a project management standpoint?

All communication has been collaborative, and the process of working with the resource is easy to understand. We’ve even been able to meet with the leadership team and the account manager in-person. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We had tried to work with four vendors before, and Tech9 was the first vendor to offer an effective partnership. They were very receptive to my requirements from the beginning. They maintained straightforward conversations so they could deliver the resource we needed without wasting time or effort. 
 
Are there any areas they could improve?

I found out later on that they were subcontracting with another firm, and I wish they had been more transparent about that upfront. It wouldn’t have changed my decision to bring on the engineer, but it would have been good to know.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We were very thorough about our expectations from the beginning, and future clients should do the same. For example, we offered a clear project write up and asked to see a sample of code.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Tesani Companies is a holding company with property management, real estate, and software technology companies. I do the operations and finance for each company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Tech9?

We wanted to create an online loan application for one of our companies.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created an online loan web app that gives our customers more visibility into the loan terms, responsibilities, and required documentation. They continue to provide maintenance on the app. They’re able to get notified directly of certain bugs. Other issues require our team to alert them to a problem that needs fixing.

Since that initial project, they went on to do a second and third version of the original web app. We’ve also used them for several website projects. Most recently they created an applicant tracking system for an HR department.

What is the team composition?

We had a project manager that we met with on every project. A number of developers worked on each project. We have an in-house designer but Tech9 also offered design suggestions.

How did you come to work with Tech9?

We’d reached out to some of our contacts and asked for recommendations. They were a referral from someone that we knew. We met with a few companies in regards to the web app. They asked all the right questions. We gave each company feedback on what we were looking for and asked them to take the concept further. Tech9 had the best ideas and the most thorough understanding of the scope.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first worked together about four years ago. They completed their most recent project for us last month.

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

The web app makes the process really smooth for our customers. We've seen huge increases in the click-through rate and submission rate. As they created new versions throughout the years, they improved the process every time. Each version resulted in a higher submission rate than the previous application. We tried out other developers on small projects but we keep going back to Tech9 because they do a great job.

How did Tech9 perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team was great to work with. If there was a problem, they responded quickly. There’s always a few hiccups on these types of projects but there were no big problems. They’d do an unlimited amount of edits to make sure that we were happy before they signed off. We mostly communicated via text, email, or phone calls with some in-person visits. If we had an idea, they’d help us understand the magnitude of the project and give us a quick and dirty breakdown of potential costs.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their honesty, communication, and quality of work made them stand out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

This goes for all developers but we would like to know all the hiccups that are going to happen before they happen. That’s being nitpicky because that's probably beyond their control. There’s nothing else I can think of.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Working with them is it as good as you make it. The project moves quicker if you give them feedback when they ask for it. If you drag your feet, it stops them from working. Communication is key.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of new projects and research at Lashbrook Designs. We’re a wholesale manufacturer of men's wedding rings. We do mass customization allowing the end user to combine design elements and create their own unique ring.

What make were you trying to address with Tech9?

We needed a solution that could marry our infinite design possibilities with a UI on our basic website. We wanted to give customers the ability to replicate the in-store experience of mixing and matching design elements.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Tech9 designed and built a custom ring builder. From our home page, users can build their own design or pick one of our existing designs. It’s a complex challenge to allow users to customize rings or start from scratch without creating an overwhelming experience. We'd worked with several other developers and each experience was a disaster. The complexity was overwhelming. Tech9 took some of the design elements we'd already created and then essentially rewrote everything and built an entire new website from scratch.

In addition to the UI interface, they also dealt with structuring our data. It’s important that users aren’t able to choose two design elements that are incompatible. They limited the options in a matrix in such a way that it's intelligent and dynamic. As users move through the design process, it limits or expands their options and subsequent steps.

They continued to debug, add new features, and update the site. It's fully launched and functional but they continue to push the bounds of what we can do. They employ an API structure and AWS Lambda service. They use Amazon CloudFront to host the image part of the layering on the ring builder.

What is the team composition?

They have a software engineer that does all the architecture and the backend development. Depending on the phase of the project, they sub in and out people from the local office and the offshore office in India.

How did you come to work with Tech9?

We were a bit desperate. We'd already spent a lot of money on previous developers and had almost nothing to show for it. We started reaching out on social media and somebody recommended Tech9. We interviewed a bunch of companies. Part of the reason we chose them was their ability to save us money in devolvement by using their offshore team.

What is the status of this engagement?

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

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

We’re making big waves in the industry. The functionality of the website that Tech9 created sets us apart from any competition. We've yet to find a website in any industry that offers as many dynamic options as ours. They created well over 10 billion combinations that are represented with SKUs, descriptions, prices, and images. As we expand the product line to new accounts, the website is essential to the sales process.

How did Tech9 perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team is excellent. They always answer our emails, instant messages, and phone calls. That sounds really straightforward but other developers weren't great at being responsive. I often found myself managing other firms’ project managers. I don't have to do that with Tech9.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Our project was and continues to be complex from a data perspective. Their team is phenomenal at looking for intelligent ways to structure that data. They’re also quite good at looking for solutions for the website. We don't have the expertise or the technical background to do those tasks in-house, so it’s very helpful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I'm not quiet when something's not working. They hear from me often and typically resolve things pretty quickly. The only thing I can think of is I’d like more transparency into what they're working on at any given time.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Fully understand the complexity of your project before beginning work. That helped us accurately set timelines and expectations. They're great at working with us to keep costs on budget. They’re also flexible in shrinking the team when possible to conserve money.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of outreach at The Younique Foundation. We work with survivors of childhood sexual abuse, providing parents with preventative information and healing resources for survivors.

What challenge were you trying to address with Tech9?

We wanted to redesign and rebuild our existing websites: one for preventative resources, and the other for healing services.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted Tech9 to redevelop both of our informational websites. They created application pages and transitioned our donation and shop functions over to a Shopify plugin. The current site they’re working has a login feature that’s location-based.

Our team completed the design and graphics. We brought in content writers and graphic designers, and they augmented the staff. It was a perfect meshing of both companies.

Tech9 is currently working on additional web-based projects for our company.

What is the team composition?

We have a point of contact, Adam (Director of Web Development, Tech9).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Tech9 in May 2017, and the work is ongoing.

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

Tech9 hit this one out of the park. I was impressed with the look and feel of the wireframes — the work their team put in reflected in the final product. Tech9 has strongly impacted us because they’re maintained our brand identity throughout the project.

How did Tech9 perform from a project management standpoint?

Tech9’s project management was excellent. We had an internal project manager, but their team helped us focus on what needed to get done. They were communicative and pushed the project professionally.

We had a weekly call with Adam, and a Slack channel to communicate with other team members. A few times a year, I have lunch with their CEO and check on the status.

We opted into a mid-tier dev resource package with their company, which means we don’t receive their full attention. Some elements took a little longer but didn’t slow the project down. It was because of added features and the package we selected, not because of hang-ups on their end.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Tech9 has realistic communication styles. They explained every impact as far as workflow and timing. Their team did quality work on the websites. Everything looked how we requested and functioned well. They can offer more, but I appreciate Tech9’s ability to work with what we provided and augmented it to make it better.

Are there any areas they could approve?

I wish their team took on even more of a consulting role. Tech9 did at some level, but that service could be amplified. Their team could provide the pros and cons, and other crucial decision-making information.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Involve Tech9 at the beginning when the project’s scope is developed. They can give you valuable feedback and advice on where difficulties could arise.