Technology Rivers

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company deals with mobile applications and software development for federal and state government. We have a couple of products that we sell, such as a CRM [Customer Relationship Management] solution.

We build mobile apps for different transit agencies. We have an SMS and texting solution where someone can send their query through their SMS texting capability and we will give them a response. I am the CTO of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

We were shorthanded in-house. We were trying to augment our capabilities for our project. We were on a tight deadline and didn’t have the resource bandwidth that we needed.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve done a few projects with them. The biggest project was a web-based app running on Google app engine, which was like Google’s answer to Amazon Web Services. They provided a solution that helped out in the home tutoring business. If someone needs a tutor for their children, this company that will evaluate your needs and your children’s needs, and match them up with a tutor. There’s a full backend system to manage the whole process from getting the inquiry in, evaluating it, closing it out, matching the new client with a tutor, and setting up a schedule between the tutor and student. Then there’s a portal where, once the tutoring starts, you can log your hours to get paid and add notes on how the session went with the students. There’s a backend reporting portion to see how many hours were done and how the tutors are ranked. It’s a complete backend system for a tutoring company. The core development was done in 2017.

We worked on a small project after that one. They still help us in supporting the work that they did.

What is the team composition?

We had a project manager who was our main point of contact and a technical contact.

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

We met up at a networking event and we kept in touch.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $100,000 for all the projects we’ve done with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2015 and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have a development team in-house. Once a product was delivered and the QA was done, there was a code review process on our side to verify the quality. The quality is fairly good. There were no alarms or showstoppers. Any issues were very minor.

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed very well. They met their deadlines. They understood our needs and they were very responsive when we needed to clarify things. We used JIRA and 4–5 products by Atlassian for project management, documentation purposes, bug tracking, etc.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They had a resource available for any kind of technology. There was never a pushback where they didn’t have expertise in a particular area. It was impressive that no matter what the technology stack was or the issues were on our side, we could push it to them and they would deliver with a solution.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing that comes to mind. In this particular case, there was a little bit of ramp-up time to gel together between our folks and theirs. Once that was taken care of, it was painless.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s very helpful if what you’re asking for is well documented so that there’s a reference guide and there’s no ambiguity between what you want and what they’re understanding. The more documentation, the easier the process is.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a cofounder of Konvergent. We design different technology platforms specific to niche interest groups.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

While we had concepts relating to app and website development, we are not developers ourselves. We reached out to Technology Rivers for this.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Technology Rivers is handling everything from user experience and creative work, with the exception of our main logo and branding guidelines. We didn’t originally have the secondary, group functionality of our apps and website. It allows people to create their own groups, either private or public, and upload various types of content. In addition, we have an events module through which we can host live video events through the app and website.

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

We were looking at a number of factors, including cost. At the same time, we wanted to have good quality, and Technology Rivers had a good balance of being affordable and high-quality, and they had a mix of US-based and abroad resources. This was important since many of the other companies we looked at had all their resources abroad, which was a barrier from a communication standpoint, even though it might have been a more cost-effective model.

How much have you invested with Technology Rivers?

The cost varies, since we’ve done different projects with them. The initial one was more expensive, since it involved getting all the coding in place, and developing from scratch on the website and iOS platform. It included the backend admin panel, all creatives and UX, and the actual submission process on the Android and iOS markets. It was around $75,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Technology Rivers almost two years ago. We’re continuing the collaboration and have developed two iOS apps and two websites. We’re about to start on a new app.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Both the original two apps and the website are still in a kind of beta phase. We haven’t done a full-out launch, but the general feedback has been positive, and we’re continuing to use that model. It will serve as the skeleton for our next app and website. If we weren’t happy, we definitely wouldn’t be taking that approach.

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re on-point in terms of deadlines and budget. If there are any concerns, Technology Rivers will bring them up as soon as they occur, and will work through them with us. Once again, having a domestic team has helped in terms of time zones and general communication.

What did you find most impressive about Technology Rivers?

The communication in general. Being responsive about the hourly billing when they needed to spend more time with us, and flexible about when and how to meet.

Are there any areas Technology Rivers could improve?

As far as the creative is concerned, they are able to provide basics, but Technology Rivers isn’t a creative agency. If someone is looking for foundational branding, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The company is Simpfuel, and I’m the CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

My whole business is run around an app, so it was critical to have and develop.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a meeting to go over what the app needed to be like and the necessary steps to make it a successful business. I had come up with an idea of how I wanted the app to work, so I already had all the steps in order. I just needed someone to actually develop it and put everything together. The think tank was great. Since this was our first app, there were things we didn’t really know about. Technology Rivers was very informative on the different steps and details. They gave us options and brought up things that could possibly affect the outcome.

Being a startup and having other connections, I decided to use someone else for the design. Technology Rivers worked more on the development side than the design. They did all the coding. The app is for Android and iPhone.

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

After researching different app development companies, a good friend recommended Technology Rivers. Everything went smoothly after meeting with them, and it’s been good ever since then. We had researched and communicated with different developers, but after speaking with Technology Rivers, we felt comfortable with them. They had a good idea of the concept we were trying to develop, so we decided to go with them.

How much have you invested with Technology Rivers?

We’ve invested $10,000–$50,000.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We first engaged them in May of 2016, and we’re still working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s been a pleasure working with them. Whenever I need a change or improvement made, or any questions I had, they were very easily accessible. They helped me with it as fast as possible.

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great with communication, sticking to deadlines, and staying on budget. It was all done through a project manager.

What did you find most impressive about Technology Rivers?

It’s very easy to communicate with them. When I reach out to them, it doesn’t take long at all to get a response and for the problem to be fixed.

Are there any areas Technology Rivers could improve?

I can’t think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Semantic Labs is a software development shop specializing in artificial intelligence and other high-speed analytic and big data. I’m the co-founder and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

Even though we’re a development shop, sometimes we get projects where we need to move faster, or there’s a piece that you can break off and have someone else do. We needed someone who we believed in to augment our team. We knew Technology Rivers could do a good job, deliver what we want, and work seamlessly with our internal team.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Technology Rivers created spiders to do specific web scraping across social media sites to grab that data in response to certain queries and bring it back. We wanted to use that technique as a part of other projects that we had. They did some spider, scraping, data aggregation, and automation type functions. We’ve found them to be good at workflow automation as well. They’re very good at process flows. We’ve got an overall system architecture and needed them to build some stuff there. We’re also moving more local things to a cloud infrastructure, so they’ve made it possible for us to port those things to the cloud.

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

We saw the founder of Technology Rivers, Ghazenfer, several years ago at various technology events. I had heard from someone else he was building products. We had always kept in mind his work and how he had approached us. He said he was really focusing on growing his service business to get out of the product business. I didn’t feel like I was competing against his product, so I thought it would be a good opportunity to work with him.

How much have you invested with Technology Rivers?

We have spent between $35,000 and $40,000 over the course of our relationship.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Technology Rivers in 2015, and the original set of work is complete. Because my company is like an innovation lab/startup studio, we have a bunch of different products. We do some work in the same area for third parties. Yesterday we contacted the CTO of Technology Rivers because of another project we thought they would be good for; we will start working with them on that in the next day or so.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The best proof we have is that we continue to invest with Technology Rivers. They are reasonably priced with a high value. They’re not the least expensive shop that we’ve worked with, but they’re highly dependable and provide high quality. They’re very easy to work with. If we have something we need them to look at, they jump on it right away. That’s important because you don’t always get everything right. But, the ability to go back and make it easy to fix is good. They do a good job at communicating which I like regarding issues or deadlines.

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

Technology Rivers has been very good with communication and deadlines. Once they give us a price, they stay on budget. That’s one of the reasons we like them. They do a good job up front in spec'ing the project out so they can establish a budget. They’ve been good at agreeing and finishing out what they agree to.

What did you find most impressive about Technology Rivers?

Their technological flexibility is impressive because I’ve done .NET and Java with them. Our client or we have chosen the technology we want to use, and even though they might not normally use that technology, they’re willing to spend the time to get their level of proficiency up so they can do it the way we want. That’s big because we try to stay on the cutting edge. Some shops pick their own technology stack which is fine for a client that doesn’t know what they want. However, our team is highly technical, and we know what we want. I don’t like dealing with subcontractors or developers that we get work out to, and they want to have a debate with us about the technology we want to use. If I ask them, they may have their preference, but I like that I can say this is what I want, and they do it.

Are there any areas Technology Rivers could improve?

The client would always love getting more and paying less, but I think it’s a very good value. A lot of times you get what you pay for. I don’t have any complaints.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Sievent is a social events platform that simplifies event promotion and social engagement. I am the CEO and technical lead of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

We needed to build our iOS app and, down the line, our website. We had used another development company, but it didn't pan out well, so we went with Technology Rivers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?  

Technology Rivers has provided full-stack development for our iOS and web app. The backend of the web version was Ruby on Rails, while the frontend was AngularJS. Primarily, I was in charge of the design work.

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

I contacted Technology Rivers via email. We were active in the same iOS development threads and kept in touch. I chose them based on their portfolio. We gave Technology Rivers a one-month trial, and it went well. We decided to keep on going.

How much have you invested with Technology Rivers?

The cost of Technology Rivers' work was around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Technology Rivers in April 2016. We've been inactive in the last two months, but plan to engage Technology Rivers again for our product.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The work was good, for the most part. At the end of the day, the product is functional and is out on the market. People are using it.

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

Technology Rivers was good in terms of communication. The team is outsourced so I didn't talk to them often, but that is a part of outsourcing. They were good in terms of delivering on-time. As a technical person, I've had to break down what I wanted since many requirements can be interpreted the wrong way. From a project management point of view, Technology Rivers was good at getting the work done and providing updates.

What did you find most impressive about Technology Rivers?

Technology Rivers was able to accommodate newer technologies and explain them to me. I wasn't familiar with some of the newer Amazon Web Services functionalities, but they took the time to explain them.

Are there any areas Technology Rivers could improve?

An improvement on Technology Rivers' side would be to have an in-house designer. I've had to handle much of this on my end. I could have saved a lot of time through a designer on Technology Rivers' team.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the owner of a line-haul trucking business that delivers packages across the country.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

We have been growing rapidly and have run into problems with managing our phone calls. We were looking for ways of becoming more efficient by reducing calls between drivers and managers and improving our scheduling. Many of our runs are cross-country, so they're team efforts with two people in each truck. When drivers became unavailable, it was difficult for their partners to find replacements. The process used to require eight phone calls on average. We needed a mobile app which could handle scheduling, showing everyone the uncovered areas, the available drivers, and so on.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Technology Rivers has a full team of software designers in India. They developed and designed our app for Android and iOS. Our app has a function through which we can notify co-drivers of their route, partner, truck, and so on. They no longer need to call us to find out small bits of information. As a business owner, I can look at the fleet, see which areas are covered, what the week is looking like, and so on. We've added in a vacation policy through which drivers can schedule off-time through the app entirely. The HR department will approve or deny this, and send back a text via the app. We're trying to do more with less.

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

I met one of the founders of the company in North Carolina at a conference for small startups and fast-growing businesses. I explained our scheduling problem to him, and he offered to fix it.

How much have you invested with Technology Rivers?

The cost of Technology Rivers' work was between $20,000 and $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project was completed in the third quarter of 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The beauty of our project was that Technology Rivers was able to understand our business and build what we needed. It was as if we were speaking in two foreign languages, trying to understand each other's business. We dragged the project out a bit. As we started building it, we realized what other things we could do and kept changing the work order. Despite these changes, Technology Rivers got on it quickly and gave it a lot of manpower.  We did have some bugs, but we worked through them together so that everything was fixed. The app is working great now. Technology Rivers came up with a product that works great.

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

We didn't give Technology Rivers too many deadlines. The process was completely new to us, so we kept changing what we wanted and worked through everything in a collaborative effort. Technology Rivers was open to making it work and ensuring that we were happy with the product. We've referred them to other companies since then.

What did you find most impressive about Technology Rivers?

Technology Rivers listened to what we needed. They had the ability to design a solution that addressed the core of our business and its challenges. We dealt with their principal. I don't know how deep his bench is, but he worked brilliantly. I found him to be a smart and professional individual. He had the ability to decipher our problem and translate it into code, building a solution that actually worked for us. We are not tech people, so this was appreciated.

Are there any areas Technology Rivers could improve?

They performed according to our expectations, so I don't have any negatives. Had we given them better guidance early on around what we wanted, we could have done the project faster, but we were trying to figure it out ourselves.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder and CEO of an IT consulting company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Technology Rivers?

We’ve contracted with Technology Rivers for various software development projects as part of a long-term partnership.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Technology Rivers came referred by a colleague.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They’ve provided us with .NET design, mobile app development, analysis, and testing.

What was the team composition?

We’ve worked with several team members from Technology Rivers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their commitment to quality and budget is commendable.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management has been highly effective. They always deliver on time.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The team is very professional and pleasant to work with.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, we’re completely satisfied.