tiez

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of a company that works in the event management space. We handle corporate events and promotions, including activation conferences and service launches.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Tiez Interactive?

Our industry is completely dependent on manpower, so we wanted to create a software for automating several of our internal business processes.

As an example, we needed to generate a project number for new projects. Everything was done manually when we started this business, so one person would send the request to the accounts department, and the finance team would then generate a project number that, in turn, was given to all the vendors and everyone else working on that project. Any vendor bill that comes to us has to have that project number, and it takes a lot of time for the accounts team to do it. Every now and then, people would forget their project numbers and would call or email us for the information.

Additionally, we handle a lot of daily cash payments for buying small items like customer merchandise. There’s a lot of cash outflow and maintaining it was getting difficult. If one person was asking for cash, and their immediate supervisor was traveling, who would give approval for that amount? It was getting very cumbersome, so we approached Tiez to resolve these issues.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed a web-based solution for our business processes. We presented our problems to Tiez, and trusted them in terms of the solution and technologies provided. They suggested for us to start with only a web app, and once we’re comfortable with that, to go for a mobile version.

Our entire processes are aligned with the tool and it has been working fine for us for the last 2 ½ years. We’ve saved a lot of time, money, and energy. The records and project numbers are right in front of us to view anytime, anywhere, and to share with the concerned people. Tiez continues the development, taking one problem at a time and resolving it by first understanding what the challenge is.

What is the team composition?

They’ve assigned a customer service rep for each project, though I have a dedicated resource for business processes. We also speak with their CEO when necessary and involve her in brainstorming sessions.

How did you come to work with Tiez Interactive?

They developed a website for one of my friends and we eventually came to learn about them. They offer a variety of services in terms of software development, including mobile apps.

How much have you invested with them?

The estimated cost of the project is between $16,000–$17,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Tiez in October 2016. The collaboration is ongoing as we’ve been developing the platform in phases. It would have been very difficult to address all business needs in one go.

We're constantly introducing new things and recently went into developing a new vendor payment module within the app. We’ve also started a new business, for which they’re also developing the entire website.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our entire listing and most of our business processes are online. We have a lot of promotions in malls, corporate buildings, and housing societies, so clients can choose the place where they want to do their product promotion and can make payments online using the application developed by Tiez. It’s a one-of-a-kind product in this industry.

I don’t have an exact ROI, but their work has certainly reduced the number of people required on our end. We had a team of five in the finance department managing all of this work, which has been brought down to three. The other two have been freed up to handle other operations.

This isn’t the only product we’ve developed with Tiez. We’ve worked on a few other projects for a new business in India, and continue to work on them together.

How did Tiez Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

I have an admin department that keeps track of deadlines, though many were missed because we changed requirements. Overall, when Tiez commits to something, they adhere to it more or less. We generally don’t require a lot of follow-ups with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Every business is unique, but ours required a lot of customization. Every project we’ve run has been significantly different from the previous one. Tiez’s ability to clearly understand us is greatly appreciated. We haven’t had to do a lot of back-and-forth in terms of explaining requirements, which is one of the most important things for us.

Secondly, I appreciate the reliability of the application they’ve developed. We’ve never had a failure, bugs, or major issues that would waste our time. Reliability is a big factor with Tiez, and it’s the reason why we recommend them to our clients.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve their work in terms of UI design.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

One thing that has worked well in our interactions with Tiez has been jointly brainstorming around every project we’ve done, as well as around every new module we’ve developed for our existing project. We spend a lot of time with them on the planning stage, going over ideas and problem areas, which has led to a smooth journey. Execution hasn’t been a concern.