Transparity Ballard Chalmers

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing director of The Care Database, a software company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Transparity Ballard Chalmers?

We had an existing product that we created with another company, but the other provider couldn’t handle our platform’s growth, so we needed further development support.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Transparity Ballard Chalmers took over our existing platform and is helping us with custom software development. The software is a patient management system for a children’s hospital we’re working with. The system records patient notes, care plans, referrals, bookings, and rostering. Regarding technologies, they’re using C++.

What was the team composition? 

We work with around five members of Transparity Ballard Chalmers’ team, including a project manager, two developers, and their business staff.

How did you come to work with Transparity Ballard Chalmers?

Transparity Ballard Chalmers was already working with us when I took my current position.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2019, and the engagement is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Transparity Ballard Chalmers’ team immediately handles any bugs through a deployment schedule based on set priorities.

How did Transparity Ballard Chalmers perform from a project management standpoint?

Transparity Ballard Chalmers’ project management is excellent. The project manager they’ve assigned to us is proactive in suggesting improvements, responsive, compliant with the timelines and priorities we set for every task, and quick at solving any change requirement or issue that arises. 

Their team also works closely with us to ensure good communication between their developers and us and ensure we don’t go over budget — they lead a very efficient process. Regarding tools, we use monday.com, emails, and phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re delighted with the way they work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Test Manager of a Telecoms company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Transparity Ballard Chalmers, and what were your goals?

We needed to improve our business-critical integrations to provide enhanced reporting, monitoring and alerting. As experts in this field, Transparity Ballard Chalmers provided and guided us to the right solutions and supported the transition.

SOLUTION

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

We have an ongoing relationship and so have an established partnership and trust. As experts in the relevant fields, we rely on their support and guidance, which is always professional, timely and the team are easy to work with.

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

We delivered a brief and then received back detailed documentation that fleshed out the detail of how our requirements would be met. Our middleware was BizTalk but a decision was made to move to Azure and the team were experts in both these areas

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

A project manager and developer were the main contacts although other areas of the business supported us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We now have improved monitoring and alerting so that should any of our integrations run into issues, we will know and have a chance to take corrective actions before the issue escalates. We have useful Dashboards of data so that we can review the status of the integrations whenever we wish.

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

The project manager was (and is) always supportive in moving things forward. They are always available and clear in communications. They are all friendly personable people, as well as being highly skilled which makes the relationship blossom.

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

Always willing to listen but with integrity, they will tell you realistically what you can expect rather than an unrealistic sales pitch

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

I think that the integrations would have benefited from a separate set of eyes prior to handing over to us for User Acceptance Testing. An experienced QA would ideally be involved in all pieces of work rather than reserved for bigger projects, so that issues could be teased out sooner rather than later

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a small software company that’s under a children’s hospital. We decided to build our own record-keeping software for our patients. That went so well that we began selling that software to other companies. I’m the director of operations. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ballard Chalmers Ltd?

Another developer built our application but started to struggle in supporting us after the build was finished. We wanted someone who could provide ongoing development work at better rates and quality than our previous provider. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started our engagement with a fixed-price support agreement at an annual cost to our company. They also provided a discovery phase and review of our application, hosted in Microsoft Azure. With their past experience with Azure, they returned to us with suggestions for improvement.

On top of implementing their suggestions, we gave them additional development work that was focused on enhancing the product. 

What is the team composition?

Depending on the work required, we interact with 5–6 people on their end. 

What is the status of this engagement?

 They’ve been working with us since December 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

If we find a bug in the product, we’re able to speak directly with the developers to correct issues quickly and easily. In our prior partnership, we didn’t have direct contact with developers, so that was a huge improvement in this engagement. It helped us complete tasks more quickly. 

How did Ballard Chalmers Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

They always give accurate time and budget estimates. Tasks are handled quickly and efficiently. We can always get in touch with developers whenever needed. They have their own ticketing platform that we use to communicate issues. However, we communicate mostly on Microsoft Teams and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate having direct communication with the developers, which has made the project much more straightforward. We’ve saved time and money through that structure.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear with your requirements and needs. That makes projects much easier.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the IT manager of a company in the luxury yachting industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ballard Chalmers Ltd?

We had a bespoke core business application that was poorly managed by another software development provider.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

There are two levels to Ballard Chalmers’ role. They took over the software’s management and help us to stabilize it. Their team also evolves the product to modern standards. We have a detailed roadmap that they help us to achieve. Their team understands our business context and gives us advice if we’re going down the wrong path.

The platform’s functions are native to our day to day operations. The application manages certifications, safety procedures, and crew rotations. 

What is the team composition?

We collaborate with about four people from Ballard Chalmers.

How did you come to work with Ballard Chalmers Ltd?

We scoured the internet and created a list of potential companies to replace our provider at the time. We initiated contact with Ballard Chalmers. Based on their responses and level of experience, we finally chose them to be our new provider.

What is the status of this engagement?

We signed the contract around December 2019, and our partnership’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Senior stakeholders are absolutely delighted that we chose Ballard Chalmers. A key stakeholder who manages the application from the business side is frequently in contact with them. Overall, the feedback’s extremely positive.

Their team’s extremely competent. Unlike our previous vendor, I don’t have to worry about their ability to complete tasks. They’re engaged and turnaround results quickly. Whether it’s competency or cost, it’s all positive.

How did Ballard Chalmers Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

During the initial transition, we had weekly calls with the project manager and their lead developer. Every now and then, we also talked with their CTO. If we needed to discuss our contract, Andrew (Managing Director) joined our calls too.

If the timelines start to slip, they give us a heads up right away. Their team’s proactive and goes beyond the role of a supplier. They’re more of a partner and fill in that role perfectly. Their team’s not afraid to tell us when they think that we should pursue a different option.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their levels of transparency and honesty distinguish them from other providers. Their team’s upfront, which is a relief because they’re dealing with our core application. They make recommendations based on our best interests.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At this point, no. That’s probably because we were in a difficult situation last year. We’re relieved to have a competent and experienced partner.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be direct with them and reveal all of your cards. The success of the project requires engagement from both parties.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the commercial director at Computer Systems Integration Ltd (CSI). We’re a managed service provider that helps businesses migrate from on-premise solutions to the cloud.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ballard Chalmers Ltd?

We wanted better reporting and visibility with our order base. The CRM we had was poor and unusable, so we asked them to develop some tools within Microsoft SharePoint to give greater visibility.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided custom CRM development. The main point of development was a bespoke approval system workflow built into SharePoint. Through this, our salespeople can send out proposals to clients and managers can approve them before they are sent out. They also built a repository to store contracts, jobs, and documents. We gave them a piece of paper with drawings and they converted it into specification documents.

What is the team composition?

They had 2–3 people and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Ballard Chalmers Ltd?

One of our directors knew someone who worked there. They produced what we were looking for in terms of a proposal and the cost was right. We decided to not waste more time looking elsewhere and went with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

It started in October 2015 and ended in February 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Ballard Chalmers’ work was a big step forward for the business. We were able to access and manage far more information. That data was also accessible to a much greater number of people than previously available.

How did Ballard Chalmers Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great, I think project management was the best part of the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I would say the quality of their people and their willingness to help.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could be more proactive. They never really came to us with any new projects or concepts since the completion of the project.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you’re engaged with the senior partners because they seem to drive the business. I think that’s key.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m one of the founding partners of a UK-based digital transformation company. We provide software engineering, mainly to UK government entities, to help them transform their digital assets. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ballard Chalmers Ltd?
We were doing some work with a university in central London. In anticipation of a key developer's exit, the university wanted to bring on senior Microsoft engineers to do a risk management review of their Microsoft applications. To mitigate the risk of application failure, they wanted to determine how each application was being used and supported, and what the key documentations were. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?
The project was more about mitigating risk on the Microsoft applications than it was about reviewing detailed, low-level code. 

The deliverables included a master spreadsheet with a register of all the client’s software applications (e.g. Microsoft Azure and Office 365) and key information about each application. This document would allow our client to hire any .NET contractor to fix a software issue as it would contain all the information the contractor would need to know (e.g. functionality, location, contact point within the company). We recommended that the client add more in-depth detail to the documentation, and they’ve been able to do that.

Another part of the project was performing a licensing assessment for the client’s Office 365, looking through existing enterprise agreements and modeling requirements based on future needs. They also helped with budgeting for the Microsoft applications. 

What is the team composition?
Geoff (CTO, Ballard Chalmers) was our main point of contact, and Andrew (Principal, Managing Director, Ballard Chalmers) was also involved. They both helped to manage their Ballard Chalmers team. 

The master spreadsheet was mostly completed on-site by a senior software engineer, and an architect worked on-site to complete the licensing assessment. Geoff also went on location to provide his Microsoft expertise. 

How did you come to work with Ballard Chalmers Ltd?
In the past, we’ve used Ballard Chalmers to extend our delivery capability, and so we turned to them when we encountered this project. 

How much have you invested with them?
We’ve invested around $50,000–$200,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?
We started working with Ballard Chalmers around May 2018. We’re not using them at the moment, but we consider them whenever we have Microsoft-related work. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The client was extremely happy with the deliverables. The team’s work mitigated the risk surrounding the exit of the client’s key developer. Now, the client feels comfortable using the orientation documentation the team provided to hire contractors. On the licensing side, the client is now in a much stronger position to negotiate their deal with Microsoft. It has likely saved them quite a bit of money.

How did Ballard Chalmers Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?
They have a robust project management style, with a traditional, well-structured approach. They maintained clear communication, always setting checkpoints so we knew where we stood on the timeline. We also received budget estimates throughout the process, to ensure we weren’t spending our funds too quickly. 

They’re approachable people, and they clearly care about the quality of their work. Geoff and Andrew were always happy to speak with stakeholders via a phone call. The team worked both remotely and on-site in about equal parts. 

What did you find most impressive about them?
They’re simply a group of honest, hardworking people. They know their market and area of expertise, and they’re very efficient and focused when it comes to that work.

For example, when we asked Ballard Chalmers if they could work with Dynamics 365, they told us they didn’t have expertise in that area. They don’t pretend to specialize in what they don’t know. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I wish they covered Dynamics 365, it’s a difficult space but there’s a big market for it. With their knowledge and reputation, it would be sensible for them to do more in the cloud-based Dynamics suite.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the chief information officer of United Living Group, a construction company in the UK.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ballard Chalmers Ltd?

We hired Ballard Chalmers to serve as our SharePoint support partner. Later on, they also began helping us migrate data from three legacy document management systems into a modern system that has a lower risk of failure.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ballard Chalmers has been assisting us through two data migration projects. Serving as our SharePoint support partner, the team helps us migrate files from a third-party solution into Microsoft SharePoint. They’ve also been helping us transfer data from legacy document management systems into Oracle Aconex. To increase efficiency, they've written an application that moves source data into the target system. Since Ballard Chalmers provides application programming and scripting, internal resources have been performing the migration themselves. We've concluded the first of three migrations, with the last one expected to end in 2020.

What is the team composition?

We partner with seven team members, with three working on SharePoint and four looking at the migration to Oracle Aconex.

How did you come to work with Ballard Chalmers Ltd?

Our prior SharePoint support partner lost its personal touch after it was acquired by a global organization. So, we were looking for a personable, local team with expertise in the field. After receiving a personal recommendation for Ballard Chalmers from a colleague, I met with the team and decided they were the best fit.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2018, and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our business will experience net savings after eliminating all three legacy document management solutions. Also, transferring data from one of the large, on-premise systems will decrease the risk of the system failing. Document storage is critical to our industry, and the business will be safer once these documents are transferred. Our IT team couldn’t have accomplished these goals without the support of Ballard Chalmers—they’ve had a tremendous impact.

How did Ballard Chalmers Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

The team inspires a vast amount of confidence because they are diligent about following instructions. I can always trust them to deliver high-quality work within deadlines. Working with them has been a breath of fresh air.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Collaboration with the team has been both personable and professional. They're knowledgeable, and they easily adapt to external constraints. The pricing has been reasonable, too. I only wish our other suppliers were half as good as Ballard Chalmers. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’ve exceeded our expectations at each step.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Future clients should trust Ballard Chalmers to perform well. It isn’t necessary to overspecify the project, they will totally understand the solutions you’re trying to achieve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the Managing Director at AppCan Ltd. We are a software company with an app-building solution that allows customers to create their own self-sufficient data-collecting and document distribution apps within our system. Our clients can distribute documents to their workforce, and collect data electronically. Through the backend portal, they can build their apps, view captured data and manage their users.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ballard Chalmers Ltd?

We needed a new software developer that was more local to us, and could take our product to the next level.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Ballard Chalmers Ltd provides a wide range of services for our two products, one is a cloud-based Microsoft Azure platform and the other is iOS-based. In their various development projects, they work with technologies like ASP.NET, C#, and SQL. Their services stretch across all of our existing platforms and any planned future development.

What is the team composition?

We mainly work with a project manager, managing director, and the chief technology officer, but we’re also free to speak with several developers. Currently, we have four development resources working with our company.

How did you come to work with Ballard Chalmers Ltd?

We conducted a Google search for development houses and Ballard Chalmers Ltd was listed. After reviewing their company, we found that they had the appropriate skills. We spoke with several other businesses, but chose Ballard Chalmers Ltd because of their location and the quality of their proposal. Their submission was significantly better than any other agency and we were confident in their ability to deliver. It clearly detailed their approach to the project and the estimated timeline.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent £40,000 (about $51,500 USD) on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2018 and the partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Before partnering with Ballard Chalmers Ltd, we were struggling to roll out enough updates. Now, we’re releasing changes and improvements every other week. Despite the increased work speed, the new product versions require minimal user acceptance testing (UAT). We’ve pushed out more updates in the last six months than we have in the last three years.

How did Ballard Chalmers Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

Working with their team is like a breath of fresh air. Ballard Chalmers Ltd is fully engaged and available at all times, we never have to chase them down. Also, they’re extremely professional.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’m impressed with their level of technical ability. Their staff is top-notch and they have a thorough understanding of a wide range of technologies. They leveraged their skills to enhance the performance of our products. I’ve been in the IT industry for 30 years and Ballard Chalmers Ltd is the best agency I’ve ever worked with.

Any advice for potential customers?

Trust them from the start because they have the ability to deliver on whatever you ask.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a lead consultant at a charity in the UK. I’m providing them with consulting services around their technology roadmap and additional input around other projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ballard Chalmers Ltd?

The charity is implementing a new HR and payroll system. Part of the new system is functionality to capture objectives and staff performance reviews. The old system was very clunky but the new system wasn't going to be ready in time. We needed a simple, stop-gap solution to capture objectives and reviews that could then later transfer to the new system. As a charity, cost was imperative and we needed a solution fairly quickly.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with an initial conversation. Using Microsoft PowerApps, Ballard Chalmers created a web form that allows people to click on a link that automatically pulls relevant data. The form enables the user to manually enter other payroll details and objectives. The form’s backend captures the data in spreadsheets, which we’ll eventually use to add to the new HR payroll solution. The developer did the initial work offsite and then spent a day onsite to finish the project. We also did an additional week of testing.

What is the team composition?

I had a direct relationship with a developer.

How did you come to work with Ballard Chalmers Ltd?

They were a recommendation from another partner. I shared with them the high-level project requirements and they very quickly responded with their recommendation. It was a really good recommendation, and something I had overlooked myself.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around £1600 pounds ($2,250 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project took place in December 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their recommendation for choosing PowerApps gave the solution a nice frontend, which makes it very easy to use.

How did Ballard Chalmers Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

The project was so short that little was needed in terms of project management. They were very responsive and got back to us quickly if we had any questions. While some firms would spread two days of work out to four or five, Ballard Chalmers understood that was unnecessary and expensive. They were pragmatic and focused on getting the job done.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with their flexible approach. PowerApps are customizable, which makes them very easy to configure and change. They delivered a high-quality solution. It's difficult to deliver on cost and quality when it's only two days of development, but they did.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything that they can improve. I did have a contingency but it was never needed. They understood the task really well and knew what they were coming onsite to do.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I found them easy to work with, particularly with such a short time frame. They have the ability to turn things around really fast.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the junior program manager for an energy supplier. We supply our customers with electric and gas.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ballard Chalmers?

We initially looked to develop our booking platform. We wanted to improve our booking system for smart meter maintenance and emergency appointments for our customers’ homes.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When I first joined, they had already implemented our booking platform. Since then, we’ve added functionality for meter installers, and are considering the UI [user interface] for our agents. We hope to link our London branch development team into the customer-facing platform.

The web application links to our digital server and updates our database. It integrates with our billing platform, CRM [customer relationship management] software, our API [application programming interface], and our capacity platform. We have about 80 engineers within the company, and the capacity platform coordinates their scheduling and availability for appointments. New features include improvements to emergency and maintenance booking, with ways to improve the process for our agents.

What is the team composition?

We usually have a minimum of two engineers on their side who are familiar with our system, though the number fluctuates. Erik [Senior Software Engineer, Ballard Chalmers] is currently our principal engineer, and Stephen [Senior Software Engineer, Ballard Chalmers] our second. Szilvia [Services Delivery Manager, Ballard Chalmers] acts as our project manager, and Gary [Delivery Manager, Ballard Chalmers] joins us for large-scale projects. The company director also joins us for quarterly meetings.

How did you come to work with Ballard Chalmers?

One of our directors worked with them in a previous capacity and recommended them to our other directors.

How much have you invested with them?

The initial scope for the current project was £28,500 ($38,500 US). We’re currently under budget, but we anticipate spending more on future improvements.

What is the status of this engagement?

We initially began working with them around 2010, before my employment with the company began in 2015. The most recent project began in September or October 2017, and is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The best result of their work recently is the portal itself. Until the recent MVP [minimum viable product] went out, we were unable to make emergency bookings through the system. They’ve really improved the functionality and our ability to work with other installers.

How did Ballard Chalmers perform from a project management standpoint?

They are always available to have a conversation, and are quick to respond to any questions we have. The openness within the channels is great, and they let us know when a team member will be away so we can manage our timeline expectations. They deploy changes quickly, and show good flexibility to address any issues we have.

They are integrated into our work communications. We have weekly phone meetings with the project manager and the developers, and it’s easy to email or message team members directly. They have their own support portal, but we can run through the budget, admin-related tasks, design specifications, guidance, or other criteria. Otherwise, they manage their own internal processes.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve always had a good experience with them. They provide good support, and recently provided us with the ability to deploy developments weekly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Previously, we had trouble balancing our testing and development teams. For this most recent project, they implemented a more continuous approach, which reduces idle time. We can now be more agile as we move through development.