TSN-Media

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO of a company that offers a health and fitness software.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire TSN-Media?

We needed help with PHP and ReactJS development.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed to build a mobile-friendly version of a complex platform.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found them online.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

They’ve been helping us with all aspects of our platform, from frontend and backend development to more complex tasks.

What was the team composition?

We’ve been using several of their developers for more than a year now. Currently, we’re working with one project manager, one full-stack developer, and one part-time frontend developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve helped us decrease our launch time drastically. Since they did an outstanding job on our first project, we chose to continue our collaboration.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Everything is running smoothly. We have weekly meetings and daily communication with the developers.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We’re impressed with their communication and professional approach. We have worked with other outsourcing companies before, but never got this level of quality.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a design and web development company working on web development custom projects for customers, either individuals or companies. We also provide design and identity creation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TSN-Media?

We were working on a car-selling platform through which individuals could contact sellers, and get the best price available. We put forward a brief for the development of the platform and TSN-Media offered to do it. We signed an agreement and went into development. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

TSN-Media provided development for our car marketplace. It was a fully custom site based on the Yii PHP framework, and was to gather information on what car the user wanted via forms and questions. This information would then be sent out to a list of car sellers who could then contact the buyer, per his request, and make them an offer.

We developed an in-depth flowchart of how the site would work, and supplied designs for all the pages. The site had API and PayPal payment integrations. The end-user didn’t have to pay any money’ all they did was list their desired cars, and have that information supplied to car sellers who would buy credits. TSN-Media basically put it all together.

What is the team dynamic? 

I was the only one who interacted with TSN-Media. We had a team which put all the content together, and how it was going to work. We liaised with the programmer and another individual from their team, to relay how the site would work. There was a single main point of contact. The process was efficient, and TSN-Media was clear in terms of communication. As long as we had a brief, there were no issues.

How did you come to work with TSN-Media?

We first found them through online research. We had dealt with quite a few development agencies in this manner, and tried TSN-Media for a job a while ago. I found them to be a breath of fresh air, compared to other India-based companies I have worked with, which had been difficult and frustrating experiences.

This project was well-priced, and, as I’d worked with them on projects before this one, I had full confidence that they could do it.

How much have you invested with them?

The project was around 460 hours, or around AUD $20,000 for TSN-Media’s component [$15,000].

What is the status of this engagement?

This particular project took place five years ago. It took about four or five months to complete. It was a quick process.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We wouldn’t have proceeded with the project, had we not known the scope, or of TSN-Media’s ability to fulfill it. In terms of skill level, they were up there, styling things exactly as we needed them, without any question. There was never any mention of something they couldn’t do.

How did TSN-Media perform from a project management standpoint?

They were responsive, professional, clear, and reliable in terms of timeframe.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their integrity and the ability to stick to timeframes — their reliability, in general, was impressive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There are new technologies out now, like Slack and other online work-desks, which they could utilize more, but this is probably now being done. The collaboration was good, and I’m sure that anyone going into a contract with TSN-Media would demand to have a clarification of the process. They were completely reliable and professional to deal with. I have no regrets about how the project worked out.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I've worked with TSN Media for 2 organizations, the current one being the Academy of Managed Care Pharmacy. I’m the vice president.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with TSN-Media?

We needed custom WordPress design and development resources.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

TSN-Media built a WordPress splash page and a public-facing website for our company. Most of the other work that I've done using TSN-Media has been WordPress-based. TSN-Media can handle other CRM [customer relationship management] systems and projects outside of web development, though.

In the past, I worked for a public affairs group. We worked closely with TSN-Media on a number of client projects.

Most of the work has involved custom feature design. When we were going through the public-facing website, I used my company's resources on the design end as well. We had an in-house team of designers.

In the discovery phase with certain clients, before suggesting certain types of features, heat maps or anything of the sort, we first ran things by TSN-Media's team. They'd either give us a precise estimate, if they'd done that type of work in the past, or let us know that it would be something new for them.

TSN-Media has 3-4 project managers, but I've only worked with one of them. In 2015, we had a project for a client which involved 3 of TSN-Media's developers working fulltime, during the quality assurance phase.

I've done some work with TSN-Media's developers in the past, but most of our client interactions have been between the project management staff at TSN-Media and the client which they're serving. Once we became a good-standing client for them, TSN-Media became very open to assign resources as-needed, before a launch, during quality assurance, or for some design aspects.

TSN-Media is based in Ukraine, so their work day ends before 1 PM Eastern Time, when there are still 4-5 hours in which something can go wrong. As long as the flow of communication is there, TSN-Media will make someone available to us. Whether our project manager was available or not, TSN-Media would still identify a resource which we could contact quickly, in case the site went down or we needed to figure out any other problems.

How did you come to work with TSN-Media?

We first contracted TSN-Media through Elance. We considered a number of other candidates based on skillsets. There is another group which we use primarily for Drupal sites. If we had a pure HTML project, we probably wouldn't have chosen TSN-Media, but for more complex, custom WordPress work, they were the right fit.

TSN-Media also had the right bandwidth, typically. We also use another group for WordPress work, but they're not as reliable. I don't know if they were on-boarded before TSN-Media, but once the reliability and ability to go 'above-and-beyond' was established on TSN-Media's side, most of our WordPress work was directed to them.

How much have you invested with TSN-Media?

For the projects in which I was involved, TSN-Media's total annual cost has been between $50,000 and $75,000. We've involved TSN-Media on an average of 5 projects per year, each of them for about $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We aren't currently engaged with TSN-Media on any active projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The public-facing company site is a very simple page. The design was done by our own team, with TSN-Media being in charge of the implementation. I haven't heard much feedback about it, though.

We also built a website which featured an interactive map using TSN-Media, which was very well-received.

How did TSN-Media perform from a project management standpoint?

TSN-Media was very upfront on determining deliverable times. As with any project, we aimed to minimize scope creep, but we'd also mention additional requests on the client's side. TSN-Media consulted with the development team and told us if it was possible without a complete redesign. TSN-Media's team was able to assist us at 4-5 AM in their time zone on a continued basis.

We used Basecamp for project tracking. It's a tool which I've used for years. It's also used in my company.

What did you find most impressive about TSN-Media?

I've only worked with 2 of TSN-Media's developers directly when we had an issue. For most of the time, I collaborated with their project manager, who was always professional and available. The main contact method that we had for TSN-Media was Skype. Even when offline, our project manager kept her Skype open on her phone. If we had an issue, I could reach out, even though we were outside of working hours. I know that TSN-Media has other accounts and project managers, so I guess that they offer the same level of service to everyone. We were a big client for TSN-Media, so if we had a big push, we could ask for extra resources and expect to receive them.

Are there any areas TSN-Media could improve?

Not in my case. TSN-Media's development work made sense, as far as custom WordPress templates go. TSN-Media created outputs which could be navigated around by anyone with WordPress knowledge, never overcomplicating designs.

As an example on the other end, a friend created a website based on a purchased template, which is a far too complicated system. He only needed a 4-page site, but it's currently much too hard to figure out how to change an image, correct a misspelled word, and so on. TSN-Media's design was always clean.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a political consulting firm focusing on political and issue campaigns. We work with candidates and progressive organizations.

What is your position?

I am a partner in the firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with TSN Media?

We needed a web development partner.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

We've used TSN Media on a couple of different projects. They've worked on other people's code, while also building things from scratch, based on mockups. TSN Media has done WordPress development for us primarily. I've used them both for my own business and for another group for which I work.

Most websites that TSN Media has worked on are informational. Some do have donate capabilities, but they're a minor part of our activity. Usually, we work with our own designer. We take part in conversations on this subject as a go-between.

At peak capacity, we've used two or three resources from TSN Media. Usually, we only use one member from their team. I sometimes speak directly to the developers in order to explain exactly what I want. On one pro bono website project, for example, I worked directly with the developers, given that we had a loose timeline. For the vast majority of cases, we've used TSN Media's project management services.

How did you come to work with TSN Media?

One of my colleagues recommended TSN Media to me. We bid our project to a few other developers. TSN Media's pricing structure and fast turnaround time made it easy to work with them. TSN Media provided good-quality outputs as well.

What is the status of this engagement?

We don't have any ongoing projects with TSN Media at this time, but I wouldn't hesitate to use them again for something that matched their capabilities.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

TSN Media has been able to turnaround work under budget and on a tight timeline. They're also very good at taking existing work and customizing it in order to make it meet the demands of some of our clients. I sometimes work with people who don't have the budget for doing a custom solution from scratch. TSN Media is very capable of understanding what previous developers were trying to do, without access to the original recipe, which can be very hard to do.

How did TSN Media perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Basecamp and shared checklists through Google Docs with TSN Media. We're also worked through Upwork, which has some built-in tools for collaboration.

What distinguishes TSN Media from other providers?

TSN Media has been very flexible. There were a few occasions in which we had to deal with specific client needs. TSN Media has been great at finding solutions that work for everyone involved, whether they were in terms of development or payment. TSN Media has bent over backward in making sure that we could give clients the results they wanted.

Is there anything TSN Media could have improved or done differently?

Working with international developers in the past, I've noticed that it's very important to be very specific with requests. Sometimes, when asking a foreign developer to build a house with a window, they will build it, but it will lack doors. Once given the go-ahead and clear directives, TSN Media is very capable of meeting the work, but certain items were missed along the way. This is more of an issue with development than project management. I've given TSN Media specific documentation on the functionality of a site, leaving off elements that seemed obvious to me. They were overlooked because they weren't on that punch list. This is as much my fault as it is TSN Media's, but it's important to know.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Food to Live sells nuts, seeds, and dry fruit online.

What is your position?

I am the operations manager of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with TSN Media?

We needed to develop a new company site.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

TSN Media developed an e-store for our company using a template solution. We maintain contact with the project manager from TSN Media. She looks after any tech issues with our site. I don't know what the exact size of their team was.

How did you come to work with TSN Media?

I think that we found TSN Media through a referral.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our website was completed three years ago. We have an ongoing support relationship with TSN Media.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The only feedback that we receive is related to our products, not the website itself.

How did TSN Media perform from a project management standpoint?

We never had any project management issues with TSN Media. The web development process was smooth and easy. We collaborated exclusively through email.

What distinguishes TSN Media from other providers?

I found it easy to speak to TSN Media. Our project manager was very responsive and made sure that we were taken care of even when she wasn't available. I could always send an email with any questions and received detailed responses, explaining how everything worked. TSN Media gave us great customer service.

Is there anything TSN Media could have improved or done differently?

From my experience in working with TSN Media, there isn't anything. I always got what I wanted and there was never a situation in which I didn't receive a response. TSN Media always found a way of getting things done.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am one of the co-founders of Yoreevo, an NYC-based real estate brokerage that lowers commissions for both buyers and sellers. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire TSN-Media?

At the time, our website looked like a generic Squarespace page. We initially hired TSN-Media to redesign the website since they’d created the current layout but subsequently engaged them for additional web development and design.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to create a professional-looking website with additional resources to aid our credibility.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found and interviewed TSN-Media on Upwork.

Describe the project in detail.

TSN-Media redesigned our existing website to make it look more professional. Then, they added more pages and features.

What was the team composition?

Oksana (IT Project Manager, TSN-Media) was our contact person. I’m not sure how the work was handled from there, but she did a great job coordinating the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They did a great job. The website looks fantastic, and we haven't had any issues.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The process was very effective, and we didn’t run into any problems.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They can handle a wide breadth of technical tasks.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No.