Unosquare, LLC

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP, Head of Engineering of GTreasury

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

GTreasury makes it simpler to derive insights from treasury information that drives enterprise growth. This scalable platform allows any size treasury operation to tailor a solution to its individual needs.

Our fully integrated, dedicated suite gives you clear visibility into your entire liquidity landscape, so you can steer your business in the right direction.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Unosquare, LLC to accomplish?

• Scale up our engineering capacity

SOLUTION

How did you find Unosquare, LLC?

Referral

Why did you select Unosquare, LLC over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit

How many teammates from Unosquare, LLC were assigned to this project?

13

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• Staff augmentation, working as fully integrated members to a collection of our Scrum teams
• Overhauling and modernizing the CSS of our core application
• Evolving our data orchestration platform

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Consistent Scrum team velocity
• Consistently high on time delivery
• Improved product quality, minimal bug escape rate
• Reduction in MTTR

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Staff augmentation model, GTreasury managed the project and product management.

Unosquare was great at finding the right skillsets that we needed to strenghten our teams (C#/.NET,  SQL, API, Angular, CSS, JavaScript). 

What was your primary form of communication with Unosquare, LLC?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

• Unosquare, LLC is very collaborative, transparent, and receptive to feedback
• Highly responsive and they have a quick turnaround on asks
• Able to source and find highly qualified software and QA engineers that pair well with our teams

Are there any areas for improvement or something Unosquare, LLC could have done differently?

Nothing in particular. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Sr Data Engineer of Radiological Society of North America

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The Radiological Society of North America is a non-profit organization and an international society of radiologists, medical physicists and other medical imaging professionals representing 31 radiologic subspecialties from 145 countries around the world. Based in Oak Brook, Illinois, it was established in 1915

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Unosquare, LLC to accomplish?

• Resolve Technical Debt Issues
• Enhance Our Data Warehousing Capabilities
• Create Technical Standards for other developers to follow
• Develop Data Integrations solutions

SOLUTION

How did you find Unosquare, LLC?

Referral

Why did you select Unosquare, LLC over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Unosquare, LLC were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

To eliminate high priority technical debt issues that has held RSNA back on certain technology fronts. To enhance our data warehousing existing infrastructure and bring the data to current. Create new data marts as identified by the business intelligence department. Enhance our existing ETLs and create new ones based off requirements from RSNA. Document all related work. Create coding standardization documents. Enchance our DevOPS process for source control.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Number of completed tasks that were accurate from the start. Number of technical debt issues resolved and the complete of other tasks that were part of our scope and those that were not.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

UnoSquare consultants demonstrated exceptional competence in time management. They were highly dedicated, consistently asking pertinent questions to fully understand our needs. They always delivered on time and provided early warnings if any deliverables were at risk of being delayed, explaining the reasons clearly. This proactive communication allowed us to adjust timelines and address previously unknown issues effectively.

What was your primary form of communication with Unosquare, LLC?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

What I found most impressive about the consultants was their seamless integration with our teams. Despite being strangers initially, they collaborated exceptionally well with both the Data Engineering and Business Intelligence teams. Their ability to work so effectively with our business stakeholders was remarkable, to the extent that the business assumed they were regular employees rather than external consultants.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Unosquare, LLC could have done differently?

No improvements needed. This was one of the most effective consulting firms I have ever dealt with.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Associate Director of Product Development of EpiCypher Inc

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

EpiCypher provides high-quality reagents, tools, and services to study chromatin regulation and enable epigenetics-focused drug development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Unosquare, LLC to accomplish?

• Design the core views of an upcoming data analysis platform
• Inform best practices for an intuitive user experience

SOLUTION

How did you find Unosquare, LLC?

• Online Search
• Clutch Site

Why did you select Unosquare, LLC over others?

• High ratings
• Experience with related life sciences products

How many teammates from Unosquare, LLC were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

EpiCypher is building a cloud-based data analysis platform for next generation sequencing data and sought design expertise to inform an intuitive user experience through the core functional views of the product.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The project resulted in a beautiful Figma design for the core workflow we set out to design. The design follows UI/UX best practices that were beyond the expertise of EpiCypher, and the Unosquare team did a great job guiding the process to ensure we didn't implement features that would compromise the usability of the site. The resultant design will also serve as a reusable template for the remaining views that need to be designed and are ready to be implemented by our development partner.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The Unosquare team has an exceptionally well managed process to ensure the project moves forward according to plan. However, our particular project didn't fit that mold and they did a great job adapting their traditional sprint process to meet our needs. While we weren't able to adhere to a traditional method locking views in a progressive cadence, we did complete all of the outlined views by the end of the project with time to spare.

What was your primary form of communication with Unosquare, LLC?

Virtual Meeting

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

We were most impressed with the team's deep UI/UX design expertise and the speed with which they created the designs. We always knew we could probably design the site on our own, but the sheer volume of best practices and conventions that we learned about through this process meant the final product was infinitely better than what we could have produced on our own. Additionally, we reached that conclusion months faster than we could have done ourselves.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Unosquare, LLC could have done differently?

No critiques here. Easily the best money we've spend on this project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Next Reason

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Customer Identity Managed Services to achieve the most secure and compliant ecosystem possible using tools that work the best for your business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Unosquare, LLC to accomplish?

• Accelerate core product development

SOLUTION

How did you find Unosquare, LLC?

Referral

Why did you select Unosquare, LLC over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Unosquare, LLC were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

There are a few projects that Unosquare helps with. First is core product development on enterpise identity platform that consists of authentication and authorization capabilities using AWS built using Kubernetes. The team provides architecture, design, development, and testing capabilities.

The other two projects are customer initiatives using React and NextJS and consist of design and development of system dashboard. In both cases, the teams attend daily standups, participate in the scrum ceremonies, and work in our ticket system just like the rest of the team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Delivery of strategic roadmap items on time and on budget.
• Willingness to adapt to our needs.
• Always going above and beyond to make sure we were getting the value.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Very responsive team and management. Well-versed in agile methodology with good communication.

What was your primary form of communication with Unosquare, LLC?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Attitude from everyone (leadership to team members) is always positive and 'can do'. Also, they understand the value of truly caring about the success of their customers opposed to just trying to upsell and find sales opportunities. We never feel pressured and always feel supported.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Unosquare, LLC could have done differently?

Our project is quite complex and so bringing new developers on and setting them up for success is always a challenge. Unosquare has a lot of experience in this regard, so I would love to see that baked into the process.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of product management at EBS, a software company with several products. Our main flagship product is ProPricer, a proposal software intended for pricing, estimates, and proposal creation. We have quite a big customer base in the aerospace and defense industry. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Catalyst UX?

We didn’t have UX specialists within our ranks. Our company had a couple of development teams and managers and used internal assets to come up with the design of our software. Much of it came from the designed that worked back in the day. We attempted to modernize the product, so we decided to get a UX specialist to work on it. However, couldn’t find anybody that suited us. As a result, we decided to seek external companies to help us. That was why we engaged Catalyst. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we introduced what we were attempting to do and what our goal was without knowing a whole lot about the industry segment. During the first phase of the project, we sat down with them and went through what our software did and looked like. We then discussed specific areas that we wanted to improve, and the team provided their recommendations on what we should address and what would be more intuitive for end users. 

Our company took their route and had 3–4 stages where we went back and forth and adopted their implementation approach. The software was complex, and it took us several tries to relay what it truly was. In any case, it was developed in various stages. Finally, when Catalyst delivered their final recommendations, we took a majority of what they proposed and started implementing them. 

While we were developing the product, we had a beta group testing it. Catalyst came and did their part toward the end of the beta group. We already had some ideas from our existing customers that the software was simple and easy to use; it was busy and unintuitive. 

Given that, Catalyst suggested removing some navigation pieces and keeping everything in one place. This would make the product simpler and more intuitive. We got rid of the navigation panel and moved all controls up in one area. To create the designs, we used Figma. 

What is the team composition?

Our initial contact was with Paul (CEO), and then there was a salesperson. From there, we worked with two people; one did all the wireframes while the other put together the prototype. We met with those two a couple of times per week for a couple of months as we went through that process. 

How did you come to work with Catalyst UX?

We told Catalyst general information about the software and what it did. From there, they came up with a proposal for what they could do to the product. They presented a couple of options, which we evaluated. We considered other companies, but Catalyst had the best offer. As a result, we decided to go ahead with them. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $50,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement lasted from September–November 2022. For context, we chose them in the beginning of August 2022, but because of the beta group and other things that were happening, we didn’t start the engagement until the end of September 2022. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Several customers told us they could put the product in the hands of end users because it was much cleaner, less busy, and more intuitive than before. For navigation, we used MS Clarity to see if there were any dead clicks and things like that. Overall, the product was a lot clearer in terms of navigation and based on the feedback of people still on the sandboxes testing the product.

How did Catalyst UX perform from a project management standpoint?

The project was well. Catalyst was on top of everything, letting us know how many UI areas were addressed and what was left behind. Everything was on point’; nothing was delayed or canceled — the project moved forward. 

Moreover, there was a couple of times where the wireframe specialist contacted us outside of the working hours. I specifically told him that that was fine. He needed some help in some specific UI areas, so he reached out over the weekend. I replied back with an email, and he was ready to show his work by Monday. Overall, they worked outside regular working hours, so everything stayed on track. 

Additionally, everything was scheduled out properly. The salesperson served as the project manager, and she scheduled everything ahead of time. If there was any conflict, she’d take things one by one and change the time 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Catalyst’s strength is that they knew what they were talking about. For UX design, they could tell us what they’d done with other customers and what trends were out there. In other words, I liked the fact that they provided a lot of recommendations; they didn’t just tell us how we should do things. They provided multiple options in case we could find a new opportunity. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there weren’t any. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Provide an in-depth explanation of your product if it’s complex. 

For context, our product was so complex and niched to the aerospace and defense industry. I wish we realized that sooner or before we got going with the project. We could’ve provided them with additional information unique to our software ahead of time. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior director of software development and R&D for our direct current to direct current products at an international provider of semiconductor solutions in the digital and analog spaces. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Catalyst UX?

Our products were making a transformation to offer more digital content, and our in-house skillset was different from that. We had analog power designers and power integrated circuit designers, but we decided to engage with a firm that had experience in UI/UX design for web-based technologies to help us build more comprehensive software applications.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Catalyst UX provided web design services. They helped design desktop user interfaces using Angular and Electron for the frontend; they also used Figma to make renderings of the program’s controls.

We also worked with Catalyst UX to maintain the product.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two software engineers — one was a UI designer, and one was a software designer — and a program manager.

How did you come to work with Catalyst UX?

Catalyst UX was referred to us.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $250,000–$500,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Catalyst UX in June 2020, and the project ended in September 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our customers had an immediate positive reaction. Catalyst UX substantially improved our product’s ease of use. The product’s previous interface was full of bugs and not easy to use. The visual improvements they made were also substantial; they made the product modern and cutting-edge using their domain knowledge. Catalyst UX executed the product as we specified and helped us meet the goals for our product.

How did the company perform from a project management standpoint?

The project deadlines were fluid, and we didn’t have a specific schedule, but Catalyst UX executed sprints as expected. They used monday.com for their project management, and we shared databases using Bitbucket and Jira. We used Zoom to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Catalyst UX was talented, focused, and diligent with clear specifications. They understood UX design and were already very well-versed in Angular and Electron. They had licenses for Figma and other tools. We didn’t have their skillet or access to their tools, so they came with the whole package. This meant we didn’t have to invest a lot in infrastructure.

Are there any areas they could improve?

If we had specified the project more clearly, the execution would’ve been better across the board. 

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Provide clear specifications, and Catalyst UX will execute very well. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Director of Quality Assurance. We create Help Authoring Software for Technical Writers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Unosquare, LLC?

We were bringing to market a cloud based version of our desktop application and needed some extra testing.

SOLUTION

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

We talked to and visited a few vendors and found Unosquare to be the most professional and eager to help meet our specific requirements.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Creation of test plans and test cases. Execution of said test plans and documentation of results. Direct communication with lead testers and with senior development on issues as they are discovered.

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

Over the course of 7 years we have worked with over 8 manual testers and 1 automation tester.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As we transition to automated testing, manual testing is still the main reality of software releases. The Unosquare team solves this for us in spades. They are professional, punctual, and helpful when needed. We have released multiple dozens of times in the course of our partnership, no small part in thanks to this team.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We integrate the testers directly into our team. They join us on our daily meetings and give reports directly to us. They are treated (and function) as one of our own team members seamlessly.

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

We are provided with high quality testers at a great price. They constantly give suggestions on new methodologies and other improvements as they encounter them.

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

They consistently meet our needs.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Senior Director of Operations. We are the only, physician-founded, specialty technology platform designed for the Point of Care actively engaging Patients, Caregivers, and Physicians in the Waiting Room, Exam Room, and at home.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Unosquare, LLC?

We hired Unosquare to manage our NOC as well as do testing for all our DevOps.

SOLUTION

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

We searched for the right provider to manage our NOC as well as take on the Q&A function of our DevOps. The team we met understood our needs right away and had potential solutions that we later implemented.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The project consists of:

• Creation of our help desk
• Management of our NOC
• DevOps research and testing

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

We have 4 people total on this project. 4 NOC Engineers and 1 manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project is a huge success! It is still ongoing due to the amazing results we see. Our help desk is top notch (was built from scratch) and we now have rigorous QA testing. As a result of our NOC being managed by the team, we now see issues before they happen and the overall health of our digital network has improved as a result.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow is seamless; we forget that they are not our employees. There is constant communication between our team and Unosquare's. Communication is detailed, professional, and gets the answers all need quickly as a result.

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

Their industry knowledge and their overall work ethic. Every project given to them they start on right away with expertise and efficiency.

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

None- team is great!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Director of Technical & Physical operations - meaning all things IT, Facilities & Grounds.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Unosquare, LLC, and what were your goals?

We started using a cloud based payroll provider, but have a SQL ERP on campus that many reports are pulled from. We needed a way to know who was a current employee (and not), set a flag appropriately, and keep things up to date between the two systems.

SOLUTION

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

They have a solid reputation, and I have worked with Unosquare previously on a customization for their fantastic Passcore Pro solution.

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

I lined out the project and designed the data report in the payroll system, ensuring we had a matching key between the two systems. From there, I defined what field should be updated in our campus ERP.

The unosquare team took the API portion and worked to build the connectivity needed to grab and process the data. They provided appropriate configuration files to allow the process to grow with us as we need to change and tweak variables down the road. We used IIS, SQL, a REST API, and they used several programming languages.

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

We had a project manager, a coding supervisor, and a staff member work on the project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project works! We are live and it seems to be working well. I really appreciate the team's patience as we dealt with API access issues from one of the vendors.

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

This was a fairly simple project, so all communication was done via email. Unosquare was quick to jump on a teams call to make sure were describing and seeing the same things. Overall, their team was very timely.

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

Consistent positive communication and can-do attitude. I know nothing of the API world, but they guided me through it very well.

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

No - they did excellent in every aspect of this project that they could control!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company has a few different areas. I work on the cloud based restaurant technology product. I am one of the QA managers for this product.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Unosquare, LLC?

To help with the manual QA testing of the cloud based product. We have since expanded that to include writing test cases and test suites

SOLUTION

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

Someone in the organization had worked with Unosquare at a previous company.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Unosquare originally provided 3 QA engineers so that we could run continuous tests throughout the quarterly release cycle. At the time, we had very little automated and thousands of cases, many of which were not getting run.

As cases were automated and the manual testing tasks were decreasing, we started also using the team to write new test cases and fix existing cases that no longer worked. We have recently added a 4th QA from Unosquare.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

We provide a req, just like we would for any open position. They do a non-technical interview internally and if they pass, they then do an internal technical interview. If they pass that, then I interview. In the most recently added team member, I don't know how many didn't pass the first level, but one didn't pass the second level and one did.

I interviewed the one that did and he became our 4th team member.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have been able to give the team more responsibility over time. This has been successful and everybody who works directly with the team members recognizes their value.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I'm the main interface between the teams and it works well. The Unosquare liaison has regular meetings with me and is available.

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

Honestly, I've never been the person responsible for a contractor team, so I don't have anything to compare it to. However, I have a good relationship with the team lead (she is one of the 4) and Pedro, who is my liaison.

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

So far so good.