US Informatics

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CTO of a loyalty platform provider with 19 employees. I am responsible for technology and development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with US Informatics?

We were looking for a third-party developer for our Android application.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had developed an iOS version in-house, and hired US Informatics to develop our Android application. They used Java for application development. For webpage development, they used HTML5 and occasionally jQuery.

What is the team composition?

I worked with the CEO and co-founder.

How did you come to work with US Informatics?

I don’t recall how we came to work with them, since it was so long ago, but they have been a good partner through the years.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent around $30,000—$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them five years ago, and the last project was completed about seven months ago.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Overall the quality has been decent for what we were paying. It is an offshore company, and finances are an important factor.

How did US Informatics perform from a project management standpoint?

They dedicated a project manager to us and performed very well from a project management perspective. They were easy to interface with, and they worked on U.S. time zones. We used Skype to communicate and made our Jira accessible to them. They tracked the project through tools that we provided.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They provide a good service. They are responsive and intelligent, and communicating with them is fairly easy. Overall, we were happy with the services we received from them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Continuity is a major issue with most third-party providers. They need to retain their talent when developers move on. It isn’t easy for anyone, but it was a challenge when they lost a lead developer.