Wishtree Technologies

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am Communications Consultant for an international development programme

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Wishtree Technologies, and what were your goals?

Our website was quite basic and was created five years ago. We were frustrated with the design and aware that the site was vulnerable because of lack of the latest security features and regular backups. In addition, we were having some problems with the reliability of our statistics. We commissioned Wishtree to do a light-touch redesign of the site and ensure that the site was more robust so that it will remain usable and be user friendly for the remainder of the programme.

SOLUTION

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

We selected Wishtree based on their proposal. We also have had previous good experience with working with them on other programmes.

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

We developed a terms of reference document and then had several meetings with Wishtree to hone down what exactly we wanted them to do. We only had a small budget so were aware that we could not do everything. Wishtree provided guidance about days and costs for the various things we wanted, which helped us define our priorities. Wishtree gave a clear time plan for their work and kept to their schedule, delivering the updated website at the time planned.

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

Our main points of contact were the project manager and a main developer/designer. They corresponded with us almost daily. Wishtree also had other people involved in quality assurance.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The funder of our programme has fed back that they like the updated site and it has a clearer design and is easier to navigate. And, within the programme team, we are pleased with the refreshed site. We have also seen increases in web traffic across the whole site, from around the world.

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

Wishtree put our requirements and priorities into a google spreadsheet along with time estimates for each component of the work, and we worked together on this shared spreadsheet to refine our requirements. The main communication method was email and Wishtree generally responded quickly to enquiries and to ask us for information when needed. Approximately once every week or two we had a Teams call, to check in on progress, to resolve specific issues and provide feedback. Wishtree Technologies generally responded promptly, delivering the project in the agreed timescale.

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

Once the work was agreed, Wishtree got on and did the work very efficiently. It was exciting to see how quickly the site got updated and issues were resolved. They were also very responsive to feedback during the process.

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

Sometimes it took a few emails back and forth before we had the same understanding of an issue that we wanted resolved. However, Wishtree was quick to respond once they realised what we were asking.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a data analyst for a social enterprise focused on helping vulnerable people.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Wishtree Technologies, and what were your goals?

We wanted to created a website that would provide people considering migration not only with reliable information about what happens during irregular journeys, but also with resources to pursue alternatives.

SOLUTION

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

We published a RFP for proposal in which the vendor participated, and then evaluated the bids according to components criteria such as:

• Portfolio
• Experience & Skills
• Analysis Quality
• Speed/Timeline

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

We had a planning phase, in which requirements were gathered. Moved on to UX designs and, once that was completed, moved on to the actual development. The project was finalized with a large UAT testing and a training session for admins.

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

A project manager was the main point of contact. Two developers were working throughout most of the project, and a designer collaborated in the UX Design stage.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project has just been finalized, so there are no clear results to share just yet.

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

We had bi-weekly calls for most of the project duration and coordinated tasks using Asana. Communication was mostly via Gmail's email and chat.

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

They have been very responsive to inquiries all throughout the project and, most of the time, acted quickly. They also did their best to adapt to our wishes about the final product.

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

I would have appreciated having clearer guidance on UAT testing. I was advised against doing it between sprints when the project began, so only did it in the end - which led to feedback from users that was not incorporated because sprints were considered finalized and change requests needed to be filed.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the regional technical specialist on climate change adaptation for an international NGO. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Wishtree Technologies?

We had a tender to develop a learning platform for schoolchildren based on our existing climate change educational platform. We wanted a platform to present our existing content and be a dialogue space for teachers, libraries, and related school contests. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Wishtree designed and developed an online site for schoolchildren and teachers separate from our main website. We provided a lot of reference materials for the main sections and functionalities of the site, along with brand guidelines and content based on an existing toolkit.

Wishtree then presented us with a website design and structure based on our specifications. They also developed the user and administration guides that we now use internally to make site changes. 

What is the team composition?

We had one main point of contact at Wishtree and interacted with a member of their leadership on the overall website vision. There were also several other teammates involved on the backend at Wishtree. 

How did you come to work with Wishtree Technologies?

We placed an open international tender and had a very competitive bidding process —  Wishtree was selected out of many competitors based on their technical and financial proposal; they were the best value for money.

How much have you invested with them?

The total contract is for $53,000, including maintenance fees.

What is the status of this engagement?

The main website development was from November 2020–April 2021, and Wishtree will handle site maintenance until 2023.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're delighted with the results. We've launched the portal and tested it with our internal staff and younger interns — my colleagues are happy with the portal's design and structure.

Our main clients outside the organization were excited about the site, especially school teachers.

How did Wishtree Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Wishtree was well-organized, and we had no issues with project management or sticking to the allotted timeframe. Initially, we suggested a very tight timeframe for the project, between November 2020–February 2021. Those dates ended up being unrealistic because of the quantity of content we needed, so we extended the work to April 2021. 

They offered several web-based planning and communication tools, but in the end, we preferred to communicate via email and Microsoft Teams. The Wishtee team was very responsive to our suggestions and requests, especially during the later parts of the project. 

What did you find most impressive about them? 

This is actually the second version of this site. The first one was developed in 2016 with a different company, and the one Wishtree completed was much more advanced. This is partially because our specifications were better formulated, but also because of Wishtree's experience. Wishtree has worked with several groups in our organization and therefore has a nuanced understanding of our visuals, branding guidelines, and overall culture.

Wishtree is a small but professional and responsive team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

When the project was near completion, we realized that there were glitches in the user navigation. It was a fixable issue, but some of the features could have been thought through more from a user perspective. 

However, those were minor issues that we fixed together, and we were happy with the partnership. 

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

In general, clients need to think about the project specifications very carefully — user and client needs and the general project purpose need to be laid out well. 

It's a very creative process to come up with an interactive learning portal for students and teachers. The design matters a lot, and so does how the client addresses the target audience. Clients should have initial ideation and creative sessions with Wishtree and possibly invite user groups to those discussions — we didn't have the time to do so, but I would strongly recommend it. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Senior Manager of Engineering at a Digital Media Quality company headquartered in New York, USA

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Wishtree Technologies, and what were your goals?

We wanted to maintain and continue the development of the Mobile Test App that we use for verifying our Measurement products. The goal was to keep the test app fully functioning and to add new features as per product needs.

SOLUTION

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

We selected this vendor based on an internal reference. We needed a vendor who could offer flexibility to ramp up and down the resource allocation based on the project needs. Wishtree offered just that. They also supported providing a part time QA based on project need.

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

Maintenance of existing Android and iOS Mobile, Apps Development of new iOS, and Android Apps Migration of iOS app from Objective C to Swift Automated testing for Mobile Apps Development of test apps for CTV - Apple TV, Roku TV and Amazon Firestick

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

1 Mobile App Developer

1 QA Engineer

We also had an additional Backend Full stack developer at one point 1 Project Manager

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had a feature roadmap which had several stories which were outstanding for a long time. The developer at Wishtree ramped up quickly and was productive within the first few weeks. They completed all the projects in the roadmap within the first few months and were already working on extended features. I must say they have been very productive and provided a lot of value in a very short time.

At some point in the engagement we realised the need to have test apps for CTV devices. The Wishtree team was open to the challenge. Despite not having any prior knowledge, they invested time into learning CTV App development for Roku TV, Apple TV and Amazon Firestick and were able to quickly develop the required test apps.

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

The team was very collaborative. They embedded well into our processes and toolset. We use Slack, Jira, Git, Confluence and Google Suite.

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

They were very productive in their work deliverables Highly collaborative Willingness to take on new work and challenges and to deliver them

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

It would have been great if they had a Mobile device lab or some kind of simulator environment to run automated mobile tests. However the team invested in setting up a Mac mini for running simulators, which did the job.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the IT Director for Wittichen Supply Company, an HVAC Wholesale Distributor based in Birmingham, Alabama with 25 locations across the Southeast US. Wittichen is a long standing member of the Key Wholesaler Group Association (KWGA). The KWGA is comprised of 20 Independent HVAC Wholesale Distributor companies with 369 locations across the US.

On behalf of the KWGA, I was asked to manage this project and work directly with Wishtree and KWGA Members.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Wishtree Technologies, and what were your goals?

KWGA Members, such as Wittichen Supply, sell thousands of products from hundreds of different HVAC Product Manufacturers. As such, each member is faced with the daunting task of harvesting and managing rich product content data for use on their e-Commerce websites.

Instead of each WKGA member attempting to manage this on their own in a vacuum, the group decided to build a centralized, cloud-based, custom PIM (Product Information Management) System and share in the management and cost of maintaining rich product content.

This project included several complex data access and business logic challenges. For example, products similar in type need to have a collection of rules that govern the data attributes and determine which attributes are required and how product descriptions should be displayed. These rules change from product type to product type, and often times, products of the same type span multiple different vendors.

The goal of this project was to build a platform capable importing and exporting product data while adhering to the business rules created within the system to govern the data. The value proposition for the KWGA Members was having a custom built platform, tailored to specific our needs, to centralize the maintenance of the product data and eliminate duplicate efforts and expense across the membership.

SOLUTION

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

Prior to hiring Wishtree, we evaluated several existing PIM solutions to see if there was a solution available to fit our specific needs. While there are PIM solutions built for individual companies, there were none built for a group of companies to share/manage the data in the way we wanted to share/manage it.

Wishtree, having a long-standing relationship with one of our member companies, came highly recommended. After interviewing Wishtree, I was convinced they were the right partner for this project. Their well structured agile development approach and history of proven success with large organizations were extremely attractive. From the first meeting, we hit it off and there was a strong sense of alignment.

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

Together, we designed an Angular Web Application and RESTful API solution using a traditional SQL/IIS/EF/C# .Net/ABP/Swagger stack hosted in Azure. We started design using a low-code prototyping tool called UIBakery for screen mockups and workflow design. From the UIBakery mockup, we documented user stories and requirements for the developers.

The project saw 6 sprints of development. Although agile methodologies were used, this was a fixed cost project that required more concrete documentation on the front-end and less flexibility on the back-end. This was by our choice as we had a fixed budget for this project, and Wishtree delivered on budget!!! Wishtree has a very clearly defined process for project management and development, and it works very well.

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

I was paired with 1 project manager, and we managed 2 full-time developers as well as front-end designers and Q&A analysts. From time to time, I would also interface with Wishtree's senior software architect and technical lead. Everyone I dealt with was first class, professional, and fantastic to work with.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

First of all, what we built far exceeded everyone's expectations. Every requirement was met and every deliverable was delivered within the budget.

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

Project management was driven through Slack with constant communication with my project manager. We met regularly and worked very closely throughout the entire project. User stories were written in Google docs and shared/managed in the cloud. Wishtree also uses Zoho and Asana for project management and documentation.

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

The level of direct access and interaction with my project manager, Neelima, was awesome. She was always available and worked incredibly hard to ensure the success of our project. Can't thank her enough for all the hard work and long hours. Wishtree really feels like an extension of our KWGA IT group.

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

If I had to change anything, it would have been to do the project as a time and materials project instead of fixed cost. It was our choice to do it as a fixed cost project, but in hindsight, I think T&M would have allowed for a little more flexibility throughout the project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am an employee of an organization for public health.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Wishtree Technologies, and what were your goals?

The project was to create a brand new web-based platform to assist health researchers and the ministry / educational institutions in ethical review process. The goal was to develop a new system that can replace old platform.

SOLUTION

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

As per our procurement process, the company has been selected through a competitive bidding process.

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

We had gone through many consultation meetings with the company and focal points from Fiji government to have a detailed development plan. After that, the company has convened regular meetings with the country focal points to review key achievements and milestones that were made according to the agreed work schedule.

Given that the pervious version had used old web langugage so the company has suggested to use a new web programming language to ensure customization and cybersecurity.

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

In general, there were 2-3 people involved from the company and they were composed of a project manager, IT consultant and web platform developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project is still ongoing but there has been significant progress during the contract with the company. The national focal points have been satisfied by the performance and deliverables demonstrated by the company.

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

Their project management style was based on consultation with customers so we were very clear about what will happen in next phases of development.

Given that web platform development is to identify key challenges in processing routine works and to provide an effective/efficient solution, the company's project management contributed to participatory development which is not only driven by a vendor.

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

Everytime we discussed about detailed work plan before getting engaged with development steps. Having tried to consult with national focal points was impressive to me.

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

Since the company is based in India, there were significant time difference between the company and national focal points in Fiji. It could have been better if the company has a branch office closer to the Pacific region.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was a product owner and lead developer at Rexel, a Fortune Global 500 electrical components distributor based in Paris, France.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Wishtree Technologies?

We had to roll out the Rexel mobile application across 8–9 countries. Internally, we had a limited mobile development team, and so I reached out to Ravi and Dilip (Partners) to ask if they could provide help on development and testing.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Wishtree came in halfway through the project. Our mobile app had some HTML5 elements wrapped in its native containers. They helped us develop a cutting-edge feature that works with HTML5 within the native app container. 

Our e-commerce app had some cool features, like a built-in barcode scanner. Back in 2014–2015, there weren’t a lot of functionalities like that in the market. We also had plans to build geolocation into the app that would tell users where the closest Rexel branch was to their location. It was a very popular app.

What is the team composition?

Ravi was the main point of contact for me and my then superior, who's now the chief digital officer of the company. When I left the company, I encouraged him to get additional help through Wishtree, just because they were such a reliable partner.

How did you come to work with Wishtree Technologies?

Personally, I’ve had a relationship with Wishtree for however long they’ve been around. I met Wishtree when I was the CEO of a software startup. The CTO was looking for a development partner for an enterprise app we were building for the apparel industry. We worked with Wishtree for a while on our MVP, and we had a really good relationship with them. When I got to Rexel and we needed help, I knew exactly who to contact.

How much have you invested with them?

During my time at Rexel, we paid Wishtree around $100,000 a year. It could have gone up since I left since they added some team members. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Rexel’s engagement with Wishtree began around August 2014. When I left in March 2015, the engagement was ongoing. However, I don’t think they’re still working together right now. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had project milestones in terms of app rollouts in different countries, and we hit all of our KPIs and deadlines. We also exceeded our revenue goals by a lot. My superiors were really happy with the relationship.

How did Wishtree Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

We used Slack, which was great for communication. For tracking, Wishtree built an integration between Jira and Pivotal Tracker. We also had weekly meetings. They did a phenomenal job in terms of project management and making sure work was delivered on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I get service offers from offshore firms all the time, but as long as Wishtree is around, I won’t go anywhere else. I’ve worked with other offshore vendors, and they are just not as reliable. Wishtree really cares about the quality of their work and their relationship with the client. The people running the company are very smart and good people who I hold in high regard.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not off the top of my head. They should expand because they’re really a good company.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Definitely take Wishtree up on their offer for a free trial. They offer new customers two weeks of free development work, or they offer to solve a problem for you. It's a no-risk proposition, and Wishtree just enjoys proving themselves to their clients.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a scientific officer at World Meteorological Organization, a meteorological organization responsible for global regulation and standards for the weather and environmental measurements.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Wishtree Technologies?

We’re running a database that contains the information of the space base observation system. We needed to improve the capabilities of the platform and needed assistance.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team at Wishtree Technologies is helping us with improving our MySQL and PHP database. They’re helping with deep maintenance work to be updated from the old technology to be supporting the current jQuery libraries and other software-related items.

They developed some technical functionalities related to filtering and data representation in the platform. We’re currently in phase two.

What is the team composition?

There was a project manager, a tester, a developer, and one other person.

How did you come to work with Wishtree Technologies?

We had an open tender that was published on the UN tender platform. That’s how they found our contact, and they bid for the tender and won.  

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $57,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with Wishtree Technologies started in March 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We went public, so the database is open for anyone. We have lots of users who gave feedback, and it was very positive. While there are always some things that need to be debugged, everything works well.

How did Wishtree Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very open and responsive. They always responded promptly by email. We had one weekly meeting where we discussed the ongoing items and planning actions for the coming week. We couldn’t do any face-to-face meetings, so everything was kicked off virtually.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re more agile than I expected. We were impressed with how well they could accommodate our requests and last-minute changes in the development plan. They’re very customer-focused.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re a small team so sometimes there were things they didn’t catch in their testing procedure. That may be something they could improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend working with them. Their customer service is very good, and they’re easy to work with.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior economist for an international financial institution that works with low-income countries.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Wishtree Technologies?

We didn’t have an IT team and needed help with custom software development. We were using Excel, and it was impossible to get data reports from hundreds of projects that we have. It was super difficult to update. We had to receive feedback from many people on many projects.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Wishtree Technologies developed two different monitoring and management systems for two different types of functionalities. They allow my department to track and manage all of our projects in a user-friendly way.

One of the functionalities is collecting updates from all of the team every year to the system like a panel survey. People put all this information into the system, but at the same time, we develop all these customized reports depending on who needs it. In my organization, many people require different types of reports. People can customize what they want.

Another project was for a low-income government that we work with. We were doing a pilot system for healthcare, which was unique to this country. The system had reports for each health facility whenever inspection was done. It has a lot of functionality for the different users of the system, but it was a long-term process.

We’re starting a similar project in a different country with similar functionalities.

They used JavaScript, Bootstrap, HTML5, along with some variations. The database is MongoDB, and they use hosting platforms like AWS.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact was a project manager that we had for both projects. The team is mostly developers. Whenever I needed a high-level individual to help me, I’d reach out to Ravishankar (Partner & Delivery Head).

How did you come to work with Wishtree Technologies?

Someone on my team used to work with them and recommended them. They’re a small company that is affordable and flexible. We started working with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $50,000–$199,999.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with Wishtree Technologies started in January 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Wishtree Technologies developed a user-friendly system that was helpful for the needs that we had. The second system was also useful. The quality of the final work is good. I’m always happy with it.

The team is extremely patient with us. They helped us get through the technical jargon. Their processes have improved a lot over the years. In respect to where we started, they’ve gotten very good with feedback and incorporating the feedback to make improvements.

How did Wishtree Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management style is very good. I learned a lot of project management tools like Asana because of them. I now use them in all my projects. Along with Asana, we communicated by email.

They’re very good at responding and meeting deadlines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their flexible team spends time with their clients to customize their needs. They’re also very affordable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could still improve on the quality of the process, like checking their work. They have improved a lot but could still improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a person on the team who is going to interact with them who knows your needs, and that can communicate with them. There’s a learning curve with my team whenever we start a new project. They’re programmers, and we don’t have that expertise.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Operations Manager at elementˆn, a technology platform provider specialized in commercial and enterprise web solutions and technologies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Wishtree Technologies, and what were your goals?

WishTree provided us with a software developer to help deliver a nation wide pandemic management solution. Our goal was to onboard developers who can hit the ground running and be productive quickly.

SOLUTION

How did you select Wishtree Technologies and what were the deciding factors?

We partnered with WishTree after a long and careful selection process. The goal was to have a reliable partner to work on a team extension model on our upcoming projects. WishTree was selected due to their highly qualified engineers in several areas, flexibility, and the process they follow to support their customer closely. We started with 1 developer on a short project, and WishTree delivered on their promises.

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

Their engineer was part of our sprints and picked up tasks with very minimal supervision. The onboarding process was very fast and she was able to deliver work even in the first sprint.

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

So far we worked with 1 senior web developer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to quickly deliver new features as new requirements emerged, which helped the solution quickly become and nation's de facto health management system.

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

We communicated over Jira and Slack and we never faced an issue on delivery.

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

WishTree was working closely with us and proactively asking for our feedback. I've worked with other companies in the past who either never interfered and let issues escalate, or had a bureaucratic review process which wasn't very helpful. With WishTree however, I had peace of mind knowing that they are continuously making sure the quality of their service is up to our expectations. The reviews happened at several levels that it was like working with an engineer in our own company.

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

Nothing that I can think of for this project, we will have the chance to learn more on larger projects.