XBOSoft

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the director of QA for Bond-Pro, an insurance company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with XBOSoft?
We hired XBOSoft to provide us with resources for manual and automated QA testing. For context, we were working on a new project and needed to streamline our process. We needed a good group to start QA testing and validating the project. Moreover, the project was located in Romania, so we needed a group that was closer to Romania than to the US. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?
Our team initially provided XBOSoft with documentation, and they gave us a proposal. Phil (CEO) took charge of the group.
So far, they continue to work on the project, which is a hybrid product that will run on both mobile devices and desktops.
What is the team composition?
We work with four teammates from XBOSoft, including Phil and the QA lead.
How did you come to work with XBOSoft?
XBOSoft was referred to us by our CTO.
What is the status of this engagement?
Our partnership started in June 2022, and it’s ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
XBOSoft has written and tested 2,800 test cases, which have been created from scratch. That’s an impressive number for their work. Of those test cases, they found 762 defects. When we got into production, our defect rate path has been less than 5% — no critical defects have come back to us. Overall, XBOSoft’s work has exceeded my expectations.
How did XBOSoft perform from a project management standpoint?
Their project management has been excellent. Phil has been helpful, and his initiatives are clear and straightforward. Moreover, their upfront pricing is extremely good for our company. The resources themselves are great at what they do. They also overcommunicate, reminding me of the things I have to do for the project.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They’re great at communication; their execution is also done well.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Some people in our group had a hard time understanding the team at first because English wasn’t XBOSoft’s first language. However, once we got over that hurdle, communication became a lot easier. It wasn’t exactly a language barrier; it was an accent barrier.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Hire XBOSoft immediately. They’re an excellent group, which is why I keep them and find new projects for them all the time. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP of Engineering of XforcePlus

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We providea SaaS platform to connect big enterprises and their suppliers

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire XBOSoft to accomplish?

• Modernize software testing approach, especially in the design phase
• Supplement our testing staff

SOLUTION

How did you find XBOSoft?

• Referral
• Other

Why did you select XBOSoft over others?

• High ratings
• Referred to me

What was the size of XBOSoft’s team?

2-5 Employees

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

xbosoft delivered in two phases.

• Phase 1. xbo provided an upfront assessment of our testing capability, including personnel training and tooling. The assessment clearly documents the area of strength and weakness in our QA department.
• Phase 2. xbox implemented a number process changes, built automation tools and created a routine to help our QA engineers to actually use the tools and processes built for throughput and agility.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After our QA staff received xbox's training and we implemented its process recommendations, the number of production bugs visibly dropped. We track and measure production bugs on weekly basis.

After the full implementation of process change,our production bugs went down 80% and severe bugs practically became non-existent. Xbox's automation tool is also helpful. It sends us custom alerts whenever it detects a failure in production environment. This allowed us to catch the errors before our customers find them.

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

I have known xbo folks in my prior workplace and had been their customer for quite a while now. Xbosoft has a crew with very low turnover rate. This not only allows the company to operate in a very efficient manner, it also helped them to build a long lasting relationship with their client, in this case me.

They can work with minimal guidance, and they know what I want from their service. And because they get to know me through a long last partnership, they deliver their part of work with efficiency and speed.

What was your primary form of communication with XBOSoft?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The company's staff are very seasoned professionals that helped lots of companies around the world.So they have a deep understanding of how all kinds of applications work and how to properly ensure its quality. XboSoft spends time to understand its customers so they can work with minimal directions.

Because of its low turnover rate and building strong relationship with me over the years, they understand what's critical and what's not with the overall goal of improving our product quality. They can almost read our minds in knowing what they should do.

Xbosoft also digs deep into our application and understands its nuances better than many of our own engineers. Thus they provide invaluable 3rd party validation. We consider XBO to be our secret weapon in achieving great software quality. Bugs don’t get into production, thanks to XBOSoft.

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

None

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive at RNA Holdings, LLC

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We develop, install, and support Pharmacy Management Software Systems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire XBOSoft to accomplish?

• Increasing the quality of our products with test automation.
• Make recommendations on how we can better develop quality software systems.
• Mentor our QA team.

SOLUTION

How did you find XBOSoft?

Other

Why did you select XBOSoft over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned
• Other

What was the size of XBOSoft’s team?

2-5 Employees

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

XBOSoft was chartered to assist in helping us add test automation to our development process for our pharmacy management software By adding these processes and overseeing how we develop and test we greatly reduced program defects. Plus with them being located both nationally and internationally while or staff was off for after hours they were up and running.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Faster development with less defects which lead to more customer satisfaction and quicker delivery times.

What was your primary form of communication with XBOSoft?

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

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

Because of their mentoring and oversight projects were completed in time specified. If we had questions or concerns they were easy to access to get the answers we needed.

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

Professionalism and attention to details. They know their business.

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

None

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Whil is a company providing content related to mindfulness through software applications. We distribute that content, which is created by specialists, to organizations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with XBOSoft?

We mainly hired them to do test automation for us. We had a QA team in place, but it wasn’t giving good results. At the same time, we didn’t have a thorough list of all test scenarios and cases.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

My goal was to streamline the complete QA process, to automate and make sure we could provide greater quality in the applications.

I also asked them to do some research on how we could pull out test results into a tracking tool. They spent some time investigating that and gave me a good result on how I could create that kind of reporting software.

What is the team composition?

There are three test automation engineers from XBOSoft working with us.

How did you come to work with XBOSoft?

Our VP of engineering knew of XBOSoft and referred them. I got in touch with them to start the discussion on how they could help us.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost so far is $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with XBOSoft in February 2019, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have a spreadsheet that we use to summarize all completed automated tests and how many tests are left, so that we know where we stand. I review that tracker every couple of weeks, and make sure progress is being made.

We have three different application levels: web, iOS, and Android. They automated the web application testing by almost 95% within three months.

How did XBOSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

We have an ongoing development process, with two-week sprints to deliver work to production. We’ve made a lot of progress in the last 10 months because they're really good. They understand the deadlines and put in all the required effort to make sure they find any critical issues.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were able to identify the major issues and why those things weren’t working properly within a week. That gave me a lot of confidence very quickly. I was able to convince my senior management that this was going to be a good investment and we should move forward with it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

When working with remote teams, communication is key. I have a half-hour discussion with them every day, to answer their questions and ask my own. We’ve had these meetings every weekday since we started the collaboration.

Also, we work on a lot of features with them, where we come up with how we want to do the testing and other aspects. I’d like them to do a bit more analysis and ask me more questions. It would make it into more of a brainstorming discussion, allowing us to identify more and more user test scenarios.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Set expectations correctly from the client side and provide all the documentation and information they need. I worked with a QA engineer from their side and created a spreadsheet with all the tests. We provided that list to the team so they’d be productive from day one.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there. 

I'm the director of engineering for Sago Mini. We make mobile games for kids. The games are available on iOS, Google Play, Kindle, and various other platforms. I run our all of our software development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with XBOSoft? 

We needed to hire an external resource to do quality assurance testing, specifically in China.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have a lot of customers in China. XBOSoft provides a team on the ground to help us do in-country testing on China’s networks, devices, and internet connections. They've worked with us three times at this point, and we will continue to use them when needed.

What is the team composition?

We work with a project manager, a project lead, and two of QA specialists.

How did you come to work with XBOSoft? 

I don't remember exactly how we got introduced, but someone referred them to us. 

What is the status of this engagement? 

We first worked together around the end of 2018 and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their work is very good and their attention to detail is excellent. They send us results and we review their work. We validated their work ourselves for the first couple of projects.

How did XBOSoft perform from a project management standpoint? 

They’re super flexible, which I appreciate. One of the projects was exploratory. We changed requirements and had to pivot a few different times. XBOSoft was happy to adjust as we went along. 

What did you find most impressive about them? 

XBOSoft is easy to chat with and quite clear. They're partially based out of the US and their testers are in China. Communication is surprisingly great. Their English is quite good in both writing and speaking. There's multiple languages used in China but they make it so easy. 

Are there any areas they could improve? 

I don't have a good answer right now. There's always something to improve, but I’m happy they get done what we need done. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers? 

Explain in detail what you're trying to do in order to set them up for success. Whenever you're doing remote work, you need to be extra clear with your communication.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the president at REAL Software Systems. We're a software development company that markets software products to the intellectual property space.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with XBOSoft?

We needed additional resources to help us with QA.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

XBOSoft is an adjunct to our in-house team, so they help us test our proprietary software technologies.

What is the team composition?

They assigned about 2–4 software testing engineers to us.

How did you come to work with XBOSoft?

They were referred to us.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in June 2018 and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've been tracking the success through our user experience department, and XBOSoft has been doing very well. We'd give them a high rating in terms of the closed tests.

How did XBOSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

They manage their time and tasks very well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're very proactive and always follow through on tasks.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Having a plan ahead of time is the best thing you can do. That will help you use their time more efficiently.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a software engineer at BlackLine.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with XBOSoft?

We needed additional support with QA testing, as well as help with other tasks like ironing out project requirements for our software. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

XBOSoft has acted as an extension of our own team for many years, providing mostly QA testing and other types of support for our financial systems. 

How did you come to work with XBOSoft?

I'm not sure how we found them, since we've been working with them for so long. We've continued the relationship based on how familiar they are with our platforms, so they've become indispensable over the years.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with them since 2008.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

XBOSoft tests everything we work on, paying close attention to details and KPIs. They've developed a wealth of knowledge and familiarity with our systems over the last decade, making them invaluable partners. Our employees are always either requesting to work with them or requesting to have more of their resources. 

How did XBOSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

They provide regular status updates and progress reports that include percentages of test cases executed, bugs found, and whether or not bugs found were pre-existing. They also hold kickoff meetings with teams before going into a project to understand any changes made and where progression should be focused. 

When it comes to meeting timelines, they put in the extra time to achieve our goals but provide pushback when our requests aren't realistic. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their attention to detail sets them apart. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I just wish I had more of them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make them feel like they're part of the team, allowing them to contribute input and feedback. By giving them additional freedom, they'll provide more than what's asked of them. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the DevOps and QA director for Bongo, a company that provides software for experiential learning video technology.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with XBOSoft?

We needed a partner to assist with the manual and automated testing for our app as well as its integrations with various learning management systems.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Most of XBOSOft’s work is web-based, since we’re a software-as-a-service (SaaS) hosted in Amazon. The bulk of their focus has been on the app’s web frontend, such as how users interact with it or how administrators configure, set up, and support our app. XBOSoft defines and executes test cases, going through the functionality and verifying that it’s working correctly. They check for regressions, review APIs that our customers may use, and build automated tests.

What is the team composition?

They have an engineer that works on site with us and three engineers in their back office.

How did you come to work with XBOSoft?

I worked with them at a different company. The engineering team there had nothing but good reviews about them, so we hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We partnered in October 2017, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We monitor their coverage and definition of tests, tracking them at each release as we continue to expand coverage. They increase significantly each time, and the bounce back rate is incredibly low. XBOSoft has found about 900 defects (mainly from the in-house team), and we’ve only had to go back to clarify two of them. The team is extremely detailed and provides more than enough information to understand the issues they’ve flagged.

How did XBOSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re predictable and reliable, providing daily reports on what they’ve covered and what issues they’ve found. Almost every test report includes screenshots and video that show exactly what they tested for and what was covered. They find a balance between resolving all the issues and making sure that we release on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

XBOSoft has some of the most detailed and careful test execution and reporting I’ve ever seen. They appropriately assess what needs to be covered, even if we haven’t provided them with much direction. We just have to give them general guidance, and they come back with great ways to define and execute tests. It frees up a lot of our time and makes the partnership much more efficient.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Since starting the partnership, they’ve improved a lot in their expertise with video, audio, and different network conditions. It was a learning curve, but they’ve gotten better at it.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Train them on your app and domain so they understand how users would interact with your application. Once they understand the environment, they’ll know what tests should be run and even create some that you wouldn’t have thought of. To get the most out of them, you need to give them as much information as possible, including your timeline and release schedule.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the lead software developer at a telecommunications company. We began as a startup and were acquired.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with XBOSoft?

As a small startup, we struggled to meet quality standards and needed to improve our quality assurance.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, XBOSoft provided manual testing services. We would provide testing scenarios and they would execute them. Over time we expanded their portfolio to include more manual tests, to have them develop and test scenarios on their own, and to manage performance and exploration tests. Now we’ve developed two automation mechanisms for which they manage testing.

What is the team composition?

I interface with a project manager. The size of the team has varied over the years as the size of our contract has changed. At the peak, we had six people working for us. Currently, it’s about one.

How did you come to work with XBOSoft?

We researched different options. One of the company founders found XBOSoft through his network. We contacted them and eventually decided they were the most suitable option for us.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $700,000–800,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in April 2010 and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The best evidence of our success is that we have a minimal number of errors. Especially in recent years, when we release a feature, the number of errors is very small. That’s evidence that the QA is working well and that we’re also improving our performance.

How did XBOSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project manager ensures that we never see problems with what they’re managing internally. When we have deadlines and need more complex scenarios or different types of tests, we work together to determine an appropriate schedule. They’re always flexible and accommodating. I know they’ve worked evenings and weekends to get things done on short timeframes.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The quality of their work is very high. They’re flexible and agile in trying to fulfill our needs. When our requirements change, they’re willing to shift and adapt to what we need. They’re competent and friendly.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There have been a number of staffing changes on our projects. With the testers, they were always able to pass along the knowledge and continue without us noticing any degradation in the quality of their service. If the project manager changed, we would have to reestablish communication patterns. Sometimes it was difficult to cope. I can’t blame them for that though. It’s the nature of the labor market.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Establish trust. Then you can see how much you can delegate to them and rely on their expertise.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of PMO at MatrixCare, a company that produces software for the long-term care industry. Our software is primarily used by nurses, nurse’s assistants, and some doctors to take care of older people and those in skilled nursing facilities.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with XBOSoft?

We needed a partner who could test and implement best practices and a variety of technology.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our software is a Java program that’s hosted in the cloud, so XBOSoft created a Selenium framework that allows users to record and test the frontend of the website piece. The framework also integrates with the backend to enable web services and workflow testing. XBOSoft helped develop best practices and taught us how to choose and write the correct tools for managing test cases. They showed us how to filter them in order to know which ones to run during regression time and how to implement the plug-in to make the test cases automated.

What is the team composition?

We worked with fifteen people, with five of them working in our office.

How did you come to work with XBOSoft?

My boss met them at a conference.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent over $1 million a year.

What is the status of this engagement?

The partnership lasted from April 2016–March 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our past case management was essentially a spreadsheet loaded into a shared point. After hiring XBOSoft, we now use Zephyr, which plugs directly into Jira and is much more advanced. Our entire regression suite has around 3,000 test cases, and they covered about 80% of them. Their framework allows our non-technical QA testers to easily input and record their test cases.

How did XBOSoft perform from a project management standpoint?

At the beginning of the engagement, they had a project manager who guided the transition from manual to automated testing and who taught us how the framework functioned. That later changed to various scrum teams, but the close guidance at the beginning was greatly appreciated.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re technically skilled and great at software development. If a tool doesn’t fit your organization’s need, they can rewrite it or add modules. They also held numerous sessions to impart their software dev knowledge to our QA team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could’ve communicated more.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Listen and learn from them because they’re the experts. Don’t try to force them to follow your model; rather, incorporate their suggestions into your workflow.