Xeven Solutions

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My organization is an enterprise software platform geared towards social connectivity and preventing isolation in the Dementia and Alzheimer’s population.

What challenge were you trying to address with Xeven Solutions?

Their team has provided the application development work for our main platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our product is a true software platform, so we have iOS and Android apps to support the needs of our community and family customers, but at its core, we are building a browser-based platform.

We came to them with concepts and wireframes in place, but we’ve I’ve had conversations with their team over the past year in which they have informed the larger strategy of the project.

They worked in ASP.net to develop the program’s functionality on top of AWS as the architecture. We also use some services from Azure and a client-side template called Admin LTE, which is an open-source front end framework.

What is the team composition?

There are a handful of people on their team that I communicate with directly for various pieces of the puzzle, whether that’s QA, weekly standups, or anything else. When it comes to strategy and leadership, Irfan (CEO) has definitely taken the lead for the most part.

How did you come to work with Xeven Solutions?

They responded to a bid we posted on Upwork, and we had enough conversations that built my confidence in their team’s skill set and approach to the point where I decided to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost of the project scope we’ve laid out so far is $36,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We signed our contract in July 2019 and are continuing to work together. My goal is for Xeven Solutions to continue to serve as our development team on an ongoing basis once we’ve implemented the product into the community.

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

What they’ve built and the way they’ve built it is very current in terms of best practices for applications like these. They’ve enabled a sort of micro-services structure in which we can pull out and update or repair single pieces of the application as need be without taking the rest of it offline.

They’ve also been instrumental in making changes to the platform that significantly streamline the end service that we can provide. Even in the way we assign tablets to residents, their knowledge of the code helped them to be able to think through and simplify significantly.

We are continuing to fix bugs and nail down the fine-tuning of the application, and they have done a great job of staying flexible with those changes. They continue to iterate and address issues that arise as we come across them, and so far they’ve always hit the nail on the head.

How did Xeven Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

They use different programs than we do but have been willing to adapt to our platforms, and vice versa. As a whole team, we use Slack, JIRA, and WhatsApp to communicate. All of the tools we use to keep track of progress and everything have been very helpful in consolidating all of our plans and the information we need to eliminate redundancies and solve problems in the most efficient way possible.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their philosophy as developers is completely team-minded. It often seems like they take as much pride in the final result as you do, and that attitude shows in their work. They have worked with us through ups and downs, and we view them very much as partners rather than contractors.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Any bumps we’ve run into throughout the collaboration have been fairly minor, and their team has always been totally willing to listen to feedback from us when it comes to those things. Honestly, the only thing I think they should work on is how they market themselves because I think they have a lot of untapped potential as a team that doesn’t come through in their brand copy.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just get a good understanding of what their strengths and weaknesses are and be open about yours so that your teams are able to meet each other where you’re at. They’re pretty good at answering questions and having a solid grasp of what needs to happen at any given point, so take advantage of their expertise in that respect.