Zealous System

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a simple and low cost risk management software provider, I am a risk expert and CEO.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Zealous System, and what were your goals?

We have in-house development capability but wanted to supplement our internal resources with a technology partner

SOLUTION

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

We tendered for this project and we liked the flexible working arrangement, language skills and responsiveness of the team.

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

We use Zealous particularly for front end development of our product in HTML and webside, they now provide onward support and enhancements and are an extension of our internal capability.

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

We have a key developer that we interact with daily and a senior developer which we engage on when planning and discussing major development projects. They bring on additional subject matter experts where necessary and we have direct access to the MD as necessary.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All deliverables are tested in UAT by a technical and business user before we deploy to production, of course there are always things we will find but the final deliverables always meet high code and user standards.

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

Zealous are transparent and honest about project management, estimations, and delivery. I can track the hours they are recording in a shared google sheets document, we speak as necessary and interact in real-time through Skype. This process works perfectly fine for us.

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

What I like most about Zealous System is that they are responsive and always there when I need them.

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

It's not a big deal but where they engage other subject matter experts, they could introduce them to us and make them part of the extended team instead they are a little anonymous.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Metropolitan College of New York (MCNY) is a small, private college in the NYC metro area. We cater to adult, minority students with flexible programs and extensive academic and personal support. Many of our students transfer from other colleges, often at the last minute. I am the Assistant Director of Technology for Enterprise Systems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Zealous System?

Our process of evaluating transfer credits from other schools was fully manual and based on paper or PDF forms. Employee A would look at transcripts and map out the credits on a form, send the document to various approvers, and eventually Employee B would key the final document into the PowerCampus student information system (duplication of effort, since Employee A already keyed it once).

The entire process was slow enough that it couldn't be completed before students registered for classes, meaning that advisors had to cross-reference multiple documents in order to know which classes a student should take. Knowing which students had transfer credits in process was nearly impossible; this had knock-on effects for many other processes.

What were your goals for this project?

Digitize and speed up the entire transfer credit process. Eliminate re-keying of transfer credits. Integrate with our Admissions CRM (Slate) and central SIS (PowerCampus). Allow Admissions to quickly mock up transfer credit evaluations with a student and compare how credits would transfer to different programs, then push one mockup through the entire process until officially approved by the registrar, at which point the credits are instantly inserted into the SIS.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found Zealous via their website. We compared them to several US-based vendors and found the latter prohibitively expensive. We contacted several existing clients of Zealous and heard good things both about the quality of their work and their ability to work internationally (timezones, English language, etc.).

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

MCNY already had a project design with flowcharts, wireframes, etc.; we submitted this to Zealous for a bid; they pointed out some problems and asked for various clarifications. We then negotiated a contract and they began work right away. Zealous first created a dummy UI; we were impressed with their graphic design.

Once we approved the style, Zealous deployed iterative builds on our servers; we tested and provided feedback. The first two builds took several weeks to develop and included major changes. Towards the end of the process, builds had minor changes - small feature tweaks, bug resolutions, typo corrections, etc.

We were very impressed with the speed of development. Partway through the process our end users submitted additional requirements and feature ideas not in the original plans; we submitted a change order to Zealous at a very reasonable cost.

What was the team composition?

I worked with two individuals at Zealous - a project manager and a managing director. The director handled contracts, invoices, etc. Everything else went through the project manager, who was very responsive at all times.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

We recently deployed the application in our live environment and have not had time to evaluate its impact yet.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The project manager engaged me in weekly Zoom meetings for a time and then we sent regular emails back and forth. I was exceptionally pleased with how efficiently meetings were conducted. No time was wasted and we did not engage in endless bureaucratic make-work.

The project took longer than it should have, but that was our fault. Every time we submitted a problem, Zealous resolved it in days - often less than a day. Nearly all delays were on our end as we tried to wrangle busy staffers to test the application.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The US dev shops we spoke with all wanted to take responsibility for all phases of the project, including design (at significant additional time and cost). However, we already had experience with in-house software development and had a detailed design. Zealous was the only vendor willing to accept as much or a little responsibility as we wished to outsource.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I don't believe Zealous had much prior experience with American higher ed. This led to occasional misunderstandings because they were unfamiliar with terms and processes that we assumed were common knowledge. Both sides could improve here. Also, our lawyers wanted many changes to their English-language contract; Zealous was easy to work with on this point.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Managing Director of a property services organisation who works with investors by providing research, due diligence and a consultative approach. We have a national and international reach, serving clients around the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Zealous System?

We engaged the team at Zealous initially to build out the website an bespoke features including a partner portal. We have since used them to create and edit landing pages and other marketing collateral used by the company.

What were your goals for this project?

We were looking to drive enquiry to the website and use the landing pages in connection with various marketing programs we launched with partner companies.

The work Zealous delivered allowed us to execute on these goals as we have seen a big increase in visitors and have been able to streamline client engagement through the use of the landing pages.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We searched on-line for some time looking for the right creative team. Since engaging the guys at Zealous our website and marketing activities have become very easy as we regularly lean on them for support.

I must say, their after sales service is some of the best I've encountered in 25 years in business. They are responsive to questions, comments, changes and are happy to edit and re-purpose content to suit our purposes.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Once we formally engaged the team, we were introduced to the members who would be looking after our job/s and a video conference was scheduled where they asked us many questions in order to gain a deep understanding and insight to our organisation. This was very impressive as it seemed they really cared about delivering exactly what we wanted.

They offered us as many follow up calls as we needed to ensure the brief was being followed and to input any changes we wanted as we progressed through the delivery of the jobs. On every occasion they were very punctual with their responses and more than happy to make any changes we requested, even if they were outside the brief.

What was the team composition?

I have worked with the Directors and various creatives in the organisation. They seem to share the work and responsibilities which to me indicates the Directors trust and have confidence in their teams. We found this to be true.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Website traffic has increased 10 x and our client engagement process has been streamlined, leading to higher close rates and more revenue for us. On-going support has been outstanding, no job has been too small or difficult and they have always been happy to action any changes quickly and efficiently.

Now they have a deep understanding of our business it is even easier to communicate our ideas and they execute with little fuss.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow we experienced along with the talent and their teams ability to execute meant we never waited long for a job to be completed. Lines of communication were always open and we received quick responses to each enquiry, every time.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Efficiency, attention to detail, talent and a genuine interest in our company are things that stand out the most. I also found their pricing the be very fair and they have always been happy to go the extra mile after the job has been completed. I am incredibly happy with the service we have received.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Not as far as I can see.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the CEO of Augustine Tours, a tour company based in Germany. We offer private tours and corporate travel services to Rwanda, Burundi, Uganda, Kenya, and Tanzania.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Zealous System?

We had issues with our tour management and booking system.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted an improved booking system to increase our sales. We also needed a redesigned website to expand our business.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I found Zealous System through online reviews.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The Zealous System team designed and developed an online booking system for us. They also integrated a payment system and redesigned our platform.

What was the team composition?

I had an initial meeting with the business development manager and now have a dedicated project manager and developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Our booking system allows clients to make bookings and payments online without contacting us, so we have a more efficient system now.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Their team communicated with us effectively and the work was well-organized. They considered all of our business needs and offered great customer service.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Zealous Systems’ responsiveness was valuable to us. They were also willing to help in every area of the project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder of a consulting firm. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Zealous System?

I hired them for web development.

What were your goals for this project?

I wanted to build a user-friendly website that served as a resource for our clients and followers.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They approached me after I posted a brief on a freelance-hiring platform.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

They were supposed to build a website membership functionality that provided useful content to prospective clients. The website was meant to include newsletter opt-in, content protection, site login, and registration functionalities.

What was the team composition?

They provided a web developer and sales manager. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The project had a negative impact since visitors and prospective clients were unable to log into my site.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

They managed the project poorly. They consistently missed deadlines, and the lead developer was often unavailable, which resulted in delays.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I have little positive to say about my experience with Zealous System, aside from the fact that they successfully migrated the data and content from my old site into WordPress.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

They failed to execute the functionalities agreed upon in the scope of work. The code they created kept breaking down. Many clients and site visitors complained about a confusing registration process even though I had flagged this issue with Zealous System multiple times. They never fixed it despite going back and forth for over 12 months.

To make matters worse, they left most of the testing to me rather than taking the lead and ensuring that no errors existed. I regularly found sloppy errors, typos, and design flaws. They also refused to acknowledge their mistakes when my next team summarized the errors in their code.

Working with Zealous System was hugely time-consuming and a big waste of money. I will never work with them again, and I would recommend that others steer clear of them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner and manager of SeeVirtu.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zealous System?

We needed a partner to build our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I created an outline of the requirements and then worked with Zealous System to fine-tune them and make them functional. The platform is a scheduling system for dentists to organize and book hygienists online. I showed Zealous System a few sites I wanted mine to look like, and they built a unique WordPress site, using PHP. We just finished up phase one and are moving into phase two.

What is the team composition?

They have a project manager and a dedicated team.

How did you come to work with Zealous System?

I put out a request on LinkedIn and had 12 companies contact me. I then narrowed that down until Zealous System was the winner. They communicated quickly and were organized and affordable, so I hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent less than $8,000 on phase two.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since June 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Those who have seen the site say it looks nice and unique. It’s easy to navigate and will bring in lots of traffic.

How did Zealous System perform from a project management standpoint?

I have a busy schedule, but they always try to reach out to me to keep things moving along. We used Skype and InVision to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have excellent project management. They make it extremely easy to communicate and understand their processes.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Our different time zones cause some issues, but they accommodate me and are willing to stay up late to communicate.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Make a detailed outline so that everyone is on the same page.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the owner of a consulting firm. We provide various services to our clients, including website development and project management. We operate out of Montreal, Canada, so most of our clients are in Canada.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zealous System?

We were looking for a company to revamp a website based on some specific requirements.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Zealous provided us with a new design proposal, which we shared with our client. They have a fabulous design team and we loved their ideas. After approval, they completely redid the architecture and coded the entire site using the Drupal CMS. They also improved the navigation, so now people can get quick information by hovering over some content rather than clicking on the link. That minimizes the waiting times because there is no need to load a new page. In addition, there are some design elements that are not noticeable to most people, but make the website look attractive: for example, the top line of the footer is slanted.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager and 1–2 developers.

How did you come to work with them?

I sent a request for proposals and they were among those who responded. Their response was very quick and professional. I could see they put a lot of effort in their response and were thorough in answering our questions. That inspired confidence in me and I decided they'd be a reliable partner.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them between March–July 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We're entirely satisfied with everything, and so are our clients. Zealous did an excellent job.

How did they perform from a project management standpoint?

We had an open line communication and they kept me up-to-date with the progress. We talked weekly via Skype and had video conferences.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They stand out because of the quality of their work and their professionalism. It was a great relationship and we'll be working together again.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Go ahead and get in touch with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the head of products at Neil Patel Digital.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zealous System?

They’ve built a few WordPress websites. We then wanted to migrate the previous versions to the CMS in order to have greater flexibility with the marketing frontend side.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve built four WordPress sites with the Divi theme and a variety of WordPress plug-ins. The first project was a redesign for our company’s subscriber site. They made minor enhancements with Ruby on Rails to improve agility and speed at a lower price point. Two other sites were for end-clients. Although most projects were relatively simple, the most complex site had about three pages and led into a web application. We expect that site to change in a few months as we grow the business.

Zealous System doesn’t do UX/UI because we complete those in-house and give them the designs. We provide wireframes via PSD (Adobe Photoshop) files. The team uses this information – particularly the navigation specifications – to scope out the projects.

What is the team composition?

The founder has been our main point of contact and project manager for the last few projects. I also interact with another principal, mostly on deals for the current project. The principal will then pass me on to the founder.

How did you come to work with Zealous System?

I worked for a startup in Sydney a few years ago when I met their managing director at the time. They helped that company with some fairly simple WordPress sites in a successful engagement. For Neil Patel Digital, I didn’t look for another vendor because I’ve never had an issue with Zealous System. They’ve been reasonably priced, and great with communication and execution.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $3,500–$4,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Zealous System in October 2017 and the relationship is ongoing. However, the collaboration is intermittent because we don’t have a constant workflow. We plan to send our two upcoming WordPress sites straight to them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We consider the partnership successful because the sites are functional and have only minor bug issues, which are unavoidable in software. Deliveries rarely contain errors as well. Furthermore, our marketing team has become more aware of Zealous System’s potential value for our clients. We may send more end-client business their way.

How did Zealous System perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve established a good working relationship; they’re clear and transparent. We use Redmine to track progress and InVision to share mock-ups. Additionally, we access their staging environment to review development. The teams communicate via Skype on a daily basis.

Zealous System is always responsive. They hop on projects quickly and remain communicative throughout the process. We get feedback and changes in short order. They ask the right questions to ensure products meet our expectations. Everyone speaks English well, which distinguishes them from previous vendors and benefits our current international partnerships. They’ll call whenever a misunderstanding occurs to clarify the communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team is accessible, responsive, and quick with starting new tasks. Their approach works well with our preference for fast-paced work. Zealous System reacts to changes, requests, and testing in a dependable manner that’s refreshing, but also rare in our industry.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Scope the project completely beforehand and go into the engagement with a clear project outline. That way, the team can provide quick and effective service. But, Zealous System can also help with design and other project elements.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of eSwipe. We’re a software development company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zealous System?

I work for myself and found it easier and cheaper to outsource a lot of my projects in order to have a bigger team. This allows me to take on a lot more projects without having to employ full-time staff.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The biggest project was for a cricket management league company. We built a whole e-commerce platform for the players to buy kits from. It’s a custom PHP website where you can customize shirts, add in your own logos, view the front and back, add player names and numbers, etc. There’s a whole backend connected for the admin staff to manage and send orders to suppliers directly through the system via email. It’s a comprehensive system and an ongoing project.

We’ve mainly worked with PHP for the various projects, the biggest one being Laravel. We’ve used .NET, Magento, and WordPress customizations as well.

What is the team composition?

I work with the business analyst who is my point of contact and also in charge of the project. There’s also a team lead who works under him and is in charge of their developers. I sometimes work with the developers as well. I have access to all of their different team members.

How did you come to work with Zealous System?

I was working with a couple of people from Bangladesh already and looking to work with a company that had more developers available. I found Zealous through an Internet search. I saw their website, got a quote from them, and then they did a test project. I was very happy with that, so I continued the relationship.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $50,000–$70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2012 and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our clients are pleased with the work.

How did Zealous System perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very good and I’m very happy. They all keep me informed about specific goals and points we need to make. We always use Skype to touch base and talk about what’s happening next. We use Trello for complicated projects.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Other people I’ve worked with have been difficult to communicate with. It always ended up as a massive issue whenever there was a misunderstanding. I find it very easy to communicate with Zealous. They’re always very gracious and helpful whenever there’s a misunderstanding about a feature request or expectation. They’d rather work on the relationship instead of just making money.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’m very happy.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s about finding the right business manager who you can communicate easily and develop a mutual understanding with. Grow the relationship together and don’t just focus on profit.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Synrgise is an education technology organization that develops applications that assist organizations and universities with management and deployment. I had worked with Zealous for our previous company, a full-stack web development agency called Jetweb. We focused on website development, e-commerce engines, and ERP/business management systems. At the beginning of 2017, we started Synrgise and continued to work with Zealous System.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zealous System?

We initially needed a lot of low-level development. Capacity issues meant that our development team had overflow work. We had developed a university assessment system for a client. It had been written in Adobe Flex at a time when Flash was going to be the next big thing. 

Then the iPad came along and completely changed the scene by not supporting Flash. That technology started to regress in terms of market penetration, but our enterprise application was difficult to redevelop in another language and many Flash elements couldn’t be built elsewhere at that time.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Zealous helped us build small pieces of code for our existing applications. They assembled a team of Flex developers to assist us, and have since made the project their own. They gained a deep understanding of our business processes and the content behind the system. We engage with our university clients and relay requested changes and improvements to Zealous without going through a deep business analysis.

Around four months ago, we made the decision to convert everything to HTML5 and JavaScript. The upfront investment was a bitter pill to swallow, so we looked for an organization that could give us the motivation to do it. We signed up for a project with one of the largest educational organizations in South Africa, which owns hundreds of schools and universities. That client told us that they wouldn’t support Flash, which motivated us to make the conversion. We put Zealous under the wire, giving them four months to deliver a project that should have taken a year. We’ve spent several years working with their team on this one big project.

Our second project also revolved around assessments, but it was a high-level, web-based, data-driven app that allowed students to take online tests and submit evidence. It also allowed testers to log in and mark that evidence, and helped training companies manage the process. We began that project through initial scoping with Zealous.

Up until that point, we had asked their developers to jump into existing software applications and learn as a part of our team. For this project, we put together a scope and process map for them. They took it from there, identifying the right tech stack and developing the platform.

What is the team composition?

Zealous is an extension of our team, and they easily account for 30% of our resource workforce. If we need to scale, they can provide even more than that. This relates to our ability to operate at the moment. 

Depending on the environment, we engage with two or three select individuals from their team. Now we’re working with a project manager who engages directly with our development and non-development teams. He’s open to speaking directly with the product owners, who don’t understand the technical aspect but but can tell him what they want.

I also have a direct line to their managing director. When there a task is under pressure, and our project manager is unsure about their ability to deliver in time, I highlight the importance of the work to the director. Having the ability to speak to the company owner has always been helpful.

How did you come to work with Zealous System?

We did a bit of research in terms of resources per hour. We ran another project several years ago within a specific open-source platform called Vtiger. Because it had been built in India, we specifically targeted agencies there, and were lucky enough to find some of the platform’s original developers. We brought them to South Africa, where they ended up working for our organization full-time. There is some great talent in India, but we also found some bad apples when initially engaging with software companies and trying to find those resources.

From Zealous’ perspective, it was a two-sided win. They were one of several companies that approached us after we placed an advertisement on a resource platform similar to PeoplePerHour. Because we had learned a lot while dealing with offshore companies, they immediately understood what we wanted. We gave Zealous a small piece of work, and continued to cultivate the relationship. They delivered time and time again.

We chose them were because they’d done work in the educational space before and understood how colleges and universities worked. Before this, we struggled to engage with other development companies in other countries. We feel that we’ve hit the jackpot with Zealous. They get the work done, and they get it done well.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Zealous System in March 2014. We’ve invested a lot of money into development of the application, and it’s now going into its second tier. When we moved out of Jetweb and started Synrgise, we took the application with us and continued the relationship with Zealous. We have delivered two pilots and began a beta test at the end of November 2017. We met the target successfully, made some minor changes, and we went live on January 1, 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The launch was a major achievement for us. Our client saw us as miracle workers. I know that Zealous put in extra hours and resources to make sure that this happened. Our second testing platform has also become very successful in the South African marketplace.

If we land a big project and are required to scale up or change one of our applications, we can rely on their team to understand the work and speak our language. I can go to Zealous’ team with requirements, ask them to organize resources, and get the work going. They’re happy to oblige.

They’ve been instrumental to the maintenance and support of our system, which has processed over one million exams. Support from their side helped us achieve this staggering number. We have attended conferences to speak about how we automated university exam systems.

How did Zealous System perform from a project management standpoint?

Setups with suppliers are always challenging, and when an individual on their end leaves the relationship has to be reformulated. We’ve been working with Zealous for a few years, and there is only one individual with whom we are no longer engaged. Everyone else we’ve worked with has stayed with the company. They have a great culture.

We predominantly manage communication through Skype. We’ve always relied on an Agile methodology, and share small user stories with their team, for development requirements.

For the project Zealous has taken from conception to implementation, they manage projects on their after we give them the brief. We held them accountable for the milestone dates they set at the beginning of the project, and they’ve stuck to those dates. We can rely on their timeframes confidently.

Certain projects weren’t developed as we wanted them to be, but we have always addressed this by finding the right resources or changing what we needed. They’re committed to sorting issues out, which has helped us build a strong relationship.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have atypical skills like Adobe Flex, which is hard to come by. Even though Zealous is based abroad, we meet regularly in South Africa. They’ve spent time with our team here, engaging face-to-face. This set them apart from many other companies, which did everything over Skype or the phone.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Bringing on a part-time developer was a challenge because he was driven by the project mindset and was doubling up as the team leader of another project. He understood development, but still had a team below him. This didn’t work for us. If they want to offer full-time developers as resources, they need to manage them better. We’ve raised this issue with them. They agreed to not use this approach going forward, but rather to run the work on a project basis. This suits our business needs best.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Skill is the most important factor for any offshore or outsourced development agency, followed by budget. Another important factor that many people overlook is working culture. Understanding between teams is key for any organization. We can easily identify this skill during a small project, we can easily identify this skill, but organizations need to observe working cultures to determine whether one team can work well with another.