Zeitech Solutions Pvt Ltd

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO and a shareholder of Intec Digital Solutions GmbH, a 30-year-old company located in Munich, Germany. We work in machine maintenance and production planning systems, and we have big customers all over Europe, including Electrolux, Qualcomm, Daimler, Volkswagen, and more. Since we’re in the IT industry, we also do custom software development for our clients.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Zeitech Solutions Pvt Ltd?

After the recession in Germany in 2008, the airline and automobile industries were greatly affected, industries that we focused on. Additionally, our product was outdated since our company was founded in 1989, so we needed a partner to do some research work for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Zeitech is our main research services provider, and they take care of all of our technical needs. We’ve developed a new platform with their help, for which they’ve handled all the R&D.

Our business application is similar to SAP or Oracle’s applications; it’s a complex platform that requires a lot of research. Thus, Zeitech’s primary focus has been researching new technologies to integrate them into our software.

We also offer a product to our larger clients, and Zeitech provides us with third-level support for that product. If any customer has a technically complex problem, they take care of it.

For their development work, we give them rough ideas. Then, they figure out which technologies would be best to use and come back to us with some options. If we like their solution, we build out a prototype together, and if it all works out, we then integrate the solution into our software.

Our main product, XMaintain, was 100% developed by their team based on our specifications and requirements. We also have a product related to the insurance industry, which was also 100% developed by Zeitech. Both projects consisted of mobile and web application development.

In addition to those projects, we also created an innovative low-code/no-code framework with Zeitech’s help. This framework helps users develop business applications without having technical knowledge or needing a programmer, and it’s available as a web and mobile app. Finally, we’re organizing a webinar for November 2021 to release the new version of our platform, which was also done by Zeitech.

What is the team composition?

Currently, we’re working with eight people from Zeitech. Two of them are working on our database and dealing with Oracle, MySQL, and Postgre, 2–3 other team members are in charge of Java and Spring development, two more people are mastering the Google Web Toolkit, and one person is in charge of reporting.

For iOS and Android app development, we’ve worked with two people from their mobile development team, two more people from their database team, and another four people for Java development. However, Zeitech handles those resources internally, so I don’t know them nor how they work.

How did you come to work with  Zeitech Solutions Pvt Ltd?

Zeitech was referred to us by a friend. We gave them a small project initially, and they did a good job. From there, we started communicating more often, and they visited our offices so that we could train them on more complex projects. Slowly, we built a relationship. We’ve been working together for 12–13 years, and we’re very comfortable with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We have an open contract with Zeitech, and their cost varies depending on the projects we’re working on, but we’re spending around €200,000 (approximately $231,000 USD) per year on average for their services. We can always increase or decrease the size of their team; they’re very flexible with this. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in October 2008, and we’ve been actively working with them since. They’re currently working on a new product for an insurance company, and they’re about to deliver it.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re very happy with Zeitech right now, and our customers are very happy as well. The XMaintain product got us many important customers, and it has been 100% successful. Up until now, Zeitech has not failed on any project, and they’ve always delivered on time.

In the beginning, we had some issues regarding the cultural gap, but it wasn’t anything major, and we’ve never had any low time with them. They do the technical work really well; we’re pleased with their work, and our success rate is very good.

One of our clients in the truck manufacturing industry uses our system in their production process. If this client experiences any error, we have to fix it immediately. Zeitech is always available to take care of that quickly. Even during the worst part of the COVID-19 pandemic, they’ve always been reachable easily.

How did  Zeitech Solutions Pvt Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

We’re using Zoho and a tool developed by Zeitech for project management, which our customers also use. We can create tickets using that tool if we need any support, and no task is done without first creating a ticket there. We also use that tool as our primary communication channel, but we use Microsoft Teams for meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We love Zeitech’s speed. It’s difficult to find skilled people here in Germany, and they usually take a long time executing projects. However, thanks to having Zeitech on board, we can support our customers quickly.

One time, a customer reported that something wasn’t working properly. Our system sent an automatic email alert, and before I woke up, the problem had been already addressed by Zeitech. Their quality is also really impressive, and they do great research work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Most of our customers are comfortable speaking in German, but Zeitech doesn’t have anyone on their team who speaks it, so there is a language barrier. It would be great if they had someone who could speak German so that we could do more work together.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

When you work with a remote team, you need to invest time and have a good communicator on your side. If you just give them a requirement, your relationship won’t be successful. You need to have meetings and explain things to them to avoid any miscommunication.