Zignite Labs

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the owner of a commercial film production company. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Zignite Labs?

This year, my company started to develop profiling software. We were using data mining to get more information about our clients to attract more business. Zignite Labs assisted us with the development of this software.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Zignite Labs built the software from scratch. They did a full-stack development, programming the profiling model and algorithm for the new software. 

What is the team composition?

I worked directly with about four people. 

How did you come to work with Zignite Labs? 

I found them through an UpWork posting. We looked at a few other companies, but they had the best strategy and solution. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested about $9,000 in their services. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began the project in December 2019 and finished it in January 2020.

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

I think they did a great job. We just finished the project so I don’t have any specific metrics yet. However, the software works well. 

How did Zignite Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very responsive and able to understand our vision. Sunil (CEO, Zignite Labs) was a great listener. We were able to get the project done very quickly. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed by how they were able to translate my ideas into the software. I was worried that some things would get lost as they were focused on coding, but they understood what we wanted. They were helpful and did a great job. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’m happy with the results. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Kait Technologies. We provide a chatbot in the restaurant domain.

What challenge were you trying to address with Zignite Labs?

Sunil (Founder and CEO, Zignite Labs) was our CTO for one year. He put together our tech plan and handled everything to build our system. He relied on his company Zignite Labs to help us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a system in place before bringing in Sunil, but Zignite Labs helped built a lot of projects from scratch. 

Our main project was the chatbot. Zignite Labs specializes in the AI sector, and we needed those skills. We’ve used another provider for the design part. They gave us a hand in building the chatbot, which required a lot of work on the backend. It also needed a dashboard where the customer can control it, receive and send orders, create and update profiles, and so on. The last challenge was to integrate it with third-party apps.

What is the team composition?

Zignite Labs assigned four people to our project. Sunil was actually our employee, so he was the main point of contact. 

How did you come to work with Zignite Labs?

We had connections in India and saw Sunil’s résumé and profile on LinkedIn. We’d also heard about him from a friend and contacted him for a chat. Things progressed from there, and we made an agreement.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $170,000–$180,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our collaboration with Zignite Labs started in August 2018 and ended in September 2019. 

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

Due to our client model, we’ll be launching the chatbot this month or the next. Clients will decide when they’ll start using our system. We ended the project with Zignite Labs last month, but they still follow up with us when our new team needs help. Generally, the system was in excellent condition when they left so we can run it without any developers.

How did Zignite Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

We gave Sunil control of our technology and the independence to develop without daily input from us. He and I were the primary points of contact on both sides. They handled the project from A to Z and showed knowledge beyond their specialized areas—AI and chatbots. 

I believe Zignite Labs could manage any kind of project. They followed the right processes when it comes to planning and brainstorming; they studied the requirements, proceeded professionally in terms of implementation, and respected timelines.

Communicating in simple terms is usually the difficult part of any tech project, but Zignite Labs could understand us as a customer and convert our requirements into a model. As a result, we could make sure our requests led to a desired outcome and make changes as needed. We worked remotely using phones, Google Hangouts, Skype, WhatsApp, and email. Gitlab was our management tool.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They stood out in terms of respecting deadlines.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They improved and expanded and continue to do so. This includes not only the work they do, but also the other features they can add to their team working with other clients and in different domains. They can improve, and I’m sure they will, in every business aspect.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

It’s important to first set up a plan and discuss it. After that, clients shouldn’t have anything to worry about with Zignite Labs. Even if they face some challenges, just be patient and give them time—they have the know-how to come up with a solution.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I act as head of product for a search and recruitment services firm. We develop tools for our clients to use, and tools to help us perform our work better, faster, and more consistently.

For what projects/services did your company hire Zignite Labs?

We hired Zignite Labs for two high priority projects that would enable us to screen candidates to improve hiring outcomes for our clients.

What were your goals for this project?

We have a professor of sociology on staff and have developed an academic underpinning for the correlation between certain candidate traits with job performance as well as compatibility within the company.

We weren't sure if we would be able to identify those traits from the candidate information we were most likely to be able to locate, and what kind of AI design would be required in order to optimize the process of making this determination.

How did you select this vendor?

Our professor researched service providers on UpWork and began conversations with Sunil and his team at Zignite based on their stated ability to work with loosely defined problems.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

The project produced multiple direction changes along the way with very little wasted effort thanks to Sunil's exceptional ability to understand the underlying problem we were attempting to solve.

These pivots included refining relationships within data, refining data collected, and developing sustainable text classification methodologies. Sunil helped us not only develop a deep learning model with the data we provided but move to productize it by also setting up the REST API service for us.

This was done without the need for much technical guidance from our business- Sunil was able to communicate clearly directly with SMEs to achieve the stated goal. As a small company with limited internal technical resources, finding a resource like Sunil was truly lucky.

What was the team composition?

Our point person was Sunil. It's unknown if others on his team helped on the project, but work was completed to a high degree of precision and technical documentation was provided along with the deliverable of the models.

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

These models have improved our processes in search- we've saved so much time avoiding search rework by focusing only on candidates who pass our screens that we're in the process of developing a new back office service for other search firms.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Sunil was a pleasure to work with. He understood our big picture goals and social theories and his technical competence and professionalism as well as communication skills far exceeded our expectations- he was a careful listener and a skilled clarifier across diverse international teams of developers and internal SMEs which ensured a very smooth and efficient relationship.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I've worked on several custom software projects with internal, external, international teams, and freelancers. Sunil's business competence is far beyond what you normally get from a software engineer.

We were able to communicate the information challenge as a problem we work together to solve, without producing rigid technical requirements for a business problem we weren't sure we could solve. The fact he could work with this and communicate clearly with nontechnical business owners is rare, and we probably would not have been able to achieve this without having found Sunil.

Are there any areas for improvement?

For this project, there is nothing we would change and are very pleased with the work. We continue to work with Sunil and Zignite on creating solutions for new business problems.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I lead development of new artificial intelligence education and training programs. We've focused on a new AI program for the past nine months.

What challenge were you trying to address with Zignite Labs?

We hired them to work on course development for us, specifically related to technical AI content.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They adapted existing materials from other courses we offer. The class focuses on natural language processing. They develop code and program assignments for this particular platform. All their work is in Python. Now that the class is live, they support a cohort of international students.

What is the team composition?

We work with a team of two. One team member is their CEO, and the other individual does significant work for our project.

How did you come to work with Zignite Labs?

We found them on Upwork, and we considered a number of individuals and companies. Their development background matched this particular project, and they were already familiar with the tools we wanted to use.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $21,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began around April or May 2019. They still support us.

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

They did everything we needed, and the course works well. There were some initial bugs, but that's normal. We made adjustments, and we're very happy with the results so far.

How did Zignite Labs perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is good. We use a variety of communication channels, including email, Slack, WhatsApp, and Zoom. We also use Google Docs, GitHub and some other code management systems to track issues and the development.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're very knowledgeable about AI development, and they understand how to teach the subject. Their depth of knowledge is very helpful to an educational setting.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We've refined our communication throughout the process, and our iterations are much more efficient than they were at the beginning. We continue to make improvements as we move forward.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear plan from the start. Our project was fairly undefined, and we've worked together to solidify structures and processes throughout the collaboration. We might have been more efficient if we had a strong strategy from the beginning.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the co-founder and CIO of a hedge fund.

For what projects/services did your company hire Zignite Labs, and what were your goals?

We hired Zignite Labs for several projects ranging from coding for internal systems to full-stack development of client-facing applications.

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

We selected Zignite based on technical expertise and responsiveness.

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

Scope of work generally began with a high-level specification which was mutually revised and agreed upon. Then, milestones were established and reviewed on weekly (or bi-weekly) calls. Meetings were conducted with appropriate team members via Google Meetings.

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

There were generally 2-4 people on the core team including a project manager.

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

We were able to bring multiple initiatives successfully across the finish line on a timetable that would not have been possible otherwise.

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

Project management and communication were excellent and a primary reason of selecting this group; especially given the nature of our business.

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

We had direct access to the team. They showed a sense of urgency, quality, and speed of the development.

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

None.

Please describe your company and your position there.

IT Media Manager for the inside coup, a marketing/advertising company

For what projects/services did your company hire Zignite Labs?

To maintain and build a more robust version of our database software

What were your goals for this project?

Clean up bugs, increase software capabilities/efficiency, and develop additional software infrastructure to progress our company.

How did you select this vendor?

They were and still are my top choice. They have a vast knowledge of software/database/AI/and other coding development. Their pricing is highly competitive and they are incredibly talented.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Web development for our database software that tracks company analytics and day-to-day business activities, form building, app development, and several other things.

What was the team composition?

We were able to get everything managed with just a team of 3 people. Thus allowed for nimble reaction time and fast pace decision making.

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

The work performed by this team has had a significant positive impact on our business. What was once a buggy mess of almost unusable software, is now what we rely on to operate our business with next to no issues.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Small team of 3 of us and it was very effective. We were able to make quick decisions and get things done.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their knowledge about software engineering development sets them apart.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Private

For what projects/services did your company hire Zignite Labs, and what were your goals?

We engaged Zignite Labs to help with the development of a trading bot. The requirements called out specific integrations to different trading platforms, and included multiple use cases across multiple software components.

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

The deciding factors were:

• immediate and clear communication
• questioning and breaking down the requirements in an inquisitive and objective manner
• experience with the technical aspects
• offering additional and new ways of thinking about the use cases
• quick turnaround on quote

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

The request was for a trading bot to complete trade actions in a trading platform after getting trigger alerts from a trading dashboard. The specifics on the backend are unknown to us, but we use terminal, python, and webbooks on a mac os to connect two different sites to perform the necessary actions.

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

There was one person as far as we know.

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

The deliverables were 100% what was asked. Zignite Labs included knowledge transfer sessions and documentation as well.

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

Zignite Labs style, experience, and technical skill are superior to other vendors we worked with. Their communication is timely and the tools used are simple and easy to work with.

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

The integrity and the willingness to help.They went above and beyond to work with us, suggesting new ways and helping us how to approach and refine our vision.

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

No, only wish they were 24/7.

Please describe your company and your position there.

TRUSTe helps you track and grow your cash-on-hand via text messages. Edward Bullard | CEO

For what projects/services did your company hire Zignite Labs, and what were your goals?

TRUSTe Chat bot build with 4 API integrations.

How did you select Zignite Labs and what were the deciding factors?

Our initial conversation, work samples, and company professionalism.

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

We will not disclose this information.

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

Two | Developers

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

Project was delivered successfully. As always with all tech based projects there will be bug. All bugs are typically fixed without a reasonable amount of time.

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

Hand's on, minimalism in terms of tools. Text is all you need. We use What's App.

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

I'm simply impressed that they got the work done and bared with all my get-it-done-now demands. But most of all, I've works with 8 teams in total, Zignit Labs is expensive for India, but they are hands down the best team I've worked with from any country, including the United States.

Sunil goes above and beyond to try and find the best solution for your project.

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

Measure better scope of delivery time expectations. 80% of deliverables were delivered on time, which is far better than past experiences with other developers.

Describe your company and your position there.

Co founder and CTO

For what projects/services did your company hire

A recommendation engine for products

What were your goals for this project?

Speed up the recommendation engine using clustering 

How did you select this vendor?

Found via Upwork. Had previously worked with Sunil and he is great

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They did python development on a product recommendation engine that uses NLP.

What was the team composition?

Sunil and one of his developers Balu.

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

The recommendation engine is performing extremely better in terms of speed. This has had a crucial impact in the user experience of our app.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Project management was arranged by Sunil and he was extremely effective. 

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are so flexible and easy to work with, but also produce tremendous results.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No

Please describe your company and your position there.

We provide cloud education services

For what projects/services did your company hire Zignite Labs?

Software development and cloud services

What were your goals for this project?

Roll out of our lms

How did you select this vendor?

Through upwork

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Software development

What was the team composition?

Product owner and a developer

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

We are still in business preparations for the solution roll out

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Good project management

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their ability to understand and analyze requirements was stellar.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Nothing