AgileEngine

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of Asoko Insight

Introduce your business and what you do there.:
I’m the CTO at Asoko Insight, a corporate business aggregator that focuses on the African continent. We’re the leading data provider in Africa. Over the last 5 years due to client needs we've evolved a white label Virtual Deal Room offering alongside our core offering.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Since inception we have formulated a set of micro-services that drive our core knowledge graph of business across Africa and the relevant people and organisations. With impact of COVID we had an opportunity to spin out part of our platform into a product offering that enables the deal management workflows of a variety clients all with custom needs.

SOLUTION

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

AgileEngine has always works as part of fully "in-house" team. We kept the existing team and extended it to cover increase in work as we grew out our new product offering. Included design work on the new solution as well as development. What's the status of this engagement? Have completed the preparation and maturation of the new Virtual Deal Room platform. Now use the AgileEngine team to rapidly scale up and down the resources in order to do custom modules for specific clients.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did your relationship with your partner evolve?

We went from maintaining a stable core team to scaling the resources up and down rapidly depending on specific clients that have engaged Asoko Insight.

In what ways can they improve?

AgileEngine have maintained very competitive costs over the years, but it is always a significant factor.

What advice do you have for clients with similar needs to yours?

AgileEngine is very strong not only in quality assurance of technical ability, but also in understanding your organisational needs and infusing this into the team members.

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was published on December 3, 2019.

Jason Alcock
CTO, Asoko Insight
IT Services
London, England
51-200
Dec 2016 - Ongoing
$200,000 to $999,999
Verified

Project summary
AgileEngine completes software projects for a business data firm. The team provides resources for Node.js and Vue.js development, in addition to executing design work.

Feedback summary
AgileEngine provides high-quality deliverables that are free of issues. The team's ability to precisely map out each scope of work makes them a valuable development partner. Customers can expect knowledge specialists that maintain open and direct lines of communication.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO at Asoko Insight, a corporate business aggregator that focuses on the African continent. We’re the leading data provider in Africa, and we’re currently targeting private businesses for the most part.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with AgileEngine?

We needed a team of developers that could deliver solutions using NoSQL and various JavaScript frameworks. This was necessary for us to meet our corporate goals and needs. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve become an extension of our team. Instead of just bringing them on for one-off engagements, we include them in the scoping process. They vet potential developers and give us options in terms of talent to use for our software projects. Most of the work is done using Node.js and Vue.js, and we have a designer on board who produces work for us as needed.

What is the team composition?

At its height, the team was four people, but now we’re only working with two.

How did you come to work with AgileEngine?

We’d tried different companies before AgileEngine, and we wanted a team that could adjust quickly while delivering agile solutions. We looked through some reviews of their services and found that the expertise of their team made them a preferred supplier of development work.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent approximately $350,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with AgileEngine in December 2016, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve delivered value for our users, which is the only metric that matters at the end of the day. They’ve done that by increasing the quality of our software, decreasing the number of bugs, and cultivating other positive trends.

How did AgileEngine perform from a project management standpoint?

AgileEngine was great about scoping out each project. They’ve also been able to find the right people in a very effective manner. Apart from supplying reliable, talented individuals, they’re also able to understand our business well, which allows them to scale up or down as required.

The team is extremely cooperative; the relationship never feels transactional. We have to negotiate details occasionally, but they always give a sense of goodwill.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve integrated well into our business team. We have team members from AgileEngine working directly with some of our business stakeholders, and that helps a great deal with communicating about requirements.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We have an ongoing wishlist, but AgileEngine isn’t an endless pool of resources, and we have to take our time with finding the right people for each task. I don’t know if there is a way to do this differently, but it would be great if they could shorten the amount of time that it takes to find the perfect fit.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Having a diverse team is always a good idea. AgileEngine is one of the stronger organizations that I’ve worked with, and they have plenty of resources.

STAR RATINGS
Overall rating: 5.0

Quality: 4.5

Cost: 4.5

Schedule: 5.0

Willing to refer: 5.0

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CTO of Pull Systems

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

AI-powered technology suite for electric vehicle manufacturers and fleet managers to prevent failures, shorten feedback cycles and boost profitability.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Augment our world-class engineering team

SOLUTION

How did you find AgileEngine?

Referral

Why did you select AgileEngine over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from AgileEngine were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

Agile Engine augments our team with remote teammembers across several departments:

• Software Engineering
• User Experience
• Data Engineering

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

AgileEngine has worked side by side with our team to design, build, test, ship, and improve multiple versions of our software product.

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

We treat the AgileEngine teammembers like full-time parts of our organization, so they participate fully in all project planning and management rituals including standups, planning, backlog grooming, all-hands meetings, and demo days. A full-time account manager oversees their work to ensure high-quality deliverables and removal of obstacles. 

What was your primary form of communication with AgileEngine?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

AgileEngine is very engaged in our success. We get to hand-pick potential teammembers based on compatibility with our culture, and they stick with us for years at a time. They proactively understand and work to address anything that is not 100% optimal. The engineers do particularly high-quality work.

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

None

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the director of software development for edsembli. We specialize in building administrative software that targets the K-12 education sector

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Full stack software development and testing for our HR management and Payroll solution. Our goal was to shift a hosted/on-premise software model to a SAAS-based model of operation

SOLUTION

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

I had selected Agile Engine (AE) as I had a successful experience working in partnership with the team to realize some short term goals. Pricing was favourable for the caliber of talent

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

Our relationship on the project began with the presentation of team members that our AE account representative felt was a good fit for our project. Candidates were interviewed by myself and members of the internal team. Those selected were made part of our development team, charged with meeting the goals for each sprint and ultimately realizing our overall project objectives. Our applications are built upon the Microsoft stack, combining C#/.NET, MS SQL and AngularJS frontend.

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

In total, we had at any time Agile Engine members on our team, with 2-3 developers and 1 QA analyst

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our SaaS conversion was vastly behind schedule due to a number of factors, chief among them was staff attrition. This not only meant a reduction of resources, but knowledge loss was also an issue. The personnel that AE provided was able to quickly ramp up, minimally impacted by a lack of knowledge in the application and the industry space. Very quickly, the project began to hit projected milestones and as of now, nearly 100% complete and ready for our first round of waiting customers

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

Our development cycle operates on 2-week sprints, with standard daily stand ups, sprint-by-sprint planning sessions, etc. Our primary communication tool was MS Teams, with project planning done through MS TFS. TFS also hosted our GIT-based source control

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

I was impressed by a number of aspects of AE, such as their vast global footprint, allowing us to draw talent from virtually anywhere in the world. This was particularly valuable in the last 2 years with the global pandemic and available software development talent was scarce.

In addition, recruited talent was also highly skilled, experienced and professional having gone through what must have been a rigorous screening process at AE. Finally, I was impressed with how AE looks after everyone on the team, providing clear career objectives and opportunities for everyone to grow with the AE organization

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

None that I could think of at this time

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the mobile lead of a startup company located in Boston, Massachusetts. We're a platform for truck drivers, truck owners, and construction sites. Basically, we provide a Uber-like service where the demand comes from construction sites that require trucks, and the supply comes from truck owners who can provide transportation services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with AgileEngine?

We hired AgileEngine for QA testing and app support. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The QA engineer mainly works on the manual testing of our mobile and web app. He's also involved in automation testing, creating test cases, Sprint planning, and Scrum management. He’s also responsible for our communication with engineers and product managers.

The engineer uses Android Studio to test the app on an emulator and Pearls to intercept traffic and track requests. He also uses Selenium, which is an automation testing framework, as well as Appium, another automation testing tool for mobile app development.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with six people from their team, including the ones that no longer work for us. We used to have 2–3 mobile engineers and a QA engineer. Last year, we decided to keep only the QA engineer. This year, we added one automation engineer from their team. We’ve also worked with two automation engineers. In the past, we also worked with iOS and Android engineers.

There are also two project managers, who kept track of how their team members were doing. 

How did you come to work with AgileEngine?

My managers interviewed and vetted contractors, and AgileEngine was one of the companies they found. AgileEngine provided us with candidates that we also interviewed. The candidates were very professional in the way they do business, and they had high-quality services. We hired them because they were good. 

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve invested between $200,000–$300,000 for their services. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in July 2019, and the engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t keep a record of what they’re doing, but we use Sprint to plan their work and measure the performance of the whole team. 

We check if the QA engineer has many pending tasks or if he can take on more responsibilities that are not on his job description. So far, he's achieved everything he needs to do, and he’s been doing more for us so we’re truly happy about him. He always finishes work on time if not faster. He’s also helping and working with multiple teams now.

Meanwhile, we’ve been working with the automation engineer for 2–3 months now, and we have weekly sync-up meetings to measure his progress. He has met all of the expectations that we’ve had for him, and everything he’s done so far has helped us. 

How did AgileEngine perform from a project management standpoint?

AgileEngine is always available, especially the QA engineer. Every time I ask him something, he always replies on time and almost instantly. The quality of his work is great, and everything's impressive. They have sync-up meetings with me every other week, and they always ask me what I want from them and where they can help us.

What did you find most impressive about them?

AgileEngine truly wants to provide good service. In general, the team has been easy to work with. They always want to help us, which isn't common in the contracting world. Most of the time, contractors just do their work, and they don't want to talk to us a lot.

In AgileEngine’s case, we don't feel that they're contractors. We feel like they belong to our team and they're our full-time employees, and we’ve developed a great relationship. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. I can’t think of anything they could improve. They’re doing a good job. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t get carried away by communication problems and focus on the technical skills of the candidates that AgielEngine provides. The resources we have aren’t from the US. One of them is from Argentina, and the other is from Ukraine. When I first interviewed them, we had some communication problems. However, one of our engineers also spoke with them and told me they were great.

As a result, my advice would be to not focus too much on communication issues. After all, in a remote working environment, people are only going to chat all the time, and they have perfect written English. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO of TxQuick, a cryptocurrency exchange.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with AgileEngine?

I needed a talented team of developers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped with the design, back- and frontend development, and some analysis. They used React for the frontend, and for the backend, Spring, Java, Mongo, AWS, Kubernetes, etc.

We put together job profiles that were necessary, and they oversaw the team composition. They pre-screened everybody—I was really impressed with their ability to screen talent based on my requirements. We’re finalizing things and will be going live soon.

What is the team composition?

I worked with the client manager early in the project. We had a project manager, a business analyst, a QA person, a tech lead, several developers from junior to senior, and some very good architectural designers.

How did you come to work with AgileEngine?

As a startup, we didn’t have a lot of finances available. AgileEngine were willing to work with a startup in a flexible way, which is why I chose them over others.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $450,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in May 2018, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It was a very positive experience. We have about 400 classes that we’ve written in Java in a couple of months and that doesn’t include the frontend or any of the database. That’s a good metric. The quality of the code is very high. I haven’t had to give them a lot of direction. I tell them the architectural direction, and they make it happen.

How did AgileEngine perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m very happy with their project management. They kept me informed with status reports, using Slack, Zoom, Jira, and Confluence.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They feel like an extension of my company, which is what I wanted.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had some trouble getting started at first. We had to get contracts in place and get the team up. I’d definitely hire them again for anything I needed in the future, as they’ve been a great partner.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I went to Kiev for a month and did a lot of the specification work, getting to know them and planning everything. It’s a good idea to do that. It made a big difference for both sides.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the CIO at The Medical Team. We provide direct care to individuals in their homes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with AgileEngine?

We were looking for a vendor to develop various web and mobile solutions that would help us better manage our business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us build a patient management system and a number of other applications, ranging from standard web development to mobile development for iOS and Android. For the web-based applications, they primarily used JavaScript and .NET on the backend. They were able to meet our needs with every platform and every functional area.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three of their team members, including a team lead, a senior developer, and a mid-level developer.

How did you come to work with AgileEngine?

They were referred to me by the CTO of another company who had worked with them previously.

How much have you invested with them?

We paid them about $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March 2011 and our latest project was completed in October 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They've had a significant impact on how we do business. We're still using all the systems they've built for us.

How did AgileEngine perform from a project management standpoint?

They did an excellent job. They organized development boards to ensure the projects were kept on track. They also consolidated all the relevant issues and new features in one repository. We mostly used Skype and Jira to stay in touch.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They're based offshore, but their language skills are excellent, so we never had any issues with communication. Also, they were very responsive and willing to shift their hours to align with our work schedule here, in the U.S.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. Everything was great.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Map out your projects at the beginning and leverage various communication tools, such as Slack, Jira, and Skype.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

R1: I’m the co-founder and COO of a company that provides safety and risk management software for transportation fleets.

R2: I’m the Head of Product.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with AgileEngine?

R1: We were short on development capabilities and power – we only had one co-founder who was our technical lead, and he was overwhelmed – so we were in a time crunch to hire and onboard new developers. We thought outsourcing to a nearshore firm would be the best short-term solution.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

R1: We thought they were going to be a stopgap, but the team was really performing well, so we’ve kept them on for quite some time now. They’re helping build out our enterprise platform, which is a web-based app, and updating it with modern-day technology. Specifically, they’re making it flexible, open to API connectivity, and introducing mobile responsiveness.

R2: As we’ve started getting more work from the front- and backend, they've sent specific developers to help us take wireframes, comps, and mockups, and turn them into actual working products. They also sent us a QA person, so any user story that we put out goes through development and then gets put through our cycles and tests, before it’s sent for User Acceptance Testing (UAT)

What is the team composition?

R2: We worked with five people, two front- and backend developers each, and a QA resource.

How did you come to work with Agile Engine?

R1: We looked at two or three different development shops to figure out where their developers were coming from, how much they would cost, what kind of engagements they were used to, and what they offered, services wise. We happened to be down in Washington DC, so we stopped by Agile’s headquarters to meet them face-to-face. We talked for a few hours to understand how they work, who they’d worked with before, and what types of projects they excelled at. We then asked them for two or three current and former customers of theirs, as references, and we heard nothing but good things from those people.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since November 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

R2: The best measure would be the velocity and the increase in our ability to actually measure velocity. We’ve been able to finally get estimates from them that are pretty darn accurate. We’ve been able to take stories that were just bleeding over from the sprint, and now hold each other accountable to those estimates.

How did AgileEngine perform from a project management standpoint?

R2: I handle most of the project management directly actually. They do have a project manager I touch base with every two to three weeks, but that's not specific to the work they're doing on the project for us. He’s more of an engagement manager, between them and us.

We do use Slack and Jira though. All of our user stories and our Agile boards are sitting in Jira, and that's reviewed daily on a stand-up using Google Hangouts. If we need to have a larger story investigation, we'll extend that, the story estimation and elaboration time of the stand-up. All communication, other than face-to-face, is done through Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

R2: Sometimes you have to fight to get the truth with offshore contractors, but these guys are extremely direct, which I like. If development of a specific feature will take too long, they'll provide other options and come to the table with multiple things for us to look at and choose from.

Are there any areas they could improve?

R2: Allowing some of the junior developers to take on additional work, and not being so hierarchical, would benefit them. I think some of the junior developers are talented enough to take on bigger stories and bigger features correctly.

Any advice for potential customers?

R2: We onboarded slowly, so it took additional time for them to find the right developers. I would tell people to onboard more than one developer at a time, and to look at bringing on QA at the same time, if you're going to use them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Farmers Edge is based out of Alberta, Canada. We cater to farmers, taking big data related to farms and putting it into a format that the grower can access and use to make decisions on crops, equipment, and insurance. I am the head of software quality assurance and project management for the company. I’m in charge of planning new features, implementing them, and making sure that they are QA tested and that they meet all our requirements.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with AgileEngine?

We have needed a QA team for multiple simultaneous projects. One of our those was unique because it had an unrealistic time frame from the beginning. The partner we were working with asked for a three-month deadline for supplementing some of the services they offered in another format. It was a daunting task, but we agreed to it.

All our teams and efforts were put towards that project. It was a good opportunity for our own company since the potential partnership would give us to more potential business.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

AgileEngine has provided QA and development services. We reached out to them to quickly build a team of quality people. They needed to have enough experience with the software development lifecycle to anticipate our needs, despite not having traditional project components in place. We had bitten off a big chunk and agreed to deliver it in an unrealistic timeframe.

What is the team composition?

I’ve been in touch with a project manager from their side, who was responsible for the initial team setup. I tell them what I need, and they give us the resources we need to make it happen.

They found internal candidates after we outlined our QA and development needs. I interviewed each one and selected the candidates I thought would work best.

How did you come to work with AgileEngine?

We found them through word-of-mouth. Our head of backend development was aware of AgileEngine and had used them in the past. We had a kick-off meeting with Alex Kalinovsky [CEO and founder, AgileEngine], made an overview of our needs, and went from there.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with AgileEngine a year ago. We are currently reaching out to them in order to build a team for an upcoming project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Ticket following is the best metric we have. Using Jira, we have found that our velocity and sprint cadence have been higher and a bit more organized than normal. AgileEngine’s project manager has maintained that high volume and kept things under control. Some of the documentation she provided has been invaluable for our communication with upper management and the other development teams. The volume of tickets they’ve tested has definitely been above normal. Aside from that, we’ve appreciated their experience in working with other teams and integrating into the work environment.

How did AgileEngine perform from a project management standpoint?

Some of the tasks we gave them were challenging, but they’ve handled everything well. I opened the door to project management communication on both sides. We coordinated our efforts with the understanding that we’d have to play it by ear, for lack of a better expression.

We didn’t have fully fleshed-out documentation, design specifications, or product requirements. Sometimes we had a paragraph where there should have been 12 pages, so we’d have to work through that and build requirements as we went. Even on the QA side, we identified proper test requirements as we went. It was an extremely difficult challenge, but they did a good job.

We are running a Jira instance in the cloud. They were invited into that process for development and QA. The team helped identify and review the stories and move tickets through our workflows. We also depended heavily on Confluence for our communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Compared to the other third-parties that I’ve dealt with, AgileEngine’s quality of candidates has been high. If I ask them for a certain set of people, they intuitively understand what I’m looking for and actually find those qualities. Their level of experience on the project management side allows them to identify valuable skills in candidates.

AgileEngine is also flexible in terms of availability, especially when it comes to important releases. They’ve made their team available even late at night on their time zone.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The English level of certain candidates has been a challenge on the development side. There have also been a few gaps in sourcing developers, which have caused us to wait a month instead of two weeks for them to find a resource. I’ve been willing to wait if that means finding a quality person since low-quality developers can be an even bigger time sink.

I’ve been happy with them overall. They’ve been attentive when setting up meetings and ensuring that communication was completed within the proper timeframes. When there was frustration on AgileEngine’s end, we’ve tried to improve it.

We’re a growing company, having gone from 60 to 400 employees in the last year. This has caused a lot of process changes, but AgileEngine has adapted to us. They are aware of our limitations and have built bridges to address them.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Know what you’re asking for when you go to them, and be as clear as possible about the candidates’ qualifications.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the global IT director for a market research company celebrating 30 years of business. Our services include a variety mystery shopping-based audits, price controls, and compliance checks.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with AgileEngine?

We were in need of an organization to take over maintenance and new feature development of an application developed by a prior vendor.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They oversee the system, which manages our business development process. We can generate leads, provide scope and pricing options to clients, and run our billing and financial reporting through it. It also interfaces with our front-of-house application, which collects associated data for our clients and contractors.

What is the team dynamic?

We work primarily with two Ukraine-based developers: a tech lead and a middle developer, both with a broad knowledge base. We didn't have any problems with language or time zones. They worked just a little earlier than our east coast hours. If anything needed extra time, they would stay on that day to complete the task

Communication for the project was mostly through Skype, and we used Jira for ticket tracking.

How did you come to work with AgileEngine?

After ending our contract with the original development company, we contracted with a new vendor that after a year did not meet our expectations for quality and efficiency. The lead developer of the original company moved onto AgileEngine, so we reconnected to maintain that continuity.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested somewhere in the $200,000–$300,000 range.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2016. We’re in continual development of new features, as well as ongoing support and maintenance.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve gotten us back on track. We’ve been able to move our business forward and ease some of our internal processes through automation. The improved information tracking system gives the management team a much better picture of our global role. It’s a convenient system for our users of all abilities—from our expert global finance manager to our local entry-level staff.

How did AgileEngine perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re outsource developers, but they really embed themselves in our company. They know our business processes, and really feel like a part of our team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They make sure they do the best job possible, and are very dedicated to us and to our growth.

Advice for potential customers?

They’re based in Europe, but go meet with your developers if at all possible. It will help you learn their personalities and communicate better.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of XA Systems, a small technology integration firm providing professional services to both the commercial market and Federal Government. We provide speciality IT services such as consulting, process engineering, and technology alignment to businesses. We also provide support personnel who manage the IT operational environments for customers on a daily basis.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with AgileEngine LLC?

We’ve been in operation for just about 17 years. During this time, we’ve developed a couple other smaller tools and some in-house products that we needed to satisfy XA Systems business requirements. We previously worked with independent contract developers and small firms that could help us meet some of those requirements, because we didn’t have the skill internally at our company.

Over time, we learned a lot about both our customer problems and challenges. We came up with design specifications for an automation software product that would collect analytics from our customers in a wide range of different areas. At that time, we consistently saw a requirement was missing in the marketplace. We were lacking strong developmental expertise, and also some technology performance products that were current in the market. We hired AgileEngine to help build that tool successfully.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

AgileEngine went through a full review of our goals and objectives, including design specifications we’d built. They had a very clear understanding of what we wanted to produce, what the final software would look like, and how it would operate. We had several meetings to ensure that we all understood the end goal, and after that, they started coding and built prototypes of the software demonstrating functionality, UI, and navigation. The coding was in Java, and some of the architectural elements were based on Apache Tomcat. We then continued to push them into more complex phases of development in order to deliver the solution.

What is the team dynamic?

In the beginning, we were meeting remotely 2-3 times per week, but it has since narrowed down to maybe once per week. We mostly use Skype and a Google platform. We’ve had regular communication throughout the process, and we’ve established a relationship with the team supporting our efforts. We feel as if we know them personally even though we’ve never shaken hands, which is amazing.

How did you come to work with AgileEngine LLC?

I’ve been in touch with my personal contacts to find a reasonably priced, expert company to outsource this work to. One of my contacts from a large national company had hired AgileEngine to do some development work, and they were pleased with the overall experience. They made the recommendation to contact AgileEngine.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent around $300,000-$400,000 over the past couple of years.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with AgileEngine around October-November 2015, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had expectations that were well documented early on in our technical design, and we’ve met those targets in the expected timeframes. We’ve had the opportunity to go back and tweak things because we have a product we can display to our final customer. Sometimes these changes were large, but they were still completed in a short amount of time. A lot of iterative development took place, and we were very satisfied with the results along the way.

How did AgileEngine LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

After having a mix of experiences in the past, AgileEngine has been our most consistent, productive, and results-driven relationship. We’ve definitely hit a homerun with them working with both their onshore and offshore offices. We’ve found consistency in their skill levels, which is hard to match in the marketplace. They blend in and have a variety of expertise that’s within our budget, and they never sacrifice the quality or end result we’re seeking. They’ve been able to accomplish this with both the European resources they’ve assigned to us and the US resources that are local to our business establishment.

We anticipated having a language barrier with AgileEngine, but we’ve had no challenges with speaking to them through any medium. They communicate as if they are native speakers.

What did you find most impressive about them?

AgileEngine joined our team as an outsourced company and integrated themselves to truly share the vision we had. There was never any conflict, and they worked with us in unison to get us the results we wanted. Their customer service was high throughout the process, and their team was satisfied when we were satisfied.

Are there any areas they could improve?

AgileEngine could benefit from having more UI experts up front. When it came to UI development, the cosmetic aspect of the frontend was not the strongest. They took instructions from us and gave us what we asked for, but we ended up going to an alternate firm to address the product’s UI. As far as coding and functionality go, AgileEngine can’t be beat. We’ve given them very complicated scenarios, and they’ve always delivered.

The only advice I would give to someone considering work with AgileEngine is to treat it as a project. They will give you options for the number of resources to apply, and they make good recommendations. We didn’t always accept every recommendation, but learned throughout the process that we should’ve trusted their judgement.