Closeloop Technologies LLC

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the president and CEO of a technology consulting firm. We are an IT-oriented accounting company, and we provide all IT-related services to our customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Closeloop Technologies?

We partnered with them to build a custom platform for us in a quick and efficient manner.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had a lot of custom requirements, which they helped us with. The solution is a custom accounting program that automates the tracking of various resources across different time zones.

Initially, they had to understand our system and present the market compatibility. The platform also has functionalities such as tracking, accounting, payroll, and invoicing. They started with the design part first, then proceeded with the development after getting our approval. It was a collaborative process as we both had certain technologies we wanted to use.

What is the team composition?

We’re mainly in touch with their CEO and the assigned project manager, who’s working on this project from the US. There are also around 20 people from their offshore team who are supporting this project.

How did you come to work with Closeloop Technologies?

We were looking for a vendor that could help us in this area, and we got references from different sources. We also heard that their CEO had built a few other similar platforms, so we issued an RFP, and they responded to it.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve capped the project at $500,000, and we’ve now spent around $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2016, and our engagement is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The software has increased our revenue, and we can now look at more resources when it comes to hiring instead of tracking everything manually. Overall, they’ve been an excellent partner.

How did Closeloop Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve done pretty well in this regard — in fact, they’ve been involved in every phase of the project. Even with their onshore and offshore model, we always receive prompt communication. Their model has also been cost-effective for us.

We have daily stand-up calls, receive weekly updates, and use different platforms to communicate: Skype, email, and phone. They are very good at communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their team grasps things quickly and finds the best solution for us. Furthermore, they are cost-effective, accessible, on time with deliverables, and out-of-the-box thinkers. They also know how to use the latest tech stack.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I really can’t see any areas where they need to improve on; they’ve delivered on their commitments.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to explain the business use case to them, so that they can understand your business and provide the right solutions. Also, let their team share their ideas as you brainstorm together — they really want to be more engaged and it has worked wonders for us.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of Marketing at Premier Growth Partners and oversee all marketing efforts for all of the Premier companies, including Premier Talent Partners and Ajna.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our company hired Closeloop to help us develop a custom, revolutionary talent platform, where job seekers and employers can connect in a modern, unbiased, transparent way. Our goal was to remove the friction and ambiguity associated with the hiring and recruiting process for both job seekers and hiring managers. Our intention is to promote a more authentic way of job search and hiring, where everyone is seen and evaluated equally and equitably.

SOLUTION

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

Closeloop had a really great grasp and understanding about our big-picture vision. They were able to fully immerse their whole team into our futuristic vision and entertained all of our creativity, whilst also custom crafting and curating a plan that could actually bring our vision to life with the proper technical backbone and structure needed for our software to be truly successful. Closeloop was very generous with time and allowed for a lot of discovery work and time, and a true preliminary period where we were able to gauge their work style, team capabilities, and interest in our work.

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

We started with a lot of discovery and whiteboarding for them to be able to understand our vision fully. We have them a running wishlist, a budget, and a 1,5, and 10-year plan and asked them to consolidate our wants and needs into an actionable plan. Once we identified and agreed upon key deliverables, they got to work on assembling an internal team to lead our project. We then got to work on an MVP model, which started with wireframes and quickly evolved into a functioning first iteration of software. Over the past 3 years, every phase and release of our software and continuous development has evolved further and greater.

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

I have worked closely with roughly 10 people at Closeloop, even more in a broader more general sense. I have worked with project managers, developers, designers, and engineers from the Closeloop team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In partnering with Closeloop, we were able to successfully launch our custom software. We are in the process of taking multiple versions of our project with them to market in the next few months and have already launched a version already in use.

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

We work very closely with Closeloop. They are essentially an extension of our internal team. We communicate with them on a daily basis, whether than be via daily touch base meetings, via email, via Skype, chat, or in person meetings. We collaborate using tools like Jira to project manage and share data and information. Closeloop is very responsive and always readily available. The fact that they have a hybrid team, both in the US and offshore, makes it feel like they are available and working on our project around the clock. When the US team is not working, the India team covers all the bases and vice versa- they provide 360 coverage and support.

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

The element of the longterm partnership. Working with Closeloop doesn't feel like working on a temporary project, it feels like working on an ongoing partnership on the same team. Assim serves as almost our CTO. We have no need to build out an internal technical team because we don't miss out on anything with having Closeloop be an extension of our internal team. We have access to everyone on their team the way we would internally. They make us feel as if they are working exclusively on our projects and for that reason it feels like they give us all of their time, attention, and resources.

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

No, we are very happy with our working relationship.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the QA team lead of a tech company that’s developing a recruitment tool for the recruitment industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Closeloop Technologies?

We were in need of a development team that can help us build a tool that has a matching algorithm.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Closeloop Technologies is helping us develop a product that can match recruiters with potential applicants. We started with a discussion of the basic requirements of the tool and came up with the decision to make it a web-based platform.

In addition, we mainly utilize MongoDB and JavaScript as our main development software.

What is the team composition?

We mostly communicate with two project managers and the CEO. Engineer-wise, we probably have about 30 engineers working on the product with us.

How did you come to work with Closeloop Technologies?

Closeloop Technologies was referred to our CEO.

How much have you invested with them?

So far we’ve invested about $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in January 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Closeloop Technologies is able to take our ideas from paper and implement them into a tangible product — they followed the flow of our development process and produce something we’ve never seen before.

How did Closeloop Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great from a project management standpoint, and we manage the project through Trello, JIRA, Basecamp. To communicate, we utilize Skype, email, and Google Hangouts.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We like that they’re very involved partners. Not only are they able to produce high-quality results, but they’re also able to innovate within the process which has been very helpful and enlightening.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything they could improve on because we have a good working relationship.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would suggest diving into the partnership because they have such a wonderful understanding of what their clients need.

I would also advise you to allow them to be part of the process as much as possible and allow them to produce the results you’re looking for.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a project manager at a financial firm; we focus on home improvement loans.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Closeloop Technologies?

We wanted to renew our internal portal, and we wanted a cutting-edge system that could serve our customers' needs. We also wanted to build out a different line of business within our industry.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Closeloop Technologies has been developing a custom software solution for us; it’s a web and mobile online portal where internal, external, and borrower users can work. They built the platform from scratch, but they used our old portal as a foundation for what we needed. We also gave them a roadmap of what we’re looking for in terms of functional specs.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been working with 30–40 members of their team.

How did you come to work with Closeloop Technologies?

They were already working with our company prior to this project. They’ve been an important business partner with us and have done fantastic work, so it was an obvious choice when we were looking to create our next-generation portal.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent $250,000–$500,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Since we went live, we’ve had zero downtime, which is amazing for a project of this magnitude. Also, we’ve successfully engaged over 2,500 different business organizations that have worked with our portal, which entails 14,000 users — it’s impressive that we’ve been able to expand that large and quickly.

How did Closeloop Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been amazing with project management; their team has executed everything we’ve asked them and more. They’re also constantly on top of everything we need and come back to us to provide feedback and help us improve. Regarding communication, we have daily meetings with them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re genuinely agile in development; as the client, we’ve pivoted many times in different directions throughout the project, and they’ve been able to move with us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on — they’ve been excellent for us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open-minded and let them take over the design and technology part of the project — their advice and input have been invaluable to us.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a platform for companies and candidates to find each other in the recruiting process without bias interfering. To accomplish this, we create equity at every stage of the hiring process. Our proprietary matching algorithm in the tool presents candidates based on the input requirements only.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Closeloop Technologies?

Our CEO used to be the CEO at a talent agency (for which I also worked) and she got the idea to develop a hiring platform without bias. Additionally, our goal was to develop a platform that eliminated five friction points in the hiring process while working without any bias: time to hire, access to qualified talent, lack of workflow transparency, scheduling, and access to feedback.

Rather than just being a development factory, we wanted a partner that would collaborate with us on every step, from inception of the idea to launching a full-fledged product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We were their first recruiting industry client, so we started by educating them on our work and friction points, following by sharing our vision for the solution. After that, we had days-long whiteboarding sessions where they shared their knowledge in terms of software development.

The solution has three portals: an admin portal, a job poster portal, and a job seeker portal. A third-party designer created the job poster portal, and Closeloop modified that design for the job seeker portal. Closeloop also handled the internal admin portal. In terms of functionality, they developed multiple backend proposals for how our matching algorithm and automated scheduling features should work. Technologies used include JavaScript, MongoDB, Node.js, and React.js.

What is the team composition?

We have roughly 15 people working on our project right now. I mainly work with four PMs — two senior and two junior. Two of them are based in US with Assim (CEO & Founder), and the other two are in India. The rest of the team is made up of front- and backend engineers, system designers, etc.

How did you come to work with Closeloop Technologies?

Our CEO has had a personal relationship with Assim for a number of years.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent roughly $1 million so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since January 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our former company is using the system, and they’re successfully running a $40 million recruiting agency through it. The system has almost 6,000 job posters and 230,000 job seekers. Since they launched the tool in May 2020, we’ve successfully sent out 20 production deployments.

Assim has been instrumental in guiding us toward what success means in a development project like this. Our goal was to find 5–10 medium-sized bugs after deployment, but we’ve actually found zero. And there have been zero major bugs identified as well. Closeloop’s ability to pre-test the solution is amazing.

We’ve also run client feedback campaigns, and the responses are that the tool increases transparency, time to hire, and the ease of working with the talent agency using it. End-clients never have to speak to the talent agency or work with the account managers there because of how effective the tool is. They can create a job posting, search through candidates that our algorithm selects, request interviews with the automated scheduling tool, and make a hire, all by themselves. Almost all the points of friction have been alleviated.

How did Closeloop Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

This is their most impressive area. Assim and the project managers have taught me everything I know about running development projects. They adhere to timelines diligently yet are also flexible in switching directions with us when necessary. With unmatched follow-through, they know what needs to be done to hit the timeline.

They’re also over-communicators, and I mean that in the best way. We’re over-communicators as well. Even if there isn’t anything major to discuss, we touch base once a week. We manage the project through Jira and communicate through Skype and in-person or virtual meetings.

In terms of keeping things on time, budget, and to our standards and specifications, they’re unmatched.

What did you find most impressive about them?

As engineers, they have to have certain amount of understanding of the purpose of what they’re building so as to solve problems effectively. The amount of care Closeloop puts into understanding our business and understand the purpose of everything we ask for stands out. If we ask for a specific button, they don’t just go ahead and agree, they ask what ROI were going to gain from this choice and what issue we’re trying to solve.

They have white-glove-level customer service, going out of their way to gain a 360-degree understanding.                

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t know, honestly. This is my time working with a development vendor and my experience has been incredible

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you listen to their questions and answer them well, even if they don’t technically need all the information you’re providing. It’s easy to brush them off, as we’re all running one million miles per minute, but allowing Closeloop to dig into the business side of the engagement will lead to the most well-rounded product.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am one of the co-founders and COO of Omnidian. We provide performance assurance solutions for distributed energy assets.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We partnered with Closeloop to develop the first iteration of our technology platform. The scope of this project included, integrating with third-party data sources to ingest/validate / store time-series performance data, analyzing data to identify anomalies, generating alerts based on those anomalies, and facilitating workflows to respond to those alerts.

SOLUTION

How did you select Closeloop Technologies and what were the deciding factors?

We were introduced to Closeloop by a friend who had used Closeloop and highly recommended them. We evaluated a few alternatives to validate the decision to use Closeloop.

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

Closeloop worked within our tech stack and environment to develop the initial project. For example... we communicated on individual tickets in our Jira account and the Closeloop team managed code through our Bitbucket account. After the initial project, we pivoted into ongoing collaboration through subsequent projects and ultimately a monthly support model.

How many people from the Closeloop Technologies team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We partnered with two folks in California as our primary, day-to-day contacts. One of these people was a dedicated, senior-level project manager. The other person was both a Project Manager and developer. Our project was also supported by a team of engineers in India. Closeloop was able to tap specific resources on an as-needed / as-appropriate basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Closeloop delivered the project on schedule. This allowed our team to continue growing our business.

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

The Closeloop team is great at communicating. Common communication channels included scheduled meetings, ad hoc phone calls, email, and Jira. We also hosted several in-person working sessions.

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

We really appreciated the perspective and support from Closeloop's senior leadership team. Closeloop essentially filled the CTO role as our company was launched.

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

No.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was introduced to Closeloop through my previous position as the Marketing Manager for an unbiased talent platform. My former company automates the process of finding the perfect match between job seekers and companies using a proprietary algorithm based on skills, experience, work culture and values.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We were looking to create a self-service portal for the clients and candidates to increase transparency in the hiring process, while simultaneously protecting against bias in the selection process. This would allow our users to efficiently communicate and connect directly without having to wait for recruiters (thus reducing time-to-hire) and identify the best fit for each job, based solely on key relevant factors.

SOLUTION

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

While I was not part of the selection process, I knew that Closeloop was the obvious choice for our company for a number of reasons. Closeloop's CEO, Assim, has amassed a deep technical knowledge from working with companies like Apple, Facebook, Google, and LinkedIn that would guide us through the obstacles of building a new software from the ground up.

Being new to software development, we knew that we would need to rely heavily on Closeloop's technical know-how, and felt reassured every step of the way that we were in good hands through their delivery of CTO-level product design. Their onshore/offshore company model gave us around-the-clock service that maintained a steady momentum on projects with constant communication from the onshore team. 

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

From concept to reality, Closeloop has been an invaluable partner in the launch of our talent platform. Our desire to solve major pain points in the hiring process inspired the idea for a transparent candidate and client self-service portal, which quickly evolved into deep, collaborative whiteboarding sessions, reviewing design mockups through InVision, testing through UAT, reporting feedback through JIRA, and being guided each step of the way toward both portals' respective launches. Post go-live, Closeloop helped us continue to identify additional potential areas of innovation, and helped us rollout features that would continue to increase user adoption. 

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

I worked with Closeloop's CEO, 2 onshore project managers, and a handful of offshore engineers based on project needs.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We were able to successfully launch the client and candidate portals within our desired timelines, and were pleased with the reported feedback from clients and candidates about each portal's sleek interface and our technology's ease of use.

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

Closeloop is highly communicative, agile, and reliable. They approach every new project methodically and enthusiastically, and always keep an open line of communication and a transparent look into their progress. One of the many things I truly appreciated in working with their team was their incredible agility. Whether we were working "in the weeds" on a very specific new feature, or looking through a "bird's eye view" at the greater vision, they were always adaptive, consultative, and eager to help us make our dreams a reality.

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

They never once compromised on quality for the sake of speed, yet always stuck to schedule and hit every deadline. That was a true testament to their excellent project management expertise. Their onshore/offshore team model aided greatly in keeping our company constantly up-to-speed with progress and developments through consistent communication.

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

I couldn't have been more pleased with the experience of working with the Closeloop team.