Ncoded Solutions

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of operations at GovAssist. We deal with travel assistance and visa services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Ncoded Solutions?

We needed help with custom software development. Due to the uniqueness of our approach, we couldn’t find any software on the market that encompassed our needs. We were a new company, so we had good ideas but no way to put them into practice because we had no previous experience.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially worked with Ncoded Solutions on a few fixed projects, but then we realized we could use them on an ongoing basis. They’re currently building a CRM with some external-based functionality; it has a front-facing side that entails user data collection. They’re also working on bots and delegating information from third parties.

Overall, they’ve helped us a lot with development and maintenance.

What is the team composition?

We work with around six people; we mainly communicate with two leads.

How did you come to work with Ncoded Solutions?

We worked with their CEO when he was a young developer and really liked his work. When he branched out into his own company, we found more ways to cooperate with him.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2019, and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When we had our last urgent situation with this platform, our sales essentially stopped because something affected the entire market. Ncoded Solutions fixed it in about eight hours. Meanwhile, it took about a week for our competitors to get back up and running. In that week, we made a lot of money thanks to them.

How did Ncoded Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

Our internal team manages them. Most of the work is done on our Jira system. We also use Bitbucket and other development tools. Additionally, we communicate via Slack, and their phone numbers are for emergencies.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re fast, which is one of the main reasons we continue working with them. Ncoded Solutions takes care of any kind of emergency.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They should get in-house testers. We test the work ourselves.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Manage your own project; they’ll do the work. However, be careful what you ask for because they’ll deliver exactly that.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CTO and I lead our software development initiatives and define our product roadmap.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

The initial release of our compliance platform had a number of performance issues and bugs that prevented our users from completing their compliance workflows. We decided to take a radical approach and completely re-architect our solution to be React.js based with an update API with a focus on performance and security. We hired NCoded solutions to spearhead the development of the new React platform.

SOLUTION

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

We found NCoded through a referral and considered them along with several other vendors. Because this was a mission critical project, we needed a results-driven partner that could deliver the solution on-time and on-budget.

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

They implemented a new React.js interface for the core platform and a number of portals that could plug into our client's onboarding funnels for verifying Natural Persons and Legal Entities. These portals had to work on a number of desktop and mobile devices and featured advanced browser based AI functionality.

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

There were 6 people working with us from NCoded's team. This included a Senior Project Manager and a number of intermediate and senior developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to the hard work and professionalism of the NCoded team, we were able to launch our newly revised platform on time and on budget. End users reported significantly better performance, stability, and ease of use. As a result we saw improved customer acquisition and retention.

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

The NCoded team follows an agile methodology approach to project management with daily SCRUM meetings to update us on progress, issues, and deliverables. They regularly met deadlines, and we worked with the same core team throughout the project. We communicated through Slack, Jira, and GitHub.

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

We communicated directly with the whole development team, which made it easier to communicate our specifications and troubleshoot any issues in real-time. Project managers were also on hand to align on timelines and core deliverables.

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

Initially when we started working with the team, quality control and QA was not the best. At times code received was buggy and that only caught during our internal testing. However, we discussed this with NCoded and they immediately put in place a more comprehensive QA process and hired new QA resources which significantly improved the quality of code that was delivered to us.