Technology Rivers

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Whoz, a social connection platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

We needed help with web and mobile app development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Technology Rivers has provided web and mobile app design and development from scratch. Based on my concept, the team has created hi-fi wireframes to create the flow and aesthetic look of the app. The team has taken those wireframes to code them and take them through a QA process before launch.

In terms of features, the product allows users to create a profile, invite people, connect their LinkedIn and Facebook profiles, and find other people available within certain tags and locations to interact with.

What was the team composition? 

We’ve worked with around ten members of Technology Rivers’ team, including Ghazenfer (Owner).

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

Someone referred Technology Rivers to us and chose them for this project because they had the experience, resources, and price range we were looking for.

How much have you invested with them?

So far, we’ve spent about $300,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2022, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Technology Rivers has done a great job and exceeded our expectations.

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

Technology Rivers communicates well with us and delivers on time and within budget. Regarding tools, we use Slack and Zoom.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review? 

Technology Rivers' whole team has done an excellent job.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Technology Rivers' biggest strength is the great value we get from the price we pay.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think there's anything they can improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have clear communication about what you're looking for and how much you can spend.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the President of (a/an) Education

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Our company provides therapeutic services to individuals with Autism.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Technology Rivers to accomplish?

• Create a portal to ensure our company complies with federal and state regulations.
• Create a portal to collect data to monitor client progress.
• Create a portal to increase communication with employees and clients.

SOLUTION

How did you find Technology Rivers?

Referral

Why did you select Technology Rivers over others?

• Referred to me
• Other

What was the size of Technology Rivers’s team?

10-15

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

Created Client Portal which tracks usage of multiple service codes and hours service was provided. Many reports can be run including running service hours used per county by client. Created Employee Portal which collects data on each client's progress towards treatment plan goals and tracks hours of service provided to create invoicing and payroll reports.

Many additional reports can be run for HR purposes such as providing benefit packages to those who qualify. Created Treatment Plan portal which allows a professional to create an individualized treatment plan for each client which meets the standard criteria. Created reportable event feature which allows team members to be notified in a crisis situation.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Create a portal with treatment plan goals that aligned to client individual log notes so employees could input specific data for each session

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

The team was extremely communicative, responsive, professional, experienced, talented and creative. They delivered in a timely manner. We communicate regularly on slack and have weekly virtual meetings.

What was your primary form of communication with Technology Rivers?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Ghazenfer is very involved in the oversight of the project. He has quickly grown the development team as my vision grew to accommodate my needs. The development team is fantastic! They take much pride in their work and it shows. They listen carefully to our needs and take the time to learn the ins and outs of all of the details of our business to help us better achieve our goals.

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

I can't think of a single thing they could've done better. Technology Rivers has exceeded all of my expectations.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CTO of JPAR BOSSS, the parent company of a voice analytics and internet company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

We were looking for an outsourcing partner.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Technology Rivers provides full-service development work for us. We outsource a large portion of our development work for them, everything from initial wireframes and business ideas to building out something functional.

They also provide UI and database designs, creating the layout of our platform. Technology Rivers helps integrate third-party APIs that can handle our microservices. They are responsible for both web and iOS and Android mobile app development. Their team works in Node.js, Laravel, and React.

What is the team composition?

We have one main point of contact at Technology Rivers.

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

We received a referral from a business partner so we decided to give them a chance.

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested over $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement with Technology Rivers began in January 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All of our endeavors with Technology Rivers are still in development. So far, everything has been great and the first platform we collaborated with them should be available soon.

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

They fully integrated with our team and communicated with us daily via Slack. Our teams meet in the mornings as needed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Technology Rivers can see a vision of what you’re trying to build and offers quality solutions to improve your idea. They can take a business idea and take it to a product that is viable to the public. They don’t just check the boxes, they want to build a finishing product for you.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had some minor issues with the time zone difference, but it didn’t impact the project much.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a social shopping company. Our members receive a percentage of the company’s revenue by meeting specific participation requirements. We’re a continually iterating company that returns value to our users.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

Being a decent coder myself, I created an entity that programmed the crucial aspects of our social network. However, I needed full-scale development firm to build out the platform’s framework and integrate it with new features. My ultimate goal is to restructure the entire codebase.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Technology Rivers helps us improve our software by introducing new features and functionalities into the source code. We sell discounted gift cards as a revenue generator, so their team integrated aftermarket and newly purchased e-gift cards into our system's inventory. They tied the inventory back to merchant accounts so that our constituents can buy those products seamlessly. That feature allows users to text us the value they want to spend at a specific establishment. Then, we send a gift card to their phone via text. The gift card can also be redeemed by accessing our platform’s interface. Technology Rivers made that by possible by integrating original code with software packages like Twilio.

They also maintain a dashboard that enables our constituents to view what they’ve saved and what they owe. That dashboard also ties into other licensed software that we utilize, so they’ve done a great job of bridging that space.

From a technological perspective, they’re able to use code templates and can script their own as well. They’re using a combination of basic SQL server functionalities and Amazon RDS to create the database code that integrates with our graphical UI. In addition to scripting a unique codebase, they also implemented code that’s been previously formatted into templates.

What is the team composition?

We interact with 5–6 resources from Technology Rivers. That includes their VP, the director of operations, and several developers.

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

I found them by looking for vendors on Clutch.co. The categories, reviews, and ratings on Clutch’s website provided enough visibility for me to answer the right questions. I considered several firms, but Technology Rivers offered competitive pricing and geographical accessibility. Considering those factors, I decided to hire them.

How much have you invested with them?

We expect to spend $250,000–$500,000. The total cost might even go beyond that if everything goes well.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Technology Rivers in November 2017 and it’s an ongoing engagement. We continue to grow, so I expect our relationship to continue if they’re willing to provide the kind of support we need.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The confidence that our customers enjoy is directly related to the rate, pace, and quality that they produce. Considering the platform has 1,200 clients so far, their satisfaction is important to us. Technology Rivers identifies and explains the tasks they plan to accomplish. They send updates if minor issues occur, but they’ve never missed a final deadline.

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

Their VP and director of operations actively provide recommendations and counsel. I appreciate how they interact with us. They listen to client concerns and extend value independently by presenting actionable solutions. We have a daily call with their offshore developers, and it’s often a rolling conversation. We’re opposites in terms of culture, but I appreciate the international aspect of the process. The time zone difference hasn’t been an issue thus far.

Overall, their responsiveness and ability to meet deadlines are top-notch. They allowed us to communicate via our preferred channel but eventually made recommendations that improved our productivity. We initially used Slack to convey our requirements, but they suggested we switch over to Twilio. Using a single program to prioritize our needs and communicate objectives made managing the project more efficient.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their availability, attentiveness, and communication skills set them apart from similar vendors.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Despite being a tough critic with high expectations, I don’t have an issue with how they perform. They help me understand the platform’s needs through conversation, and that process has worked well thus far. I’m interested to see how they’re going to scale, but I can’t provide constructive feedback regarding that at this time.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Embrace their nimbleness and communicate the project’s requirements from the onset.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the vice president of a national healthcare company that provides information services to the healthcare industry and government groups. We offer a wide range of services, including consulting, data analytics, machine learning, and software product development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

We were trying to expand our software product portfolio to bring more expertise and new technology from the industry, especially in the mobile and web applications space.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we started our engagement they provided solution architecture and UX design to build a mobile application for iOS and Android. For their second project for us, they used advanced analytics to support an existing web platform.

The team is currently conducting requirements analysis and UX work for a new web application we’re creating.

What is the team composition?

Their CEO was our solution architect for our mobile product and we worked with a different developer for the web project. For our current project, we're working with the business requirements analyst, who also designs the user experience.

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

The team was recommended to us by a colleague.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent roughly $500,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve worked with Technology Rivers on several projects since 2015, and are currently working on a web application.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Technology Rivers provided us the expertise we wanted—they know how to ask the right questions in order to determine how to best reach a solution. As a result of their problem-solving and timely communication, I'm better able to interpret how our products are being received.

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

We have an internal project management office, so we don’t have a specific manager with Technology Rivers. However, the requirements analyst for our current web application project is very experienced, so we can rely on her to suggest ideas and solutions. Even though she's not a project manager, she has the insight to help us with project management.

They’ve always responded in a timely manner and always make deadlines. We communicate via email, phone calls, web meetings, screen share, and instant messenger.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have the skill and reliability we need. Our team trusts them, so if we have a challenging project that requires creative solutions, we know we can go to them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would start big picture: approach Technology Rivers with your design or idea and be open to their suggestions, rather than simply hiring them to complete the work you think you need. Even if a future client already has a mature technology or existing product, they can still benefit from a consultation, especially about solution design.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an Executive at Hoppen. We’re a social media event app marketed towards college students.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Technology Rivers?

Our previous developers built the app in a technologically haphazard way: they would solve short-term problems without considering the overall issues at hand. As a result, the functionality and database design created major technical debt. We needed resources to support our team in building a new database to streamline our app.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

After reassessing our goals and establishing a six-month roadmap, we determined three key goals for the project. First, they designed and executed a set of updates to the API. Next, they built a new data structure and updated the reporting system to facilitate a more user-friendly functionality. The final step involved augmenting data migration to the new database. They developed and ran the database in MySQL using a REST API design and AWS.

Although the app didn’t get enough traction to continue app development, Technology Rivers accomplished the first two stages.

What is the team composition?

We worked primarily with the release design and project manager. Occasionally, we collaborated indirectly with their developers.

How did you come to work with Technology Rivers?

We knew the project manager through technical gatherings and conferences. We knew his backend development capabilities aligned with our project needs, so we hired him.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent approximately $400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Work lasted between April 2016–June 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Although we don’t have quantitative metrics about the app success, we appreciated their responsiveness. They were always available to address our concerns. In terms of deliverables, they met our expectations and fulfilled our functionality requirements.

How did Technology Rivers perform from a project management standpoint?

They followed the agile method to identify and prioritize essential tasks that we needed to complete within the next few weeks. Daily scrum meetings focused the team and ensured task completion.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We valued their technical knowledge and ability to execute our project. We also commended their communication skills.

Are there any areas they could improve?

While we benefited from their technological expertise, we would have preferred a more formal design approach.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Customers must have a methodical approach to build a mobile app. Think about what needs to be done in the long term, focus on the tasks in the short term, and execute the steps to achieve those tasks on a weekly basis. Balancing both the long- and short-term visions allows customers to work effectively.