Itransition

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CTO for Elephants Remember, an online retail company with concierge services for gift giving.

What challenge were you trying to address with Itransition?

We needed e-commerce development and a corresponding database.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We spent four months mocking up the website’s look and connection to our databases. Itransition obtained our approval before moving each component into development. During this process, we ran into several obstacles facing the UX. For example, if a concierge left a user’s account, that change needed to be seamless. Itransition produced solutions for each scenario in an iterative feedback process that also addressed our overall vision for the site. They developed with WooCommerce and Linux, and built custom plugins for functionalities that WordPress didn’t already support. The responsive web design enabled mobile access when we weren’t ready for separate mobile app development.

Development ran on a week-by-week basis. Our team did credit card authorizations with Authorize.Net and PayPal. Itransition helped us with those components, but we took responsibility for executing them. Once the team completed work in early 2018, we moved everything into the cloud environment.

They transitioned to an operations team that’s partnered with us since that hand-off. We have a separate marketing partner that has led on SEO, with some input on verbiage from both our team and Itransition.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager on the development side; he had a team working behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with Itransition?

We sent out an RFP and interviewed about eight companies over a long period of time. After those conversations, we modified the RFP and redistributed it. Itransition had the best understanding of our requirements and came back at the right price.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $90,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2016 and development ended in February 2018. Currently, we’re in the process of selecting users for a friendly user trial. We’ve given a few people access already, but we don’t have paying customers yet.

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

We don’t have metrics because we didn’t track any of the project’s components.

How did Itransition perform from a project management standpoint?

We only met once a week during the development phase because we had only expected a six-month engagement. The delay was my fault because I didn’t press for additional resources to accommodate concurrent development tasks. But, they always had the right resources at the right time, which put my mind at ease. Once we had the demo site, I checked its performance and reported any issues via a ticketing tool.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The development team understood what I wanted for the modifications and interface.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Due to insufficient quality control, Itransition had misdated files when we moved out of the demo site and into the cloud environment. That mistake caused several problems, although the team eventually resolved the issues. Within two weeks, the development team reviewed the entire system and revamped everything to ensure its proper functionality. They then turned the site back over to us.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm Head of Operations for a global media company. We operate on three continents and create editorial content for news organizations, media platforms, and broadcasters.

What challenge were you trying to address with Itransition?

We’ve worked with a number of companies in the past on web development and exploratory technical projects, but found these external partners too expensive. We needed a company we could keep on retainer for a certain number of hours each month to provide IT assistance and explore new ideas.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had existing B2B and B2C platforms, and initially relied on Itransition to address any technical errors. They also explored further development and advanced the functionalities of those two platforms.

Beyond that, we began to work on a number of other digital properties, including app exploration. We’ve also rolled out Google News, Apple News, and Facebook News feeds, which required a high-level of coding skill.

We rely on Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure tools, and use a custom-built Google CMS for our digital properties.

What is the team composition?

I work with a business partnership manager. There's also a project manager, as well as three or four coders and developers on the team.

How did you come to work with Itransition?

We engaged a web development consultant to find a company capable of accomplishing our tasks. He provided a list of options and I called each firm to get a sense of their business practices and costs.

I felt Itransition had one of the most relatable business models. It was simple, easy to understand, and I found them to be incredibly professional. We gave them a trial assignment and were pleased enough with the results that we locked them in for a year-long contract. We’ve just extended for a second year.

How much have you invested with them?

Between $20,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2016 and our relationship is ongoing.

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

They’ve certainly saved us money compared with the external companies we worked with previously. They’ve also saved me a tremendous amount of time. While I previously put a lot of effort into understanding the minute technical details of our digital properties, I now trust Itransition to take care of those elements because of their knowledge level and skill set.

How did Itransition perform from a project management standpoint?

I've managed various projects for 30 years and Itransition is one of the most professional companies I've ever dealt with. While I was initially hesitant to work with a company so geographically distant, their excellent communication skills ensure complete transparency.

We communicate primarily through phone and email. We receive a weekly update and report, followed by monthly reports. Additionally, tasks are flagged as completed so that I can quickly hand out new assignments without wasting any downtime. Their effective scheduling is a major benefit to our partnership.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate the clarity of their communication and their ability to keenly grasp any new tasks or requests.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really. Some clients may prefer more video conferencing, but that wouldn't work for my day-to-day workload. I’m sure they offer that option to other customers.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the owner of SEM Power. We're a solar electric contractor in the state of Florida, and we book some operations in the Caribbean.

What challenge were you trying to address with Itransition?

We needed a professional website developed for our business. The website already existed as a gas generator specific website that was an off-the-shelf solution from Generac, who is the manufacturer of the generators that we sold. We decided to no longer offer generators to our customers and had a need to develop a solar electric website, and that's why we contacted with Itransition.

What was the scope of their involvement?

First, they did a detailed needs analysis and assessment of what our current website was, what our goals were, and what we wanted the website to look like. They asked us to provide examples of websites that we thought were professional and similar to the image that we wanted to project. Then, they came up with a cost estimate based on our needs and our desires.

They also helped us rebrand; they came up with brand guidelines for a logo. This was an added value benefit that we didn't even realize they could provide. We just asked them if they could do it and they were able to, and we were really pleased with the outcome.

We're still continuing to work with them through the process of custom tailoring the website to our needs. We're also still in the stage of developing a customer portal through our website and eventually, customers will actually purchase items on our website as well. We're doing it all in small steps so to speak so that we don't get overwhelmed.

The key features they developed would be the integration of social media in our website, integration of all of our job-specific job pictures and photos, customer testimonials, and reviews. They have been able to successfully integrate all of the essentials into our website.

What is the team dynamic?

There has been one project manager that has been with us throughout the whole process which has made for really good continuity. There have been various developers; based on our needs and our desires, they have a full team of talent that specializes in various aspects of website development.

How did you come to work with Itransition?

We Google searched for the best website development companies. From there, we selected three. Then, we started investigating what sites they had developed successfully. The price was definitely a factor as well; we weren't necessarily looking for the lowest price, but we were looking for a company that we felt could develop the website that we wanted for a fair price. We felt that Itransition provided a tremendous value compared to other website development companies that we evaluated.

How much have you invested with them?

My project manager sends me a weekly detailed Excel spreadsheet. To date, we have spent $33,629.18. which is under budget. We had originally budgeted around $50,000; they did all the website development and customization and we're still under budget, which is why I feel it's a tremendous value.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November of 2015 and the work is ongoing.

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

Website traffic has increased to our site and we get a lot of positive feedback from customers or potential customers on the professionalism of our site. It makes us look like the professional company that we are and it represents us well.

There's still more work that needs to be done. Because we didn't do any website work prior to this, we relied on customer referrals and repeat business from existing sales and marketing companies that ask us to do fulfillment for them. But we're really pleased with the results in a very short time period. We're overall pretty satisfied.

How did Itransition perform from a project management standpoint?

They use go-to meeting so we can have conference calls to resolve questions in the most expeditious manner. Primarily, we communicate questions and answers via email, which is very efficient because there is a time change. Sometimes it is hard for us to collaborate at a convenient time for both of us because I they're in Europe, so we try to communicate with them via email if we can because that is the most expeditious way to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

To me, the most impressive thing is that they seem like a young, energetic team that's very talented and has the ability to be very efficient at what they do. For those reasons, we get a top quality website at a very reasonable and fair price.

Sometimes there are communication issues because some of them are bilingual and English isn't their primary language. But other than some small minor communication issues, they've been just outstanding.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything. To be honest with you, they exceeded my expectations. Even the weekly reports are beyond the detail that I require. They go above and beyond the call and expectations of our company. Overall, we were really, really pleased with them.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a development group, similar to Itransition. I’ve got a team of group members in Austin, Texas, and in Florida. I use different companies around the world to add to our staff, depending on our clients’ requirements. We started our company in 2011, and we’ve had year over year of growth. We do a lot of cool stuff from an e-commerce perspective. We use Magento. We’ve been focusing a lot on pay-per-view. I actually have ownership in a company that does a lot of cool technology in pay-per-view for concerts, sporting events, etc., and we’ve been growing on that side. We do a lot of value-add services that entail consulting resources, putting together different types of engagements, and delivering per our clients’ requirements. We’ve been able to get to this level by building relationships with firms like Itransition. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Itransition?

The first project we worked on with Itransition was an e-commerce platform built on Magento. We were taking an existing legacy system and moving it to a newer platform. I needed good individuals who understood the e-commerce perspective as well as our client’s specific requirements. We rely on Itransition’s services to make us look bigger, better, stronger and more agile. I have a small, agile ship, but with the help of companies such as Itransition, we can take on projects that are much larger, because we are able to get the right individuals, team members, and support for the specific requirements our clients have. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

We originally got involved with a nationwide tourism company that had a number of legacy systems — they had 44 different sites across the states — and they wanted to tie all of the websites into one platform. When we first connected with Itransition, our goal was to maintain the old system and make some changes here and there, but it was like putting a Band-Aid on a cut. It was leaking and the company wanted to fix and change everything. From there, we decided to move onto a bigger platform, Magento. That was the initial stage. 

Then we built a white labeling environment, which allowed us to create one entity, one group of products, that could then work on smaller entities within the one city or different cities, but it all would come back to one bucket, which was managed by the tourism company itself. Itransition provided the thought process to help define the product with some of my guys. From that perspective, we created the plan, and we started migrating everything. We implemented one company on the new platform, then we moved it to two companies. About two years ago, we took all of their old companies and moved them onto this new platform. It was pretty intense.

Itransition was able to provide a good go-to team that is doing the majority of the development, which includes PHP development, the development within the Magento platform. We’ve also looked at potential Android development, WordPress, etc. Everything comes from my company, but I've been able to work with Itransition as a partner who stands behind me and helps me deliver the overall project.

How did you come to work with Itransition?

Itransition has an office here in Austin, Texas, and I had heard of them because they had connections with some of the clients that I had worked with in the past. I reached out to them and said, “Let’s see how we could interface with each other. I have a pretty good-sized project, and I’ll need developers.” 

What is the status of this engagement?
We started working together in 2014, but I've interfaced with the company since 2011. 

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Migrating the old legacy system to the new environment went quickly and effectively, and we’re continuing to do additional projects because our company and the tourism company continue to grow. Itransition has also met every one of the customer’s specific guidelines, requirements, and timelines. The timelines are especially tricky because we both have to work around different time zones and holidays and cultural and language differences. Itransition has been able to continue to deliver what the customers want in the timeline they need. 

Itransition does good work. We’ve had a good team of high-caliber individuals since 2014. Everything has bugs, unfortunately, but the good news is that bugs keep me in business. Do bugs happen? Yes. Do I wish they didn't happen? I’m on the fence about that because of what we do. We don't create bugs, but we work to fix and change them. I've worked with many different companies from around the world — India, the Philippines, China, the United States, Russia — and the code that comes back from Itransition is at a higher level than all of the other companies I mentioned. Their code is more mature and their cycles from start to finish and from the QA perspective are much stronger. My team here works with Itransition in remedy any bugs. We help identify them, and we also work closely with the customer knowing that bugs will always happen. We aim to figure out what the right path is in order to squash them and avoid more in the future.

How did Itransition perform from a project management standpoint?

We are always in contact with Itransition via Skype. We’ve looked at Slack, but Skype is the quickest and easiest right now because it allows us voice communication, screen sharing, video conferences, etc. We also use Trello where we’re able to create different boards and project timelines. We’ve also used a tool called Phabricator in the past, which allowed us to check in and check out code and work from a timeline perspective. Obviously, we’re also using GitHub to keep the information in a central location, and we have used JIRA and Freshdesk in the past. I would say the biggest tools we use are Skype first and Trello second. Those two things tie together, and we can see what the developers are working on, what their timeline is, and what they’ve checked in. Then we obviously use the standard under-the-cover stuff like Git for the code repository.

What did you find most impressive about Itransition?

I have a team in the Philippines I use for frontend design and user experiences, but they don't have the knowledge or experience to build do the backend heavy lifting. Itransition has been able to do that heavy lifting. They have a good talent pool; they’ve been able to find the right individuals. Everyone they have found who has worked with us has approached the project as though they understand the bigger picture. They’re not just coding for a paycheck. Our guys work close to New York hours, which is quite late for them but they’re committed, oftentimes checking in on the weekends. They’ve taken a vested interest in the project and have seen it grow. My clients look at Itransition as an extension of their team. We’ve been with them for six-plus years, and they’re not looking to oust us. The projects keep coming, they keep expanding, and they’re doing newer systems. Their coding skills are phenomenal. They have a good understanding of the core areas behind building sound technology that grows, expands, and scales up. The team in New York is picky, and the way my team and Itransition have been able to learn how those individuals work has been really good. Itransition has also been accommodating. We get along well, and they’re committed and know their stuff, which is important. They’re part of our company’s family, so they’re part of the group itself.

Are there any areas Itransition could improve?

No, not really. They’re great developers, but English may not be their first language. I know that internally they do a lot of self-improvements. They have classes and they’re teaching different areas of English communication, written and oral. They have gotten much better from where they were years ago, so that’s something that I think they should continually improve upon. It also would be great if they could continue to adjust their working schedule for the different time zones, which they may already do. Those are the only two things. I’ve had a good relationship with them, and we’ve done a lot of business together. Everyone’s happy with Itransition, from my team members here in Texas and Florida to the groups that we outsource to.

What is your position [and responsibilities]?

AsiaXPAT.com is an online portal catering to the English speaking community in Hong Kong. Our users are comprised of expatriates and locals and are typically high net worth professionals and executives.

I am the general manager and one of the shareholders of the business. Given that our company is quite lean in terms of staffing, my responsibilities are rather encompassing. You can say that I touch all areas of the business from Operations, HR, IT—infrastructure and development, Vendor Management, Project Management, Business Process Enhancement, etc.

What business challenge were you trying to address with Itransition?

Given that we are a purely online business, we require the necessary skills to ensure our websites are available to our users as well as the ability to develop and enhance the sites. Unfortunately, as an SME we do not have the resources to hire all the necessary skill sets to manage the sites internally. Therefore, we needed to seek out a partner who was able to provide the full cycle for software development.

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

Itransition provides a full range of development services to us, however, the focus has been development with some architecture and design services.

How did you come to work with Itransition?

I was introduced to them via an agency out of Lithuania.

What is the status of this engagement?

This is an ongoing engagement.

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

There are no real stats to share.

How did Itransition perform from a project management standpoint?

They have performed very well. Tasks and projects are delivered within respectable timeframes.

What distinguishes Itransition from other providers?

For us, it was working with a partner who was not only proficient in software development but also had to have a high level of English proficiency.

In addition, we had their test code verified independently here in Hong Kong and the results came back very favorably.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

At this point in time, nothing.

Please describe your organization.

The International Coach Federation (ICF) is the largest executive and life coach credentialing organization in the world. 

What is your position?

I'm the director of coaching science.

What business challenge were you trying to address with Itransition?

The ICF hosts and publishes numerous coaching-related research materials and had a desire to improve the user interface available to users of the site as well as significantly add to the amount of references available to them. It was a complex undertaking, and we didn't have the in-house expertise to tackle the challenge by ourselves. We decided we would find an external partner with experience working on similar projects and began our search. 

Please describe the scope of their involvement in more detail.

The ICF conceived of a new user interface and crafted a comprehensive set of requirements for a new research portal to be made available through the website. Itransition turned this design into reality and delivered a turnkey solution to the ICF. Itransition chose the technologies to use for all elements of the site. They were responsible for all technical and design-related builds and implementations. We worked in tandem with their project lead and developers to ensure that that our key features and functionalities were successfully tested and implemented. 

How did you come to work with Itransition?

Once we decided to find an external partner, we went through the process of creating a short list of vendors we thought might be capable of delivering our solution successfully. Itransition was one of several potential companies under consideration and they were selected based on their previous experience and their approach to development. It was important to us that whomever we chose had a record of developing similar solutions within the agreed project requirements. 

When was the last milestone completed?

Our most recent deliverable came in at the end of July [2015], but we maintain an ongoing relationship with them. 

Could you share any statistics, metrics or user feedback from this engagement?

This five-month project was completed within budget and on time. Itransition was very responsive and took advantage of the shift in working time zones by developing and fixing bugs after the ICF workdays. It was not unusual for Itransition to turn around a series of 15 to 25 bugs or issues with a resolution in less than 24 hours. All additions to the original set of requirements were well documented, delivered quickly and cost effectively.

Is there anything that distinguishes Itransition from other providers?

They are extremely well organized and their development approach is very flexible. Itransition takes feedback well and incorporates it into their work rapidly, then comes back with something testable. They also provide meticulously detailed documentation around processes, protocols, and troubleshooting, which has been very helpful to us.

What advice, if any, would you give to a future client of theirs?

I can't share anything specific to Itransition, but there are a few general things that those interested should be aware of. On a basic level, have your objectives and business logic documented in as much detail as possible. Think of scenarios that users might finds themselves in and how they might try to interact with your solution. These things can take some time and Itransition can definitely help with it, but you shouldn't' move into development until you have those things specified. You can always made adjustments to features afterward, but in terms of what the end goal should be, it really shouldn't change all that much. 

Please describe your organization.

Our company is called Agora. We're a large company that serves as a holding company for a group of smaller affiliates. We are basically a publishing company. We produce newsletters, and we sell products – health supplements and things like that. We do our selling through direct marketing. What we try to do is get people on an email list, and once we get them on the list, we'll hit them with advertisements. We have a web presence as well. Each affiliate has its own website, and they do advertising on larger sites and through other affiliate networks.

What is your position?

I am the director of development for the IRIS application, which is the application that Itransition built for us.

What business challenge were you trying to address with Itransition?

We had started to develop this application, and it grew and grew. People started to like it, but we didn't have the bandwidth or the knowledge of newer code. It was developed originally in classic ASP [active server pages], and that was a dying language. We needed someone to help us switch our site to something more sustainable, to modernize our site and all of its various parts.

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They started building the application in classic ASP, and then we converted it all over to .NET. Itransition was responsible for that conversion; they did all of the technical work. We started with a couple of developers, and things grew from there. Now, we have a team of five developers, two project managers, and a QA [quality assurance] team. It's really become a pretty robust team.

We've constantly expanded the scope of their involvement since we've been in business with them. We have also tasked their design teams now to redesign the visual layout of the site. We're working on several different projects in which the design team is heavily involved. We just recently brought on a new business analyst over there to help us with requirements gathering. The primary technology for our application remains .NET.

How did you come to work with Itransition?

It was actually through word of mouth. We worked with another person whom we advertise very closely with, and he had used Itransition to build up his application. He made the introduction, and that's how it all started.

Cost was a major driver for choosing Itransition as a partner. There is no way we could have a team here in this country do all the things they do for the price we pay. We evaluated mainly offshore companies to partner with, but, honestly, there wasn't all that much evaluation. Mainly, we worked very closely with the person who gave us the connection to them. We trusted him and it worked out.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

Initially, it was probably in the $300,000 to $400,000 range, which includes all development, all the project management, all the QA hours – basically the full scope of the development project.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our relationship with Itransition is ongoing and ever expanding. We're glad to be doing that because they produce great work.

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

In time, we've definitely become a well-oiled machine. In the beginning, there were obviously some bumps in the road, and we had several project managers come and go. But, we've had a pretty solid team now for more than four years, with the same project manager, who has built the team the way it needs to be.

We've switched development styles, and now we're basically focused on a scrum approach. Now, we're developing things in such a way where we're really hitting the dates that we set out, and we know what's coming. I think it's been an evolution. We didn't have any benchmarks. We just kept working at it and getting it to where it is today.

How did Itransition perform from a project management standpoint?

We started using Itransition, and then we've actually outsourced a lot of other projects that we have here to them based on the quality of work and how quick and inexpensive they are. Now, it's at a point where there are maybe two or three teams that are using their developers exclusively.

They're very timely. Sometimes, we do have bugs, like with anything, but that has also gotten much better as the QA team has gotten up to speed. They've always delivered things in a timely manner, so we have no complaints there whatsoever. As far as the potential language barrier, they find the people who can communicate well. That's not been an issue with our team.

What distinguishes Itransition from other providers?

I really haven't worked with too many other vendors besides them. I would just say that they're realistic, they specify the deliverables they'll give you at a certain date, and they always hit it. That's difficult to do on a regular basis with development projects, so we really appreciate that aspect.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

No. There's really nothing that I can think of.

Please describe your organization.

One of my company's websites provides legal services online to customers all around the world, but it's mostly for Indian legal services. Whether the customers live in India or abroad, they can connect with lawyers and either can ask questions online or do full consultations with lawyers.

What is your position?

I'm the founder.

What business challenge were you trying to address with Itransition?

Itransition have been responsible for the functional development and the visual elements of the site. I provide them with mockups, and which front-end theme and Bootstrap theme to use. I tell them that but, after that, they can take over completely. The UI [user interface] is mostly provided by me in the form of mockups and themes. They deal with the implementation and testing.

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They work mostly on developing the functional application, business logic, and testing. They've used Ruby on Rails, WordPress, and various plugins that come with these frameworks. They're pretty good with these technologies, and that's what I like about them. I get the full stack. Also, making the site responsive is a pretty valuable skill.

They assigned multiple developers to my project. At one time, there were only two developers but, overall, I think there have been at least three or four developers that have worked with me in time, depending on how much work there was and who could take it up. We had a project manager, and I'm the QA [quality assurance] guy.

How did you come to work with Itransition?

It was through a recommendation, I think. I checked them out online to see what kind of things they offer and what kind of project experience they had. I liked what I saw so decided to approach them.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

Probably around $70,000. The price is pretty reasonable for what they do and their quality of work. I've worked with multiple development teams, and I know if you want good quality, you have to pay for it.

What is the status of this engagement?

The most recent project was completed two months ago [May 2015].

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

All the work they've done on the MMI [man machine interface], and the website is pretty decent. They keep working on it, and we keep having new change requests. The best way to quantify their work is noting how few bugs their code has, and how fast their turnaround time is.

The performance speed of the site is excellent. I'm quite happy with the quality, even though there are some complicated algorithms. They've done some nice optimizations on the back-end so that you don't have to recalculate all the values every time. I think some of their work is amazing. I didn't even ask them for optimization. They just did it on their own.

How did Itransition perform from a project management standpoint?

I think their project management has been outstanding. We exchanged a lot of emails throughout the project management, and we partly used JIRA. Other than that, there was no project management tool.

In general, I give them very clear and well-defined requirements. I've not worked with them in any other way. I've always given them well-defined, requirements with mockups and everything. They just do it and hand it back to me.

What distinguishes Itransition from other providers?

I think Itransition has excellent engineers, front-end, back-end, and database, which is hard to find. The other thing that distinguishes them is their very quick response time. They feel accountable for the work they've done, they care about the work they've done, and they suggest improvements on their own that I hadn't thought before. I think I am now working exclusively with Itransition because of all these factors. If I find bugs after six months, they fix it without asking questions. Even though they are offshore, we communicate in English and that's great. They have a U.S. presence, so all the legal terms are signed by the U.S. company, so if there is some legal issue or dispute, we can resolve it in the U.S.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or things you might do differently?

No. They are pretty good. I did have some issues initially, but that was two years ago when I started working with them in July or August of 2012. They said they were trying out a different model, with a different QA from a different company. After that, it was just fine. They were just experimenting. I'm very happy with these guys, and I don't have any issues.

Could you provide a brief description of your organization?

I work for US Inspect, a national home inspection company. We have three separate lines of business: a residential line for homebuyers and home sellers, a commercial line for corporations, and a relocation line for companies relocating employees across the country. We've been in business since 1987, and we've done about three million home inspections to date.

What is your position?

I'm the director of business development. 

Could you describe the business challenge that you were trying to address with Itransition?

We pride ourselves in being one of the best home inspection companies in the industry, and we realized we didn't have the ability to collect mobile payments onsite from our customers via a credit card swipe tool. So, we reached out to Itransition to have them build a mobile app for us that could incorporate mobile payments onsite.

Could you describe the scope of their involvement in detail?

We hired them for both the development and project management of our mobile app. We originally thought we were going to use them just to begin the development of the mobile app, and then we'd have them collaborate with our internal technology experts. We ended up liking their work so much that we gave the project completely to Itransition. We didn't have any of our in-house experts deal with it at all.

I was the main point of contact dealing with the business analysts at Itransition, using them for the software development. I would say the scope changed as the project went on, just because there were some things that we had to expand. For instance, we were originally only considering credit card payments, so we specifically asked them to build a mobile app that would process credit card payments onsite. Then, we realized we do receive other types of payments, such as checks, cash, and money orders. As a result, we had to expand the scope of the project, and that's just one example.

There were a series of changes we presented them with, which did expand the scope of the project. They were very accommodating. We would draw up a different statement of work, and then we would proceed from there. There were really no glitches because of our expansion of the scope. 

Do you know what primary technologies were being used for their development for mobile?

They were able to develop it for all platforms, but we specifically requested Android because our inspectors carry around the Samsung Galaxy Tab S, an Android device. So, they were specifically building the app for Android. In the beginning, we had talked about having them build for iOS as well. We had originally agreed on that, but once we decided we were going to have our inspectors carry Samsung tablets the scope changed. That was another tweak that we made down the road that they easily adjusted to.

How did you come to work with Itransition?

My boss, who's the CTO of our company, had worked with them a few years back at his old organization, and he had recommended them. We didn't interview or look into any other companies. I did get Itransition's references, and I called them to make sure everything was good, and then we went ahead and hired them. So, I used my boss's recommendation to hire Itransition.

We were actually debating whether to do this project internally because most of our development work has been done that way. But, we're going through some internal changes and some growth, and so the big decision was whether to outsource this or keep it in-house. We did not look at any other companies externally besides Itransition.

Could you provide a general cost estimate for this engagement?

We've spent between $75,000 and $100,000 working with Itransition.

Have you maintained an ongoing relationship with them?

We have, and we've used them for a couple of other minor projects. They're actually working on a project for me right now, so we've definitely kept in contact with them since the delivery of that particular mobile application. The current projects are more Web-based. They're helping us integrate two different systems – a CRM [customer relationship management] platform with our new phone voice provider that has a call center database integrated with it. We're still in the early stages of that, just because we're having some customizations done on our CRM platform.

Could you share any stats, metrics or user feedback from this engagement?

We don't have any statistics or metrics as of yet. On our side, once the project was completed, we were going to roll it out to all of our inspectors, but we decided to wait. We wanted to roll it out with a couple of other projects we were working on internally. Even though the project was completed six months ago, we are just getting to the point of rolling it out. Because of that, I don't yet have any statistics or metrics to prove the success of the project, but that's not any fault of Itransition. It's just because we have decided to wait on the release. 

How did they perform from a project management perspective?

I can't think of any glaring issues with them. They were very responsive throughout the course of the project, from planning to development. I almost felt like sometimes I had to step up my own game because they were always on point, and you could tell that the project was their sole focus.

What I personally liked is how they constantly came with questions when they were unsure of something. They really wanted to define the requirements before they built anything. I know with a couple other companies I've dealt with, we had some issues with the project managers being too quick to jump the gun and start building, and we really didn't want that. I really appreciated the fact that Itransition took the time at the beginning to ask questions. Because they were offshore, we would do a lot of Skype calls, which was great and super easy. Or, they would come back via email and really work things out and talk things out before any sort of development had begun.

They always came through on their deadlines, too, and I can't think of any time in particular that they were late. Regarding budget, they were on point. There were maybe one or two times when they came in slightly over budget, but that could have been because we had added new features to the original scope, and it was just maybe one or two instances – nothing to raise an issue about. Everything else was exactly what they had promised us. 

Is there anything unique about Itransition that really makes them stand out compared to other companies?

They were very good at defining their requirements and making sure all questions were addressed and answered before they began. Like I said, I really appreciated that. This is probably not unique, because I think every software development company should do this, but I have had some negative experiences with companies in the past that have not done this. So, that's the thing that they do much better than other companies I've worked with. I don't know if it's unique, per se, but it's definitely something that makes them stand out.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve, or certain things you'd do differently as the client?

No. I really don't think so. The only thing of concern was the budget, but an original budget is always an estimate anyway. Maybe they could be a little more conservative in their budget estimations so we could manage our expectations better. Maybe that is something they could focus on, if I had to pick one thing. But, honestly, that's a very small thing, and it wasn't even a big deal. 

What advice, if any, would you give a future client of theirs?

Get to know some of the members of the team before you begin. They had a handful of analysts working on a project, and I kind of got to know them all. In a way, I almost got to select the ones that I wanted. I developed really strong relationships and really felt strongly about certain individuals who I thought were really talented and understood exactly what we were looking for. If a new client doesn't want to be just given anyone for the project, if they actually want to kind of get to know everyone first and then decide to go forward, that's something that Itransition was very open about and completely fine with. So, that would be my suggestion to new clients.

Please describe your organization.

I work for an executive training and development firm that helps people improve business and individual performance.

What is your position?

I am the project coordinator.

Could you describe the business challenge that you were trying to address with Itransition?

We needed a new, experienced programmer for our Web-based assessment programs. We didn’t have anyone in-house with the necessary expertise, and we didn’t want to spend the time to get a permanent resource, so we decided to hire a technology partner that could allocate the developers we needed on a case-by-case basis.

Could you describe the scope of their involvement?

That depends on how many people Itransition provides us. Sometimes, we have one developer working on the project, working on some very specific tasks. Other times, we have three of their developers working directly under me on larger initiatives. They’ve only been performing functional development.

How did you come to choose Itransition?

I researched programmers online and, after interviewing several, Itransition just was the most qualified, it seemed.

Are you always managing their developers directly, or are you sometimes offered a project manager?

I manage them directly. I’m also the sole liaison, so I manage everything related to IT [information technology].

What is the status of the relationship?

We’re still working with them on an ongoing basis, and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon.

Could you share any statistics or metrics from the project that would demonstrate the quality of their performance?

The overall quality of work they do for us is great. The only issue we have is that they’re on Belarusian time and we’re not. So, when we need something done right away, that can become an issue. We’re currently working with them to find a resolution, and they’re pretty good about trying to help us with that. With our old programmer, we could pick up the phone and call him and he’d be right on it, so we’re used to that level of reaction time. Itransition is a much bigger company, and they work with many more clients. Other than that, they’re great.

Outside of their response time, have you had any issues with other long-term scheduling or defects in the code delivered?

We did at one point, but we got a new programmer because of that problem. We haven’t had any issues since they gave us the new programmer. They’ve been great at those kind of quick resolutions.

Are you dealing with quality assurance on your end or are they dealing with that as well, in addition to their custom coding?

Quality assurance is their main job. In addition to that, they will build assessments and reports for us when we need them. But, what they do for us monthly is essentially quality assurance. 

When working with Itransition, is there anything that you would consider unique about their practice?

I’ve never worked with offshore providers before, so I don’t know. I just don’t have the prior experience to make a realistic comparison.

Has there ever been any miscommunication between you and your direct contact at Itransition?

Considering the language barrier, I would say our communication has been pretty good. There is some occasional confusion, but I think that’s mainly due to the language barrier. I think to some extent that’s to be expected when you use an offshore partner.

In hindsight, are there areas in which they could improve upon, or is something that you might do differently as the client?

Yes. Their project management is pretty much useless for us. I work directly with the programmer or engineer because their project manager is so hard to get in touch with. Usually, if I need to know the details of a project, the project manager will take longer to get back to me than the actual programmer does. So, the programmer and I have a direct line of communication now. We could almost eliminate the project manager altogether. Maybe that’s because I have IT [information technology] experience, and I can understand what the programmer is telling me. So, that might not be the case with most people, but it is in our case.

What advice, if any, would you give to a future client of theirs?

In general, I think that Itransition is great. The only things that we’ve even had a slight issue with are the project manager and the time difference. Other than that, their work is fantastic, and they don’t overcharge, so that’s great. We’re very happy with their overall work. Anything their programmers have touched has been great. We’ve never had a problem with their developers.