20 Years of Software Design and Development.
Digital product design & development, built with you, not for you.
Digital innovation is a required core competency for tomorrow’s market leaders – it cannot be outsourced long term. To keep up with the digital demands of your customers, your organization must internalize design thinking, research-backed UX design, customer centricity, rapid user testing, user validation and, agile development to inform and accelerate your digital roadmaps.
Over the last 20 years, we have assembled a fast-moving team of 70+ software designers and engineers that have delivered over 300 software transformations for clients such as Keller Williams, Texas Mutual, Jack Link's Snacks, Dimensional Fund Advisors, NRG, City of Houston, Sysco Foods, Austin Capital Bank and more.
Our project results speak for themselves:
- NRG generated $80M in new revenue
- The City of Houston saved $40M
- Bluebird Botanicals 10x'ed their revenue and expanded internationally
We inform your roadmap with user research so all feature ideas are evaluated against user insights, assumptions are validated and the backlog is prioritized based on ROI.
We build it with you, not for you by leveraging your existing resources, assets, and ideas. We then organize ourselves around you to uncover the shortest path to a new release. We aim to work ourselved out of a job leaving you with a core-competency in digital customer experience.
Experts at software modernization, we understand that many companies have built software applications that no longer meet customer expectations. We help those companies modernize those applications so they can remain relevant against born-digital competitors.
Here’s how we do it:
Assess. We assess your situation and present a proposal with three investment options.
Design & Build. We design and build a modern user experience, supported by a robust full-stack architecture.
Launch. You launch a modern, intuitive software application that lives up to the promise of your brand.
Schedule a call today.

headquarters
other locations
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Raleigh, NCUnited States
Focus
Portfolio
Dimensional Fund Advisors, Amherst Holdings, Texas Mutual Insurance Company, NORCAL Mutual, CMIC Group, Keller Williams, Kinder Morgan, Sysco Foods, NRG, The City of Houston, Cost Plus World Market, uShip, McCoy's Building Supply, The University of Texas

Design Sprint Uncovered a Disruptive Innovation in Real Estate
We delivered a Design Sprint that uncovered a significant strategic opportunity within the crowded home buying market and supported Homeward in securing $25M in funding with brand strategy and design.
Homeward is a digital solution for people transitioning from the house they own to the house they will buy. The company eliminates the pain point of trying to sell a current home and buy the next one without being homeless in between. Homeward works by purchasing (“holding”) someone's new house for them while they’re in the selling phase, then selling it to them once they’re ready to move in. This allows homebuyers to manage the process painlessly.
People in the home-transition face a complex problem, to which Homeward offers a unique solution. Through a rebrand and website design, we enabled Homeward to communicate effectively with their audience and concisely explain what Homeward does and who they help. More importantly, we allowed them to do it within the first visit to their website. The rebrand helps communicate that Homeward is not another home-buying site, but instead offers something completely different. By providing supporting collateral such as a pitch deck and business cards, we additionally supported their leadership team in going forth to create successful sales and brand endeavors in the future. The impact of our partnership has already been felt; Homeward recently secured $25 million in initial funding, having used the new website and deck in the pitch process.

Austin Capital Bank - Banking Software UX Redesign
Regional Bank Launches Innovative Consumer Credit Builder Product
Our user experience redesign lowered Credit Strong’s cost per customer and enabled significantly higher user adoption. In addition to technical partnership, we provided Austin Capital Bank with the coaching they needed to launch into the next phase of digital transformation.
OBJECTIVES
Optimize user experience on Austin Capital Bank’s Credit Strong mobile website.
Equip and empower Austin Capital Bank with the processes and structure to handle future product ownership in-house.
CHALLENGES
While traffic soared on the Credit Strong mobile website, adoption rates were lower than they should have been.
A design flaw in the mobile site’s user flow was costing Austin Capital Bank unnecessary fees.
Driven by long-term vision for growth in digital finance, Austin Capital Bank sought help creating and implementing product plans that support that vision.
OUTCOMES
Positioned to experience higher user adoption rates.
Significant reduction in client-onboarding expenses.
Ability to garner greater market share by owning and managing future digital innovations.
Clear Vision & Reliable Methods for Digital Innovation
Austin Capital Bank created the Credit Strong platform to help their clients build a credit score without applying for a credit card.
Austin Capital Bank came to us for help improving their already high user adoption rate and optimizing the mobile website user experience. What they didn’t know is that we would also equip them with the processes and structure to move their digital finance business into the next stage of growth.

Financial Advisor Portal for Dimensional Fund Advisors
Wealth Advisor Portal
Praxent partnered with Dimensional Fund Advisors to build an ambitious new financial advisor portal, MyDimensional. The redesigned portal reimagines the advisor experience while streamlining operations, easing content management and reinforcing security.
OBJECTIVES
Streamline content publishing
Centralize security management
Improve functionality for financial advisors
Enable internal processes to scale internationally
Simplify advisor onboarding
CHALLENGES
Custom Software Development:
CodePath assessment to evaluate technical priorities
Technical consulting on system architecture and DevOps
On-Time Build:
Agile coaching to drive development efficiency
Transparent reporting with CommandView
OUTCOMES
Positioned to scale at minimum operational cost
Simplified wealth management processes for Dimensional advisors
Greater profit potential through advisor retention
Enhanced advisor experience with digitally-enabled onboarding
Significant content management savings
Empowering Financial Advisors with Content & Data Tools
A wealth advisory firm based in Austin, Texas, Dimensional offers investors a diverse suite of high-performance funds. The funds are available exclusively through Dimensional-authorized financial advisors from around the world.
Dimensional recognized an opportunity to better support its financial advisors in the wealth management services they provide, while streamlining internal operations with digital technology. We teamed up with Dimensional to create MyDimensional, a web portal that transformed the customer experience for Dimensional advisors, enabling greater effectiveness and advisor satisfaction.

Digital Finance Portal for Keller Williams
MULTILINGUAL FINANCIAL PORTAL FOR GLOBAL REAL ESTATE FRANCHISE
We partnered with Keller Williams, the world’s largest residential real estate company, to take over leadership for a mission-critical financial reporting portal. The technology enabled Keller Williams Worldwide to continue its rapid growth into international markets.
OBJECTIVES
Enable Keller Williams to expand across the globe with a versatile and user-tested web portal.
Replace an outdated financial system that cost too much to run and failed to deliver all necessary features.
Design a tool that offers seamless conversion across currencies and languages.
Equip the Keller Williams team with the skills, structure and processes needed for future product development success.
CHALLENGES
Strengthen overall direction and vision for the product plan.
Develop software requirements for a cohesive global user experience.
Ensure the project was executed to completion on a realistic timeline
Equip the Keller Williams team to product-manage future digital innovations in house
OUTCOMES
Ability to scale into 15 new international regions
Custom product design that functions seamlessly with unique reporting and payment scenarios
Ownership of the skills, processes and mindset for managing future product initiatives without going over time or over budget

Custom web application lets users buy a home without leaving the house
Bungalo Homes plans to disrupt the real estate business by turning the pain of home buying into a hassle-free experience
In just 21 weeks, Praxent developed a fully-integrated digital product that offers users a complete home buying experience. On the business side, Bungalo employees got their own much-needed updates, like an automated backend that made their work easier.
Bungalo Homes’ digital platform now flawlessly handles the home buyer customer journey from start to finish and equips the company with a faster and more efficient home selling system. Read More

Travel accounting meets workforce accommodation–two services in a one-of-a-kind package
Globeo’s new software is built to scale their business by saving their clients money on crew lodging expenses
Globeo has realized a business transformation that will alter the course of crew lodging services. Praxent helped them get there.
Praxent created a three-in-one platform that automates manual operations, eliminates human error, and cuts labor costs. It’s a platform that meets the needs of Globeo, its clients, and partnering hotels, and gives Globeo the only workforce accommodation software of its kind in the industry.
Now, with their own proprietary platform, Globeo is positioned to own the competition. Read More

NRG’s cloud based app increased sales by making solar panel leasing simple
NRG’s intuitive new financing product results in a shining success for solar energy
NRG SunLease needed a cloud-based portal for generating estimates and processing financing applications. Praxent produced a product that made those complicated concepts easier to understand.
By making a product that offered homeowners simple financing options in an aesthetically pleasing and professional package, communication between sales reps and customers got better. The instant results were improved sales for NRG SunLease. Read More

Custom software increases financial transparency for the entire City of Houston
Houston saves its taxpayers millions by making city contracts transparent
The Mayor had a deadline to make the city of Houston more transparent about its spending. Praxent helped him deliver.
It’s called the E-catalog; an information portal that documents the entire city’s purchasing online. This powerful tool helped the city dramatically increase government accountability as well as citizen participation—all while saving the taxpayers millions.
Now, citizen watchdogs can scrutinize where their tax dollars are going, and prospective vendors can identify competitive opportunities that result in lower costs for the city. Read More

The rodeo taps into a new audience by letting athletes qualify virtually
New app raises awareness for the Rodeo, engages new contestants, and makes the administering and winning of prize money easier than ever
Praxent partnered with WCRA to create the first and only mobile app for rodeo qualifications. The Virtual Qualifier app encourages the longevity and growth of the rodeo around the country by finding contestants for 50,000 rodeo events. The app also streamlined an administrative system that was managing thousands of registered athletes.
With a little help from technology, WCRA employees were able to fundamentally change the financing of rodeos and achieve their goals with less work. The result is greater prize incentives, easier and fairer access to big competitions, and a more efficient World Champions Rodeo staff. Read More

New software for wine vendors and wine tasters creates better workflows and management
Palaterra solves its administrative challenges and creates new profits in the process
Palaterra moved from an industry player to a bonafide game changer in just a few years. Praxent helped them make the leap by creating an automated job scheduling and data collection app that produced 300% growth.
The results were so dramatic for this point-of-purchasing marketing company that selling the technology to clients became a major focus of their business. Now, national suppliers come to Palaterra to gather market insights and inform their product branding. Read More

Part VIN scanner and part e-commerce site–the auto parts aftermarket gets a B2B/B2C solution
Praxent helps AAPA eliminate expensive aftermarket vendors and create a better consumer experience
Praxent worked to develop the strategy and design of two inventive auto-parts-sales products in one: a VIN scan app and a consumer-facing auto parts e-commerce site.
The strategy and design of these products allowed Aftermarket Auto Part Alliance (AAPA) to improve the sales experience for their current customers, while also giving the AAPA scalable software solutions that their retailers could use for their own businesses. Read More

How TicketCity’s custom cloud solution fueled the scaling of their business
Faster systems made for happier customers and better business at TicketCity.com
After rapidly growing its network of affiliated brokers and venues, TicketCity was struggling to process new and updated ticketing information through its inventory management system. Praxent created a solution that lightened the load by 98%, revving up their processing capabilities by 6800%.
Armed with this lightning-fast new inventory system, TicketCity was able to process more than 300 million daily transactions and their ability to grow hit an all-time high. Read More

Plumb’s Veterinary Drugs turns their industry handbook into a handy app used by thousands
Plumb’s drug handbook goes online and goes from 0 to 20,000+ subscribers
Busy veterinarians and pharmacists are no longer forced to lug around heavy medical books and buy new editions. Praxent has turned their handbook into a regularly updated application. Keeping up with advancements in animal medicine is now much easier thanks to the 91% of veterinarians equipped with this highly adaptable app.
It has made Plumb’s Veterinary Drugs the go-to digital resource for accessing up-to-date veterinary drug information and it’s completely transforming how small animal and rural practitioners access drug data. Read more

Athletes gets certified more efficiently than ever with web architecture that scales
A faster, safer, more efficient way to the playing field for 18,000 athletes
When every penny counts, you need tools that do more with less. Non-profit TYFA (Texas Youth Football & Cheer Association) needed a web-based application that was scalable and capable of processing up to 4,000 participants at a time. It also needed it to work anywhere–in a gym or on the field–and run efficiently on any computer or mobile device. Praxent built a cost effective, intuitive app that required zero training and made TYFA more efficient.
With scalable web architecture, volunteers could check birth certificates, complete profiles, take photos, and print photo ID cards reliably and efficiently. The system also sent guardians a waiver which they could sign electronically.
What was once a painful, manual process became streamlined and smooth. Read more

Kiosk software creates an experience out of photo taking; creates a software company out of a photo booth
Photomadic got more than a photo booth with built-in software–it got a new way to market itself, and a new way to make money
Photomadic wanted to build a photobooth that could work anywhere and share everywhere. But dealing with a vast array of event spaces made Photomadic’s idea easier to dream up than it was to do. Between slow internet speeds, connectivity issues, and creating an interface that any partygoer or pedestrian could use immediately, there were a handful of problems that needed solving.
Praxent helped Photomadic solve those problems and so much more.
The solution was a versatile piece of kiosk software that worked so well it changed how Photomadic did business. In a matter of months, they went from a company that made their money selling one-off photographs to a software company built on social media marketing and recurring revenue. Read More.

Custom software saves accounting firm thousands of hours internally–helps them work smarter and earn more
Crabtree Rowe & Berger’s automated accounting software saved time for everyone at the firm; and let them focus on what really mattered
At Crabtree Rowe & Berger, they had reliable accounting software. Like so many other firms around the country they were using QuickBooks–the industry standard. But what happens when the industry standard isn’t enough?
That’s where Praxent came in. They helped Crabtree Rowe & Berger design a web-based tool for their team and their clients. This tool helped their employees synthesize what they were seeing on QuickBooks (a process they previously had to do by hand) and connect their clients to those financial reports with ease. All of this saved time and effort and allowed employees to focus on the most important part of their job–delivering key insights to their clientele of small businesses and entrepreneurs. Now, with Simple Numbers' automatically updating software, clients get those insights more quickly and can make decisions faster. The result has been more business for Crabtree Rowe & Berger. Read more.

Wearable heart rate monitors go from fitness idea to technology adopted nationwide
How an idea for a fitness app became the backbone of a new interactive health program; and took their company nationwide
For many schools around the country, battling childhood obesity is now a top priority. For educators, parents, and teachers alike, so is finding the right tool to fight it. Luckily for school districts in over 30 states, they heard about the success of IHT, and took note. Now, they’re using IHT’s heart rate monitors to help them achieve their own, specialized fitness goals. They're choosing IHT because their monitors work seamlessly with cloud software and help them tackle every student's unique challenges.
What started as the idea of one woman, Jen Ohlson, is now changing how our nation’s kids get healthy. Praxent helped her turn her dream project into a reality by building the product she had always envisioned and then some. Read More.
Reviews
the project
Mobile App Dev for Retirement Fund Firm
“I’ve been impressed with how well they can take our ideas and put them into action.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the COO for BlueStar Retirement Services, a 401(k) Recordkeeper and TPA. We do 401(k) plan administration in the financial services industry.
What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?
We have a great participant website that is mobile-responsive, but we were looking for a true mobile experience. We hired Praxent to develop a mobile app for us that would provide an excellent user experience for our participants and differentiate us from our competition.
What was the scope of their involvement?
We wanted them to develop an iOS and Android app that built on our current participant web experience, but take it to the next level. We needed the app to be really engaging and provide a more guided experience. We were looking to help all of our participants, but particularly young people, develop great savings habits and take control of their financial security.
Praxent divided the development into two phases. The initial phase focused on views like accessing a user’s account, information, lessons, investments, and contribution rate.
We’re now in the second phase and they’re working on enhancing that experience by creating a guided enrollment user flow.
What is the team composition?
We've worked closely with a number of Praxent people. They provided all of the project management and the front end work. My development team handled the back end work. Their teams worked seamlessly together.
How did you come to work with Praxent?
I did a Google search and found Clutch. I interviewed the top five UX/UI designers and was particularly impressed with Praxent because of how they configured the project. They also specialize in the financial services industry, so they understood what we were talking about very quickly.
How much have you invested with them?
The total project will cost $400,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We engaged them in September 2020 and we are about halfway through the total project now.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We just finished the first phase and are moving on to the second. We estimate that it will be done in April 2021. I’ve been impressed by how they managed our two main priorities: getting to market quickly and improving the features our participants can engage with.
How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?
Their project management is exceptional. I’ve been impressed with how they’ve completed each sprint. We had several meetings to discuss the budget and timeline, which was a time commitment, but it was well worth the time.
They’re very reliable, so I know that I can count on them. It became clear that they were dedicated to delivering a quality product on time and under budget.
Midway through the project, we had to switch project managers. That concerned me at first, but the new project manager that came in didn’t miss a beat.
My backend developers use Slack to collaborate with them, but we meet weekly over video conferencing. They use PowerPoint to present the sprint plan and keep us updated on how well we’re managing the budget.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They have a really good design team. I’ve been impressed with how well they can take our ideas and put them into action. They’re creative, they hear our feedback, and they come up with unique ways to present data and create an experience on the platform.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No. I’ve never been happier with an outside firm.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
New clients should make sure they have team members who can focus on the business side of the project. Praxent can do great things as long as they get good feedback, so it’s important that the business side is involved.
the project
UX Design for Nonprofit Criminal Justice Software Agency
"The team’s commitment to being successful and in turn helping us to be successful is impressive."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
We’re a nonprofit that builds criminal justice software.
What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?
We engaged them to help us with the UX design component.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Praxent has been responsible for helping us determine the UX design across a criminal and civil court case management system. They conducted user interviews, looked at old systems, and observed them doing their business.
From there, they created mockups and clickable prototypes and made sure that they met the business needs and were technically feasible to implement.
What is the team composition?
We’ve worked with six teammates including UX designers, delivery managers, client relationship managers, and other folks to make sure that the engagement went well.
How did you come to work with Praxent?
I had worked with one of their executive-level folks, so I knew that he was capable and smart and that any organization he was associated with, I’d probably want to work with. We did some interviews with him, Praxent did a proof of concept (POC), and we hired them.
How much have you invested with them?
So far, we've spent $215,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We began working with them in July 2020, and it’s ongoing.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Our customers are very pleased with our UX design, as well as ultimately the software we developed based on the designs and other business rules. We’re very happy, too.
How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?
Their project management is great.
What did you find most impressive about them?
The team’s commitment to being successful and in turn helping us to be successful is impressive. Their ability to pick up the business domain in terms of understanding criminal justice terminology is impressive. They’re very efficient at getting up to speed on the terminology and understanding the business process.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, not at the moment.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Have common expectations. Both parties need to understand what success looks like.
the project
iOS App UI/UX Design for University
“Praxent delivered everything they promised on time and slightly under budget, which is as good as it gets.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m a project manager at a university. I work for the Department of Medical Social Sciences.
What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?
We engaged Praxent to create the UI and UX for the new app that we’re creating. We have a contract with the federal government to create new tests that will be used to evaluate cognitive and motor development of infants and toddlers, ages 1–43 months. While we were creating these tests, we realized that the UX will be an important factor in people maintaining interest and doing those tests. We wanted to find someone who had experience in developing mobile application UX, and we chose Praxent.
What was the scope of their involvement?
We created high-level storyboards for each of the tests. Each test had a scientist assigned to it, and Praxent met with them one-on-one and conducted an interview. They asked questions related to what the test is measuring, who the target audience is, why the scientists are doing these tests, and what the expected outcomes are. Then, Praxent looked at the storyboards we created, and we had a discussion.
They delivered a low-fidelity wireframe for the tests. The final deliverable was high-fidelity screens that our internal programmers could use to program iOS-based tests. The tests will run on iPads.
What is the team composition?
I worked with Kelly (Client Partner) to set up the contract and sign all of the paperwork. She also attended all of our meetings. They had a technical project manager, Rob (Principal Delivery Lead), and a couple of designers. One designer created low-fidelity designs, and he was the one who conducted the interviews and gathered requirements. Another designer was responsible for the high-fidelity design.
They also had an iOS expert, whom we didn’t interact with one-on-one. Before they delivered designs to us, they ran them by the iOS expert to make sure that everything they were suggesting would work seamlessly in iOS. One of our requirements was to use native iOS features whenever possible. For instance, if there was a transition from one screen to another, we wanted it to be a natural iOS transition. All of their designs were reviewed in-house by their iOS expert.
How did you come to work with Praxent?
We had some colleagues who’d worked with them on designing an interface for an iPad-based test. We contacted Praxent and liked what they had to offer.
How much have you invested with them?
It was roughly $80,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
Our work went from May–July 2020. The whole engagement lasted about nine weeks.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
I’m a project manager myself, so I was focused on budget and timeline. Praxent delivered everything they promised on time and slightly under budget, which is as good as it gets.
How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?
We communicated via email and face-to-face meetings. I believe they had some other channels, but it was our preference to use email, and that worked just fine.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They were very easy to reach. Anytime we needed to raise anything, we had a call with them within an hour or two. They were easy to work with, delivered everything on time, and listened to our feedback.
Since we completed the project with Praxent, a couple of minor things have come up as we’re programming, such as additional clarifications and even one design slightly redone. That was no problem at all; they took care of it within half a day of us requesting it, so that was very nice.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I thought that there were sometimes too many people on the call, but I know they have their methods and procedures. Since everything came in on budget and we were very happy with the results, that was fine, but we were initially surprised that whenever we had a call, there were at least three people on it.
Any advice for potential customers?
They know what they’re doing. Just follow their suggestions, and you’ll get a good product.
the project
Web Portal Design & Dev for Medical Insurance Carrier
"They’re a knowledgeable and strong team that was a pleasure to work with."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the VP of business development and marketing for a medical professional liability insurance carrier.
What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?
We were restructuring, rebranding, and renaming the company. During this complete overhaul, we also wanted to redo our website. We engaged Praxent to develop our member and producer portals on our public website.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Praxent built the portals for us from scratch. Their team designed the UI/UX and connected the portals to our underwriting software. This enables the portals to access information.
Praxent worked with our third-party vendors to develop the portals’ additional requirements. The portals needed different functions as one was for our members and the other was for the producers. For example, the members portal required a payment feature. To pay their bills online, they had to go through a third party.
What is the team composition?
I worked with Kelly (Client Partner) as well as Garrett (Senior Delivery Lead).
How did you come to work with Praxent?
We hired a COO who engaged Praxent to build a portal for his previous company. As he loved the experience, he recommended them.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent about $350,000 on this project.
What is the status of this engagement?
We contacted them in January 2020, and we worked with them through July on this current project. I look forward to continuing to work with them.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We don’t have metrics because we haven’t launched the portals. However, I loved their work. Compared to what we had, what they delivered is great.
How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?
We had weekly meetings with Garrett and his team. Every week, we went through where we were from a budget standpoint. They always kept me up to date and showed me their work along the way to get feedback. Their communication was excellent.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They’re a knowledgeable and strong team that was a pleasure to work with. I don’t know a lot about building portals, and they were helpful in keeping me informed. Their team took the time to answer any questions that I had. They communicated with our third-party vendors and kept me up to date on their work together.
Are there any areas they could improve?
No, I don’t think so. It was a little expensive, but you get what you pay for. Although I had limitations on what I could spend, they were great about telling me what I could get for that budget.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Be open about what you like and don’t like. They want customer feedback and will go over and beyond to give you what you want.
the project
Website Development & Design for Financial Firm
“They will take more of a vested interest in not only finding you talent but also checking up along the way.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I'm the Project Manager for a private investment management company.
What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?
My company undertook a project to develop a new digital client site. Our legacy site had not been refreshed in more than 10 years. The decision was made to develop a new platform to not only achieve our MVP goals but that would allow us to evolve in order to meet our client needs over time. This was the largest project our firm had ever taken on.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Praxent provided a solutions architect to help us architect and design what our new site would look like from a technical perspective. They also provided development resources from both Linux and .NET backgrounds. Praxent’s team developed the frontend with React. They provided DevOps resources that helped us design a framework, choose a deployment strategy, and get that in place for both our client and public sites.
We’d done quite a bit of the site design with another company, so Praxent came in on the technology side and helped us design what the backend would look like from architecture and development perspectives. In the past, we hadn’t shown our models or allowed our clients to be able to build models on their own, and Praxent helped us bring that functionality onto the site.
What is the team composition?
At our peak, we had six Praxent team members on staff, and I was their project manager. We worked closely with both Chris (Director of Operations) and Kevin (Managing Partner).
How did you come to work with Praxent?
They had helped us in the past with a much smaller initiative, and we’d had a really good experience working directly with Kevin. For this project, we looked at a couple of companies, and we felt like Praxent would be a good fit for what we needed. We had to identify several resources through our interview process, which included developer testing. Praxent was able to quickly find matches for us, even when we needed to ramp up on certain parts of the project on short notice.
How much have you invested with them?
I can’t disclose that at this point, but they’ve definitely been able to work with us and find the best fit for our budget and the goals of our project.
What is the status of this engagement?
For this project, my company began working with Praxent around the end of 2016. In total, we’ve probably been working with them for about four years.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
One of the things that anyone is tracking when they launch a website is how many issues there are and how many clients are having problems accessing the site. We were completely staffed for two weeks around the time of the launch, and we had zero major issues. Since Praxent had a significant impact on the site’s development, I think they were also a big part of us not having any major issues during launch.
Ongoing, we’re gathering and continue to gather analytics from our old site as we completely retire it, and then analytics from usage on our new site. What we’re seeing is exactly what we were hoping for: better adoption rates, so we’ve been able to drive people back to our site more times per month for longer periods each time. Again, without Praxent’s help on the development side and then their questions and feedback along the way from the management side of the house, we may not have gotten to where we are today. Also, adding the modeling functionality to the site was a huge win for us.
How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?
Because it was such a large project for us, we kept in touch with both Chris and Kevin. When I dealt directly with them, they were extremely responsive. This was a very large effort for us, so Kevin and I met on a bi-monthly basis to touch base on milestones, issues, and anything that was high-risk. Whenever we had questions on invoicing, Chris was always quick to respond. From that perspective, they were at the top of their game.
There were many contracts that needed to be extended due to how our HR and legal teams do things, so being able to be in touch with Chris and Kevin every week was necessary. They were always really quick on responses and edits to contracts. They helped ensure that we met all of the scope items within our MVP.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I think the most noteworthy thing about working with them is the fact that they’re not one of these huge nationwide companies; rather, they have an interest in your project because they’re here locally. They will take more of a vested interest in not only finding you talent but also checking up along the way. If something isn’t right, they’ll come on-site to talk through what changes can be made.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Although being a local company is great from my perspective, one of the things they will naturally have a challenge with is finding all local talent. That was not a requirement of ours, but had they been able to find mostly local talent, I think we would’ve been able to extend some of the contracts even longer, whereas some of the talent that they sent us was nearshore. From our HR and legal perspectives, we try to keep some of those contracts to certain time parameters.
Any advice for potential customers?
Set a time for you to check-in with your point of contact. The bi-monthly checkpoint helped us clear up communication rather quickly.
the project
Custom Software Dev & Design for Pathology Clinic
"They immersed themselves fully in our industry before starting the project."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m a managing partner at a pathology private practice.
What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?
We wanted to explore a business intelligence product with their team.
What was the scope of their involvement?
We were looking for ways to make our operations more efficient. We have physicians located at different sites throughout the city, and we wanted to more accurately balance our workload while making sure the right cases got to the right specialists. We also have many hospital partners that compete with each other; asking them to interface with each other would have been difficult. We wanted to develop our own dashboard that would collect the cases we received every day, cross-reference the available physicians based on their licenses and specialties, and then assign the right cases to the right person.
They brought in folks who shadowed pathologists at different sites and met with stakeholders at the different hospitals and clients, learning the process from beginning to end. They then gave us a really well-developed wireframe for us to assess, confirming that it was the right workflow for our process. After that, Praxent developed a model of the product.
What is the team composition?
Kevin (Managing Partner, Praxent) was pretty hands-on with a lot of the work. Pete (Former Product Manager, Praxent) was his managing partner.
How did you come to work with Praxent?
We surveyed a couple of local developers that specifically showcase healthcare products in their portfolio. We’re concerned with security and HIPAA compliance and wanted a vendor that would be comfortable with the language and needs of physician practices and the healthcare industries. Praxent demonstrated that comfort; they weren’t taken aback by some of our key requirements, nor did we have to explain a lot of those things to their team.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent about $25,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked together from about April 2017 until the end of the same year.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The model within the product that they brought to us was very well-received. People thought that it had a lot of potential. Unfortunately, due to internal concerns, we weren’t able to implement it at the time. However, people were very happy working with Kevin’s team and the way they immersed themselves in an admittedly unfamiliar aspect of healthcare.
How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?
Their communication was very good. Most importantly, they were very transparent, especially in managing project costs. Kevin specifically does a good job at giving reasonable expectations for potential costs and cost ranges. They also staffed the project appropriately to meet our timeline.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They immersed themselves fully in our industry before starting the project, taking time to understand the particularities of pathology. They demonstrated this more than any other vendor we were vetting.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I don’t think there’s anything they could have done differently. They were very clear on our goals and what they would produce, and they delivered within the expected parameters.
Any advice for potential customers?
If you’re in a less well-known industry, make time for Praxent to immerse themselves in your industry. That means onsite visits and open office hours to understand the nuances and improve the delivery by far.
the project
UI/UX Design & Strategy for HR Startup
"The work Praxent did to validate our idea gave us the confidence to stay the course and build our product."
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the co-founder of Virkware, an HR startup. We offer a collaborative software solution.
What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?
We needed support building our MVP, an HR platform that would allow employees to strengthen skills and improve engagement while at the same time allowing companies to make better use of available resources within their firms.
When we began building our product, we wanted a partner who could focus specifically on the UI/UX component of the platform. We were also looking for consultation on the viability of the software within the market.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Praxent delivered two objectives for us. First, they helped us to define the key elements of our solution, including workflows and use cases.
To achieve this goal, the team conducted competitive audits as well as a marketplace review, focusing on three of our specific competitors. Praxent also ran several collaborative workshops with our team.
Next, based on a rough wireframe we provided, the team built a prototype that represented some of the major capabilities we’d identified in the first stage of the project. After several collaborative discussions, we finalized a version of the solution refined by user feedback.
What is the team composition?
We worked with four people regularly. Kelly (Senior Delivery Lead, Praxent) was the project and product manager as well as our main point of contact.
We also worked with Deanna (Director of Product Strategy & Design, Praxent), and two colleagues from the UI/UX and customer research area, Mark (UX Lead, Praxent) and Victor (Senior Product Designer, Praxent).
How did you come to work with Praxent?
Though we’re based in Singapore, we knew we were going to build our product with the United States in mind as one of our core markets. We knew we wanted a partner who could conduct market validation from the US on top of the UI/UX capabilities we required.
We did a lot of online research and ended up on Clutch and selected a list of companies, one of which was Praxent. Based on collective feedback from some of our experienced, trusted contacts, we decided to reach out to Praxent at the start.
From the outset, the team was authentic and interested in shaping the engagement, so we decided to partner with them.
How much have you invested with them?
We spent $80,000 on this engagement.
What is the status of this engagement?
Our work together took place from September 2018–May 2019.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
The work Praxent did to validate our idea gave us the confidence to stay the course and build our solution. Now we have a final product that we’re working to make commercially viable.
Though our engagement with Praxent has ended, the initial work they did on the UI/UX components has laid the foundation for the capabilities our team has now.
We’re very happy with the output Praxent developed. We’ve tested it with a number of potential clients, and it still holds true.
How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?
Kelly was an excellent, communicative project manager. Our timeframe was very strict, and he did a great job of balancing deadlines while allowing space for us to brainstorm. He had a strong sense of ownership of the project, keeping us on schedule and contributing to content, workflow, and design.
What did you find most impressive about them?
We valued Praxent’s input greatly. Throughout the engagement, we looked forward to the collaborative discussions that took place between our two teams. We work completely remote and they were able to employ really effective tools, which made it easy to work together. We never felt like we were losing out because of the distance.
Are there any areas they could improve?
We were very happy with the quality of their deliverables. The process flows, the prototype, and the design were all extremely high quality. However, the team could have improved the presentation of the competitive audit and user interview results.
They were detailed, but the team could have provided a version for us to present easily to senior management, board members, or potential investors. Despite that, we’re very happy overall with the quality of work Praxent produced.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Know that the team is very responsive, flexible, and willing to change their approach according to your needs.
the project
SaaS Strategy & UI/UX Design for AI Solutions Provider
“They addressed all of the concerns we had.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m the CTO of an AI solutions company.
What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?
We were looking for a company that could guide us in the transformation from our existing business model to a SaaS model.
What was the scope of their involvement?
One of the first things we did was set up a workshop at our office. Praxent came in for a two-day workshop, during which we discussed the strategic points for moving to a SaaS business model.
Praxent guided us from the beginning, helping us in the initial stages of our SaaS strategy. They generated an outline of technical and non-technical aspects that we should address on the commercial, development, and organizational sides of our business. They reviewed our process and helped us define our MVP. They also advised how the architecture of the platform should look for the MVP and how it could grow and scale up in the future for more modules to be integrated into the platform.
They helped us with the design and some initial wireframes, but they didn’t do any development work. The team delivered initial wireframes that our UI/UX person was able to take to the next level. The plan is to engage them in the future.
What is the team composition?
They had a project manager, two UI/UX people, and a product architect.
How did you come to work with Praxent?
We found Praxent on Clutch and really liked them. We had 3–4 candidates. We had a few Skype meetings with Praxent and then the initial workshop, and we knew they were a good fit for us.
What is the status of this engagement?
We worked together from July–September 2019. They helped us with phase one, and our MVP is out there and ready. We’re in discussions with them for future steps.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Our internal developers and designers would sit in on our weekly meetings to evaluate whether their insights were valuable to us. When we went to them with any architectural problems, we always had a proposed solution; once we got into discussions with them, we realized the value and advantage of working with Praxent. They proposed secure and scalable solutions that allow for a better user experience.
How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?
We had a few meetings per week to review designs with their architecture person. We didn’t do any formal metric tracking, but we knew from week to week exactly where they were and what the value was in their work.
Communication was right on point. They had many sessions with us and would suggest additional meetings to provide clarification or offer good points. They recorded all of our meetings and provided us with access to the recordings. Anytime we wanted to involve somebody else in the discussion, they were willing to onboard them. All of these aspects were managed pretty well. We had 1–2 weeks where the project manager had to leave for personal reasons, and they provided a replacement. We never felt there was any gap in the process.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Praxent has quality people and quality insights. They addressed all of the concerns we had.
Are there any areas they could improve?
Initially, they could have done a better job of identifying internal gaps. They allocated a junior person to the project for UI/UX, and we ultimately got the results we wanted, but that process of adding a person to help create the wireframes could have happened sooner. There was a little bit of misunderstanding about the extent of their involvement; they were taking it very high level, but we wanted more actionable deliverables or certain wireframes to start building our own work from. That required a little bit of push from us, but, in the end, we got what we wanted.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Have a good workshop with them and a solid discussion so that you can agree on what the real need is for their services. This was very beneficial to us. Be specific about what you want from the start.
the project
UI/UX Design for Energy Provider Portal
“The flexibility and iterative process enabled by their culture made the whole project enjoyable from start to finish.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I am the head of business development, product strategy, and corporate strategy for the retail arm of an energy provider for industrial customers and consumers in the United States and Canada. We provide commodity services including electricity and natural gas.
In addition to providing a solutions-based approach to our customers energy consumption needs, we also have a trading arm that is active in the wholesale power and gas markets across the United States and Canada.
What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?
We have an internally built customer-facing portal where our customers access data that’s related to their energy consumption and a few other tools. That portal needed to be overhauled in terms of its UX/UI to make it a little easier to use and a little more intuitive.
We were planning a larger brand evolution and wanted to get that out of the way before we started a larger strategic expansion of the platform itself.
What was the scope of their involvement?
Even though the platform itself was homegrown in terms of its functions, we worked with Praxent to really dig into and help us understand the psychological effects of the design and technologies that we were using, as well as how those were affecting the human interactions being driven through the platform.
We have a fairly unique position within the market, so their first task after we brought them on was really to try to understand our customers, and the from there they were able to take our existing platform, perform a true heuristics evaluation, and break down how it needed to be redesigned in a lot of different ways.
It was an in-depth, iterative process, so they would send us wireframes and we would offer suggestions from across our business to try to incorporate as many perspectives as possible. Then they would take our feedback and come back with more wireframes, and that would continue until we had a product that we were all really pleased with.
What is the team composition?
I worked with the designers and evaluators directly, but since the design was so technically focused, our IT team was closely involved in cooperating with them as well.
How did you come to work with Praxent?
I found their team on Clutch, originally. The platform was incredibly helpful as a starting point for that search because I was just able to Google UX and design consultants and then look through different companies’ ratings.
Our North American operations are based in Houston, so when I saw that Praxent operated in Austin I was pretty excited about them because it would allow us to meet with them in person pretty easily if necessary. They participated in an RFP with two other companies, but they really stood out throughout the whole process.
What is the status of this engagement?
Our work together lasted from July 2019–January 2020, which was our intended length for the project.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
They dug into both our work and our culture in order to provide a more thoughtful redesign of our platform, and that effort really paid off in the product that we got in the end. We were incredibly pleased with the work that they delivered, in large part I think because it reflected their dedication to our account and their desire to stand behind the quality of the final product.
How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?
In my 3 years at EDF, I haven’t worked with a more responsive third-party vendor than Praxent. They’re not just responsive, they’re proactive, which was an incredible benefit to the engagement as a whole. They would come to me anticipating potential issues that we were able to tackle beforehand because of the thoughtfulness of their engagement.
There was a lot of open and honest feedback back and forth provided by both of our teams which really made us feel like partners together more than just parties in a transaction. Praxent also has a very organized, methodical method of tracking budgets and milestones that really sets them apart from other consultancies and helps them to keep everyone in the engagement satisfied.
What did you find most impressive about them?
I think the most noteworthy thing that I found about working with Praxent is that they really listen to what you have to say. Most similar companies tend to pressure their clients into doing what they think is best by arguing that they’re the experts so you should listen to them, but their team understood that understanding what we do was the key to doing their job better. The flexibility and iterative process enabled by their culture made the whole project enjoyable from start to finish.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I honestly don’t have any negative comments on the engagement. They came in way under their forecasted budget, were on time with everything, and were always flexible, so we have nothing to complain about.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Make sure that no matter what you’re looking to do with Praxent, you’re open to having them come in and really understand your business. Our organization was really open to the effort that we were undertaking, so we had buy-ins from stakeholders across the business, but without that, it would have been much more difficult to establish the level of consensus of opinions that made our engagement with them as successful as it was.
the project
UI/UX Development for Insurance Customer Portal
“Project management was very good. They delivered consistently on time and within budget.”
the reviewer
the review
A Clutch analyst personally interviewed this client over the phone. Below is an edited transcript.
Introduce your business and what you do there.
I’m an IT manager at Texas Mutual. We’re a workers’ compensation company.
What challenge were you trying to address with Praxent?
We have a mobile application, and an external-facing website with a portal for our customers to log into. We had an initiative to improve customer experience on both of those applications and wanted to start an internal design and UX team. Our preexisting internal team didn’t have the resources to do it ourselves.
What was the scope of their involvement?
At the beginning, Praxent augmented our UX team and helped them train. We shadowed their team in order to learn the skills we needed.
What is the team composition?
The team consisted of a project manager, a UX researcher, a designer, and a sales representative.
How did you come to work with Praxent?
A coworker on another team was looking for a UX partner as well. They thought that Praxent would be a better fit for our project, so they passed their contact information on to me.
How much have you invested with them?
We’ve spent between $30,000–$60,000.
What is the status of this engagement?
The project lasted from 2018–2019.
What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
Our UX team is up and running and is working every day to improve customer UX. Praxent trained us well and gave us all of the skills we need to be successful.
More of our customers are able to use our self-service, and we’ve experienced a 30% reduction in call volume. Our net promoter score has been fantastic since working with them—it’s about 80.
How did Praxent perform from a project management standpoint?
Project management was very good. They delivered consistently on time and within budget. We used Jira and cloud to track tasks and stories. I wasn’t a big fan of a project manager that came on board later in our engagement, but all of their other employees were outstanding.
What did you find most impressive about them?
Their employees are great. They’re very skilled and they have excellent demeanors. They’re easy to get along with and they have a fantastic culture.
Are there any areas they could improve?
I would tell them to make sure they continue to hire people that match their company culture.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
Make sure your people are involved with the project so you’re able to learn from their team on the day-to-day.
Praxent managed the client’s priorities well by developing a stable platform quickly so it could be released. Now they’re working on expanding the platform’s functions to meet the remaining requirements. To ensure transparency, they met with the client regularly to plan sprints and track the budget.