Success Stories

Agility

Client Type: IT Department
Motivation: Offshoring Headache

The client had considered offshoring but found that it didn’t allow for the agility they were used to. Nearsoft’s proximity allow the client to continue to enjoy agile development while building a sophisticated telephony platform for their call centers with a killer UI.

Call center supervisors can create groups and dynamically assign operators to new campaigns. They can then monitor the calls in real-time and, if need be, they can “whisper” advice to the operator without interrupting the conversation.

Technologies

User Interface

• PrototypeJS
• AJAXPro (AJAX toolkit)
• Javascript
• XHTML
• CSS

Back-end

• Asterisk 1.2/1.4
• Asterisk.NET
• ASP.Net 2.0
• C# 2.0
• MySQL 5.0
• MS Enterprise Library

Beyond Demoware

Client Type: Start-up
Motivation: Offshoring Headache, Lack of Resources

The client had built an ecommerce website and had started to sign up customers. The only problem was that the site was mostly demoware, barely manageable and not at all scalable. The client had tried outsourcing to Eastern Europe, but that didn’t work out.

When we took over development of the site, we quickly corrected its major flaws without disrupting its operation. It’s been like changing the tires on a truck while it moves down the road at 80 miles/hour. One of the key things that has made this possible is that our engineers in Mexico are in constant communications with the business and content generation staff. Problems that come up at 9:00 am are resolved by 9:15 am.

Our work continues, while the truck picks up speed.

Technologies

• ASP.NET 2.0 with C#
• .NET Framework 2.0
• MS SQL Server 2005

IP Protection

Client Type: Software Company
Motivation: Offshoring Headaches

The client had looked for an outsourcing partner but earlier trials with companies in India had left it with a bad aftertaste. Additionally, the client didn’t feel confortable sharing its IP with offshoring companies.

As part of NAFTA, Mexico and the US have compatible laws, and enforcement of those laws, to protect IP. That and the fact that the two countries are cultural aligned is key ways reassured the client to partner with us. Today, our staff works directly on our client’s development environment via a VPN, with unrestricted access. The client is happy that its found a reliable outsourcing partner.

Technologies

• Lotus Domino
• Java
• Javascript, Visual Basic
• CSS, DHTML, XML
• DB2

Just a Whisper

Client Type: IT Department
Motivation: Hard-to-Find Skills

The client needed to expand its Call Center platform to allow supervisors to monitor and “whisper” advice to operators during a live call. The client has limited staff, but had a hard time finding an software team with the required experience in telephony.

When we started on the project, we discovered that in addition to the original requirements, supervisors wanted to dynamically create and manage groups for new campaigns.

In eight weeks, we gathered requirements, architected and developed a solution based on the Askterisk.NET framework, developed a killer UI, and deployed the system.

Technologies

User Interface

• PrototypeJS
• AJAXPro (AJAX toolkit)
• Javascript
• XHTML
• CSS

Back-end

• Asterisk 1.2/1.4
• Asterisk.NET
• ASP.Net 2.0
• C# 2.0
• MySQL 5.0
• MS Enterprise Library

Quality Blossoms

Client Type: SaaS Software Company
Motivation: Lack of Resources, Improve Quality

The client had made a couple of acquisitions and in the process inherited products in several stages of development, using disparate technologies. In spite of a very limited staff, the client had to improve the quality of new releases of these products.

We worked with this client to develop regression test suites for its products and a strategy for continuous improvement, including QA automation. We continue to test new releases for new functionality and bug fixes and after each cycle we fold the new test cases into the regression test suite and automate most of them. And with each release, the products keep getting better and better.

Technologies

• PHP
• ASP.NET
• TestComplete

Robot Watching

Client Type: IT Department
Motivation: Improve Productivity

The client builds robots used in semiconductor manufacturing. It wanted to improve the productivity of its Field and Development Engineers by giving them a tool that would make easier for Field Engineers to pinpoint problems in the field without having to rely on Development Engineers to debug the problem

We created a robot simulator that allows Field Engineers to visualize the operations of the robot prior to the error condition. They can run the simulation back and forth to help them pinpoint the problem. Now, more problems are found and corrected in the field. The customer is happy, the Field Engineer is more productive and the Development Engineers don’t have to spend time with field problems.

Technologies

User Interface

• GDI+

Back-end

• C# 2.0
• XML

What Documentation?

Client Type: Software Company
Motivation: Improve Quality, Predictability

The client had developed one of its product with a minimum of staff. The bad news is that there was no coherent documentation for the product. Not surprisingly, new releases were always late and buggy because nobody really knew how to test the product thoroughly. New staff struggled to add new features and fix bugs without causing regression problems.

A few weeks after taking over the product we made it an integral part of our work to document the system. That has helped new staff to navigate the code, has accelerated development and it has allowed us to create a thorough test suite. New releases are now more predictable and of higher quality.

Technologies

• Lotus Domino
• Java
• Javascript, Visual Basic
• CSS, DHTML, XML
• DB2