Our IT Startup Thrived with a Digital Platform That Transforms Auditing and Compliance Standards
Radixweb devised an automated auditing solution to streamline compliance reports and trend analysis.
Hi, I am Francis, co-founder of an organization providing performance audit tools and services across multiple industries. The talented team at Radixweb developed a comprehensive auditing and compliance tool. They meticulously designed the system to not only automate the cumbersome auditing process but also digitize the resulting data for insightful trend analysis and actionable insights.
Highlights
“Radixweb consistently remains within budget and on time with all deliverables.”
“They would go back and fix the issues smartly for us, and they don't mismatch too much really, in the grand scheme of things.”
They foster a strong client relationship with a good understanding of the business and patience with the process.
An Innovative Client Collaboration Journey
Upon consulting with Radixweb, the UK-based client expressed a clear vision – revamping their outdated system to automate the compliance report auditing process and digitize the collected data for a thorough assessment. Understanding the importance of this project, Radixweb saw this as an opportunity to brainstorm and create a pioneering solution that would redefine industry norms.
Driven by our commitment to innovation and technological excellence, Radixweb dedicated its expertise and resources to developing a multifaceted solution. They developed a top-notch solution that included an intuitive web platform and a sophisticated mobile application. This solution was engineered to optimize the auditing process while providing an insightful lens into relevant compliance data and trends. The goal was to create user-friendly interfaces with powerful backend systems that ensured seamless functionality and data accuracy.
Their interpretation or their intuition on what we were trying to explain seemed to be a notch above the other people we were talking to.
Here’s a Recap of the Conversation
Please tell us about your organization and your position.
Our company specializes in electronic compliance audit tools that conduct audits and validate processes to assess the efficiency of systems and procedures. We help businesses get an accurate picture of their operations and improve compliance measures.
As for myself, I’m one of the co-founders of the company.
Why did you consult with Radixweb? What were the challenges?
About four or five years ago, my partner had this idea about digitizing audits like health care audits and hygiene audits. These processes were ordinarily carried out repetitively on paper. Soon, it became evident that while he was being paid well for on-site work, the post-audit work needed significant time and effort to compile reports and analyze trends. We were not getting compensated for that.
Eventually, he had the idea of digitizing manual processes, but he couldn't find any suitable tool in the market to do it. So, he asked me to get involved as a partner to help shape that entire project.
Can you describe the scope of their engagement in the project?
Initially, our focus was to transform manual auditing processes into a streamlined digital tool. Radixweb helped us choose the suitable technology as we needed to migrate from Windows to Android and then Apple.
We've actually rolled into PhoneGap to make the process easier. We had the mobile app up and running, and then we developed a website to work in parallel with it. We jointly designed a system where people could conduct audits on tablets, upload data to the cloud, and perform comprehensive trend analysis.
During the development phase, we would have continuously guided them as to how the user interfaces should look and feel. Because they understood that if we're going to roll this out to more prominent organizations, then training has to be minimized.
They had great patience with us, and we had patience with them. The first-place client company had 70 people, and we trained them pretty much in 24 hours. To us, that was a great marker of how the first launch went, and it's been really improving from there.
Right now, we're working with a core team of three programmers. We have two clear product lines, and there's one programmer/developer on each of them. The third programmer is on the mobile product, and then we have a fourth guy who does all of the QA. That's as small as the team has been. Sometimes, we bring in two extra programmers for bespoke work. At the peak of the development project, there were as many as 10 or 12 of them.
How did you find Radixweb?
We looked at a number of potential programmers in Ireland and the UK, but we found them to be slow and very expensive in what they were offering. They estimated the project would take 18 months, and we couldn't believe it would take that long.
Once we had screened through Ireland and the U.K., people here suggested that we should try India. So, we just started combing through the web. We had 20 or 30 potentials, and we started making phone calls, and all that kind of stuff. We eventually narrowed it down to three whom we actually met in person to interview and have demos.
We explained to each of these people what we had in mind, and we expected them to come back to us with a proposal. I suppose Radix seemed to tick more boxes than anybody else, but I think the final thing for Radix was that they just seemed to get it. I can't describe it any better than that, but they seemed to understand deeper and better than any of the others did. They were able to come back to us much more sharply with, "Well, this is what you guys are actually looking for." We were like, "Yes, that actually does make sense."
Ultimately, that's really what it was, their intuition and what they brought to the table in terms of identifying what we really wanted. From having done the initial mockups, overview, and conversations with two or three other companies, we just thought they were a better fit.
We were relying on their guidance all the way through, as to how to approach the project, and what platforms to build the new system on, and whatnot.
So, what were the key milestones of this project?
The backend of the website – that's been an ongoing development process, and we're continuously trying to improve the interface for the end users. Most importantly, it's the reporting structure and the mechanics. They can be fired based on alerts, which are triggered depending on specific business logic. It could be something like a score is too low, or an inconsistent parameter.
The system takes that audit, reconfigures it, emails it out, and creates tasks. Then, other people, whether auditors or super administrators, can log into the system and close out those tasks, reassign them, move them, complete them, or whatever it is.
We've been growing our business for the last four years. Right now, we've got quite a good number of blue-chip companies using the system. Really, it's just about onboarding and getting more people to buy into it. As we go, if somebody wants something bespoke, they will pay for that accordingly. We set up a slightly separate system for them.
Could you share the positive impact of this engagement in terms of any numbers or metrics?
Because it was a kind of rolling development, we didn't ultimately know what the final product was going to look like. We did have a fair idea in our own minds of what it should look like, but as we got in with more clients and more customers, we recognized that we had to adapt to it relatively quickly.
For the first while, in fairness to Radix, we didn't really enforce too many of the KPIs that we had each agreed upon because, frankly, we were changing the goals nearly too quickly for them to stick. As we got more settled, we had more KPIs in there, and they were really more around client issues. We said that if a client has a show-stopping bug, meaning they can't actually perform an audit, then it was all hands on deck, and that had to be fixed as smartly as possible.
But we never had a complete stop. We've had bugs on the mobile app sometimes, but we've nearly always fixed show-stopping ones within 24 hours. From a customer service point of view, that was one of our biggest KPIs – that we wouldn't let anybody wait longer than a day, and we've got that locked down.
On the other hand, we usually agreed at the start that any change is going to take 10 days. But sometimes it could be 11 or 12, but other times, they'd come in at seven or eight. So, to measure it, we look at it month on month, but we don't really hold it there. It's not a carrot and a stick type of thing.
Would you say they performed well from a project management standpoint?
We've never gone over budget, and we would be quite sharp on that, especially being a startup. We would lock down whatever the price of the development is, and they've never breached that mark. I can't tell you if they did it cheaper, but certainly, they've never gone over the budget. In terms of time, it's always been there or thereabouts. It's certainly never been so far over that we had big issues.
The tickets are handled by our technical manager. The ones he can't fix, he passes on to Radix, and it's usually handled within a day. If a client wants a change, we'll scope it out, we cost it out, and then we'll come back to them. Then, we'd agree to those timelines at Radix, and feed it back to the client.
The main tool we use between Radixweb and ourselves is Redmine. The programmers are consistently putting updates every day of the week into that. Then, once a week we would have a Skype conversation with them where we'd agree on whatever the objectives should be, give or take, for the following week.
How is Radixweb different from other providers?
To be fair, I don't have a whole lot to compare them to because they're the only ones we've ever really used. That said, if I had to guess, I think it's their approach to client relationship management. Radixweb has skilled project managers or leads who do seem to have good intuition, and they understand us quite well.
Is there anything they could have improved or done differently?
If there's one lesson I've learned over the years, it's the importance of spending more time in the first stage to ensure understanding and accuracy. Often, the issue is with our own comprehension. We might not give it enough time, and then when we get the final product back, we're kind of going, "That's not exactly what we're looking for." Yet, it's probably what we did sign off on in the first place. They would then go back and fix that quite smartly for us, and they don't mismatch too much really, in the grand scheme of things.
Client's Final Remarks
Our partnership with Radixweb isn’t just about a tech solution; they get what we’re trying to do here. They've helped us build a system that's user-friendly for everyone and we can tweak it for different clients without messing up the core system. Our firm has been growing steadily, thanks to this partnership. They have been a key player in making that happen. We've got a core team now, and they're still there, ready to lend a hand whenever we need.
Throughout our engagement, the client’s investment of approximately $12,000 per month underscored their dedication to enhancing the auditing tool. The longevity of our relationship speaks volumes about the mutual trust and satisfaction we've cultivated. Over the years, our partnership evolved, adapting to changing technological landscapes and client needs. This sustained engagement has not only propelled our client's growth but also allowed us to refine our expertise and solutions.