Revamped our Fintech Web App Platform to Achieve Goal Driven Outcomes

What would you say about their project management methods?

I started out with a requirement-gathering expert. He and I had multiple phone calls using GoToMeeting in which I shared my screen and demonstrated our current systems, the challenges I felt we needed to overcome, the features I liked, and the features I wanted drastically changed. That was probably a good month of continuously recording conversations with screenshots and the whole nine yards.

We used JIRA for keeping track of sprints and communicating back and forth. With the time difference between here and there, having a central area where all of us can communicate, from my tester to my database administrator to me. We can assign stuff to each other quickly, make comments, and everybody can be on the same page.

From there, we also had the senior business head come out for a week, sat with employees in all of the divisions, and then sat with me for quite a bit. We went over what employees thought were problems that they would like to see addressed. At that time, we were also building a dictionary because, in our industry, there are a lot of specialized languages. He went back with a solid dictionary for them of what we mean when we say certain terms, kind of a reference guide. Then, we had a project lead and three developers, all full-time. They worked directly with me as we fleshed out what we needed and what we wanted to do.

Did the partnership have a positive impact on your business?

I don't have actual metrics. Our employees are happy with the software, and productivity is much higher. My colleagues all tell me that they're just blown away by how much information is available at their fingertips and so quickly. Also, our fees are up. Employees can manage more files now than they were able to at one time. All of this means that we can have lower staffing, but still keep customer service way up there.

One of the other things that we developed after we went live was a client portal, using responsive web tech, which allows our clients to log in and get updates on their accounts, download information so that they can build custom reports, and view their remittance statements, payments, etc. Our clients love it. They can be on any device at any time and take a look at their data.

As far as sales go, they just love that they can give clients that access right away. They also love the closeness of the information they need to do their job every day when they're talking to their clients and giving them verbal updates. It's a click or two away, and they have all of the information. They're the ones contacting companies trying to get them to place accounts for collections with us. The admin team loves the reduced data entry that they have to do.

What differentiated Radixweb from other development agencies?

The most amazing part about working with Radixweb was their approach to requirements gathering. We took two months on that phase and, at the time, I felt that we were going too slow, but I can't stress enough how much that made our project a success. The application is huge, and we got it done and deployed live in two years with five people. My project lead is a very good communicator without any issues. My team was stable throughout the process.

Was there any scope for improvement?

I have never had an issue with customer service. At the beginning of the project, I was given a full escalation chain of command, where if I was having a problem, I could escalate to someone outside of the team that oversees everything. To be honest, I've never had to use it. I was able to deal directly with my project lead or the developers to get corrections done as needed.