Background
Bids Made Easy’s new web platform based on Microsoft .Net technology had a major problem: it was several months late to market and still unworkable and plagued with bugs. Then Twentyseven Global stepped in. Over the next several months, we worked efficiently to repair the broken website, develop further enhancements for it and provide testing to make sure the product was suitable for launch.
About Bids Made Easy
Bids Made Easy is an online platform that helps home and property owners find pre-screened reputable local contractors. The platform is great for insurance-related damage as well as home improvements. All contractors are rated by how quickly they respond to customers, company stability and much more. By creating a better fit between parties, Bids Made Easy helps ensure an honest and accurate experience, which makes the process smoother for everyone.
ROI
As a result of our work, we produced a quality website that was ready for launch. The website enhancements we developed further opened Bids Made Easy up to new customers and new markets. In addition, weekly progress updates during the development stage allowed the executives at Bids Made Easy to communicate intelligently and effectively with clients about timelines. Moreover, getting the technology back on track enabled Bids Made Easy to execute on its business plan and shift its focus back to marketing.
Challenges
Bids Made Easy’s experience with its previous development team left the company with a broken product that was late to market. “We were living any company’s worst nightmare,” Troy Fairchild, CEO of Bids Made Easy, said. “We were nine months late to market and had a product that didn’t work. We needed help and we needed it fast, but after having such a terrible experience we found it hard to trust other development companies.”
How Bids Made Easy Began With Twentyseven Global
Fairchild decided to give our team the task of fixing one of the most complicated parts of their build. According to Fairchild, depending on how they did, Bids Made Easy would either move on to find another development firm or hire us full time. “They knocked it out of the park,” Fairchild said. “Steve and his team impressed us right away. Over the next 12 months, we worked with Twentyseven Global to fix the mess the last development firm left us with, and also to build and enhance our product.”
Proving Strategy And Success
We were hired as the company’s full time software development partner. We also provided testing and project management services. This allowed the Bids Made Easy team to focus on the business aspect of the service instead of the development aspect. We divided work into short, manageable sprints that we could knock out in one to three weeks in order to stay focused on short, obtainable goals.
The team set up weekly calls where they went over their progress from the week before, what they planned on completing during the present week and what they had planned for weeks to come. This allowed the team at Bids Made Easy to see progress and make adjustments. Our model for doing business kept the executives at Bids Made Easy in the loop and showed them the weekly progress they needed in order to discuss timelines with their clients.
Steve Roatch, CEO of Twentyseven Global noted, “Building a web-based platform that will become the backbone of your business is a complex undertaking and requires an engineering discipline. Our modified agile software development approach, which features frequent iterations, testing and seasoned project management, was exactly what Bids Made Easy needed in order to achieve their objectives.”
“Anyone who has ever built a large software platform probably has a horror story. Well, Twentyseven Global saved us from our horror story. If you are looking for a development team that is going to provide you with a quality product, keep you informed throughout the process and that you will enjoy working with, Steve and the team at Twentyseven Global will be your guys. I can’t thank them enough for saving us from our other development team. They’ve set us up for future success and we absolutely recommend them.”
Troy Fairchild
CEO of Bids Made Easy
