One of Auriga’s goals is establishing long-term trustful partnerships with its customers, some of which effectively evolve through decades. Theresa Markiewicz (TM), Product/Project Manager at BroadVision Inc., has recently given an interview to a Clutch.co analyst (CA) about her experience with Auriga.
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The cooperation between Interleaf and Auriga began in 1995. In January 2000, BroadVision, a global provider of personalized self-service web application, acquired Interleaf and received added benefit from continued work with Auriga. The Dedicated Development Center that Auriga has been and is running for BroadVision is responsible for full cycle engineering and support of the company’s flagship solutions.
BACKGROUND
CA: Introduce your business and what you do there.
TM: I am an engineering and product/project manager at BroadVision Inc. I am responsible for all aspects of the QuickSilver product line from customer experience through development. BroadVision QuickSilver is one of the most powerful document creation and management tools available. It enables businesses to create and publish lengthy, complex documents in virtually any language and any format.
OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE
CA: What challenge were you trying to address with Auriga, Inc.?
TM: We were looking for an outsourced team that could augment our in-house staff by helping to design, develop and test parts of our product, and we were also looking to save money by using an outsourced/off-shore team. The QuickSilver codebase is over 2.7 million lines, and the Auriga team is able to competently deal with the large code base.
SOLUTION
CA: What was the scope of their involvement?
TM: Initially, Auriga helped develop the “filters” component of our code. As time has passed, they’ve transitioned into developing all parts of the QuickSilver product. Their team does design, development, bug fixing, and QA. The main languages for development are C, C++, Java, and Lisp. The QA engineers are solely responsible for testing QuickSilver including writing test plans, doing manual testing and creating and running automated tests.
In addition, they have helped us with consulting engagements for customers, as well as development work for other products at BroadVision Inc.
CA: What is the team composition?
TM: There is a project manager who also works as a developer. In total, we work with three developers and two QA staffers. In past years, we’ve had up to 18 people working with us. The size of the outsourced team is contingent on our requirements and has changed over time.
CA: How did you come to work with Auriga?
TM: Auriga, Inc. was originally hired as an outsourced development team in 1995 as part of Interleaf, a company I worked for that was acquired by BroadVision, Inc. in 2000. Back in the 1990s, a member of our development team knew of and contacted the head of Auriga, Inc. and this led to hiring the outsourced team. We have continued working with Auriga, Inc. because of the reduced cost compared to onsite development, the competence with which they have been able to develop and contribute to our product and the stability of the outsourced team through the years.
CA: How much have you invested with them?
TM: We spend roughly $250,000 per year. Overall, we’ve invested several million dollars with Auriga, Inc. The number of staff has fluctuated over time as the team has evolved in size with our needs.
CA: What is the status of this engagement?
TM: The engagement with BroadVision Inc. began in early 2000. Our work with them is currently ongoing.
RESULTS & FEEDBACK
CA: What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
TM: Over the years, they’ve become a core component of our team. They are just an extension of our onshore team. They have helped to release over 18 major product revisions with me since 2000. They have also worked with us on three consulting projects and have done hundreds of customer patch fixes. Their team is vastly experienced and dedicated. It would be extremely difficult to release QuickSilver without them.
CA: How did Auriga, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?
TM: From a project management standpoint it has been extremely easy to work with Auriga. Having a project manager on their side and our side has facilitated communication and planning. Auriga is very good at estimating their work and at following through to meet deadlines. There is good communication with frequent status updates.
CA: What did you find most impressive about them?
TM: I think their depth of knowledge and ability to take on such a large codebase was the most impressive part. We explored another offshore team that could be cheaper and they just couldn’t handle the code without breaking things. Auriga has been solid technically since we’ve been working with them. They have not had a large turnover rate, which is a big benefit to our product.
CA: Are there any areas they could improve?
TM: No, we’ve been working together so long that we have a very comfortable and efficient process in place and there are no major issues that regular communication doesn’t solve.
CA: Do you have any advice for potential customers?
TM: It’s important to have a good project manager on each side and make sure communication lines stay open. Having a period of training is also useful.
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