Early November 2009
If content is king then the IT partner is the foot soldier without whom the kingdom would collapse. The quality of the IT partner can make or break a website. I am aware of so many horror stories where the IT vendor would drag completion endlessly making you a secure income base for himself and making himself a drain in your pocket. IT companies are notorious for holding a revolver to your head and refusing to take on even the slightest change without a substantial fee.
We were looking for an IT company with not only the right capability but also someone who was agile and could churn out results for review on a day to day basis. I sent out emails to all our contacts and alumni groups asking for a good IT vendor. We were thrilled to find a plethora of recommendations. We tediously sieved through them and there were atleast 10 companies that seemed to fit the bill. After extracting a non-disclosure agreement from the candidate companies we sent them the RFP along with screenshots and sample data. We also scheduled calls with each company, did background checks and took referrals from their clients.
We finally zeroed in on Threshold – a small yet nimble company situated in the back alleys of Srinagar Colony, Hyderabad. We found out that Threshold had worked well with other start-ups and their proximity to our home in Hyderabad, to where I soon moved, was a very compelling factor. Although technology famously breaks-down all barriers of distance and remoteness I am a strong advocate of old fashioned face to face dialogue.
analyzeVietnam, with its complex data joins, rich and interactive charts and maps and multi-language support, would have posed a challenge to any software developer. Threshold gave it their best shot. They were honest and took feedback and criticism in the right spirit. We rode over many frustrating moments and we came up against many seemingly insurmountable road blocks. But together we ploughed along and saw through the completion of analyzeVietnam in time and on budget.
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