Case Study – Offshore Delivery Model
How an eCommerce company automated its ordering process using an offshore delivery model
Cuddle Clones is e-commerce manufacturers of personalized products delighting pet enthusiasts globally with over 25+ pet themed products of their pet. Our plush Cuddle Clone is a custom replica of a person’s pet and to-date we have sold over 50,000 plush Cuddle Clone and has shipped to over 80 countries. Pet lovers upload a few pictures of their pet and within a few weeks their Cuddle Clone arrives at their door. Cuddle Clones is committed to giving back to the community and donates a portion of revenue each month to various pet-related causes and charities from all over the world.
Company
Industry
Software Services
Project
Order details integration with Google Sheets
Business Case:
Currently the orders are being placed and managed from CuddleClones . These order details are manually copied to itemized google sheets like, Plush, Pet Items, 3D & Custom Masks. The same order details will be shared with different vendors who makes the product and track the order status back. Managing orders using spreadsheets is involved lot of manual efforts, time consuming and there is high scope of missing the order details.
Business is proposing an automated process which will export the order details from database to a itemized Google sheets and manage the orders.
Needs:
The outsourcing needs of the company were conspicuously visible. To summarize here we have enlightened some of these needs:
- Approximately 95% of the scope of the work had to be outsourced.
- AWS Lambda Functions: Experience in AWS Lambda Functions which works as Server less architecture and runs as per the schedules. It can be developed with different programming languages (.NET Core, nodeJS, Python, Java etc..).
- AWS Cloud Watch: Experience in AWS Cloud Watcher to configure the schedules which runs on Lambda functions and monitor logs.
- MySQL: MySQL Is the default database for woocommerce(wordpress) and should have good experience to create store procedures to pull the data from different tables.
- Google Sheet Integration: Experience in Google sheet API which is consumed from the .NET code (Lambda Functions) to connect and write data into google sheets.
- Quick Development: The project had to be completed quickly and efficiently to meet a short Go-To-Market window.
- Post Deployment Support: The company wanted support from the SmartData India who provided solution, so they can communicate with them about the bugs and issues what may rise after deployment of the software.
Solution – The Offshore Delivery Model
In the Offshore Delivery Model, the entire project is accomplished at the service provider’s offshore development centre, which is in India. The client deals directly with the offshore team. Both parties will be communicating regularly through other means of communication to clear any confusion and issues that may arise. The Offshore Delivery Model is preferred in cases where the project is well planned, from inception to completion, and the service provider’s offshore development centre team has a clear understanding of the client’s needs. The offshore development centre can have a dedicated team catering specifically to the client’s needs, thereby enabling the service provider to provide the best possible results as expected by the client. The outcome of such an arrangement will be in perfect compliance to the client’s anticipations.
The advantages of Offshore Delivery Model are:
- Reduced Costs: Low labour costs drastically reduce the project’s overall cost.
- Excellent Results: Clients get high quality work from experienced, talented offshore resources.
- No Extra Expenses: Client does not have to expand infrastructure to accommodate an onsite.
- Access to the Most Optimal Resources: Client can have access to the best possible technology, skilled manpower and equipment, depending on their budgets.
Key Issues/Challenges:
Limited information/No documentation: There was no document provided only the reference is an existing system.
Technology Challenge: Within no time the team has adopted the technologies are going to be used in this project and good team effort was the main key for successful completion of the project.
New Resources: Due to the strict timelines hired new resource from the different project and took little time to transfer the knowledge.
Parallel Development and Testing: Though the project was split-up into itemized sheets that the team were working on. But at the end, these Google Sheets were supposed to be integrated as single Lambda functions and it has to be well tested after its integration at different stages while it was evolving. Hence there were iterations going on at both ends which depicts a cycle of development, testing, integration and then testing it again to check if it is working fine.
The Results:
The result was, the project got delivered on time and the client was happy and gratified with the requirement fulfilled that were proposed in the scope of the project.
The summary of the result can be outlined as:
Speed development: With the daily interactions with the client and faster response for the queries from the offshore, the development and testing completed on time.
Good support from management: With the management support and encouragement when team had faced struggles due to limited technical knowledge and slowly client got confidence about team improvement.
Post deployment support: The Post deployment support as discussed above is the added advantage they got from us.
Successful on-time delivery: Finally, as an outcome the project succeeded to be delivered on time to their client having them happy with quality and functionalities required.