POS provider improves time-to-market and product quality

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The client is a market leader in point-of-sale (POS) solutions, specializing in hospitality management systems. They offer platforms and services to restaurants, hotels, bars and other foodservice operators across North America. Their systems are currently used by thousands of restaurants and hospitality establishments.

They have won numerous awards for their innovative and revolutionary impact on the retail and hospitality markets.

The Business Need

The client releases software updates and new system versions on a regular basis, but they were having difficulty meeting their time-to-market schedules due to lack of resources and processes on the testing side. Instead of hiring an internal team, they opted to outsource part of their software testing to Optimus.

From an outsourcing partnership, they needed:

  • Cost efficiency
  • Structured testing processes
  • Flexibility to increase or decrease resources, and costs, on short notice

All of their releases require certification for various commercial systems, such as payment systems or card readers, so certification testing was a top priority.

The Optimus Solution

Optimus started with their proven onboarding engagement process. In the beginning, Optimus simply conducted end-to-end testing with with one of their products. After demonstrating consistent success and quality results, more products were added to Optimus’ testing portfolio.

Eventually, they moved beyond testing and added development, UI/UX and professional services projects on the integration side. Over the past five years, the client has expanded the partnership to include nearly all of their products.

Optimus built a permanent offshore testing team dedicated to this client that works directly with the client’s team. A unique aspect of this relationship is the complete hardware lab that Optimus built in their India center. It replicates the client’s complete system environment making sure that issues are tested in full.

The key benefit to the client is having a dedicated and trusted team that they can rely on for their delivery needs.

The Challenges

Key challenges were based on the complexity of product, the very limited existing documentation, and specific POS system and industry nuances. Optimus addressed these by conducting walk-through sessions, preparing complete documentation, and having it reviewed and approved by the client. Optimus also ensured they had one domain expert dedicated to the offshore team.

For new product development projects, there were periodic communication challenges. Optimus addressed this by bringing in their local Vancouver team to help with establishing requirements and design so they could work directly with the client.

The Result

  • Release after release, the client has been happy with quality of work and the productivity of the Optimus team, which they have found to be on par with their internal team
  • The client’s in-house team has benefitted from learning Optimus’ processes and tools which they have incorporated into their in-house work
  • They have been able to achieve better product quality and increased resource flexibility
  • Their time to market has gotten faster and more predictable, and they have seen overall lower costs due to the flexibility with outsourcing

Conclusion

After they started working with Optimus, the client saw that they could improve their software release process while also remaining flexible and cost effective. By establishing an ongoing partnership with Optimus, they have been able to rely on the speed, quality and availability of resources when they are required.