Chariot Speeds Synchronoss App Development

There are critical moments when your business needs a power boost. Perhaps you’ve taken on an ambitious project, or maybe you’ve gotten yourself into technical debt that can’t be resolved internally.

That was the case with Synchronoss, an enterprise cloud services and mobile solutions provider. Synchronoss was working with a telecommunications giant on a proprietary cloud storage app that allows consumers to backup and sync content and contacts. The apps have huge user bases with 50 million installs on Android and iOS devices.

The internal development team at Synchronoss was challenged by a tight schedule to deliver app updates to the client. It was time to seek outside help.

Pick Two Out of Three: Fast, Cheap (Cost Effective) and Good

The Iron Triangle is a project management model that shows the constraints of any undertaking. Need to finish a job quickly? If it’s done right, it won’t be cheap. On the other hand, if you cut costs, you risk quality.

When you bring Chariot on board, you can count on complete project ownership that reaches far beyond lines of code. Chariot offers the highest quality management and execution. Wayne Hefner, senior director of engineering at Synchronoss, knew Chariot Solutions’ reputation. Chariot is fast and good. “We have a lot of contract companies that we use from time to time,” said Hefner. “To be honest, one of the challenges we had with Chariot was its higher rate.”

Hefner had to sell management on the idea that Chariot’s quality deserved the price. “That became much easier once I had the guys on board,” he recalls. “They took the bull by the horns and did the research that was needed. As soon as they started, they became de facto project leads.”

So Fast, So Good

When Chariot arrived, Synchronoss was struggling through a transition from Waterfall to Agile development frameworks. Two Chariot employees, Steve Smith and Rod Biresch, joined the iOS and Android dev teams. “I threw them things that were critical and last minute, with impossible deadlines,” said Hefner. “They jumped right in and kept me fully updated on team progress and QA.” Chariot repeatedly delivered solutions to tough challenges, on deadline.

Smith and Biresch began by diving into the complex code base, with its technical debt and accumulated workarounds, to create a path that rendered the code far more flexible, future proof, and expandable.

Rod and Steve also took it upon themselves to mentor and coach where needed. They jumped in and immediately earned respect at Synchronoss, both at working and management level. “Chariot’s objective was to leave us in a better position than when they came in,” said Hefner. “They absolutely did that.”

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