A review of our Technical Success Program

As a "Department of One", I work a fairly demanding, past-faced job, like many in software development find ourselves in these days. The members of the association I work for want to have all of the features they see elsewhere online at the big companies, yet enjoy a tailored, personalized experience. I recently took on an insane project to completely redesign two websites alongside migrating 3-million records from our MS Dynamics CRM into a customized back office solution. The list of deliverables look like a wish list for Santa: low cost, demanding functionality, tight deadlines, minimal resources, customized requests, fast page loads, responsive design, intuitive user interface... 

The solution? 

Plant-an-App’s cloud-hosted Harvest app…
coupled with a Dedicated Technical Success Manager.

The Plant-an-App low-code platform fits our needs perfectly! I can roll out custom features quickly with the automated listing and form creation. And, I can go further and customize the listings and forms with as much detailed code as I want, using SQL, javascript, Razor, with the complexity only limited by my imagination. The interface seemed daunting at first, because there is a lot of power and potential packed in there! But I soon realized how the interface was organized and now can find my way around intuitively no matter how complex my customizations are. In every nook and cranny there are tips and tricks listed in small bits of explanations, so if I forget details, I just have to read the descriptions. It is literally the perfect combination of low-code with the ability to customize as deep as you want! I have full access to front end DNN and backend SQL Server; all the stuff I’m used to as a developer, but the app does the tedious parts.

But what has really made the difference in my implementation has been my Dedicated Technical Success Manager, Patrick Anderson. From the very beginning, he took on the roles of consultant, developer, coach, and cheerleader! He has been adaptable to my needs and has not only the expertise in the app, but also in software development in general. Sometimes, he coaches me, very patiently directing me to type into each field on each screen. Other times, he gives me ideas for tackling a complex piece. Still other times, he has just coded a piece that needed to be done quickly. Never once has he rejected a question for being unrelated to the app or said my request was outside the scope of our agreement. His skills go beyond just administering the app, and span SQL, HTML, CSS, javascript, Razor, and probably a lot of other languages… not to mention his teaching skills and his unending patience! I can’t even tell you the amount of diverse requests and topics we had to delve into, and he met every challenge! Making sure I am successful is his primary aim, and I have felt like I had a teammate along this grueling journey!

It’s so nice to have a truly one-stop solution that works with me, instead of against me. NO MORE HACKING ON TOP OF COOKIE-CUTTER CODE! With the combination of a brilliantly designed platform and the individualized help of a TSM at a competitive price point, I am now a superhero with my coworkers. I haven't had to tell them "no" to any feature they've requested yet! (Shhhhh, don’t tell them I couldn’t have done it without Plant-an-App and my TSM!)

 

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What has really made the difference in my implementation has been my Dedicated Technical Success Manager, Patrick Anderson. From the very beginning, he took on the roles of consultant, developer, coach, and cheerleader! He has been adaptable to my needs and has not only the expertise in the app, but also in software development in general.

Making sure I am successful is his primary aim, and I have felt like I had a teammate along this grueling journey!