“We’re trying to help the financial industry replace its legacy systems and embrace the modern technology that makes lending and borrowing money better for everyone,” says Alexx Leyva, COO of Sparks, Nevada-based Infinity Enterprise Lending Systems.
That commitment has driven Infinity, the leading FinTech software provider in the alternative credit lending industry for nearly two decades, to undertake development of a next-generation lending platform.
“Our original software platform, which was developed nearly twenty years ago,” Alexx explains, “just couldn’t deliver the level of software functionality that we wanted to offer.”
Although updated constantly, Infinity’s existing software had not been built utilizing modern DevOps and Agile principles, he notes. Realizing the benefits of incorporating standardized infrastructure and code practices, the company began the effort, but lacked the necessary in-house expertise and resources.
Finding the right technology partner
Soon the project’s already tight deadlines began to slip, so Infinity reached out to Quest for assistance with various needs related to enterprise architecture, application development, data modeling, and staff augmentation.
After meeting with Quest’s Application Development Program Manager, Rich Williams, and Scrum Master Hung Giang, Infinity knew they had found their technology partner.
“Quest rushed things for us because of our tight deadlines,” reports Alexx. “They got really hands-on, fleshing out what the project would entail and mapping a plan of execution.”
Meeting critical needs with talent and hard work
Although the timeline turned out to be a bit too ambitious, given the complexity of the project, the teams from Infinity and Quest worked seamlessly together and have met all of Infinity’s critical needs — a milestone Infinity CFO Ryen Leyva credits to both Quest’s depth of talent and work ethic.
“We struggled to find competent developers who could keep up with our technical demands,” Ryen says. “Quest has the cream of the crop, and they’ve done an outstanding job bringing in top people to work with us. The Quest people brought a whole new meaning to ‘working hard.’”
Quest’s hands-on flexibility and transparency
As important as technical and project management expertise were to the project’s success, Alexx and Ryen point to Quest’s flexibility and transparency as equally essential.
“Quest did more for us than software development,” Alexx points out. “They spent time understanding the unique needs of our business model, and because of their flexible approach, they’ve been able to adapt whenever necessary to our needs.”
"The Quest people brought a whole new meaning to ‘working hard.’"
Transparency, adds Ryen, is another area where Quest shines. “The review process is outstanding,” he says. “We have a morning call with developers and an afternoon call with the entire team. It’s been extremely hands-on the entire way.”
Quest DevOps: caring about quality of code
Ryen and Alexx encourage any software company that wants to develop better-quality software in a reasonable amount of time to partner with someone like Quest.
“Yes, there’s a cost,” says Ryen. “But compare the cost of developing in-house, the time to ramp-up a team, and so on, to the expertise and knowledge you get from a Quest engagement. Quest is the best solution.”
Alexx agrees, but cautions that not all DevOps engagements are the same.
“Too often,” he says, “external DevOps teams don’t care about quality of code. They just want it done so they can move on to the next project. It’s all low quality and not focused on the needs of the customer at all.
“Quest is the only company we’ve ever seen that doesn’t do it that way. They are fully invested in their people and their customers. They’ve gone above and beyond to make sure we’re following best practices and to ensure we can maintain those principles once the Quest team has left. This is unique. I think this is why Quest is the leader in what they do.”
THE BOTTOM LINE
Infinity Enterprise Lending Systems’ CFO Ryen Leyva (l) and COO Alexx Leyva (r) relied on Quest’s DevOps team to help their Sparks, Nevada FinTech firm base its new software platform on Agile principles incorporating standardized infrastructure and code practices.