MCF Technology Solutions

Govind Davis and his company, MCF Tech, are turning heads—they’re boasting three hundred and fifty percent yearly growth, a client list that includes a Fortune One retailer, Coca Cola, Delta Airlines, Intuit, and Oracle, and tailored software solutions at ten percent of the cost and a fraction of the time compared to the competition. So how are they doing it? Govind explained, “In the worst economy in 30 years, we are growing 350% because we can provide value faster and cheaper for our clients.”

Sounds simple, but providing value faster and cheaper requires efficient collaboration, and having the right tools is essential. As Govind said,

"We subscribe to the philosophy of being collaborative in everything we do, so all the tools we use on our core projects are web-based collaborative tools like Lucidchart. After trying everything else, we found that Lucidchart is the fastest, easiest way to [define software specs] with our clients. What are the tools we use to do our work every day? It comes down to three: EtherPad, Quickbase and Lucidchart."

Collaborating with clients

As a provider of tailored business process applications, MCF Tech works closely with their clients to ensure the delivery of custom applications that meet the client’s specific needs. In the past, working with clients meant emailing back and forth, resulting in long response times, attachment overload, lack of version control, and delayed projects. MCF Tech realized that they needed a diagramming tool that would allow them to quickly model ideas together with a client in an efficient and personal manner.

Lucidchart fit the bill. The platform’s powerful real-time collaboration capabilities gave MCF Tech the ability to quickly iterate with their clients. Govind describes the process:

“One of the core steps in the process is data-entity mapping. We go through and visually map out the client’s application for every project. Something that might have taken five iterations, we can now do it in one session because it is being done right in front of their eyes. We want our clients to feel like it is face-to-face, and having a tool like Lucidchart—where the client can be there in real-time—is as close to face-to-face communication as the real thing.”

By leveraging Lucidchart’s real-time collaboration capabilities to define project scope in conjunction with clients early on, MCF Tech is able to operate more efficiently. As Govind explained, “We focus on efficiency in everything, so having the client see the chart built in real-time is key.” With Lucidchart, whenever changes are made to a document, it is instantly updated across all users. The problems associated with email attachment overload and lack of version control are laid to rest with Lucidchart.

Operating efficiently

Microsoft Visio is the most widely used diagramming application in the market. But at $250 a license, it would have cost $7,500 to provide Visio to all 30 MCF Tech employees. By using Lucidchart, MCF Tech saved over $7,000 without sacrificing functionality, and while gaining the advantages of easier diagramming and real-time collaboration that Lucidchart offers.

These savings are part of a strategy to keep costs down and operations lean that gives MCF Tech an advantage over its competition.

“We’re delivering the same value at 10% of the cost, and having a tool like Lucidchart is part of a process that is super lean and super efficient. Lucidchart takes out all kinds of wasted efforts because it is collaborative. That’s a big part of why we can do it at 90% less [cost] than our competitors.”

For example, a fortune one retailer client had spent three years and four million dollars on a business application they eventually rejected. MCF Tech was able to go live with an application in six weeks and less than 10% of the total cost.

The flexibility and collaborative nature of Lucidchart allows the MCF Tech team to work efficiently in concert, giving them an edge on their competition so they can provide greater value to customers.