We are looking for a GREAT Atlassian consulting firm in the US.

Troy Moreland December 18, 2014

We have (without success) worked with a couple of Atlassian "Experts" thus far.  We need true consultation on how to properly implement the full platform for our development, support and services teams.

Are there any recommendations?

11 answers

1 accepted

1 vote
Answer accepted
Troy Moreland December 22, 2014

I appreciate all of the responses.  We are now working with a third Expert.  Thank you, Scott, for directly responding and working with me offline.  Hopefully third time's a charm!

10 votes
Bob Kennedy December 20, 2014

Troy,

I recommend AppFusions. They provide us with deployment services and custom development. The team is very skilled.

Bob

Adrien Ragot 2
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December 28, 2014

A strange number of people in this thread recommend AppFusions, which may or may not match their market share and their collaboration with Atlassian. If you are seeking to be fully informed about AppFusions, please search Atlassian Answers for more information about them.

Justin Justin December 28, 2014

Adrien - do you think that could possibly be because they have made a great impact in the industry, building dozens of supported integrations, plugins, solutions for almost 5 years and for nominal fees compared to custom programming of same one-off solutions? They have dozens of years of collective technical experience working with large and small Atlassian customers. They are fully dedicated to the Atlassian industry and Atlassian customer needs, as shown clearly in their products, clients, results. For detailed information about AppFusions and dozens of referrals - that you may speak directly to, contact them. info@appfusions.com They are a very open company and welcome ANY questions about anything; they shy from no questions, no matter how blunt. Ask them and see for yourself.

Penny Smithson December 28, 2014

I followed Adriens suggestion and found some talk about Appfusions not been an Atlassian partner. I could not find out why. Is that why Adrien questioned it?

Justin Justin December 28, 2014

The question was "We are looking for a GREAT Atlassian consulting firm in the US." Being an Atlassian partner in this case seems to be irrelevant. Referrals are referrals; customers do not usually make online referrals unless they believe it. AppFusions' website, proven expertise and open statements, including dozens of shipping and valued products, clients, multi-year renewing customers, offers for open references, very high expertise shown through many many 100s of contributions to Atlassian Answers by the AppFusions team (of which dozens do not show up in the search results - see an old karma snapshot here: https://www.appfusions.com/display/Dashboard/AppFusions+is+conquering+the+toughest+problems+for+Atlassian+customers), multiple published industry books, and more shows AppFusions' extensive expertise, obviously. Bullying can come in many forms. Creating an aura of FUD (fear, uncertainty, and doubt - see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fear,_uncertainty_and_doubt) to Atlassian customers about a highly proven team is one way. Ironically, the AppFusions team has just continually followed Atlassian's key "Be the change you seek" value (while tangibly impacting (raising?) the entrenched Atlassian ecosystem status quo bar) since their beginnings. AppFusions came out the gate strong (in April 2010), dove into the hardest field challenges to get stronger, and to this day continue to be strong in best interests of Atlassian customers' needs. Notable also is this talented team has successfully business and engineering developed, grown, and sustained dozens of leading packaged integrations and add-ons (and services) for almost 5 years now, bringing together (integrating) Atlassian technologies with some of the most popular platforms in the overall social business and collaboration industry worldwide. Perhaps Atlassian felt AppFusions' packaged integrations with other platforms (i.e., Google, Dropbox, Box, Jive, IBM, Alfresco, Microsoft, UserVoice, and more) was a threat? Don't know. Here's at least two companies (Salesforce and Microsoft) that finds AppFusions' mixed-platform integration strategy wise in their forward thinking: http://techcrunch.com/2014/12/17/salesforce-will-integrate-with-external-file-storage-providers-with-microsoft-up-first/ For 3 years as an Atlassian partner, the AppFusions' team were high achievers. They were completely communicative and open about their mutual-interest packaged integrations strategy: a desire for mass distribution to grow the Atlassian market *and* ecosystem demands, everywhere. They sent status reports to this effect monthly to the highest Atlassian executives. And then in March 2013, when AppFusions' momentum and success was growing at an all time high, Atlassian unexpectedly and coldly terminated AppFusions in a 5 minute skype call, without explanation. Here is the letter - https://www.dropbox.com/s/jgg449eqy756gfj/AppFusions%20Termination%20Notice%202013%2003%2013.pdf?dl=0 The referenced sections effectively say that Atlassian can (and obviously will) terminate <any Atlassian partner> without explanation. If this happened to most partners and plugin vendors, their business would die very very quickly (and customers depending on them would be in an instant lurch, positively). In another thread where Mr. Nick Wade said there were numerous warnings and discussions with AppFusions; this is absolutely untrue. In fact, AppFusions not only provided endless status, they also reached out to Atlassian many many times to meet or discuss evolved strategies given fast growing momentum (and obvious mutual impacts), often to passive aggressive ignores. In fact, one time an Atlassian Director even said "Atlassian does not do business development; that is a bad word here." Odd, but true. The good news was that because of Atlassian's hands-off one-sided approach to obvious strategic relations (by the very nature of what AppFusions does), at a technical level, AppFusions rarely leaned on Atlassian. AppFusions' independence became their strength at the time of need: AppFusions did not abandon over 500 customers as a result of the horrible situation that they were inexplicably subjected to. In fact, AppFusions never stopped being a partner to Atlassian, ever. To this day, AppFusions honorably stays true to their growing customer-base dedications and especially to the Atlassian "Don't #@!% the Customer" value. Atlassian customers have rewarded AppFusions for this dedication to deliver great Atlassian solutions, performance, and strong expertise, by continuing to buy (and renew) AppFusions' products and services. Over the last 2 years, customers learned that "the FUD" is not reality. If AppFusions was a "bad corporation" with bad people/solutions/expertise, how in hell have they managed to still be a growing viable business today? Despite everything, it would be better for everyone if Atlassian and AppFusions could find peaceful resolutions forward. Certainly it's good for Atlassian, AppFusions, and their mutual customers in the short and longer term. Wishing you a great and mindful New Year, for yourself and the greater good!

Dave Palmer December 28, 2014

That sounds more like Ellen than someone named Justin... just sayin'

Justin Justin December 28, 2014

I do accounts for AppFusions since the beginning.

Adrien Ragot 2
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December 29, 2014

@Dave is right, it sounds like a comment from Ellen (CEO of AppFusions, according to her twitter feed) because we find the same structure as in Ellen's discourse: - The words "bully" and "Atlassian" are the same paragraph (which I'll characterize as victimization for the scope of this comment), - The FUD, - Quoting the "Don't #@!% the Customer" value as an argument of why Atlassian shouldn't have removed them from the Atlassian Marketplace, - A lengthy text (715 words here). To prevent any kind of judicial attempt about this comment: All elements I'm quoting are publicly available information. I'm not making any judgement about AppFusions' excellence in any domain. I'm just telling people to read what is already available on the internet. The quality of human relationships is one important criteria when defining a "GREAT consultancy firm". AppFusions' ability to manage their communication with people in general, partners and Atlassian in particular, may be a relevant criteria for some customers, even if AppFusions claimed to be the victim of a situation.

David Simpson • AppFusions • v3 December 30, 2014

@Adrien: @Justin is a good guy. The FUD spreading is of course real. And the victim blaming is just getting boring. The good news is that large US headquartered companies worth $ billions are not only happy to work with AppFusions, but they have recommended AppFusions on this very page. In this male dominated industry, it's reassuring that rather than feeling threatened, AppFusions' customers value a driven, intelligent female leader like Ellen.

9 votes
Steve Hadfield December 22, 2014

I would also recommend AppFusions. Although I'm not allowed to name my company, we have possibly one of the largest non-clustered and highly tuned versions of Confluence. They were easy to work with, very professional, and extremely helpful and instructive in both proving a custom plugin and improving our non-standard build process.

Steve Hadfield

7 votes
Sami Moran December 18, 2014

I looked at consulting companies in some depth last fall to fill a need we had and will share my top 3 picks.  

Suggest you take a look at Service Rocket.  They're a Platinum partner and have been working with Atlassian for years.  Indeed, I think they helped Atlassian pilot their original partner program.  Last year they relocated their headquarters to the US, and they're a decent sized small company with offices on multiple continents.  Good company, and they know Atlassian products inside and out.  They also have some very appealing ongoing support offerings with SLA's – the one I'd love to get is the Atlassian Trusted Advisor.  

AppFire offers a pretty broad range of services, including an Atlassian appliance, and are another Platinum partner.  In fact, Bob Swift just joined them, so they clearly have expertise.  Not quite as large and diverse as Service Rocket, and I didn't like their support offerings quite as much. A lot of their support is provided from on the other side of the world, which is a timezone issue.  But clearly experts with a lot to offer. 

I was also impressed with praecipio.com/.  Much smaller and without as broad an offering, but obviously Atlassian experts.  

Finally, I will also endorse AppFusions.  I've worked with the company's founder, Ellen Feaheny, and do not doubt that anything she leads will be top notch.  

Best wishes,

Sami Moran

sami.moran@rackspace.com

7 votes
Steven Cross
Atlassian Team
Atlassian Team members are employees working across the company in a wide variety of roles.
December 18, 2014

Hi Troy, I manage all the Experts in the Western US, but used to manage all the Americas, so I'm well acquainted with strengths and weaknesses. Can you drop me a line to scross@atlassian.com with location and etc and I can make a couple strong referrals. 

Thanks!

Steve Cross

scross@atlassian.com

Justin Justin December 31, 2014

Hi Steve, As partner arbitrator, please see this thread. https://answers.atlassian.com/questions/264402/answers/11967446 Some interesting censorship "moderating" going on in this forum possibly by a contributor of that thread who has A LOT (too much?) manipulation power on Answers (Nic of Adaptavist). From this side, hard to know for sure who deleted Patrick's answer on this thread, but it is a bit curious.. and it was definitely here (maybe see your email notifications?) Nonetheless, I am sure a large corp like Atlassian has audit trails to know for sure who deleted Patrick's answer here (and my included comment to his about his 3 books on Amazon, which consequently stirred Matt Doar's comment below about his books). In the interest of "open company, no bs", can you please report back who deleted Patrick/my comment here, and why?

Justin Justin December 31, 2014

Also Steve, it is very very possible that it was NOT Nic and could be any other person with uber power on Answers, of which there are other partners or people with conflict of interest that do. And therein lies the issue in my opinion.

Joe Clark
Atlassian Team
Atlassian Team members are employees working across the company in a wide variety of roles.
December 31, 2014

Hi Justin. I'm the lead moderator on Atlassian Answers. Please contact me directly if you have any concerns about the abuse of moderation powers (jclark@youknowwhere.com) Steve is not the "partner arbitrator" and won't be able to help you with problems on Answers. I'd encourage you to also familiarize yourself with the Atlassian Acceptable Usage Policy, which are the rules by which any moderation will take force - https://www.atlassian.com/legal/acceptable-use-policy

Justin Justin December 31, 2014

Nice to meet you Joseph. Thanks for offer to help. Got pulled into the Fiesta Bowl today. I'll reach out after NY/weekend since NY's eve now.

Nic Brough -Adaptavist-
Community Leader
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December 31, 2014

Justin - I don't remember anything from Patrick on that thread, and I am 99% sure I wouldn't have deleted anything - I really do believe in leaving people's conversations in an appropriate place in their own words (of course, if I click in the wrong place, I may have done something bad, but I don't think I've ever done it). I do indulge in converting answers to comments and vice-versa when someone uses the wrong option. I do add labels to questions, and sometimes replace the ones the original poster has (usually for spelling mistakes). I don't think I've ever deleted anything but spam, or my own comments when I've realised they're rubbish when re-reading them. I'm not even sure I can delete other people's stuff (other than spam accounts), because I've never tried.

Justin Justin January 5, 2015

Thanks for your comments, Nic. Given your comments, I guess @PatrickLi's answer on this thread (and sub-comments) was not deleted by you. Somehow though; it is gone (and he would pipe in direct, but he is in China until next wk and has sketchy connectivity). Will send note to Joseph.

6 votes
Thomas Alfred
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December 18, 2014

You should try AppFusions – US-based – many references!
 

5 votes
MattS
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December 18, 2014

Troy,

I'm the tech lead for ServiceRocket's Atlassian consulting in the US. If you'd like to chat informally we  can connect on LinkedIn. Our official email address will also reach me via our sales team. Steve Cross is also a great contact. 

MattS
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December 22, 2014

And for completeness, my JIRA books are both from O'Reilly: Practical JIRA Administration (http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920020196.do) Practical JIRA Plugins (http://shop.oreilly.com/product/0636920021087.do)

5 votes
Erin Jones December 18, 2014

Howdy Troy! At Praecipio Consulting, we offer a wide range of services for your Atlassian needs. As Platinum Enterprise experts, we have a deep knowledge of the Atlassian product suite and have helped hundreds of clients achieve their best instances with our custom-tailored solutions.

If you have a few minutes to chat about your needs, we'd love to learn about your requirements and let you know how we at Praecipio Consulting can get you the results you need! Feel free to reach out to me directly or check out our website (Praecipio.com) to learn more about us and read about our client work. 

Happy Holidays!

Erin Davis

erin@praecipio.com

P.S. You might be interested in:

How we brought Stash to Expedia

Our JIRA Expertise (just the tip of the iceberg!)

2 votes
jon-paul cameron December 19, 2014

I'd also like to add Valiantys into this list - they are global and we have had very good experience with this company.

1 vote
Dave Palmer December 21, 2014

Hi Dave with Go2Group.  Not only is Go2Group Atlassian's oldest N. American partner, we are their 2nd largest reseller in the world.  One of our engineers is the author of "The JIRA Development Cookbook" considered one of the top publications for JIRA developers.   Feel free to reach out to us at services@go2group.com as we offer a plethora of services, training and custom integrations.

0 votes
Azfar_Masut July 23, 2018

Worked on bugzilla to JIRA migrations and date center POC with DNFCS. Pleasant experience especially the way they manage our request. Very organized.

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