Elemental

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the directors of a media and marketing company. We host a number of websites where people can enter their kids or pets into monthly competitions and people vote for the cutest photos and the winners get prizes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Elemental Web Solutions?

Our company was working with a freelance developer who had built all of our web assets from scratch on WordPress. We outgrew that platform and were concerned that only one person managing our business could cause big problems if something happened to him.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We approached Elemental Web Solutions in order to help upgrade our platform and provide more consistent service. They were involved with the backend development of our CMS and worked closely with another company that provided wireframes for our new sites. They built the sites from the ground up using custom PHP development to deliver all of our desired functionalities.

What is the team composition?

I worked with about four members of their team, including the two directors, a project manager, and then the developers as well.

How did you come to work with Elemental Web Solutions?

We were looking for a partner located in South Africa to provide full-stack development using PHP as the main programming language. Their professional website first caught our eye, but they had testimonials that spoke well of their abilities as developers.

How much have you invested with them?

The total cost was around $650,000 Rand (approximately $35,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from August 2019–January 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

We get traffic from all the entrants that take part, who in turn get their friends and family to vote for their entries, so we have seen a large increase in visitors and votes due to the increased visibility of our new sites. We love the design and functionality of the new sites and have received positive feedback from people using the sites as well.

How did Elemental Web Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

They did a very good job with project management. They assigned us a project manager who held weekly meetings and gave us a system that we could log into and flag any issues that we found in the product, which worked very smoothly for us. We did have a slight delay in the deadline of the project, but we changed several aspects during the work, and they were still able to deliver over 90% of the target on schedule.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their QA process was truly fantastic for us. If we had any issues at all, we could flag them to the development team and get them resolved immediately.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Slightly better time management could always help an engagement like this but there were no major issues in our work together.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have your specifications laid out in as much detail as possible so that you can hit the ground running as quickly as possible. I would give that advice to anyone, no matter the engagement, but it is certainly true here.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the managing director and creative director for a branding agency.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Elemental Web Design?

We needed an outsourced technology partner.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

 They help us build products for our clients. We figure out the designs and they work on the backend development. I manage the strategy and the management relationship, and they develop the product and do a QA. Afterward, we present it back to the client. We've been using WordPress for a while, but we've also done another product in Bootstrap with PHP.

What is the team composition?

We typically work with their managing director and their project manager.

How did you come to work with Elemental Web Design?

They were a referral from my previous business partner.

How much have you invested with them?    

We've invested $50,000 – $75,000.  

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in May 2016, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

By in large, the feedback has been positive. They've improved our clients' WordPress experiences and they've seen growth in traffic. Clients usually comment on the ease of use and lack of frustration.

How did Elemental Web Design perform from a project management standpoint?

The responsiveness is a real challenge because they're often very busy. If a client comes back mid-project and they want to add to the scope of work, you have to wait for their current work to be completed before getting back in the schedule.

In my experience, you have to start to engage with them early and force a schedule together and then you can start on the project. Their product is solid, though. We communicated via Trello and email for communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

In the shaky world of development, where you often have a loss of control and a sense of chaos, they deliver solid, logical, well-made products.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They need to structure their corporation in a way that they can scale. They would do better if they could manage to bring in stronger resources.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be firm and stress expectations and deadlines or else your project will stay at the end of the queue.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former managing director of Benson Cairns Communications, a web consultancy focusing on financial services and asset management companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Elemental Web Solutions?

We were approached by an asset management company that wanted to set up an asset management/treasury portal to manage their internal communications, asset inventories, and at what stage of the deal these assets were.

There was a whole bundle of data points associated with the assets and they needed a software company to design, implement, and maintain it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did the custom web app development. From our side, we had the UX design and the consultancy was based here in the UK. Elemental Web Solutions implemented the solution. They worked with the architect, the UX people, and the test people and actually built the solution, installed it, and deployed it remotely in Capetown. They used PHP and SQL.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Angelo (Managing Director), two devs, and a tester.

How did you come to work with Elemental Web Solutions?

I’ve done a number of projects with Angelo in the past but nothing of this significance. I had confidence in his work because he always produced good work. When this big project came up, he was the ideal person to do it. I’m originally from Capetown and there’s that cultural vicinity between us even at a distance. His pricing was good.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost around £40,000 in total.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in June-September 2012.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?

It’s longevity and easy maintenance is a testament to their work. I didn’t expect it to last that long. I thought they’d outgrow it within a few years but they’ve held onto it for almost 10 years. Some of the portions of the software that they built are still in use today. The directors were widely happy about it. They invited me, my partner, and the architect out for a rather expensive lunch to thank us.

How did Elemental Web Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

We met all our deadlines in the end. It got stressful, as all software projects do. There weren’t any massive slippages. The slippages that there were expected. There was no need to evoke any kind of delay clauses or anything like that. We had a Jira board where we communicated a lot. We had regular meetings. I had an OpenStack channel for quick communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They had the capacity when we needed it. A lot of other folks said they could do it in six weeks or six months. Elemental Web Solutions had the capacity to do it right away. Their flexibility set them apart from the rigidity of other folks who we approached. They work well to meet deadlines.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could be a bit more robust on the QA side. We had to pick a little bit of that on our side to keep momentum up. I believe that has sorted that out quite thoroughly since.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you know what you want and that the communication is made absolutely clear.