F&S Digital

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of TheMoar, a branding agency. We mainly work with small startup businesses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with F&S Digital?

We didn’t have in-house resources that could take care of website coding, so we were looking for an agency that could help us with that.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

F&S Digital does website development and design for us; we make the architecture of the sites we develop for our clients, and they make them work. Regarding the product design, they use templates, but we mainly focus on custom-built platforms made from scratch, which they create based on our design guidelines and requests — they're great at following our directions.

In addition to that, they've provided SEO and are our current web hosting provider.

What is the team composition?

We've worked with Francisco (Lead Software Developer) and two other members of their team.

How did you come to work with F&S Digital?

I met Francisco in the past, who always demonstrated to be a computer-savvy guy. I reached out to him, spoke about my project, and found out that he had a business dedicated to web development, so I decided to go with them.

How much money have you invested in this partnership?

So far, we've spent around $20,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’ve never been skeptical about their work, and I feel secure working with them.

How did F&S Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re a fast team; it usually takes 1–2 weeks to deliver the websites, going from design to testing. Regarding tools, we have online meetings and talk over the phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a trustworthy team and explain how everything works.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be prepared and have an already made plan before going with them so you can be time effective and make the workflow smoother.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the owner and operator of 609 Event Productions, which produces smaller-scale festivals like small beer and food truck festivals and concerts. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with F&S Digital?

I hired F&S Digital to design and maintain several websites for my company and our events. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

F&S Digital designs, develops, maintains, and hosts simple websites for my company. Most of the websites F&S Digital has built are template-based with minimal written content and few site pages. I prefer to focus more on visual assets, and F&S Digital accommodates that preference — they embed event and memorial videos and specific images to each site. F&S Digital also uploads monthly, interactive fliers to the site to advertise upcoming events I'm managing. 

Now, F&S Digital is building out a new site for a company that I've just launched. That site has tailored back- and frontend development processes — they're building everything out from scratch. 

What is the team composition?

I only work with Sage (Co-Founder). 

How did you come to work with F&S Digital?

I had a professional relationship with Sage before he formed F&S Digital. We'd worked together on previous projects, so when he started F&S Digital, the relationship developed from there. 

How much have you invested with them?

I've invested $15,000–$20,000 with F&S Digital so far. 

What is the status of this engagement?

I began working with F&S Digital in January 2019, and our engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I've received many compliments on the websites and how easy they are to navigate because they're not extremely complex. F&S Digital delivers precisely what I want: clean and simple websites. I've never received anything from F&S Digital where they've missed the mark on the creative objective. 

How did F&S Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

F&S Digital has great project management. Sage is my point of contact, and whenever I put in simple requests, he ensures they're turned around within three days. I am the liaison between my graphic designer and F&S Digital — Sage's team is excellent at taking the graphics provided and integrating them into site designs for me to approve. Once designs are ready for approval, F&S Digital runs through them with me so I can create a list of edits and track changes that need to be made. 

Typically, we communicate via phone calls and email, but I have met with Sage several times in person. We've been working together for so long that F&S Digital understands my processes. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

F&S Digital's professionalism, timeliness, and ability to completely understand my ideas really make them stand out to me. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I couldn't be happier with F&S Digital's work, and I'll continue to work with them as I grow my company — I have nothing for them to improve. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I'd advise customers to articulate their ideas and inspiration clearly to F&S Digital's team so they can turn them into reality. F&S Digital does a great job of pulling ideas from the customer and putting it into a quality final deliverable. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and owner of pilates studio.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with F&S Digital?

We hired F&S Digital to support us with web development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

For their first project, they completely refurbished our website. I’m going to hire them again for two more projects. We’re also going to hire them to handle our digital marketing and branding efforts.

What is the team composition?

I’m working with Sage (Co-Founder), but I’ve briefly spoken with one of his employees.

How did you come to work with F&S Digital?

I found them through a friend of mine who was working on a film festival. F&S Digital was patient, wonderful, and fantastic, which led us to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with F&S Digital in January 2016, and we continue to work together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been impressed with how they’ve totally transformed the first website we’ve assigned to them. With their web development work, we’ve experienced an increase in revenue and traffic. As a result, we're extremely happy with their services.

F&S Digital is professional and detail-oriented. They also have many great ideas, and they go above and beyond to deliver quality work. I hope that I can continue to work with them and open up multiple companies in the future.

How did F&S Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate through phone calls, text messages, and Google Meet. They’re always willing to help us, and whenever we have issues, they always fix them in a heartbeat. On top of that, they accommodate our budget for certain projects, especially if it’s not within our range. Overall, I don’t mind spending a lot on their services if it’s going to bring me a lot of revenue.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We can see how passionate they are about what they’re doing. I’m also impressed by the personal experience they’ve given me, which is why I keep on coming back to them. I’ve recommended them to my contacts because I’ve had a great experience with them. Overall, their team is unbelievably reliable.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. They just need to keep expanding.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Book them as soon as possible before they get super big and don't lose the opportunity to work with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a medical spa.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with F&S Digital?

I needed my website managed and hosted. My site had been hacked, so I also needed help with web security.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Since my website had been hacked, the first thing F&S Digital did was bring it back online, implementing new security measures to prevent further breaches. The team also updated the site’s original content and backlinking, and they've since added more backlinks. 

They’ve reduced the site's load times and made its UX more refined and mobile-friendly. Currently, they’re updating the website’s copyright for 2022. We’re also working on a new project to renew the entire website; they’ll update the content, switch up images and banners, and change the home page and landing pages.

What is the team composition?

I’ve spoken directly with two teammates from F&S Digital, though I know they have a larger team who’s worked on some of the updates for my website.

How did you come to work with F&S Digital?

I found them through a referral from a friend of mine. I’d previously had many bad experiences with web developers and security companies, so I spent a summer educating myself about websites, analytics, and security to know the vocabulary so I could choose a better partner. When I had my first conversation with F&S Digital, I knew right away that they had expertise in the field. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2020, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

My website's UX has significantly improved since I work with F&S Digital. Load times are lightning-fast, even on mobile, and the site is crisper and more concise. The backlinks they’ve added have been really helpful. They also added a link to one of my vendors’ sites, and my clients have used it to make purchases. Traffic to the website has also increased, and I’ve gotten a lot of compliments about the faster loading speed. 

The team at F&S Digital always provides suggestions to make my website run more efficiently. I’d had so many nightmare experiences with other providers that having F&S Digital is a relief; they’re on top of everything, efficient, and effective. 

Previously, I had separate companies for hosting and security, which made changes to the website time-consuming; it took me hours to coordinate everything, which was inconvenient because I had a business to run. F&S Digital is a full-service company, which makes everything easier for me. I’d also worked with three different web security companies I wasn’t satisfied with, the last of which got hacked. Now, I feel that my site is completely safe with F&S Digital’s security services. 

How did F&S Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is excellent. I’ve never met anyone from F&S Digital face-to-face; we always communicate via email or phone, and their response times are quick. I send them an email, and I get a response within half an hour. 

I get very detailed responses to my questions and inquiries. I usually send them bullet points, and they understand what I need. They send me mockups of the projects they're working on. Additionally, F&S Digital has met every deadline I’ve given them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I find F&S Digital’s communication skills impressive. I appreciate that I never have to wait for a response and that I always get more information than I ask for; they always explain everything in detail and provide the rationale behind their answer. The team is also very efficient. 

My experience with F&S Digital has been seamless and wonderful. Working with them is fabulous — I don’t see myself going to any other vendor. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

So far, I have no complaints whatsoever.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’m confident F&S Digital can supply anything any future client needs. Anytime anyone asks me for a web developer reference, I suggest F&S Digital; I’ve already given multiple people their phone number. Any client that chooses them will be making the right choice. 

Hiring a vendor is not easy because it’s hard to see where your money is going. You have to trust your partner, which can be difficult when you’ve had bad experiences, and F&S Digital makes partnership incredibly seamless.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the executive director of The Garden State Film Festival, a private 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization with programming all year round. Our largest event is an annual film festival in Asbury Park, New Jersey. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with F&S Digital?

Normally, whenever we conduct film festivals, our filmmakers hop on a plane and come to New Jersey, and we show the films in Asbury Park. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we needed help so we can virtually stream our movies.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

F&S Digital is helping us to broadcast and showcase our filmmaker’s work all around the world. In 2020, with only an 11-day timeline, F&S Digital created and executed a custom platform that allowed us to collect, filter, organize, and distribute large video files. We’re talking about 245 films from more than 22 countries. 

Additionally, F&S Digital gave us the ability to convert the files into streamable content that could be DRM-protected and playable only at set intervals to match our in-person events. They created our platform to work with our ticketing providers: Brown Paper Tickets and Eventbrite. They used the MERN (MongoDB, Express.js, React, Node.js) stack and Microsoft Azure products for this project. We had a round-the-clock phone, email, and chat support team for our attendees during the event.

F&S Digital’s efforts made us the only festival event in the world to not cancel or postpone in 2020, as we were able to execute a virtual-only event on time. For 2021, we conducted a hybrid festival — we had in-person events while simultaneously screening our 300 films online. 

What is the team composition?

I have worked with Sage and Francisco (Co-Founders), and Sage is my primary contact.

How did you come to work with F&S Digital?

Our director of operations knew Sage, and when we were introduced, we just connected. 

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent over $500,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2019, and it’s ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to F&S Digital’s efforts, we had over 15,000 attendees for our event in 2020. That was despite our 11-day timeline to build the platform and make the festival work online; we also did not have a lot of marketing time to promote the virtual pivot. For our 2021 event, we had over 585,000 virtual audience members. 

We have received positive feedback from the community — someone told us our perseverance to continue the festival had boosted their mental health. In 2020, people can’t even go outside, and we were the first thing to bring joy into everyone’s living room. 

The value that we derive from F&S Digital’s work is just unbelievable. I can’t even explain how fantastic they are. For one, they allow us to grow and expand our brand. Also, they can transform our ideas into reality, which has led us to continue working with them. 

How did F&S Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

We use phone calls and emails to communicate. For all our projects, F&S Digital provides a complete scope of work.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They listen, and they’re forward-thinking. Other companies already have their products made, and they don’t listen to their customers — and so, many things don’t work. We’re a 20-year-old festival, and we have higher caliber clients and filmmakers, and F&S Digital understood our needs. We have standards that require extreme security. They have met all our requirements, and we just love working with them. We look forward to our next project. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of any. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Even if you don’t have a clear vision, F&S will help you. However, it’s better to know what you want to accomplish before working with them. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We've worked with F&S on two enterprises. One of them was Launch Compass, which was a professional development platform focused on soft skill development through courses. That has been mostly morphed into a nonprofit where we provide similar content. However, we make it free for individuals who can benefit from our training materials.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with F&S Digital?

When we started building Launch Compass, we were using Moodle, a learning management system (LMS) platform. As we were getting more content, we found out that we wouldn’t be able to use some lower-level hosting options that were available to us. We also noticed that the increased content in our platform caused speed and loading issues.  As a result, we partnered with F&S Digital to provide us technical support.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

F&S Digital developed our site using WordPress, and they worked hard to make it speedy. They worked with us to separate the front- and backend to improve the user experience and to make the platform as fast as possible. We started off with Launch Compass and worked with F&S Digital about a year ago and had since added on another website with them.

They now provide hosting services, and when there’s an update that needs to be done, they take care of it. They’ve also been able to help us troubleshoot our site. Additionally, the team sets up our email notifications, manages our database, and more — their work is really encompassing.

What is the team composition?

I’ve personally interacted with 5–6 people from their team.

How did you come to work with F&S Digital?

One of our employees worked with Sage (Co-Founder). Since F&S Digital had experience with Moodle, they were willing to learn what they could do with our platform. Their attitude showed me that they were knowledgeable and open to new things. That was important for us because technology would always change no matter what. We gave them the project because it would be easier for them to learn and figure things out. Overall, their drive and innovative ideas gave us the confidence to engage with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve probably spent $5,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in June 2020, and it’s an ongoing collaboration.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re still figuring out how to grow our business, and we’re still figuring out concrete numbers. However, since F&S Digital worked with us, we haven’t had any problems with the speed of the site. For the UX, while we can’t necessarily measure it, the team’s work has a noticeable impact because of the good implementations they’ve integrated into the site. 

We also appreciate that whenever we have ideas about improvements for our site, the team has been very helpful when we describe to them what we want to do. Then, they always present options even if it’s not necessarily going to benefit them monetarily. 

How did F&S Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

We mostly use email, but we also have Zoom calls. If they have to research, they always submit their deliverables in a timely manner. They also give us their timelines for the project, and they reach out to us if they're not going to make it.

On top of that, they’ve been very communicative — so no complaints there. To be specific, every time that I reach out to Sage, he responds within five minutes — it’s almost the same as text messaging. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’ve been very personable, and they make their customers feel important. They’ve been able to reach out to somebody else on their team if they don’t know the answer to our questions right away. Then, they get back to us quickly once they have the information.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There have been some projects where we asked them about the project’s cost and they’ve not been able to provide us with the price points for each option. I’m sure we could’ve reached out to them or ask them if we could explore something less expensive. However, I’d like to see them present that in a balanced way.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It helps to have a base knowledge of what you want them to work on so that you can clearly articulate your needs. To do that, do some research on how to communicate from a technical standpoint.