ImageX

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Technical Safety BC is an independent, self-funded organization that oversees the safe installation and operation of technical systems and equipment. In addition to issuing permits, licences, and certificates, we work to reduce safety risks through assessment, education, outreach, enforcement, and research. I'm the web development business partner, responsible for managing the website.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ImageX?

We hired them to review our website, redesign our site templates, and recommend a plan for upgrading our CMS  to Drupal.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was to enhance our website, provide the best user experience, and help our clients find information efficiently and effectively. We wanted a secure, well-supported CMS that was easy to customize. Its architecture also needed to be reorganized.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We selected ImageX after interviewing a shortlist of interested web development companies. Our selection committee overwhelmingly chose ImageX based on their proposal and presentation.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

After an intensive onsite discovery session, ImageX created a discovery brief and project plan, reviewed user personas, and built user stories and features. Then they reviewed and refined the UX while recommending analytics and SEO strategies. 

They audited our site content and created an editorial calendar and a content governance plan. Through user testing sessions, they shaped, mapped, and prioritized content, then developed wireframes and static prototypes. They developed a home page and internal page templates. They also configured our server, installed our CMS, migrated content, and tested the system.

What was the team composition?

The project team from ImageX included a project manager, a senior business and UX architect, a senior product designer, a lead developer, and a senior digital strategist.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

They improved the usability and content of our website, which received kudos from external clients. Our traffic and page views increased by 55% in the second quarter of 2018, compared to the same period last year. The website also won gold in the 2018 dotCOMM Awards, an international competition honoring excellence in web creativity and digital communication.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

ImageX's project managers worked effectively to establish goals and requirements, create plans, and implement strategies. They built consensus and dealt prudently with challenges, showing flexibility and adaptability while focusing on the project's success.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was impressed by ImageX's pragmatic execution and composed, instructive leadership.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I lead marketing and communications efforts for the YMCA of Western North Carolina, a nonprofit that strengthens our community through youth development, healthy living, and social responsibility. We serve more than 60,000 people through seven YMCAs, dozens of program sites, and an overnight camp. We are the largest location for licensed school-aged child care in North Carolina and the first YMCA in the state to become an approved Medicare provider. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ImageX?

Our previous website was developed in 2010 on Drupal 6 when our organization didn’t have a centralized marketing team. Due to the high staff turnover and a lack of consistent training and oversight, the site had become unwieldy and hard to navigate. The redesign was a daunting task, and our small in-house team couldn’t manage a project of this scope alone.

What were your goals for this project?

We had several focal points for this project. First, we wanted a to improve our web presence as a sales tool and to enhance our community positioning. Second, we needed to reduce web development costs and risks by moving the website onto an open platform (Open Y). Third, we were looking to take advantage of new features in Drupal 8 and Open Y, including easy-to-add content management. Fourth, we wanted to enhance site functionality with key technical integrations, including support for online transactions. Finally, we also hoped to reduce our technical burden with a clean, new site for easier maintenance in the future.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Before I joined the YMCA in late 2016, several vendors had replied to an RFP for the redesign. However, as we learned more about the Open Y platform, we decided to change course. I began looking for a development company that understood the Y movement, had Drupal 8 expertise, and could function as an extension of our marketing communications team.

ImageX stood out because they took the time to listen to us. Instead of touting their successes with past clients or telling us what we wanted to hear, they asked probing questions and gave thoughtful answers. They worked with us on the budget, and their proposal thoroughly outlined the deliverables and expectations for both parties.

Describe the project in detail.

In addition to handling the project startup and management, ImageX provided discovery, design, and web development services. The initial project—the redesign of our main website—began in May 2017 and concluded in October 2017. The scope expanded to include a standalone website for our overnight camp. This work began in November 2017 and concluded six weeks later.

The project startup included a kickoff meeting, creating the work breakdown schedule, and setting up task-tracking and communication tools. The ImageX project manager was responsible for planning and task scheduling, issue management and escalation, budget monitoring, and status reporting. The project featured stages of agile development in which the team prioritized the scope in defined, time-limited sprints.

During the discovery phase of the project, ImageX fleshed out information we shared and tailored the deployment of Open Y to fit our goals and priorities. They also assisted with user-centric design, information architecture, and wireframing to ensure a strong UX for the end product.

In the first development stage, ImageX implemented a foundational web server and CMS infrastructure based on Drupal 8 and the Open Y distribution and assisted with media and content migrations. Our internal team worked on content updates and images. ImageX performed regular quality-assurance (QA) checks, including design QA, multiple-browser compatibility, and usability testing. For the second stage, they implemented prioritized enhancements to the website and worked with third parties to configure integrations.

What was the team composition?

During the initial project, I led the internal team with day-to-day assistance from our digital marketing specialist. A group of six internal stakeholders also participated in sitemap review, content analysis and editing, and discovery sprints. Before the site’s launch, additional stakeholders reviewed content and provided usability testing. ImageX assigned a project manager, business analyst, Open Y/Drupal 8 solutions architect, lead developer, and QA tester.

The second project was handled by our digital marketing specialist and camp director, along with the ImageX project manager/business analyst, lead developer, and QA tester.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What outcomes or results can you share that demonstrate progress and/or success?

Our association website has experienced 152% growth in page views since launching, and the average session duration lengthened by 22%. Total page views on the overnight camp website (which was formerly a set of subpages on the association site) have increased by 129%; the average session duration rose by 340%.

The new camp website has also been a factor in enrollment growth. We reached 75% of our goal within eight weeks of launching—four months earlier than the year before.

How effective was the project management?

ImageX provided exceptional project management. They kept us on track throughout the discovery, development, and launch process.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We needed a full-time partner who could hit the ground running while preserving our priorities and values. ImageX did not disappoint. They became virtual team members who were always there for us. Their willingness to listen and think through challenges, rather than trying to apply instant fixes, resulted in a custom website that exceeded our expectations.

We didn’t just build a website together; we built a relationship that has strengthened over time and will contribute to the long-term success of our organization. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the director of marketing for Steptoe & Johnson, an international law firm with over 300 attorneys across the U.S.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ImageX?

We hired them to manage our existing website and intranet as well as provide assistance with graphics.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to upgrade our firm's website and intranet.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were recommended by a trusted partner in the industry.

Describe the project in detail.

Over the past several months, they have assisted with several maintenance issues and recommended appropriate security updates. Aside from handling routine maintenance, they’ve assisted with larger company initiatives and worked on special projects as needed. We’ve shared our ideas for website improvement, which they’ve helped turn into reality.

What was the team composition?

We’ve been working with a project manager and lead developer. Occasionally, we’ve received work from their creative resources.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What outcomes or results can you share that demonstrate progress and/or success?

The transition was very seamless and resulted in a more secure website. So far, we’ve also been very pleased with their creative output.

How effective was the project management?

Their project management is very clear. We receive updates on a regular basis, while time and resource requirements are always clear and fair. They always hit their proposed timelines and have a great sense of how long something will take.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They’ve embraced our unique culture and how that influences the direction of our website and intranet. They have gained our full confidence. We've learned to rely on ImageX as a business partner—they think for us.

What tips or recommendations do you have?

If you have a problem, call ImageX—you won't regret it. They’ll be honest and won't waste your valuable time. If they can't do the job, they'll say so up front. If they do take on the project, they deliver on their promises.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the director of demand generation for Schoology, an LMS [learning management system] focused on the education space. It has more than 20 million users worldwide.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ImageX?

We hired them for routine website maintenance. They’ve also worked on special projects such as landing page development and other ad hoc tasks.

What were your goals for this project?

We always wanted to have a web development partner who could support our digital marketing initiatives and give advice as needed.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Initially, we evaluated several other agencies. We selected this vendor after reading a number of positive reviews on various review sites and speaking to references they provided.

Describe the project in detail.

In the past year, they’ve completed a variety of projects for us. Recently, we launched a landing page aimed at furthering our brand and highlighting user stories. This page has a number of CSS animations and other elements that were implemented without any issues.

What was the team composition?

For the past 9 months, we’ve been working with a project manager and the lead developer. They assign additional resources based on the scope of our projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What outcomes or results can you share that demonstrate progress and/or success?

To date, they’ve delivered all projects on time and within our budget. They’ve analyzed our specifications and provided feedback on the best way to accomplish our goals, which is helpful. Aside from solving business challenges on the web, they’ve also provided strategic guidance on implementing our ideas. As a result, we can easily grow and scale our web presence to meet future business needs.

How effective was the project management?

Their project management has been exceptional. All communication happens through Basecamp and a biweekly virtual meeting. They are always up front with requirements and resources required. At the end of each project, they share a full rundown of the actual resources used.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

As a development partner, ImageX has always met or exceeded our expectations in terms of timeline, quality, and general collaboration.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a web producer at an IT monitoring software company. We work with the world’s largest companies to ensure their IT services and applications are always functional. As the global leader in hybrid IT monitoring analytic software, we provide complete visibility for cloud, virtual, and physical IT environments. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ImageX?

Our company was going through a rebrand and needed a new website. Our existing website was built quickly and poorly before I came to the company. It was made internally and didn’t work well or look good, so we needed a new site. I am the only person handling this project from our end, so I knew I couldn’t do the whole thing by myself. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started building the site from the ground up. ImageX started by planning the site infrastructure and organization. Then, they handled wireframing before they did the development. We’ve continued to use them after the site was finished with a service agreement for ongoing development.

Everything was built to the best practice standard. Our old site’s code had just been hacked together and wasn’t scalable or customizable. ImageX designed the new, responsive site based on what we knew we needed, allowing us to expand it in the future. It’s a content-based website with demand generation.

ImageX did a large integration with us. Because we have a lead-generating website, we use the marketing automation software, Marketo. All of our forms are built in Drupal, but they’re actually Marketo forms, so there’s 2-way communication between Marketo and Drupal. That’s huge for us.

We didn’t have a search function previously, and our documentation portal is now really robust. We just had PDFs before, and now we have PDFs as well as downloadable and viewable HTML files. We had ZenPack catalogs that are WordPress plugins for our product. It’s open-source, so you can build them yourself or use our pre-made ZenPacks. Our ZenPack catalog was hosted on Wiki but didn’t have a good UX, so ImageX built an entire new ZenPack catalog for us by working with our documentation team.

We worked with a project manager, a lead developer, and 2 or 3 other developers from ImageX. At different stages, a business development planner helped us with the site architecture. We have an internal designer, so we came up with the design, but ImageX offered creative input.

How did you come to work with ImageX?

We wanted the site to be built on Drupal, and we wanted it done well. I started researching Drupal agencies that could be a true partner, not just a development shop. I made a list of 20 agencies and conducted phone interviews with all of them. I narrowed our options to 3 companies. ImageX felt more like a partner than the other choices. They also understood what we needed. They came to Texas from Canada to explain their services and give examples of work they had done before, which was impressive. Their development results were second to none.

How much have you invested with ImageX?

I don’t remember the cost of the project. We have a 50-hour per month service agreement with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with ImageX at the beginning of last year, and the relationship is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

ImageX helped us design the site with our end-customers in mind, which hadn’t been done previously. We have only gotten positive feedback about the site. Our company used to look at lot older but appears much more modern now. The site is the face of our company, and it actually matches our personality.

We had a problem before where people weren’t able to find information. The new site has a much better UX and a stronger brand presence because it’s laid out well. From an admin experience, it’s great.

How did ImageX perform from a project management standpoint?

They don’t take shortcuts just to finish tasks quickly. They finish work on time and are flexible. ImageX doesn’t make excuses, and they’re easy to work with.

What did you find most impressive about ImageX?

They have the best developers that I’ve ever worked with. Their team is collaborative. Their head developer is able to speak to my manager as well as other developers, which is unusual and valuable. We used different agencies for marketing automation and SEO, and they worked well with all those teams.

Are there any areas ImageX could improve?

They could move to Texas. In all seriousness, I think they’re great. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I am the Web Master and Administrative Coordinator for Educational Services at a small, Jewish university on the east coast of the United States. We offer mostly graduate programs, and it’s almost entirely online. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with ImageX?

One of the biggest issues with our old CMS-driven site and hosting provider was that they were proprietary, which meant we totally relied on them for any changes to the website– even for the minor things.

I’m not a developer, but I have some basic web skills and I’m a pretty quick study. It was frustrating that, as the client, I didn’t have access to certain parts of the site where I could try to make changes myself. Because of that arrangement, everything would end up costing more money than we had within our approved annual budget, and our site was rapidly getting out of date. I had done some research and thought Drupal and Acquia, specifically, seemed like something we would want to try. At the end of the day, we needed a completely new design done within a very limited budget. 

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement.

There were a lot of things that were broken on the old site. It was really old and really bad. A lot of the content is similar but the way that it is presented has been completely overhauled. The new website is now mobile friendly and no longer fails on a lot of the web accessibility points like the old site did. The actual usable course listing functionality is different.

We’re hoping to retain them for a service agreement. I’m trying to convince the people in charge of registering vendors, that it’s a good idea. I’m in the process of signing a service agreement with ImageX for a few hours a month for the Drupal security updates and whatever I can’t do. Though I’m feeling pretty confident in the backend. They’ve been really helpful in terms of training me.

How did you come to work with ImageX?

I was given the go ahead, after an extended amount of begging, to begin researching ways to make a new website for grads. The problem was we were super limited in terms of budget. About a year ago, Acquia had done a demo for us and I thought Acquia seemed cool as a host. I thought Drupal seemed really cool too.

When I was given the go ahead, I asked Acquia about designers I should talk to and they referred me to a couple of different places that priced out something completely out of our budget for designing a new site. Then, I told them it seemed impossible and asked if they had anybody who could meet us with our constraints. They directed me to ImageX primarily because of the open EDU. I talked to Brent Wilker [VP, Business Development at ImageX] and told him that I knew a lot of the high cost was associated with designing everything from scratch, as opposed to using the out of the box stuff, as well as the content migration being expensive. I told him I would rather do the content migration myself if there was a way and for us to use the open EDU framework, and then customize from there. We were able to come up with a way to do it that was within our budget, which was pretty exciting.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

$30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them December 2016 and the site went live June 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The new website really is different from top to bottom. Visually the website looks a lot better, but it also works very well. The search function actually works the way it should and isn't prone to error.

How did ImageX perform from a project management standpoint?

I had a dedicated project manager throughout the whole engagement. There were 22 people in Basecamp. About 18 of them were ImageX resources and the rest of them were internal employees. I only interacted with 4–5 resources on a regular basis and it depended on the skills necessary.

I don’t have any complaints about the process. I’m thoroughly satisfied with the new site and they’ve been tremendously thoughtful partners. They were highly responsive and incredibly helpful. They were also excellent at training and enabling to be more self-sufficient. We used Basecamp extensively for communication, which made it seamless. I never had a difficult time getting in touch with ImageX or getting responses to my questions.

What distinguishes ImageX from other providers?

ImageX finished our project ahead of schedule and under budget. Every other designer I talked to thought our launch schedule impossible.

Is there anything ImageX could have improved or done differently?

I only have positive feedback.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the associate vice president of digital products and innovation for a large nonprofit entity in North America. We’re part of a loosely federated organization that’s driven from the bottom up; we have over 800 locations across the United States, and each is independently owned and operated. Our network includes 900 different websites. I answer to the SVP of all of digital items, who answers to the chief experience officer.

My job is split between working on projects specifically for the Twin Cities market as well as working on this new distributed initiative. I’m responsible for leveraging digital resources and making enhancements to serve our audience in the best way. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ImageX?

As an internationally recognized nonprofit, we can’t operate with the strength of a cohesive unit to capitalize on our 2,200 fitness facilities and 20 million gym members in the United States. We’re spending a lot of money on duplicating digital efforts 800 times over. This means we have less money to invest in what’s core to our mission, which is fostering Youth Development, Healthy Living, and Social Responsibility.

It is essential that we invest our capital in a way that fostered collaboration across our network to bring down costs. We wanted to drive a philosophy of sharing and open collaboration. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re helping us build a solution. ImageX is one of the lead agencies on our collaboration platform. ImageX has been our thought partner in creating a system of choice with different technology providers.

ImageX is closely aligned with our mission, produces great quality, and is a fantastic partner. They recognize that we’re a nonprofit. They know we don’t always have robust technology teams and we often need a lot of help. Nonprofits can have half of the available budget and twice the needs of a for-profit organization.

ImageX’s role mainly involves our distribution in Drupal, which allows any of our locations to get an enterprise-grade, fully responsive, mobile-optimized website within a few minutes through just a few clicks. They’ve helped us to determine a long-term approach from a strategy perspective in tandem with a few other agencies.

ImageX also provided code for our open collaboration specifically. We launched the distribution publically in January 2017, and then we worked with ImageX to develop specific code for social media integration and search engine optimization (SEO). They built some innovative integrations with Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager that make it very easy for a content admin who may not have any technical expertise to get started with Google Analytics, allowing them to view site performance in real time.

ImageX is impressive because they delivered great quality on time, within our budget, and with no issues or defects at all. Working with them was an absolute pleasure. In addition, I asked them to collaborate with our other agencies, and they did phenomenally well. As you can imagine, collaboration between agencies could have introduced a variety of potential conflicts, but that didn’t happen at all. If we had any issues, they openly and with transparency communicated with other agencies to find the solution and resolve the problem. I did not see any friction between ImageX and the other agencies. We liked them so much that we’re looking forward to working with them further on our open distribution in addition to those other agencies.  

How many resources have been assigned to your project?

I don’t know exactly how large the team was. I’ve worked primarily with a lead technical architect, Yuri, and with Brent, our account leader. They give suggestions to guide our long-term strategy. I also worked with a project manager to make sure that the work was on schedule and that we were invoiced appropriately. I’m sure they had a handful of developers writing code at the direction of Yuri.  

How did you come to work with ImageX?

Yuri actually used to be at another agency that was an original founder of the project. When he moved to ImageX, we followed and started talking to ImageX. We had a summit in Houston, Texas in February of 2017, and we invited partners that were interested in our open platform. Brent and Yuri came to Houston to meet with us. Once we learned that they were interested in working with mission-driven organizations and were aligned with our goals, it was clear that they’d be a great partner to try. We started by asking them to write a bit of code. What we got was great, and now we’re planning to have them do more.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in February of 2017, and the work is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or impact of the engagement?

We’ve gotten good press because of the quality and the caliber of the partners writing the code. ImageX is among the top providers that we’ve worked with. The number of associations that are either interested or are committed to this initiative is growing daily. Right now, different locations are in various states of launching new websites. Many sites are in development and will launch this year. Another 25 associations have committed to either launching a site in the imminent future or leveraging a portion of the open code to augment their current web stack.

Because they wrote code for a distribution, the work from Image X will not have the standard KPIs associated with a web project. Instead, we looked holistically at the open platform itself. One of our associated locations in Seattle has 19 different branches. They spent 6 figures when building their initial site, which was an early prototype of our open platform. With the new distribution and working with partners like ImageX, our associations have been able to reduce their costs by up to 70% and increase their speed to market by 75%. Some of our associations don’t have the funds to set up a Google Analytics account that integrated with their website. That’s why we have our out-of-the-box solution that enables easy setup and integration via the interface that ImageX built.  

Over time, each association will gather usage information to continue to optimize their experiences at lower costs than using a proprietary platform. Through ImageX and the other agencies, everything worked properly. We didn’t have to go back to them with bug defects or things of that nature, so it saved us a lot of time.  

Did ImageX make themselves available to organizations that had questions about their work?

Our organizational movement in Australia has 34 associations. They just recently voted to consolidate 99% of those locations. Because they’re looking for a new web platform, I connected a decision-maker with Yuri at ImageX, and he helped them build an entire prototype site to be shared with their leadership. It’s important to be aware of the time difference between Vancouver and Australia. Yuri made himself available for hours at a time, often late at night, giving essentially free consulting to make sure our Australian counterparts were set up for success. ImageX showed that they believe in this platform. It was fantastic to connect a colleague with a partner like ImageX and know that they were in good hands. Our Australian colleagues had only positive feedback after their interactions with ImageX.  

What did you find most impressive about ImageX?

The productivity gains and ease of management are impressive. It was so easy to work with them. We truly feel like they are a partner. If we ran into an issue, they made it easy for me to trust them. Their communication was proactive from the start.  

Are there any areas ImageX could improve?

It’s been great so far. We’ve only been working with them for about 6 months, but I haven’t seen anything concerning.  

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for PABCO Gypsum, which is a division of Pacific Coast Companies. We make drywall and advanced soundproofing materials for buildings. I’m the head of the marketing department.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ImageX?

I had a team of developers working on some upgrades to our Drupal CMS sites, and I wasn’t happy with the level of attention and quality they had. I was struggling with them a bit. The ImageX guys came highly recommended, so I gave them a shot. They were on-point to pick up where the previous development team had left off.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We had an existing Drupal site, and it lacked a little bit of style and pizazz on the frontend. More importantly, we have an advanced dealer locator, which uses the Google API. The previous developers were trying to get that all to work, and it was just littered with bugs and wasn’t working right. We couldn’t get our database to load. We couldn’t get the GEO coordinates accurate. It was just a whole slurry of things.

The guys from ImageX came in and cleaned everything up. They gave the site a bit of a shakedown because I wasn’t very confident with the level of work the previous team had done. They kicked some of the gremlins out of the basement, if you will, and addressed potential security problems, and proposed some updates to it. Now it’s pretty polished and solid. It still needs a little bit of TLC, but it’s all fine-tuning from here. Before, it was just breaking.

We don’t have an e-commerce module built on the site. We have a dealer and distributor channel to which we refer all our customers. There are three sites I control; pabcogypsum.com, quietrock.com – which is the site I really wanted some focus on – and pabcobuildingproducts.com. All three of those domains are under my control.

ImageX worked with all three, with more focus put onto quietrock.com because of my sensitivity about that site. It had come a long way, and we left that site hanging when we were in phase two of development. So, most of their focus had been on quietrock.com. Some of the security updates and proposed fixes did get applied to the other domains as well. A lot of the bling, the stylizing, and the work done to that locator module was all on quiestrock.com. It didn’t affect the other sites.

I didn’t ask to select their developers. I was told they had a fine group, and they were already primed by the person who recommendation them. They already knew a bit about my projects before they started. They were on-point to do all the heavy lifting for the development work. The site was already built, so they didn’t work on the design.

How did you come to work with ImageX?

They were a referral from another company I’d worked with in the past.

How much have you invested with ImageX?

We’ve invested around $20,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January of 2017, and our relationship is ongoing. I was so pleased with their work that I decided to hopefully enter a service agreement with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

More people are using the dealer locator, and I’m not getting any errors coming through on the backend, so that’s good. It’s been a combined effort, through marketing and stuff, where people are going to that dealer locator now. I’ve been marketing it a lot lately, and luckily for me, people are actually getting into contact with dealers and buying the product, so that’s pretty substantial. I would say it’s improved by about 20%.

How did ImageX perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re excellent. There was a guy I was working with specifically over there, Leslie Cordell [Web Developer], and he’s been a rock star. He’s been a pleasure to work with so far. We mainly use email and phone to communicate.

What did you find most impressive about ImageX?

I’m a bit of a geek, so I could actually look at the code itself. I can say that the code is really clean. There’s not a whole lot of junk or residual copies of style sheets referencing a new entry somewhere. Sometimes developers make a copy of it somewhere and rename something, just to keep the ball rolling. The quality of the code is really spot-on. The level of detail is really spot-on. They’ve met every single requirement I’ve had. They’re very punctual. When they say something will only take about an hour or two, they mean it. There were no surprises. When they said it would take an hour, it never took four. Their estimations were spot-on. I’m very pleased with their dev team all around. It was awesome.

Are there any areas ImageX could improve?

No. I can’t think of anything. I’ve been really stoked with the work they’ve done.

Do you have any advice for potential clients of theirs?

When selecting a development team, you should get your head around your project before you start talking with them. It’ll speed things along and make the whole process a lot easier. People often don’t know what they want. ImageX is pretty good at talking through some of that stuff. They’re good at communicating with their clients, but the more the client knows out of the gate, the better. I think that goes without saying for any development group. It’s kind of a ‘No duh!’ but a lot of people don’t get that.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for a management consultancy business where we work with clients to help them with their management processes. I’m the operations manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ImageX?

We were unhappy with our previous developer and the hosting setup we had. We’re a Drupal based shop and we moved to Acquia, which is the primary Drupal host.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The first Drupal website ImageX built for us was a hackathon site which was a public website. It was a social collaboration website where people could come to the site and post challenges and people would respond to the challenges and post reviews and ratings. The last couple of years we’ve moved to doing systems that live inside client networks. They’ve been our ongoing development partner ever since. Every time we go in with a client, we develop new software for the client based on Drupal and that’s the work ImageX does. They serve as our development team and we’re the link between our client and ImageX. We’ve been extremely happy with the work they’ve done. The largest team that we’ve had work on a project has been five or six. I have a very good relationship with the lead developer.

How did you come to work with ImageX?

We asked Acquia for suggestions of developers and ImageX was one of the suggestions they gave us. We interviewed three companies that Acquia recommended and gave them each a proposal. ImageX had the most in-depth responses and the most reasonable rates to the proposal.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them six years ago, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

We’re very pleased with how the public site turned out. The bigger successes are the projects we’ve done in recent years where they’re for internal clients. We’ll work with a large company and get several thousand people participating on this platform to move new ideas forward and creating new processes. One of the clients had 5,000 active engaged users on the platform. The platform we’re currently working on will have upwards of 65,000 users when it’s done. Our previous developer did not provide deliverables in a timely manner and didn’t have a good grasp of the technology. When we switched to ImageX, things went much smoother and much faster. They are more reasonably priced and much more responsive.

How did ImageX perform from a project management standpoint?

I have access to the software inside their system.

What did you find most impressive about ImageX?

In my world, we work with high-level executives and deadlines can be really crazy and the clients don’t want to accept delays. Sometimes the situation seems impossible to get done in time, but ImageX has always pulled it off. They’ve been incredibly responsive in really demanding deadline situations. I know many other developers would not be as responsive.

Are there any areas ImageX could improve?

No. I’m a super happy customer.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the project manager at a technology company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ImageX?

For our own internal projects, we generally have a program manager, who in this case is me, and then also a technical architect. We then hire partners to come in and help with the day-to-day activities and the development. That is true of all of our larger projects, and that was the case with this particular one as well. ImageX got involved with a project for an end-customer of ours. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

ImageX was part of our initial kick-off meeting, and that’s where we gathered a lot of the requirements. ImageX was involved from the initial client meeting to the end of the project.The site has been in Ektron and the client wanted to move to a new CMS. ImageX built the site in Drupal 8 and they were specifically working on the frontend and backend development. They weren’t just working on basic pages and press releases, but also helped with important functionalities like translation, and if somebody was coming in from a certain region, for example, being able to figure out kind of what language the site should show up in. ImageX worked with our team and also the client. They provided one project manager, two developers and one person for QA. It took a week or two to put the team together.

How did you come to work with ImageX?

Our director of professional services was the one that suggested ImageX. She knows of their work and speaks of them very highly. Generally, we go to the partner firm and say this is who we’re looking for and then they’ll put together some resumes and we actually go through and interview them as well. Our company had worked with them in the past but this was the first time I personally had worked with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in January 2017 and was completed in three months

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

How did ImageX perform from a project management standpoint?

We talked to their management team about their work ethic and from a project management perspective, their project manager was extremely thorough. I never had to worry about anything. There are times, honestly, where we kind of have to look over somebody’s shoulder to make sure that they’re doing what they need to do but she’s very self-motivated and self-starting and I would say that same feedback for their development team and for their QA. They don’t just take requirements and do exactly what you say. They really think through the process. They throw back ideas of things that could make the project better. They’re willing to get involved with the client and help them along with what they need and really motivated to do the best job that they can. I feel like they went above and beyond my expectations. We did not experience any turnover in the team. We use JIRA as our bug tracking software. The project was remote.

What did you find most impressive about ImageX?

I have worked with several different firms throughout my career and I see ImageX has a willingness to learn. For example, we have a brand-new system of doing work technologically at our company. They were able to dive right in and figure out exactly what they needed. This is the fastest ramp-up for a project that I’ve had.

Are there any areas ImageX could improve?

Even when we talk to their management team, some of it was just getting used to our process, but that’s true of anybody. If I was thinking about constructive criticism, I don’t think there’s anything that I would say ImageX, in general, needs to improve on. I think they’re a really strong company and we were extremely happy with the work that they did for us.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with ImageX?

I would say ask for references to see if they can find anybody experienced with auditing code. I think sometimes you can see a website someone has built that might look great from the outside but it’s not really built well on the inside. Asking for those examples to get that information would be helpful.