ImageX

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the communication and development associate of a nonprofit organization; we provide assistance and other types of community programs for spouses and dependent children of the Air Force airmen.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ImageX?

We needed help with website development for our organization.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

ImageX developed our website and is currently helping us with paid search ads, SMM, and SEO.

What is the team composition?

We mainly work with two members of their team, including web and SEO specialists.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2019, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve always been on time to get my requests done. Their team also does a great job of explaining things to me — even when they have never done something before, they’d call their advanced team to see how to do things properly.

Overall, the partnership has been successful, and I enjoy working with them because they’re very self-sufficient, and I don’t have to handhold them through the processes.

How did ImageX perform from a project management standpoint?

In terms of tools, we use Basecamp, and we post our requests there. We also have a select amount of hours per month, and their team does a great job managing them and letting us know when we’re going under or over them.

We also have good communication through Google Meet biweekly meetings to see how we’re doing.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their timeliness and efficiency in explaining things that we don’t understand are outstanding. Overall, they’re a great team, and I’d like to continue working with them as much as possible.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on — they do an awesome job providing us with the best services and information.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Come in with a plan; sit down with your team to determine what you need and create a plan before reaching out to ImageX. That way, they’ll be able to assist you better in what you want.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

YMCA of Central Ohio provides the community of Columbus with a range of wellness and fitness related facilities and services. I am their web designer / developer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ImageX, and what were your goals?

Our website's CMS was not updated since its first install about 5 years ago. We were around 13 updates behind the current version and the complexity of the updates was beyond us. We hired ImageX to get our site up to date.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We knew ImageX was a preferred company to work with for those using the OpenY distribution of Drupal and they have been around from the start of this distribution. Members of their team had immense knowledge of the CMS, so it only seemed logical to go with them.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

It was, overall, a pretty straightforward project. The team created a test environment which housed a clone of our website. Over the course of a month or so, they were able to push each update successfully then move into a thorough testing phase. They then let us do some testing of our own and made whatever changes we desired.

We had also realized a significant amount of content was posted to our live site while the test site was being worked on, so we had them take the necessary steps to import our newer content to the test site. We then completed our testing and they made the site live without any issues.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We mainly worked with the team's service account manager but had some communications with their technical product consultant and one of their main developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Our site was in rough shape before the update. Broken features, elements no longer displaying properly or at all, annoying bugs with annoying workarounds, and a general feeling of our site being held together with sticks and tape.

After the updated site was made live, there was a noticeable speed increase in how the CMS operated. Additionally, all of the bugs and broken features were fixed, which ultimately saves us time when creating and editing content. Users on the site also were able to experience faster navigation, as our breadcrumbs were working again.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We met virtually each week to discuss how the project was going and to see if we had any questions or other concerns. We found their work on the project to be rather quick and of high quality. Everyone we communicated with was very helpful and friendly. We truly felt our site was in good hands. Any questions we had were answered shortly after asking.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

We found their quick turn around and friendly communications to stand out the most. We really felt supported and the efficiency of their project management has certainly left an impression.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Our team honestly has no complaints of any kind. The entire experience with them was seamless.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of Marketing & PR at Evergreen Valley College in San Jose, CA

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ImageX, and what were your goals?

Our website was more than 7 years old and had become a "Hoarder's Paradise." We hired ImageX to help us develop a custom, student-friendly and clean website.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We interviewed 3-4 companies and selected ImageX because of their vast experience in the education space, reasonable pricing and relevant experience on staff.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had a discovery session to set goals and timelines and then there were many milestones along the way including review and approval of designs as well as content site maps and wire frames.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

A project manager was our main point of contact once the project officially started and we were handed off from the sales team. In addition, we worked closely with the lead designer, and content specialist to make sure all aspects of the site were in alignment.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Our site has not yet formally launched yet but the process has been smart, thoughtful and intentional. ImageX has done a very good job delivering on the key deliverables to date.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We had been meeting weekly with the project manager as well as other milestone meetings with key members of the ImageX team and EVC team.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The expertise especially in the education space on areas such as Guided Pathways has been very valuable, especially as we have had to "sell" this internally among our constituency groups.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We had some initial rough areas that needed to be ironed out, especially around the scope of the project that we signed off on and what was delivered, along with some additional costs we weren't anticipating.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a director at Claremont McKenna College, a higher education institution. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ImageX?

We had an outdated CMS, and we needed help migrating our website to a better platform and adding some custom features and modules. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Image X is migrating 10,000 pages from our website from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8. They’re also updating all of the custom core and contributed modules on our site. Additionally, they’ve installed Layout Builder and did some frontend UI design work. 

ImageX has also created a custom registration system for one of our colleges that will be used by our speakers, students, faculty, and staff. The development is ongoing, but we’re currently wrapping up.

What is the team composition?

I work with Brent (Executive VP), Alexander (Technology Director), Bjorn (Digital Experience Solutions Director), Dmitry (Senior Software Developer), Travis (Portfolio Director), Matt (Design Director), 

How did you come to work with ImageX?

ImageX reached out to me, and we talked for about six months. I researched their past work and found that their references were very satisfied with their work. Ultimately, we chose to work with ImageX because they had an amazing staff, project managers, and developers. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent close to $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

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

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

ImageX has always delivered a well-designed product. From a technical perspective, its functionality exceeded our expectations. The process is going flawless; there have been a few minor hiccups, but they’ve been able to fix them. 

How did ImageX perform from a project management standpoint?

ImageX is excellent at project management. They’ve always communicated about our schedule and budget. They’ve reported any concerns in advance so we can prepare. They do live demos of their output, and they follow up with us. Regardless of whether it’s an easy or difficult conversation, they are great to work with. 

Our project manager sets clear goals, and they report budgeting deliverables. We always know where we are in the process since they are responsive. If we have a problem, we’ll just submit a ticket, and they will fix it in a matter of hours. We use Basecamp and Jira to collaborate. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve worked with many agencies before, but ImageX is just one of the best partners out there. From project management to designers to developers, I’ve enjoyed working with them. They are kind, polite, and dedicated — they’ve delivered and exceeded our expectations. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Listen to the experts at ImageX — they have a really experienced team. They have a lot of knowledge, expertise, and insight that can save you money — they have an efficient way to organize a project. Their team understands the process from beginning to end. 

Understand what they have to say and offer. They’re an incredible team to work with.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Director of Marketing for a large YMCA Association. We have 14 branches and an overnight camp. We run hundreds of classes and programs for the whole family. Our goals are to prepare youth and teens to succeed, strengthen and support families, develop caring communities, and encourage and inspire healthy living.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ImageX?

Our website was outdated and needed a massive overhaul for the benefit of members, program participants, and staff. We wanted to start from scratch and when we decided to jump in with Open Y we knew we needed a partner that had Open Y experience.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We created an RFP and met with several companies that had been recommended as Open Y partners. We deliberated and decided to go with Image X.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

The primary goals of the project are to:

• Improve the overall experience, design, and information architecture to achieve organizational goals and speak more effectively to key audiences.
• Attract and convert prospective members, families, donors, and other constituents.
• Enhance communication through improved content and features.
• Leverage Open Y to ensure the site is easy to update, maintain, and improve over time.
• Setup and launch Virtual Y.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

I would estimate we worked primarily with 4-5 people: an Account Manager, a designer, developers and programmers, and QA

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We just launched the new site, but overall the feedback has been incredible so far. Both from employees and customers. Everything works as it's supposed to and it looks fantastic. No metrics yet as it's so new.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

I've never worked on a big project that was as well organized as this one. We used Basecamp for all communication, which made referencing things easy. Plus weekly zoom calls kept everything on track. Everyone was incredibly personable and easy to work with. If we got a little behind (which was always because of us not them) they were understanding and helpful about getting us back on track.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The knowledge and insight they've brought to the table are impressive. But even more than that, just being super easy to work with and just plain good at their jobs was such a gift. If anything ever went wrong, there were never any excuses, they were very upfront and honest and just got the job done.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Nothing could have been improved, I don't have one complaint.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Senior Business Analyst in a medium sized company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ImageX, and what were your goals?

Our website was created over 10 years ago and it had too much information presented within an outdated layout. We wanted to redesign the website to attract candidates for recruitment, market our company's products and services, showcase new branding, and improve overall user experience.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We searched online for web designers and developers in our area, and shortlisted 10 candidates. After reviewing their responses to our proposal and onsite interviews, we selected the candidate based on their experience, design methodology, technology, and budget.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We started with conducting Focus Groups, then held Discovery sessions to help drive the design. Key deliverables included Information Architecture, wireframes, and fully functional website using Drupal.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with a project team consisting of a project manager, designer, BA, developer, and QA.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We received very positive feedback from external clients / partners, and internal staff.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

The project management was excellent. We had weekly status reporting and meetings, and daily check-ins during the development / testing phase. They met their deliverables and communication was clear and timely.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They really listen to what their client(s) have to say about the website's requirements and expectations. This was especially evident during the Discovery and Design process, where they spent time to fully understand our goals, assumptions, and constraints, and listened to our feedback.

Also, their post-implementation support has been excellent. They are very responsive to security related patching, and always maintain clear communication on status of bug fixes / enhancements.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We ran into a couple of technical issues during the development / testing phase. The issues were resolved, but were surprised that they come up since our webpages are fairly straightforward and as per design.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

US Micro Products manufactures engineered LCD displays for several major companies. My role in the company is to lead the marketing efforts, including our online presence which includes the website and internet ads.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ImageX, and what were your goals?

We initially hired ImageX to do a website redesign using the existing backend. Throughout the years we have worked with them on multiple projects, both on the front and back end, as well and online advertising. Our main goal was to have a trusted partner that could help us develop and maintain our website without having to micro-manage them and that delivers high quality results.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We had gotten burned in the past with hiring freelancers, so we decided to try working with an agency. We interviewed multiple agencies. I had multiple people recommend ImageX and when I met with Glen (the CEO) at DrupalCon I knew that they were the right fit for us.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

They have developed multiple iterations of our website using Drupal 7, Google Ads, and LinkedIn ads. We are planning a complete update and redesign of our website to Drupal 9.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Ian (our Project Manager) has been our main point of contact for the past couple of years. He is such a joy to work with and is very responsive, patient, kind, and understands and communicates our requirements in a concise manner. Richard (Sr. Digital Strategist) has been another person that I have worked with on a regular basis. He is very knowledgeable, understanding, and has been really helpful in regards to our digital strategy. Everyone that I have had interacted with from Glen (the CEO) to Ian (our PM) and everyone in between has been a pleasure to work with.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We have noticed an increase in the quality and number of incoming leads.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We have biweekly check-in meetings with our PM and communicate in between through Basecamp and email.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The quality of the people and the work.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We have been very pleased with their work, which is why we continue to work with them for so many years.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Operations Manager for a management consulting firm. In this capacity I am also the Technical Project Manager for a large IT client of ours who has contracted with us for consulting and web development services. We have used ImageX as our development partner throughout this large, multi-year project.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ImageX, and what were your goals?

We hired ImageX for web development services. This particular project has required complex web development and tight integration with the client's IT infrastructure and other systems, and our goals were to be able to meet all of the client's demanding requirements, which ImageX has done a great job of achieving.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We were originally referred to ImageX by Acquia when we asked them for Drupal developer recommendations, approximately 10 years ago now. We liked their detailed estimated and were very satisfied with their initial work for us, so much so that we have continued to use ImageX as our development partner on all of our consulting clients ever since the initial referral.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

This project required web development and IT integration from ImageX. They were provided wireframes from our in-house designer and were responsible for implementing the complex web site that we designed for this client. Technologies included Drupal, PHP, and Javascript.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

Between 2 and 5. A project manager, a lead developer and other developers as needed. Typically we worked with the project manager and the lead developer, but at busy times additional developers would be brought in to the team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

This major client of ours is very happy with ImageX's work. The system they developed is actively used by over 60,000 users and provides valuable feedback and insights from the field to the client.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Style is hands-on with regular check-ins. Tools include regular stand up meetings, Slack for quick communications, Jira for development work, email.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They have been very responsible and have been able to handle very aggressive deadlines. We and this client appreciate both the speed and quality of the dev work provided by ImageX.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

No, we are completely satisfied with ImageX's work for us.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the corporate website manager for a semiconductor company. We have over 20,000 employees and perceive around $7 million in revenue.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ImageX?

We hired ImageX to help us with several things, mainly focused on web development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

ImageX helps us with Drupal web development, UX consulting, and business analysis, which is around creating specifications for new functions on our site. Our website isn’t an e-commerce site, but they’ve also helped us design our product pages.

One of their main involvements was around Drupal site migration and upgrade, as well as with a lot of development. ImageX has also provided us with software architecture services, defining features on our website for product searching.

We’ve been working with them for over eight years now, so there have been a lot of projects on which we’ve worked together. The site is so big, and they’ve done so much work that it’s difficult to recap it all.

What is the team composition?

Throughout our engagement, we’ve worked with around 12 people from ImageX. Originally, we started working with their owner, and we’ve worked with the VP of business development and the VP of technology. We’ve also worked with lead developers, Drupal developers, business analysts, a UX designer, an analytics person, and a project manager.

How did you come to work with ImageX?

Back then, ImageX had a strong presence in the Drupal community, so their expertise in Drupal is what originally attracted us to them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2013, and the engagement is ongoing. We plan on continuing working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re always looking to have the best UX for our industry, and ImageX continuously delivers what we’re looking for — they’re hitting their commitments, and the quality has been good. From a customer standpoint, the website has gotten positive feedback.

How did ImageX perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication has been great. When we ask them for certain work to get done, it gets done on time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Communication is one of ImageX’s strengths — they’re very open and direct.

Are there any areas they could improve?

ImageX is a smaller consulting agency. Working for a large company like ours has caused them to go through growing pains. As they take on larger enterprise customers, they’re going to need more resources available to support them, and that is going to require adaptation.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Put out all your requirements upfront. With web projects, the scope tends to grow, and you tend to want new things later on. The more you can define what you need upfront, the better the engagement is going to be. That way, they’ll be able to design and build the project around that. When things change is when schedules get pushed out.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the director of financial learning solutions at Stanford University.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ImageX?

I hired ImageX to redesign a very large and complex university website. The Gateway to Financial Activities website (aka Fingate) is an essential platform for information dissemination to staff, faculty, students, and suppliers in support of executing financial activities efficiently, correctly, and within policy.

Fingate is a high-traffic website averaging 1,500 user sessions and 5,000 page views per day. The overall site design hadn’t changed since the initial release in 2007, and web technology has dramatically changed since then. The original site, built in Dreamweaver, had reached its limit in terms of ease of site maintenance and adding new features due to its magnitude. It didn’t support robust analytics, industry tools for search engine optimization, or rapid feature development either. Additionally, the lack of a database-driven system presented challenges and risks for managing more than 1,000 pages of complex content. A 2018 client satisfaction survey validated that Fingate was no longer meeting the needs of campus users. We hired ImageX to help us redesign and build the site using Drupal 8.   

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The redesign of Fingate was divided into two phases. Phase one was discovery and design, and phase two was development and implementation. ImageX was our partner throughout both phases, providing a dream team that stayed with us throughout the 20-month long project.

Phase one included user-centered discovery and design activities (led by ImageX), content planning (led by us), and phase two definition. It was comprised of five user studies with more than 60 participants representing 17 Stanford business units.

After budget planning and approval, phase two included Drupal development (led by ImageX), content development (led by us), user testing, site launch preparedness, and launch. A large part of phase two was porting the content from our old site, and we determined the pace of that work, resulting in a longer timeline compared to phase one.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a number of people including Brent (Account Manager), Samantha (Technical Project Manager), Laura (Director of Digital Experience), Mahya (Lead UI/UX Designer), Bryan (Lead Drupal Developer), and Richard (Sr. Digital Strategist).

How did you come to work with ImageX?

ImageX was first recommended to us by a third party. We were working on a small Drupal implementation project with another vendor that went off the rails, so we engaged ImageX to help us finish the build. We were very impressed with their Drupal technical expertise.

When we went through the proposal process, I reached out to another company, as well as to my internal web team for guidance on vendor selection, and their advice proved itself. ImageX was larger than the 1–2 person shops without a lot of expertise or Drupal-certified engineers, which was a big selling point, but they weren’t so large as to be uncomfortable.

We received 12 responses to our proposal, and while other vendors presented better than ImageX, we took extra time to vet them. Some of the other vendors came off as only providing smoke and mirrors.

What is the status of this engagement?

Phase one started in December 2018 and concluded in April 2019 as planned. Phase two started in August 2019 and concluded in August 2020 as planned.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In terms of success factors, we went live with absolutely zero downtime. We usually average 5,000 page views a day and 1,400 users. On day one, we had 10,000 page views. In the first 30 days, we had 40 contacts (questions, issues, and feedback) and that low number spoke highly to me. It wasn’t 40 issues; some were questions. It was like a non-event, and I think that speaks highly to the quality of the transition.

ImageX partnered with us to develop a robust set of KPIs and Success Measures. One measure of success was quantified in the results of a pre- and post-launch survey.

How did ImageX perform from a project management standpoint?

The ImageX project manager kept us on track via regular project status meetings, Basecamp communications, and RAID logs. Their team used Smartsheet to host the project plan, which we use internally. Basecamp was very helpful throughout.

One of the things that I really valued was that ImageX used all the right tools, and we had all the right protocols to manage the work with them. We had our own internal project manager for everything that we needed to do, and our project manager worked very closely with theirs.

When it came time to share design mock-ups, they used a whole suite of tools in tandem with us, and it worked quite well. They leveraged those while hosting one-on-one user demonstrations, as they captured everything that was necessary.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have great skills, and it was very easy to work with them. We felt like one project team. If you are going to embark on a 20-month long project, then you want to like your service provider. While the search process was exhausting, we had fun with ImageX; they’re good people.

Breaking the project up into two phases was very smart for us and smart for ImageX because we really knew what we were building by the end of phase one thanks to the focus on scoping phase two.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only part they could have done a better job on was selling themselves and their capabilities. In the RFP process, they didn’t say too much about their user-centered design approach, and we didn’t have any experience with it. Because we liked them so much, however, we dug into their offer and gained confidence that they could accomplish the entire project. I have nothing else but great things to say about them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Remain engaged with them. They were present, and we took advantage of that.

People sometimes assume that the vendor is going to do everything for them, but we knew going in that we were going to play a very important role. We stepped up to the plate and took responsibility for the tasks we needed to, like content development. Establish clear roles and responsibilities for what each side is going to do. Projects like ours oftentimes fail because there aren’t clear roles and responsibilities for all the different deliverables. Remain engaged with them and take advantage of their presence.