Isovera

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

The organization is an association of international educators. It’s a nonprofit association serving international student bodies on college campuses.

What is your role position?

I was the director of Web services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenge that you were trying to address when you first approached Isovera?

We worked with them to migrate an online publication to the Drupal 6 platform and totally customize it to our audience needs. It’s a subscription product.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the actual scope of work assigned to them?

We handled the e-commerce side of things, but it had heavy customization of the Drupal module that required their expertise. They trained our main content author on how to use the site and worked with him extensively on customizing it to his needs. They basically built the whole site. We did the design, but it was a very light design, it was mostly a technology buildout and site build.

How did you come to choose Isovera as your partner?

We had a previous experience with them on a small strategy project back in 2005, when they were under a different name. We added them to the pool of people that we sent the RFP [request for proposal] to, and theirs came back as the best solution.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

[It was approximately] $150,000.

When was the site launched?

I believe it was in 2010.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the quality of their performance?

All of the feedback we have received from stakeholders and end users has been positive. It was a significant upgrade in terms of functionality and reliability of the product. On the project management side, everything went very smoothly. We didn’t experience communications issues or any defects with their delivered code.

When working with Isovera, is there anything that you would consider unique about their strategic approach or development methodology that distinguish them from other vendors?

I think they do a good job with support and customization. They seem to put a lot of effort into thought leadership in the Drupal community, which is nice.

In retrospect, are there areas in which you think they could improve as a service provider?

No. I thought they did a really good job. They’re very strong at what they do, and they know their strengths.

What advice, if any, would you give a future client of theirs?

It would have to depend on the client’s needs. I think their strengths are more towards larger and more custom projects, maintenance upgrades, incremental enhancements, and those sorts of things. I wouldn’t use them for a small straightforward project. There are plenty of less expensive shops that do very straightforward Drupal projects.