Knectar

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of archives for a nonprofit foundation located in Manhattan, New York. We’re in the visual arts industry, and I was the manager for this project.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Knectar?

We wanted to make sure that our website would continue to thrive, so we needed to upgrade it to Drupal 9. Since we don’t have an in-house IT or web development team, we needed to outsource it.

We wanted to find a company that would communicate well with people with different abilities and specialties.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Knectar had access to the backend of the site. We chose not to change the look and feel, so they rebuilt the structure and the backend to mirror the frontend. The website is user-friendly, and it allows us to create content and make changes to the pages.

Also, the most exciting change was that they did some API development, which allows us to get information from our collection management system. Now, we can push information rather than duplicate it on our website, which is a huge timesaver for us.

What is the team composition?

Michael (Senior Technical Project Manager) is our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Knectar?

We found them through peer recommendations. At the time, we had another consultant that helped us with the bidding process. We chose Knectar based on their proposal and because they seemed the most interested and best suited for our project.

Also, we wanted to have an organization that matched our size. Knectar was large enough to have the staff and expertise, but they weren’t a huge organization, so we’d have a better place there.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began our partnership in October 2020. The website will launch in August 2021, but we’ve contracted them to do monthly maintenance.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’re thrilled with our API development. Most of our metrics focus on functionality and specific project benchmarks. For example, our site is now much easier to manage. We can load content quicker, and it has become part of our daily workflows instead of extra work for us.

How did Knectar perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is great. They understand our language, which is really helpful. Knectar has worked with us and has been open to discussing, explaining, and working things out when we change our minds.

We have weekly meetings to keep us on target, and we communicate through Google Meet. We also use a project management software.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re in sync with what we need and how we function. It’s easy to communicate with them and get our point across, which is a big bonus. Also, it’s great to have a team that understands what is important to us even if we don’t have the technical background to explain it to them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They don’t really have anything to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You need to be engaged with the project and be an active participant.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of shared services and procurement of an arts education institution.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Knectar?

We needed to rapidly place a bicentennial website to allow students and alumni to purchase goods and services online since the COVID-19 pandemic wouldn’t let many people be physically present in our spaces to buy their gear.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Knectar created a website from scratch. They put out a solid plan that went from the creation to its utilization. They had a planned schedule to control the project, communicated to our supplier partners to ask for what we needed, and then taught us how to handle it ourselves so we could understand and execute what we needed to do.

What is the team composition?

I had three people assigned to my project, including a project manager and the president of Knectar.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $20,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from March–May 2021.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The website they created is fully operational and professional. People are also able to go to our site and buy their products — our sales are healthy. They had the proper knowledge to develop a page that would attract buyers, and our sales are now flowing well — we couldn’t do that without them.

How did Knectar perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great; their ability to fix the schedule and budget was impressive. In terms of communication, they were highly responsive — whenever we needed something, they were ready for us. We used Zoom to reach out to each other. I’m delighted with how they didn’t miss any timelines and hit all of the deliverables.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their technical expertise is what distinguishes them from other providers. They were also creative and perseverant; when we didn’t know how to achieve what we wanted, they could find out how to get us there. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

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

Any advice for potential customers?

Have a detailed statement of work upfront.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a nonprofit and we work with early-stage innovators in higher education, academia, and beyond to help bring their ideas to life and to market. It involves a lot of funding, different kinds of coaching, and support. We work with faculty and students to cultivate and strengthen ecosystems that early-stage innovators are a part of, as well as directly working with innovators themselves and teams who are working to become startups. We do that in the US and globally. 

I lead our information systems team of about five people, and I’ve been with the organization for over 10 years and have done a lot of different hats. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Knectar?

We have a WordPress site in-house, but we didn’t have in-house expertise with Drupal sites. We were really looking for outsourcing the site upgrade. The site was a Drupal 7 and we needed to bring it up to Drupal 8. Additionally, we also wanted to potentially tighten things up, do a redesign, and fix the content and structure of the platform. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Prior to submitting the bid for the actual upgrade of the site, the team helped us assess the health status of the site when we acquired the website to manage and steward it on behalf of an executive department. That was the first phase of our work with them. They provided some really great insights and some valuable feedback on some quick immediate actions that we could make to make the site more secure and shore up some issues that the site had, in order to make the Drupal 7 site more secure.

As part of that assessment, we also did a discovery with some of the site’s key stakeholders. I worked closely with our point of contact at Knectar to conduct stakeholder interviews and to document feedback that we heard about the site such as what people liked, and what people didn’t like. That has really informed us on some of the things that will go into the redesign of the site once we embarked on that.

We also went through a phased approach to migrating the site to Drupal 8. Our Drupal 8 site went live in September. Since the soft launch, we’ve continued to rebuild some of the functionality that existed in the Drupal 7 site that wasn’t launched yet. In the process of doing those rebuilding certain functionalities, we’ve now been gradually improving and strengthening them as well. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve been working with one main point of contact. He has been the main liaison between our company and his company. He also has developers on his side who are doing the coding and customizations.

We also have regular touchpoints with Knectar’s CEO. We connect with one person on a daily and weekly basis and then connect with other employees as needed along the way.

How did you come to work with Knectar?

Nektar was part of a competitive bid process originally. We’ve also worked with them in the past, so we were really excited that they were interested to help us in updating our Drupal site. The site was part of an award from an executive department and we became stewards of it.

A little over a year now, there was a process where we got bids from different vendors, including Knectar. We did a selection process with our program officers. Ultimately, Knectar was selected to begin the work, which kicked off officially in February this year.

How much have you invested with them?

At this point, we’ve spent around $50,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2020, and we continue to collaborate with Knectar.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I think one thing I’ve really appreciated about working with them is that they take the time to think through a need and not just react to a request. Something that I think had gotten this particular site in trouble in the past is that thinking through how something fits with the existing site’s architecture or how we can design something for scale is really important, and had been a step that had been skipped in the past.

The site was launched and there are no hiccups with that. Overall, Knectar has been really helpful in restoring the functionalities as we continue to build up the site. 

How did Knectar perform from a project management standpoint?

They have been extremely responsive and easy to get a hold of. If there are issues and when there have been issues with something they’ve delivered, they work with us quickly to restore those and to understand what it will take to get things to the next level. They are good thinking partners which I think ultimately results in a better end product. 

We use Teamwork to communicate, a tool proposed by Knectar. It’s also what they use in-house to coordinate with customers. At the beginning of the project, we used that pretty lightly. However, more recently, since the soft launch, we’ve been using it heavily. It’s been beneficial to track what we’re currently working on, what’s in our next sprint, and what’s in the backlog. In addition, we have regular meetings over Zoom, and they are always available via email. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I haven’t done too many web development projects with other providers, but I can say that the approach that they laid out in the proposal impressed us. They did a good job compared to the other companies who submitted their bids. Their thoughtfulness and thought partnership in general about how to approach a site migration, redesign, and restructuring is really key to us. 

They’ve really helped us to truly better understand and architect a Drupal site, leveraging best practices, and also help us with training and documentation of some of the customizations after they were delivered.  Furthermore, they’ve been open to feedback and willing to change approach as the project dictates and needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We have had a really good experience with them. This particular project had a very tight and limited budget. It was an enormous undertaking for a very small amount of money, yet they were willing to work with that and to make what we needed to have happened. That was another thing that stood out about them as a company.

In relation to that, because of those limitations, there certainly were some challenges along the way leading up to our soft launch. We were able to work through those with Knectar because we’ve always had really great communication with them and we’ve done some pivoting on some of our approaches. One of those was to heavily rely on the use of teamwork to help create more transparency, not only for us but also for the site owner, the executive department who allowed us to steward the site.

I would say there’s nothing that I can think of off the top of my head when it comes to room for improvements, because we’ve already talked about some things we wanted to do differently, and we’ve been easily able to accomplish them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I think this applies to any kind of project that we’re outsourcing, having a key owner or product owner or product manager on our side to be a point of contact and partner with Knectar allows the project to drive forward and that's really instrumental. One of the hiccups we’ve countered along the process is if a product owner receives another opportunity and leaves the company, it can be pretty disruptive for the project. However, having a product owner is just key.

We’ve now since identified another person to lead the project I was talking about and everything’s been wonderful since then. Without the product owner, things don’t move as quickly and smoothly. Be sure to commit the staff and the time to work with a vendor because they are all important, even though a lot of people underestimate that need and the level of commitment that’s required. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Administrative Coordinator for an institute within a University.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Knectar?

The Institute was fairly new, and the initial website had been developed in-house by a lab member. We needed something more professional and functional.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goal was to have a beautiful website that could clearly share the exciting news coming out of our Institute. The site needed to be very easy for me to update.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Knectar was chosen for us by the design team we were working with.

Describe the project in detail.

Knectar developed a brand-new website for us, based on the Drupal platform, and provided me with in-depth training on how to make updates to the site. They also provided yearly service on the site, performing maintenance and updates as needed.

What was the team composition?

I'm not sure. I always worked with the same point person.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The site was beautiful and was well-received by the University and our Institute sponsors. The ease of use of the Drupal platform allowed me to make updates in a timely fashion, keeping content relevant. Knectar worked well with our University IT to do software updates and patches on schedule.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

My contact at Knectar was always extremely responsive to emails.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The staff at Knectar were extremely kind a patient, which made the experience very easy for someone like me, who had no previous experience with web design.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, they were great!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Northeast Solar is a locally owned and operated solar pv installer with over ten years experience.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Knectar?

Northeast Solar needed to update and improve elements of our website.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to upgrade security as well as make changes and updates to the functionality of our site.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We were referred to Knectar by Transit Authority Figures.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They consulted with us and found out just what we were looking for and then went to work. Our site needed some updating and security upgrades and Knectar took care of everything and communicated with us throughout the process.

What was the team composition?

We worked with Chris and Michael who were both great to work with.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Knectar has provided Northeast Solar with amazing customer service. I am not a developer at all, but they are patient and take the time to explain what they are doing in terms that almost anyone can understand. They also work quickly, which is a big plus.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Knectar managed our website work perfectly. They were more than clear about what they would be doing and when, and there were never any surprises. After updating and migrating our site to a new host, a few small issues came up with some of our sites functionality (this is to be expected). Chris and Michael tackled the issues immediately and everything was up and running within hours.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They work quickly, are super attentive, and their communication is great.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I have no improvements to suggest. Thanks Knectar!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the associate director of IT for SmartLabs. We provide a shared lab and office space specifically for biotech and pharma companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Knectar?

We were looking to expand and update the portal we use to communicate with clients.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Knectar handles my web development and consulting services. The project has progressed through multiple phases — discovery, design, and implementation. During the discovery stage, they helped us identify an appropriate platform. The original portal was designed for one location but we needed the new one to function for multiple.

We selected Drupal for the base CMS. Knectar configured our backend systems in AWS and identified cost-effective solutions to support the project's longevity. They also assisted in evaluating other solutions to incorporate into the portal and worked to implement the product into production. Their team also handled the portal’s scaling-up process, and are currently working on the next releases.

What is the team composition?

There are three people on their team — a security specialist, the CEO, and a project manager. Throughout the years, there have been other developers as needed.

How did you come to work with Knectar?

I don’t know because they were hired before I started with the company.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in November 2018, and our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Knectar is incredibly thorough. They bring technical expertise that we lack. The portal is deployed and is a huge step up in functionality. It’s easy to use and works well on the backend. The portal collects data as needed and displays any information we need. We’re very happy with how the product turned out.

How did Knectar perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management skills have been excellent thus far. Knectar is exceptionally good with communication. We primarily communicate through email, video conferencing, and a ticketing project management platform they built for us. They’re also very responsive and proactive about coordinating with other integral vendors.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their analytical, project management, and communication skills are great. They’re a small company, so this may contribute to their ability to make the client feel like a top priority.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes meetings ran too long or the agendas felt slightly disorganized. I’m really nit-picky though. Other than that, they’re amazing.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to have a clear vision of what the end result should be. Knectar is amazing at ensuring that you get to that point.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a digital agency representing a Fortune 100 company, and my position is head of client services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Knectar?

We were building a global B2B sales platform with significant logistics features, driven by different backends and requirements by country, but with a centralized codebase designed to drive a long-term global IT agenda.

What were your goals for this project?

The platform started as app-only on the frontend, and we needed to add a responsive website as rollout proceeded from initial pilot to full deployment across multiple countries in the Americas and APAC.

To meet a new IT requirement, the website had to be built on Magento, while integrating with the existing independent backends.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We had worked with Knectar on challenging projects in the past, and were very impressed by their ability to manage difficult stakeholder expectations and deliver excellent work against shifting requirements.

Knectar also has a track record of successful Magento delivery. They were able to give us an outline of a system architecture that integrated Magento into our evolving tech stack, and that sealed the deal.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Knectar architected the Magento integration into our global platform, collaborated on design with our team, built the responsive website and the middleware needed to bridge Magento and the platform, and oversaw website deployment.

What was the team composition?

The team was led by a client services lead and a technical lead, and flexed from four to nine people total across development, QA, design and management.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project was wildly successful for our end-client, with higher reorder rates than a competing platform in other global regions. The platform transacts billions of dollars worth of sales annually.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Knectar's project management was excellent, and under extremely challenging conditions with regional and global stakeholders.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Knectar stretched Magento to make possible what should have effectively been impossible - both their initial technical conceptualization and their full execution were incredibly impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Truly, nothing.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing director for a branding, marketing, and design firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Knectar?

We were building a web presence for a client. Since our forte is marking and design, we needed a partner to help develop their website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

A client hired our team to develop a complex business-related website. We partnered with Knectar to architect and implement a technical solution. First, their team created wireframes for review. Once we got the structure approved, our team designed the frontend and Knectar developed the backend based in Drupal. Representing a large organization with six different business units and lines, the website was complex and hosted a lot of information. They built a database, which can filter content based on the audience.

What is the team composition?

We worked with about four or five people from Knectar.

What is the status of this engagement?

We collaborated with Knectar a few times to help develop our clients' presence on the web. On this early project, we worked together for six to eight months between 2016–2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The result of our collaboration was a smooth website that speaks to external audiences, which was launched on time. The end product was excellent— both functionally and structurally. We had a big public launch and the client was thrilled. Knectar did a great job. The website is a marquee project for us. We definitely use it when we’re developing new business. We would work with Knectar again.

How did Knectar perform from a project management standpoint?

We worked with a dedicated teammate who corresponded by e-mail and telephone. Once the project got into swing, we connected daily. The project was on time and within budget. Knectar honed their development process and held us to it, keeping the project on track. They were precise and specific about tasks. The procedure included formats for documents, sharing information, and specifications for how files needed to be delivered. Everything was in writing.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Knectar didn’t just take what we wanted and build it. Their team provided a lot of input that really helped us. Their team has knowledge as they support different projects for different people every day. They know what’s possible. Their team showed us features and functionalities they’d made for other clients, providing our team with ideas about how we could present or hide information to bring content to life.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any suggestions for improvements.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Provide as much detail in writing as possible between clients and vendors. Keep expectations on track. Problems arise when one party has different expectations than the other. The more you talk and document information the better.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work for a small but well-known cultural institution in Boston with a complex offer that includes visual arts, performing arts, musical performances, landscape arts, and more. I am the digital project manager for the institution and was the main point of contact for our web development project.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Knectar?

We hired Knectar to implement the design and back end development of a new Drupal 8 website that had been designed by a European design agency.

What were your goals for this project?

A Drupal 8 site that was beautiful, functional, mobile-friendly, and easy to use.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We conducted an RFP process of Drupal-savvy agencies in the Northeastern US. We narrowed the selection down to two agencies for in-person interviews. Deciding factors were an understanding of our needs in terms of content management, past experince with integrating third-party systems with Drupal, and willingness to work with an outside design agency.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Knectar lead the technical discovery for the project and based on our user needs and the provided designs created a set of development requirements for each section of the website. Key parts of the project were integration with a Collection Management System, a robust calendar, and flexible templates that could support many types of content. Knectar also provided data migration services, CMS training, and a user guide at the conclusion of the project.

What was the team composition?

Our team included a technical lead, two developers, and a project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our website launch was successful.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

This project was very complex as it involved a design agency in a different time zone. Knectar as the local agency helped to make this partnership successful despite the challenges inherant in a the three-part effort.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We found our main point of contact very communicative, responsive, and easy to work with.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I wish Knectar was a full-service shop.