Multidots

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder, chief strategist, and project manager for IvyCat, a web development agency that specializes in WordPress web development. We do e-commerce management and complicated implementations of WordPress integrations and third-party services. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Multidots?

We hired full-time developers through Multidots to effectively be our staff.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Multidots provides staffing services for us. They work on a bunch of different projects and websites for us. Moreover, we have different types of clients, and we build brand new websites for them. Most of what Multidots resources do involve custom-optimized WordPress themes and plug-in development. We also redesign and optimize some of those sites.

For example, we have a client that sells complex products. Our team and the Multidots resources use WordPress and WooCommerce, along with other plugins, to accomplish tasks for that site. In other words, we make the website do something that it doesn’t do by default. Our team and Multidots work together to figure out what our deliverables are and put them into the project management system. Then, we plan and work on the deliverables. 

When we start a project, Multidots follow our normal development procedures since we have our own codebase and policies for code review. Because we treat them as in-house employees, they also participate in our standup meetings. They’re also involved in the monthly or weekly maintenance services we provide to our customers.

What is the team composition?

Currently, we work with two people from Multidots. 

How did you come to work with Multidots?

I had seen Multidots in conferences and talked to some of their people in different cities where we had WordPress conferences. Meanwhile, we had another development partner, but I wasn’t entirely happy with them. As a result, I went out and searched for a solution, which reminded me of Multidots. Ultimately, I connected with them and we started talking. That was how we began working together. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $240,000. We pay around $10,000 a month for their services. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2019, and the partnership is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s tough to quantify success metrics because our team is always getting more efficient. However, since working with Multidots, our billable hours have increased from 30–35 hours per week to 70–75 hours per week. That has had a big effect on our revenue and workload. Simply put, we’ve doubled our capacity. 

How did Multidots perform from a project management standpoint?

The resources from Multidots work on our time schedule, so they deliver on time. As a company, Multidots also deliver. From a sales perspective, we’re able to get a developer quickly. Within a week or so, we get several good resumes, and I can conduct interviews. Overall, Multidots has been amazingly responsive to our needs. 

Moreover, their integration into our workflow has been surprisingly easy. Multidots give each of their developers a week to get used to our company culture. They learn how we do things before they start charging on the clock. As part of that, I interview their developers to know whether we’re comfortable with them. After hiring them, there’s always a learning curve; some of the things we do are complex, so it takes a while for them to truly understand them. However, their resources have the ability to get up and running right away. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Multidots takes the time to get their engineer certified for WordPress VIP. For context, if a WordPress developer wants to publish things on the platform, WordPress has a VIP service meant for large enterprise organizations, such as magazines. The VIP service hosts and drives a ton of traffic through the website. In other words, Multidots’ resources adhere to the higher standards of WordPress development. 

Essentially, if we want to publish things on WordPress, we have to have well-written code that adheres to the platform’s formatting rules. Multidots does that, and they’re committed to the WordPress community. This means a lot to me. Moreover, I’ve received plenty of solicitations from companies around the world, telling us to use them as our developers. I’ve tried other organizations in the past with varying levels of success, but Multidots has everything that I want in a development firm. Overall, Multidots is a highly professional organization. 

In terms of tools, we use Teamwork for project management. We also use Slack for real-time communication. Then, we use Zoom for our daily standups that last for 15–30 minutes. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. Every time a company uses staffing services like this, they’ll always have issues with individual members. However, Multidots’ resources have been terrific. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear about what you want and the level of expertise you need. Prepare interview questions that will give you a good idea of the developer’s experience with WordPress. Take that interview seriously and ask technical questions. I do that because I like to see people think on their feet. 

Moreover, keep in mind that Multidots offer different levels of development expertise. You can hire a junior, mid-level, or senior developer, and they have different attributes. As a result, it’s truly important to know what you need to hire the appropriate developer. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for the National Association of Broadcasters (NAB), the trade association for the US broadcasting industry. I’m the executive director of PILOT, an innovation initiative of the NAB. We work with technology companies and broadcast partners to create new technology and events for the industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Multidots?

We organize an annual, paper-driven broadcast engineering and IT conference. Our organization publishes papers for that conference. Up until 2020, such papers could be collected, bound up, and made available for purchase. The proceedings were then distributed in different ways.

Given that, our group wanted to streamline the process of collecting, editing, reviewing, and organizing those papers a little better. On top of that, we wanted to make them available online. People should also be able to access and view the proceedings online via PDF. At the same time, they should have access to individual papers. As a result, we contacted Multidots to help us. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Multidots helped us by creating a custom platform using various plugins on WordPress. Essentially, it was a “proceedings store” where authors and editors could upload proceedings and offer them for sale. Simply put, the whole project was to ensure that all e-commerce-related components were set up appropriately. End users should be able to go on the platform and buy such papers and proceeding packages.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a handful of people from Multidots, but we mainly interfaced with two people. One of them was the project manager, and the other one was the more hands-on team leader of their developers.

How did you come to work with Multidots?

Another person that worked for me found Multidots. They had done work for other departments in the NAB before, so they were known in the organization. In other words, they were a referral. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent under $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from January–April 2020, and we finished the bulk of it in the middle of the pandemic. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Given the COVID-19 pandemic, the timing of the project was great. When we moved our conference online, the only way to make the proceedings available was via our online portal — we wouldn’t have been able to make the proceedings available without Multidots’ work. We hadn’t planned to do it this way, but the timing was so beneficial. On top of that, the ability to sell our papers in an easier fashion expanded our opportunities to generate revenues and make them more widely available.

Another by-product of Multidots’ work was the changes in our workflow. Because we streamlined the entire process, we also changed the way we worked to make sure it fit the new system. That way, we could better take advantage of what they were doing for us. Simply put, Multidots’ work saved us time in our workflow and in a lot of other areas. We were truly satisfied with what happened. 

How did Multidots perform from a project management standpoint?

I had years of experience working with other companies, and Multidots ranked quite high on my list in terms of communication. If anything was ever unclear, they’d quickly make sure they understood us, which was incredible. 

We communicated online via email and through Basecamp. It was easy to chat with them since they were extremely open and available any time we needed anything. Overall, the Multidots team was great to work with.

What did you find most impressive about them?

While their coding skills were good, their communication skills stood out more than anything else. They made sure that all requirements were met and fully understood, and they didn’t make any assumptions about anything — I was truly happy about that. In a way, this also helped us make sure that we were clear and that what we were saying could be understood. In the end, our interaction was incredibly positive.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there weren’t any.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be ready to put extra time into spelling out things and talking to Multidots through the process. They’re highly methodical in their approach to what you want, so making sure that you’re clear with what you want will help you and them. 

For instance, In our engagement, we spent much time telling them what we wanted. It took a little more time than I anticipated, but it was time well spent. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a project manager at All Star Directories, a Seattle-based internet marketing company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Multidots?

We needed their team’s development expertise.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially hired Multidots to take on a huge multi-site migration project. Once the project was completed, we decided to onboard them as our development partner. They’ve since helped us build a project management tool to streamline our internal operations.

What is the team composition?

We work with at least 10 resources from Multidots, including their developers and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Multidots?

Multidots was strongly recommended to us by one of our partners that hired their team for a similar project in the past. We then reached out to their team and liked their presentation, so we were happy to onboard them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $300,000–$400,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We kicked off our partnership with Multidots in July 2016, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been pleased with Multidots’ site migration efforts, and that’s the primary reason why we’ve been convinced to continue relying on their services. The results they’ve delivered have so far helped us secure improved site traffic and conversion rate.

How did Multidots perform from a project management standpoint?

We mainly communicate via Slack and phone calls. Multidots is a collaborative and transparent team that strives to adhere to our team’s methods while generating innovative work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s any particular area that needs improvement. They’ve been a great partner to us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear in identifying your goals and communicate constantly with their team — I think these tips apply to any working relationship.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the lead Product and Engineering manager for our company. We are creative business consultants who create and implement digital, content, social and entertainment strategies for clients and our own multi-media experiences.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our proprietary CMS and frontend used for multiple sites, required migration to Wordpress. With limited development resources in-house, we hired Multidots to execute these migrations. Our goals were to reduce platform costs and update aspects of each site, both front end and back end.

SOLUTION

How did you select Multidots and what were the deciding factors?

We engaged multiple agencies for proposals. Multidots won the bid based on their pricing, their timeline, as well as the details delivered in their proposal.

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

We scaled our project by migrating one site at a time, learning from each process to increase productivity and optimize results. We began each migration process with a kickoff meeting and received a detailed project plan and service requirements document from Multidots.

Once the work started, Multidots carefully structured the old site data and worked with my team to ensure there would be no data loss in the migration process. They spent several hours working with members of our team who are the primary clients for the CMS to fully understand their operational tasks.

They created custom wordpress plugins to mimic complicated and very specific use cases for our team. Simultaneously, they used the framework of live design elements and new design templates to build the frontend. Multidots used a variety of technical capabilities to complete each build, common in web development such php, ajax, and javascript.

They also converted our site feeds from json formats to XML. They even assisted on non-wordpress DevOps issues within our 3rd party web-hosting platform. We had multiple demos and meetings throughout the build process to keep track of the work and approve one stage before moving on to the next.

Multidots also engaged in all QA services before including my team on extensive UAT. When the sites were ready, Multidots planned the launch dates around our company’s needs.

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

As our project included multiple site builds, I worked with several of the team’s engineering and project management members. The primary point of contact was always the technical project manager, but there was also limited communication with full stack or front end developers when required.

The upper management staff, including the CTO and Business Development lead were also in constant contact to make sure the project was running as expected. By the time the entire project was complete, I had communicated with roughly 7-10 members of Multidots, which made me feel very comfortable with the thoroughness of each build.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The primary goals of the project were met. We significantly reduced cost of an aging platform and generated the framework of new sites, which are poised for a more stable future. The final products allow our staff to work more efficiently, and we can also reduce the amount of resources required to maintain the platform as a whole.

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

I received daily, detailed updates from the project manager, or sometimes multiple times per day. Most written communication was done using third party project management software to keep all team members aware of actions being taken. However, we also used email and added Multidots to our company communication tools for matters that required more immediate attention.

We did the vast majority of our meetings over 3rd party video conferencing software. Given the complicated nature of our builds, it did take some time to find the right cadence and structure for our updates. However, Multidots always met our demands and provided transparent access to make communication work as smoothly as possible.

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

Ultimately, I was most impressed by the amount of work Multidots was able to complete in the timeframe required, especially at a very reasonable cost. I also appreciated their ability to adapt to changing circumstances on the ground level.

When you peel apart an older system for a migration such as this, it helps when everyone understands there’s going to be surprises and somewhat amorphous requirements. Multidots was certainly up to all of our challenges.

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

Because our project was ongoing for ten months, we ironed out all the wrinkles early on and ended up in a good place. At first, we did have some issues around communication on the QA side of things which caused some small delays.

Nothing ever threatened the completion or stability of the project but a more transparent look at the status of some of the build elements during development at the onset could have made for a better first build. But once aligned on communication and transparency, it was pretty smooth sailing.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Impress.org. We build software for nonprofits.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Multidots?

I needed more developers, and Multidots helped me with that.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Multidots integrated with our internal team to work on multiple projects. They provided a frontend team, and they did HTML, CSS, and JavaScript programming. On the backend server-side, their team used PHP, MySQL, and WordPress, specifically as a content management system.

What is the team composition?

At the peak of our engagement, we had a total of six developers from Multidots working with us. We also talked with their sales team when getting the project started.

How did you come to work with Multidots?

I met them at a conference and gave them a test project or two before ramping up our engagement.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent at least $150,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together roughly from January 2017 until January 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They produced a number of great products for us. Their team completed at least five significant projects that required thousands and thousands of lines of code. Overall, the quality of their work was great. Whenever we noticed an issue, we reached out to their team that was more than happy to correct it.

How did Multidots perform from a project management standpoint?

They integrated into our Slack channels, which was how we communicated in addition to weekly development calls. We largely managed the project ourselves. However, they had internal project managers who accommodated our system.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Multidots was affordable and communicated well. They were also very knowledgeable about WordPress.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could improve their attention to detail.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have clear deliverables in mind to discuss with them. Set the path for them and then let Multidots follow it.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Owner of a corporate education company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Multidots were hired to build a website.

SOLUTION

How did you select Multidots and what were the deciding factors?

Multidots were first consulted about the brief, then delivered a project scope document including milestones, project stakeholders, and detailed costing.

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

We had a kick-off meeting to discuss the work requirements. Multidots then came back with their plan for implementation and timelines. We agreed on this.

Once the project commenced we had regular meetings and Multidots kept me fully up to date with progress through a shared project management software. Regular meetings were also held via this portal.

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

There were approximately 10 different people who worked with me on this project, with one key project manager who oversighted the project and kept all stakeholders on track.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project was delivered on time, to expectations, and to the agreed costing. I was very happy with the outcome.

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

We had weekly catchups via skype, and there was a project management software that was used to track all activities and delivery to milestones.

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

The communication was fantastic- timely, clear, and detailed. They worked hard to understand my requirements, to check-in, to provide examples, and to ensure I understood the stage the project was at at all times.

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

No.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a co-founder and developer for a small software company that focuses on WordPress products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Multidots?

We needed an additional resource to help us develop a new product.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Multidots provided us with a developer with the skillsets we’re looking for and we then we assigned that developer with various tasks. They’ve done all software development and used JavaScript and PHP. There were multiple deliverables depending on what the project they were working on as well. They submitted code requests, which we reviewed and provided feedback on.

They also provided us with the infrastructure and project management to make sure that developer was on-task.

What is the team composition?

We have a single developer working on our project, but we have a few points of contact on their side as well.

How did you come to work with Multidots?

I met their CEO at a small business retreat a couple of years back. When we started looking for more resources, I remembered that he had this company and decided to reach out. We had several conversations and had a good rapport with them. We talked to a few other companies as well, but selected Multidots.

How much have you invested with them?

The one resource was $4,000 per month (approximately $40,000 in total).

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in December in 2019 and we wrapped up in September 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I’m super happy with everything. The resource we worked with always completed the work that we requested, took feedback very well, and asked smart questions so they could improve after each feedback session.

The support they provided really helped us out because we didn’t have to manage them that much. We reached the end of our development cycle, so we decided that it was a good time to pause our work with Multidots. That’s actually a huge benefit—we’re able to scale up and down based on our needs. We wouldn’t be able to do that if we hired internally.

How did Multidots perform from a project management standpoint?

They provided updates every week and communicated effectively. They stayed on task, and whenever they finished an assignment, they came back to us to ask what to do next. They often took initiative and looked into different issues and made suggestions to help. It was really easy to work with them.

They have project management tools available, but we wanted to use our own internal system, so they just used Slack and GitHub.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their organizational structure impressed me. They were really organized and I never felt like I needed to follow them around. I always knew what was going on because of how their organization is structured.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think so.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Clients need to be engaged. When you’re outsourcing, you need to keep them engaged with tasks that they need to do. As long as you keep the lines of communication open, you’ll have a positive engagement.  

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of marketing for a company that hosts a number of shows that serve the media and entertainment community.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Multidots?

We had challenges with efficiencies and updates on our website, which was built on Drupal. We wanted to migrate our platform to be more efficient and modern. During an event, we can get as many as 36,000 unique visitors daily and 200,000-page views. Efficiency was important to us. We wasted time with redundancies in our workflows.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Multidots helped us to migrate our site from Drupal to WordPress. We gave them the frontend design and Multidots built out the backend. They created workflows and built APIs into our website to automate the information that was presented from a directory, which another partner built. Their team tested the site and made sure it was mobile-friendly. Now, they maintain the website.

What is the team composition?

We had a main point of contact who was the lead on the overall project. At any given time, anywhere between 4–6 people collaborated on this project. It depended on the timeline and the volume of work. Additional teammates came on to help with the testing.

How did you come to work with Multidots?

We reached out to them after a partner recommended them. We checked out a couple of other companies but Multidots was price competitive. They showed that they would provide a high level of customer service and dedication to the project.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested between $80,000–$100,000 in the project. Multidots sends us a small fee every month for maintenance.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in June 2019, and it was completed in January 2020. They continue to do maintenance on the website.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Multidots helped us during a critical time. Their team built a reliable workflow. Our workflows are much more efficient, saving our team a lot of time. The platform also better serves our community by giving updates and information quicker. We’re really happy with the site.

Our website is extremely mobile-friendly now. We’re proud of the mobile-friendliness because mobile devices are an important part of how people get information.

How did Multidots perform from a project management standpoint?

During the development, we met regularly and had weekly face-to-face calls. Our account director was excellent. He kept the project organized and communicated regularly. Their team was responsive and worked during off-hours.

They excelled in the timeframe, which was the biggest challenge. Their team was patient as we worked through challenges. They were extremely accommodating, so it was easy to work with Multidots.

What did you find most impressive about them?

This wasn’t an easy project and Multidots was a partner throughout it. We faced challenges and pivoted throughout the project, but they stuck with us. Their team solved problems creatively.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything at this moment.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

To have any successful project, scope it out ahead of time. Don’t leave much up in the air to decide later in the project. Ask questions to better scope out how to build the website. We asked them what was possible and came up with new approaches to the development. Don’t assume that you have to solve all of the problems.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of a digital media company. We’re one of the largest independently owned business-news site. In addition to our 3 million readers, we’re syndicated to many of the largest sites in the country.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Multidots?

We’re launching a  new website, and were looking for external help auditing our efforts.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They provided an assessment of the code that we wrote to ensure that it was done properly and identified areas of improvement. Those areas of improvement were then either modified to their recommendations by our internal team or by them. They used WordPress VIP.

What is the team composition?

We had between 2­–4 people on our team and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Multidots?

They were on the list of WordPress VIP authorized developers.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from February–March 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project went on without a hitch. Before working with them, we had trouble launching the site—we had two failed attempts. Because of their detailed audit, we were able to make changes and they set up the site very quickly. Here we are with a brand-new site that’s publicly available and working well.

How did Multidots perform from a project management standpoint?

They performed excellently. To communicate, we emailed, used various developer tools to keep track of projects, and regular phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They accomplished what we hoped they would in an incredibly tight timeframe. They only over-delivered.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there are none.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of marketing communications for a social media news and intelligence agency. We built the world's first social media newswire. We work with newsrooms around the world and we also work with corporate partners, helping them understand what is happening on social media.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Multidots?

We were working to elevate our website on the back- and frontend. We intended to drive better performance, like page loading, as well as improving our ability to capture prospects. On the backend, we needed a more flexible CMS capable of easy updates. And we needed way to test and learn information.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They used WordPress VIP. Because they’re a part of the VIP program, they have a lot of elevated tools. So, they created blocks and modules specifically for us. They were mostly working on development, but they updated some designs as well.

Multidots was incredibly fast and efficient when it came to presenting ideas to us. This included a new layout for our homepage, our content pages, and new buttons across the site to drive people into the CRM.

What is the team composition?

We had a fantastic account manager, Jeremy, he was our main point of contact. Then we worked with a few project leads. They were great–very supportive and thorough as we learned a new system.

How did you come to work with Multidots?

We were looking for an accredited partner to help us move into a WordPress VIP environment.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first contacted them in August and it wrapped up by November 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Loading time has improved significantly—by a few seconds on desktop and mobile. We’re now down to below a full second load on any page. Conversion from web hit into lead has also improved by about 15%. So, I’m happy with the results.

The project evolved and grew as we went along and Multidots handled things in a timely fashion. They were quick to troubleshoot, find bugs, and solve them. Often, they would stay overnight to make sure problems were resolved by the morning. Once the project was completed, they stuck around to support updates and resolve issues.

How did Multidots perform from a project management standpoint?

We worked in Basecamp together. Their project management was stellar. They’re very timely in all their delivery and they really excelled in getting the project on track as we went along.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their account service was phenomenal. Technically, they’re very capable and made changes as we needed them, but their account service paid attention to our emails and our requests whether it was big or small. It was one of the best experiences I’ve had working with a vendor.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’s a global company, so time is always a challenge. It would be helpful if there were people in my time zone to work with. That being said, work never slowed, production never slowed, and they delivered everything on time.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You should strongly consider Multidots. They’re a great partner. They provide solutions and they work very quickly.