Northern Commerce

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm a professor of English and Digital Humanities at the University of Guelph. I am involved in building a research platform for scholars in my field.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Echidna?

We were using an existing framework for our platform, but the interface was not suitable for our purposes. The challenge was taking a complex and multi-functional, existing framework and putting a different interface on top of it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

That platform was built on an existing framework, which was in large part Drupal. We went with Digital Echidna, because they had very senior and experienced Drupal developers. They had to learn the framework, which had some complexities. This was quite a steep learning curve for them, bringing them up to speed on the product and its intended function, as well as working with a different kind of organization. They had not worked with a large research group. We had to learn to work together with the rhythms and characteristics of a research oriented organization, as opposed to a corporation.

It involved a complete identity development, which included the logo, and the look and feel of the site. We had to make sure that there was consistency with our values and the way we wanted people to interact with the platform. It was quite complex and involved a lot of moving parts and different partners.

The technical work was not all done by Digital Echidna. We hired them to do the interface. They had to deal with a complex software stack, made of open source software where the components all interact with each other. We also had a number of developers working on technical components simultaneous with the development of the interface. Overall, it was a really challenging situation. Many things were in flux at the same time. As a result, it required a plan for how to approach it, which required ingenuity and flexibility. The project management was quite challenging. There were delays because particular pieces had not been completed yet. That said, Digital Echidna did a great job of working with us under those less than optimal circumstances to help us develop an interface, which is what we would have hoped for in many ways.

It’s a fairly large contract that lasted over a period of a couple of years and we've entered a maintenance arrangement with them as we try to further extend and solidify the platform.

How did you come to work with Digital Echidna?

We found them through a formal RFP process out of the University of Alberta, which is where the project was based. We received a number of proposals. I went with Digital Echidna, because we were looking for a design firm that was not specializing in academic or library frontends.

We wanted to try and get away from that in terms of the products and as far as the first user experience went. We wanted something more accessible. We liked the fact that Digital Echidna had done some work with research groups but mostly focused on other types of clients who were in fields where we could see a crossover with what we were interested in, but also a breadth and flexibility that led us to think that they wouldn't be bounded by preconceptions of what our site should be. We also liked that they had done a fair bit of work with some non-profits and social justice organizations, and therefore, understood our values. They had really good technical skills, and we were looking for a firm that combined good graphic design with some real depth in terms of their technical personnel.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in February 2016. They completed development of the interface in September, but they continue to provide maintenance support on the platform. 

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested between $100,000 and $200,000.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Due to some site optimization issues, we are not pushing for feedback right now. On our end, however, they met our expectations in many ways. They did some ingenious things in terms of trying to adapt within the framework that they were given to meet some of our more challenging requests. They did a very good job, particularly with the graphic design and layout, and plugging into the Drupal framework.

How did Digital Echidna perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management for this kind of project is really challenging and I was very impressed with how Digital Echidna handled it. Compared with other similar companies that I've worked with, they have a good system in place for combining general project management with technical management. There were some snarls that I think were probably inevitable, but overall, they did a great job of communicating, tracking our progress, and being sensitive to our deadlines.

We have regular meetings. In most cases, we use trello board. We usually communicate through Skype and we use some spreadsheets for tracking things aren’t handled as well by trello.  All in all, it seems to work quite well.

What do you find most impressive about them?

They work great together as a team. They're very good at communication and project management, and they have a really strong technical team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The area that we had hoped to be able to do more with, but because of the constraints of the platform that we were using, could not fully focus on, was user experience, as opposed to design and technical functionality. In other words, the flow from one page to another. This fell through the cracks in some ways, and I'd want to try to figure out how to deal with it differently. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the director of grants for the London Community Foundation. We’re an endowment organization with around $70 million in endowments. Each year, we grant a portion of the earnings to the city of London and the county of Middlesex.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Echidna?

Initially, we needed to develop a database for tracking our grants, as well as a website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Digital Echidna came up with a user-friendly, straightforward, and solid tool for our grants database. Anyone in our organization can use it without any issues. It’s a key piece for us in supporting our donors, enabling us to know what they granted to in the past and what they have left to grant for a year. The platform also provides analysis opportunities for our annual reports and helps with customer service and accountability. It was an affordable, customized tool. A comparable solution from a big software provider would have been expensive and too complex to use.

The driving reason for getting a grant management platform in place was to have one-stop, at-a-glance grant history data. Digital Echidna has built more features than we required: The platform facilitates our customer service with donors, provides analytical data, and has the potential to actually process the grants. Our current process isn’t very efficient, but the grant management system (GMS) has the capacity to streamline the process. That would increase not only our efficiency, but also our accuracy. We’re currently working on this capability.

We have a long-running history with Digital Echidna, and our website has evolved about three times over the years, across new looks and platforms. I’ve always found Digital Echidna eager to see how they can best present what we do. We offer more than granting, so packaging this in a comprehensible way for users was important.

We used to rely on Digital Echidna for posting website updates, but now we have access to the backend and can do our own editing. This has been valuable, since we can update our site by the minute.

In the last couple of years, Digital Echidna converted our website to a mobile-friendly version. We had a limited budget for the site, but they were able to achieve this within that budget.

About a year ago, one of Digital Echidna’s service providers had technical difficulties that affected our website. It put us in a difficult position, because we needed the site to be up and running at a key time for advertising our grant programs. Throughout the time of waiting for the situation to be resolved, Digital Echidna maintained contact with us, and, when it looked like the resolution would take longer, they came up with an interim solution that helped to resolve most of the difficulties we were experiencing.

What is the team dynamic?

I am a member of the team dealing with Digital Echidna, and I’ve been involved in the grant management portal development. I’ve also dealt with them in regards to the website, but I haven’t been the lead. I used them for editing support.

How did you come to work with Digital Echidna?

I wasn’t involved in the process.

How much have you invested with them?

I believe our annual cost is $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Digital Echidna in January 2007.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I don’t have any relevant stats offhand. However, having the GMS at our fingertips has improved our internal workflow. Before, staff would have no way of looking up electronically what a fund had granted. They would have to go through the accounting team every single time, which obviously caused issues. Now we have access to that information. I can’t emphasize enough how user-friendly it is.

We certainly have other systems, but they’re a challenge to figure out for staff members who aren’t involved with them every day. The GMS, on the other hand, is straightforward. This is key to making sure that funds aren’t granting more than they should, that we understand what our donors like to support, and that we can tailor customer service based on that. We can run reports with different criteria for different purposes, including government reporting. We rely on this database heavily.

How did Digital Echidna perform from a project management standpoint?

Their responsiveness with customer service has been excellent. In the last 5 years particularly, the response rate has improved. It used to take up to 2 days for answering a support request, but now I receive confirmation of it immediately, and a resolution within a reasonable amount of time. This is important to me; when I reach out, I’m not left hanging. Digital Echidna values us as a customer, and they try to be as responsive as possible.

What did you find most impressive about them?

As an organization, we appreciate Digital Echidna’s values and success. They’ve grown tremendously over the years, and that certainly speaks to their expertise. As a nonprofit, community-serving organization, we look for service providers who share these values, and Digital Echidna does. They’ve even established a fund at our foundation, illustrating their commitment to giving back.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t speak for the whole organization, but some more proactive reaching out would be welcomed. It would help us develop further what Digital Echidna has been doing for us, and exploring where the gaps are.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

SUNY Oneonta is a four-year liberal arts college located in Upstate New York and is part of the State University of New York system. I’m the web coordinator, and my primary responsibility is administering the college website.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Echidna?

Our public-facing site operated on the base of a Drupal 7 installation. Though built in Drupal, the site adhered to neither best practices nor Drupal standards in architecture, coding or theming. The site was highly customized with several uniquely designed modules and database structures. This customization made it difficult to scale and add enhancements. In addition to making it difficult to make changes via the Drupal interface, the customization created an architecture that resulted in severe performance issues, causing frequent service interruptions.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Digital Echidna worked with our project team to itemize the sources of data and clearly define the specific information and fields needed on the site, and ensured the development process would accommodate our existing team processes in order to help reduce our workload.

They migrated our site from Drupal 7 to 8 while adhering to standards in architecture, coding and theming to ensure flexibility and scalability of our site. The responsive site now displays appropriately on smartphones, tablets, desktop, and for printing. The site was also built to W3C and Drupal 8 standards, and is now accessible, as governed by Federal Section 508 Standards and New York State Policy NYS-P08- 005.

The homepage was redesigned/modernized using panels. Interior pages retained the brand and general site design. Colors were updated based on our existing College Style Guide, and new (Google) fonts were recommended and adopted.

A solution was provided allowing us to delegate permissions on individual sets of pages to retain department editing access for their pages. This positioned us to (finally) bring department sites into Drupal and fully utilize our content management system.

How did you come to work with Digital Echidna?

Digital Echidna was selected through RFP. Our committee reviewed and rated the technical specifications from each submission, and our business office looked at the financial part and scored that portion. The scores were added together, and Digital Echidna was the winning respondent.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2017, and the website launched in June 2017. Digital Echidna continues to provide support for the site.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t have any data, but the feedback that we’ve heard has been very positive. Our downtime has dropped, and mobile is working great. Site administrators realize an improved Drupal interface with access to better backend processes and code. Our website is also one of six finalists for the 2017 Acquia Engage Award in the higher education category.

How did Digital Echidna perform from a project management standpoint?

They were excellent. Digital Echidna agreed to, and kept, a strict implementation and delivery plan timeline.We had weekly project status updates via teleconference and summary status reports to keep us informed, and they made themselves available if there any issues or questions between scheduled calls. We've had a very good relationship with them. They stayed within the timeframe and budget for everything specified in the RFP.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their communication is top-notch. Their team was very knowledgeable about Drupal and what can/cannot be done, resulting in efficient weekly calls and our project kick-off visit. They always considered budget and timeframe constraints as challenges were faced along the way, and provided valuable insights when we had to make a decision.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the executive producer of a multicomponent art festival that runs every year. We also have different programming. Our team fluctuates from 2–8 people, depending on the time of year.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Echidna?

Digital Echidna’s team has been involved in all of our web development. Our initial project goes back to the very beginnings of our website development. We had a rudimentary site at the time — as most organizations did 15 years ago — that had been made by a volunteer. Unfortunately, it was not designed well. Since we are an arts charity, the board of directors decided that the site could become an important marketing tool for us. That meant we could budget and pay to have a professional job done.

The main purpose of the site is to promote the festival and provide relevant information. As an organization, we often work with up to 50 different theater companies, so our schedule includes around 350 performance times. The site contains heavy content, including show descriptions and vibrant images. It has to be searchable, with the information just a few clicks away.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Digital Echidna developed our website. They have been very good at managing our search engine optimization, how we connect with Facebook and Twitter, tracking our newsletters, and so on. I don’t know how they do it, but our site comes up when searching for different actors or show names. Our site also has an e-commerce component so that people can click through to our box office program, and they can donate online.

When working with 50 theater companies and almost 400 representations, some shows will be canceled or there will be other incidents. I need the ability to update the site and correct information quickly. Digital Echidna designed the site in such a way that we can update certain information without impacting the overall look of the site. Everything is still connected to who we are.

In the past, we’d had different web addresses for different activities. For the latest redesign, I wanted everything under a single address. I interacted with 1 project manager from Digital Echidna and a team of about 4–5 persons. Dealing with a single person was great — that’s how it’s supposed to work. There was a thought process that we went through as an organization, and we were able to make decisions quickly.

How did you come to work with Digital Echidna?

We found them through a referral of sorts. Andrew McClenaghan, their principal owner, had purchased the web portion of another company that had been our first developer. I have known Andrew since he started Digital Echidna in his basement.

How much have you invested with Digital Echidna?

They provided work as a partial sponsorship, so any financial information I have is skewed. We received a lot of good support at a discounted rate.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Digital Echidna more than 13 years ago. The latest redesign started around July 2016, when we first sent the request to Digital Echidna. We got together in January or February 2017. We wanted to have a new website up and ready by the end of May, our target for launching the festival. It was a short turnaround.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When we launched the new website at the beginning of May 2017, the feedback was instant, particularly on social media. There were no problems in terms of reliability or functionality. The website was ready to go on the deadline we set, and it worked.

One of the advantages of working with Digital Echidna was that they understood my non-tech speak, converting my instructions into something functional on our website. For example, they’ve understood what I meant when I said, “I don’t want users to search around too much for information.” I am not very clever when it comes to technology, so I don’t know if our site has any unique features.

How did Digital Echidna perform from a project management standpoint?

The process was highly efficient and organized. There was no time wasted during meetings, which went on for an hour or less. The goals of each meeting were clearly outlined, in terms of what we were going to accomplish and how quickly. Digital Echidna stuck to these goals.

The delay was on our end; we had a lot of information to upload to the site. The goal was to launch on May 1st or 2nd, and we met that goal. The functionality and background testing were perfect.

What did you find most impressive about Digital Echidna?

We are constantly being pitched to by other web development companies, but we don’t go anywhere because, from the very first conversations we’ve had with Andrew, the same philosophy was maintained. They provided excellent service and an excellent product, with a thorough attention to detail. Plus, they were a lot of fun to work with. The team worked beautifully together, and we could tell that they had rapport. They understood when I was explaining something and asked the right questions. As someone who works in arts administration, this was wonderful for me.  

Are there any areas Digital Echidna could improve?

From my perspective, there wasn’t anything that they could do differently.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are one of Canada’s largest granting foundations. I’m the Digital Communications Strategist.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Echidna?

One of the main things we’re known for is open data. We give the public access to all our data, including where our grants are being dispersed, but we had a very outdated web presence, and we struggled with the accessibility of our website. We also needed to have a site that was mobile-friendly. We needed them [Digital Echidna] to build the site and also support and service it as it grew.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They [Digital Echidna] did a full website build. The main functionalities in our initial build were a calendar, a grant upload tool, and our need to be mobile-friendly and accessible. We didn’t have a preferred platform, but we started sourcing out and looking at the pros and cons of Drupal and WordPress, etc. We really like the security features and the ability to build off. Echidna specializes in Drupal, so that was their proposal as well.

A new addition we’re currently working on is a calendar that will be both internal and external. Our staff will be able to log in and access an internal calendar to keep everyone on the same page, and the public calendar will be on there as well. We want to integrate the calendar into Eventbrite because right now, our program managers are inputting data several times and so we’re creating a solution that cuts out a couple steps for them.

We’re currently refreshing the site again. We have some new ideas for it, and we’re working with Echidna to see what’s possible.

Was there any recommendation or challenge they overcame throughout the process?

On our site we have information about our business and about what we fund. The key pieces on our site that aren’t just content would be the grant tool, the events calendar, and our open data. It’s a challenge to build a grant search tool to which we can continuously upload data, and this was really an effort to move from an Excel spreadsheet to having every grant posted on our site.

How did you come to work with Digital Echidna?

We put out an RFP. It was competitive but Echidna really stood out in terms of their quality of service. We currently have a service agreement with them for monthly services, and it was nice knowing that we’d have that backup. Their quality portfolio on the sites they’ve built and their clients were very reassuring. They also came to the table with a set plan on how they could execute our plans.

How much have you invested with Digital Echidna?

We spent $42,000 with them on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in August 2014, and the website was completed in October 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They [Echidna] exceeded our expectations. We have very strong web traffic on a monthly basis. Our site has never had any major issues. They’ve built a seamless system and we’re all happy with it.

How did Digital Echidna perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very good. Recently we started working with Chris [Account Manager] as our lead. I find the service to be top notch. They keep us on track and organized, and they’re meticulous about hitting deadlines. We communicate on the phone a couple of times a week, and we’re constantly sending emails. We have had them come do in-person meetings for larger things like the calendar project.

What did you find most impressive about Digital Echidna?

Working with other agencies, I find that Digital Echidna goes the extra mile. They’re not looking to nickel and dime you at every turn. They’re there to build a relationship and service our needs. If we find something we need to upgrade, they listen to us and take the extra steps to suggest an upgrade or something else that would add very little cost.

Are there any areas Digital Echidna could improve?

They’re really good about communication and timelines, and their quality of work is excellent. I can’t think of anything to improve. When we first started the website, they were smaller than they are now. They didn’t have a support center before, but now they do, so if I can’t get a hold of my contacts, I can easily submit a ticket, and their customer service quickly assists. They’ve really eliminated all concerns.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a technology association put in place by large insurance carriers and brokers in Canada for the property and casualty insurance industry. We provide different advisory services for brokers, allowing them to stay up-to-date with technology in general. We also maintain a set of data standards which are used between carriers and broker systems to exchange insurance transactional information. If a broker has placed some business with a carrier, the carrier system will send quality information to the broker’s system in a standardized format so that all member carriers will be able to speak the same language. This helps the different broker software vendors implement their technology with all carriers across Canada. I am a developer and analyst for the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Echidna?

We wanted a brand new website and didn’t have the resources to handle everything in-house as a small company. The old site had been developed on a bad platform, and it had all sorts of problems, including the fact that it was not responsive. This was a key requirement.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped with our information architecture, the general design and the actual implementation of the base website. They implemented our infrastructure from start to finish with our help in understanding our needs.

Digital Echidna developed the main setup of our website. Afterward, they worked in a more passive position with most of the development for custom modules being handled by me. We have kept them as maintainers in case I’m away and there is something urgent to handle.

We had meetings with both our teams discussing what the general look of the site should be, how we wanted the information on it to be laid out and every other detail for which we didn’t necessarily have the expertise in-house. For the design, we had 2-3 iterations and landed on one that made both our teams comfortable. The information-architecture part was straightforward. Digital Echidna helped us map our spreadsheets and other content to different Drupal entities and gave us advice on how it would be ideal to architect different components.

Drupal was the platform we wanted to use from the start. We have some PHP experience and knew that the platform was well-maintained and had a good community.

Once the information architecture and design were completed, we started implementing the website, which went well. When we were close to being done, we went through in-house user testing sessions. We provided the comments from those tests to Digital Echidna, and adjusted the website based on that.

Making the site mobile responsive was a key requirement from the start. I believe that this is standard today for any new website. We had no issues meeting this requirement.

Meeting our very tight deadline was the biggest challenge of the project, and Digital Echidna met it. I can’t remember what timeline they originally proposed, but we came back and asked for a much tighter one. Technically, the project was straightforward, but one key challenge was that the website needed to load in under three seconds. The old one was quite bad and the company that maintained it didn’t seem to care.

How did you come to work with Digital Echidna?

We sourced a number of vendors and went through a thorough process. Digital Echidna seemed like the best candidate Acquia, our digital host, recommended them to us. Digital Echidna is mainly a Drupal developer, and I don’t even know if they do other work. This was a platform we wanted to use from the get-go.

In total, we considered 4–5 vendors which had to answer our RFP. We had one-hour meetings with each of them. From Digital Echidna’s answers to all our questions and their effort to go the extra mile, we felt very comfortable. They seemed to really understand what we required, were comfortable in addressing our needs, and seemed to be keen on working with us based on how they answered the RFP. It was detailed compared to other vendors, which didn’t put as much effort into it. We thought that it was a good indication of how much the team would apply itself to our project and that we could trust them to implement something which represents our brand across Canada which impacts all our members.

How much have you invested with Digital Echidna?

The cost of their work was around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Digital Echidna in April 2016. The main project took six months to complete ending in September.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We saw our bounce rate decrease by at least 10–15%, and the number of hits increased. The session length increased too, but I don’t have exact numbers. The new website loads in under three seconds and some of the pages are actually closer to one second. This was a key requirement and Digital Echidna met it without any trouble.

The CMS has been stable and functional. The Drupal community is great, and there are high-quality active modules out there. Since the launch, we’ve added some of our own custom modules, as well as ones from the market. As a small shop, we don’t have time to develop all kinds of custom features which have already been solved by other businesses, so the Drupal platform helps us concentrate development efforts on things which are unique to our own organization.

Users have been overall pleased. They thought that the new site is a big step up from the older design. It feels fresh and young, yet still looks professional in essence. We’re in the insurance industry which is more conservative, but we’re in the sweet spot between a very trendy company and a more traditional one. The design made by Digital Echidna has pleased our users in general.

How did Digital Echidna perform from a project management standpoint?

We had a very tight deadline and they met it. This was quite fantastic given that we knew it would be a challenge. Digital Echidna was there for us when we wanted to set up ad-hoc meetings, ask for revisions, get answers on our comments, and revert or change things. The last weeks before the launch were quite good in terms of communication. There were no moments when we thought it was lacking and this was a critical aspect as we were reaching the end of our deadline.

The project management was really good. There were some small things that could have been done better or were misdefined in the scope. In the end, Digital Echidna handled them well and did what was possible without increasing the cost of the project. Misunderstandings happen in all projects and, all things considered, it was a minor issue. At the end of the day, everything worked out.

What did you find most impressive about Digital Echidna?

One of the things I’ve most appreciated about them was that, before giving us a build of the website, Digital Echidna made sure that the work was tested. We have other vendors that sometimes made changes to some of our products without testing and broke things without realizing it. With Digital Echidna, even though we encountered some small quirks and bugs as we were building the website (which is completely normal), the website, in general, was fully functional when a build was delivered. The quality of their work is high. They seem to care a lot more than some other vendors I’ve come across. Their work has increased our expectations of what a vendor should be.

Are there any areas Digital Echidna could improve?

There was a misunderstanding with the scope, but we discussed it and it was partly due to our side. Overall, I don’t think that Digital Echidna could make any big changes in order to please their clients. They were quite good and delivered what we wanted on time and on budget. I can’t complain.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the sales and marketing coordinator at the London Convention Centre, the largest events center in Southwestern Ontario. We offer 70,000 square feet of event space, hosting about 400 events annually. We have about 100 employees, about 12 full-time. The rest are part-time hourly staff.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Echidna?

The convention center launched a capital improvement project. We renovated the first floor in 2016, so we reconfigured the main level with a new look and feel. We also added a new breakout room. Afterward, we wanted a website to match the new look of the building. The challenge was to match our new interior look with a total web redesign. Our old site wasn’t mobile-friendly, so that was another challenge. I’m really the whole marketing team, so we don’t have any in-house developers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Digital Echidna was in charge of everything. They came up with multiple designs and presented those to us, modifying them as required. Their team designed the total user experience, the function — they basically they built a completely new site. They took our initial vision and created concepts from there.  

Digital Echidna helped us to figure out the main sections we wanted on the site. We narrowed it down to planning an event, attending an event, and upcoming events. Those are the 3 main reasons people come to our site, so they were the 3 main areas we highlighted. They also did a full photo gallery and Google Business view of our site, which was important. People are checking out our venue to see if it’s big enough to meet their needs. There’s also a view of all the spaces, whether it’s just empty rooms or previous events.

The site is built on Drupal, which they recommended. We’ve been working with them for a while for search engine optimization. We do client events, but we also host internal events. They’ve been really great at working with us to understand the basics of SEO and implementing keywords into our copy, and they’ve been really helpful with that as well. They don’t actually write all the copy on our site, but they’ve been helpful in figuring out how to write the copy properly for SEO.

How did you come to work with Digital Echidna?

They’re a local, reputable company. It’s important for us to work with someone local. I’ve worked at other places where we hired web design companies that weren’t in our market, and I’ve found that it’s sometimes harder when you’re not dealing with them in person. It was really helpful to sit down with someone local and go over things on a regular basis. They also came highly recommended based on reviews from other people in the community.

How much have you invested with Digital Echidna?

We spent around $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from June–October 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We noticed that the key pages they recommended for our homepage are really the ones that people are visiting. The metrics show that the top 3 most visited pages on our site are the ones for planning an event, upcoming events, and attending an event. We did an internal event in May, and I worked on the copy for that page. With their recommendations, we saw really good results for our homepage page.

Having the website and content management system on Drupal is working well for us. I previously worked with WordPress, so this was my first time modifying a site in Drupal, but it’s been fine. Sometimes I didn’t have access to certain pages and admin privileges, and they fixed that right away. It has been very easy to edit. The design met our expectations, including the overall representation of our brand.

Overall, they just had a really good balance of being professional and friendly to work with. They have a design team, a development team, and a project management team. That combination of people at Digital Echidna collaborated really well.

How did Digital Echidna perform from a project management standpoint?

They were really attentive in helping us determine which functions were best for our website. The project management team was very strong there. Aside from the project manager, their president was also at meetings and oversaw the whole process. It was good that we had more than just 1 person overseeing the project at all times.

We had regularly scheduled meetings while the website was in development. Sometimes we had in-person meetings, and sometimes just over the phone or email for a quick check-in. It was a good balance of both. They were pretty responsive.

What did you find most impressive about Digital Echidna?

When I worked with other web design companies, they’ve been smaller agencies. Usually, only 1 person did the design and programming while also handling support requests. This meant it took a lot longer to get anything resolved. It was good that Digital Echidna had a bigger team, and we didn’t have to wait a long time to get things resolved. There was a specific support person, a specific project person, a designer, and a developer. I think that helped speed up the project.

Are there any areas Digital Echidna could improve?

Not really. We had a really good experience with them, so I would say no. We’ve been very happy with everything they provided.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a special projects manager at a not-for-profit scientific research and outreach institute. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Echidna?

For a large national science outreach project, we had to develop an engagement-focused digital hub that appealed to youth, their parents, and the general public. We needed help building the backend of the website. We have in-house developers, but because this was a special project, we needed some external support. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’d decided to use Drupal as the platform. We worked on a split system: a frontend designer did the architecture and the design, and a backend developer built the website itself. The project required a lot of collaboration because we had a separate agency doing the frontend and the architecture, and Digital Echidna was doing the backend. They were extremely well organized and collaborative in working with this other agency and making sure that what we agreed on as far as the design and architecture was feasible for our timeline, budget, and technical capabilities.

Throughout the course of the project, Digital Echidna inherited the architecture and creative responsibilities, and they were responsible for building this robust engagement engine. Once the website was actually built and launched, we transitioned to a maintenance phase where they still continued to develop parts of the website. They’ve remained attentive, focused, and dedicated even after the build, which is quite rare from these types of firms.

Our engine has a dedicated section for news and stories that was fairly innovative. We had an events calendar that interfaced a lot with other aspects of the website. We offered a tour across the country with a traveling expedition, and Digital Echidna built a tour page where visitors could use the map and see some of the upcoming travel spots. The whole engine is automated. A banner at the top gives updates about the tour and links to the events calendar, so the work was very integrative. We also have a contesting platform and general info pages, as well as heavy social integration. Everything is dynamic and integrative across the whole website.

Was there a challenge they overcame throughout the process that stands out to you?

The project was a complex, multi-stakeholder effort not just for our institute but also for our partnership of 5 organizations. Digital Echidna had to coordinate with us and with those other organizations. Their strength in client management shown through this project, as we had some competing requests. Sometimes, they probably felt like they were answering to multiple clients.

There was also a lot of scope creep on our project, and I think they were a voice of reason in a sense. They were able to explain what they could do and how long it would take. They armed us with the information we needed to make good decisions.

How did you come to work with Digital Echidna?

We went through an RFP for developers who specialize in Drupal. After a fairly competitive process, we chose Digital Echidna. I wasn’t that involved in that process. Retrospectively, I can confirm that they have extensive skills in Drupal development. Drupal gives us much more flexibility and customization, and it allows more out-of-the-box thinking, which Digital Echidna really has demonstrated throughout this project.

How much have you invested with Digital Echidna?

We’ve spent between $150,000 and $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in March 2016, and the relationship is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

To this day, our website has had an extremely low bounce rate. Our bounce rate is about half of the industry average, and visitors spend almost 2 minutes more on our website than the industry average for education. Our average pages-per-visit value is nearly triple the industry average. We have a lot of good traction, and we’ve seen 600,000 page views. The traffic has increased, and visitors obviously enjoy the time they spend on our site. They keep visiting more and more content.

Digital Echidna was always attentive whenever bugs were found, even when we had a spam attack that was based on a decision that we made in-house. They still dealt with the issue on their dime.

How did Digital Echidna perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is quite robust. The team took some of the designs and made them even better based on the Drupal tools that were available. They collaborated proactively to develop something that worked for everybody and achieved our business objectives. In the grand scope of things, the work has actually been delivered on time and under budget, which is excellent. We communicated through bi-weekly calls and emails.

What did you find most impressive about Digital Echidna?

Their client service makes them unique.

Are there any areas Digital Echidna could improve?

I don’t have any suggestions. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

HUDSON manufactures Olympic-class rowing shells. We specialize in advanced composite manufacturing along the lines of aerospace, F1 and America’s Cup yachts. My name is Craig McAllister, and I am the Commercial Manager of the company. I oversee most of the global business and any branding, marketing, advertising, and other external, customer-facing experiences. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Echidna?

We were going through a complete redevelopment of our website. Our current one was going on seven years old, had a number of patches on it, and generally looked dated. We wanted our digital presence to match the high-tech side of our manufacturing business. Since I’ve been onboard, this was the second site redesign we undertook. One of my first tasks within the company was to create the site that was there at the time of this project. We needed to take it to another level with someone with experience in the area, who could also support us and provide maintenance for a few different web-based projects.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we had our first discussions with Digital Echidna, Drupal 8 was still on the horizon. We didn’t want to get left behind on it, so we dragged the progress along until the new platform was released. They got us on as a pilot project, which was exciting for us: We felt we were on the cutting edge of what was happening with the platform.

The scope, beyond just revamping the entire website, was optimizing the site for mobile display. We obviously needed desktop, but mobile was the real focus. We felt that, given how our customer base was wired, they were present more on mobile devices.

Another component was alternative content for the international market, including the EU and UK, which are large markets for us. Digital Echidna was able to provide a good solution for that.

We wanted to change our e-commerce capabilities. Digital Echidna was able to recommend a turnkey e-commerce platform called Shopify. This has been fantastic for us to this point. It’s low-maintenance and easy to use. We don’t have much internal horsepower for managing something like it, so it has been a very useful solution for us. Customer feedback has been good for it.

The last part was an idea that we knew would be completely unique relative to what Digital Echidna or anyone else had ever done. We created what we initially called a “glass factory”. It would provide our customers a view into the manufacturing process; they would follow their own boats from the initial order, through production to delivery, in real time – or as close to real time as is possible. We ended up calling this The Shark Tank, based on the brand for our boats, The Shark.

When someone orders a boat, they will receive an automated email telling them that it’s now entering the system. They’re given a unique password and client ID through which they can access the backend at any time, and see where their boats are in the process. We made generic videos that showed what was going on in the process. We knew that we needed a partner like Digital Echidna for this solution: they had to have the ability to think outside the box and provide a unique solution to our business.

It has been a fantastic functionality which our customer base has loved. It takes away much of the mystery around what happens in the manufacturing facility. It allows us to scale the system and get into more real-time video once we get to that level.

How did you come to work with Digital Echidna?

I did some research for an open-source content management platform. Drupal was the leader in that area, and Digital Echidna focuses exclusively on it. I narrowed the search down to a few companies that looked competent enough with the platform. Digital Echidna seemed to be geared on customer connection and service, being able to manage a process for a layperson, someone who is not necessarily IT or digitally-geared. There is someone in the company who handles our IT, but that person did not understand what we needed to create on the frontend. As such, the process was driven by me and one other digitally proficient colleague, and we consulted with the IT specialist on our end in order to make sure that we could talk the same language.

I thought that Digital Echidna did a great job of connecting with us as a customer and making sure that the project was managed in a way which made us understand what was going on with the technical aspects. I read enough on them in order to confirm that they were the leaders, at least within our local market, so we contacted Digital Echidna in order to discuss the new project.

How much have you invested with Digital Echidna?

The cost of their work was $38,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Digital Echidna January 2016. The project was completed in April.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Based on customer feedback, on the fact that the site was incredibly well-received. We heard numerous comments on both the visual side and the user-friendly aspects. Everyone felt that we had the best mobile site in our industry. At the end of the day, the digital platform does reflect on the overall image and sales of a company, and we feel that, since the site has been launched, we’ve been able to validate and elevate our status to what we believe we are, namely the number one manufacturer in the market. Our sales have gone up year by year for the past couple of years. We’re heading in the right direction for all the key metrics of the business, and, from the customer feedback standpoint, it’s been nothing but positive since making the change.

How did Digital Echidna perform from a project management standpoint?

The process went from corporate brief, all the way to creative designs and project modules. Digital Echidna did a good job of collaborating with us in a way that always felt like we were steering the process. They were making sure that what we were asking for was inside budget and scope. If there were any changes outside of this, they were brought to our attention, allowing us to decide whether or not to go down a different path. We stuck close to the original scope, with few modifications. Once we got deep into the development, there were a few items that proved unforeseen or more difficult, but Digital Echidna handled them in a way that provided us confidence that we’d get the project done.

Beyond the fact that they’re very good on the technical side, the project management side was one of their biggest strengths. Everyone in the company, from the owner down to our project manager, was exceptional. Digital Echidna provided consultation, training and step-by-step explanations of how they were managing the project. We were never in doubt about our timeline situation. Portions where the development would be slowed, or where we would be doing more development were always made clear and transparent. I appreciated this part of the relationship.

They had a project management tool that we had access to. We had weekly status updates for every aspect of the project, plus we had the benefit of being in the same city. We actually coordinated weekly meetings. I went to Digital Echidna’s office and met with the project manager, as well as whoever else was involved at that stage of the process on a weekly basis. I also dialed in with one of our partners on the West Coast and involved him in every single meeting as well. It was a well-resourced and managed project.

What did you find most impressive about Digital Echidna?

It’s a given that they’re good at what they do, but what separates Digital Echidna is the communication and project management, which come down to interpersonal skills. They have the ability to communicate the project in a way which is incredibly clear, keeping it on track at every point of the way. These projects, in my experience, can easily get off track, but I never had a doubt of our situation throughout the timeline.

Are there any areas Digital Echidna could improve?

I would have given them that feedback if it came up, but there was never a time when we were unhappy or asked Digital Echidna to do something different than how they were.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing and communications manager for Western Fair District, a multifaceted event venue and destination in southwestern Ontario. We host consumer and trade events and shows year-round and have a sports center, a sports racetrack, and a Yuk Yuk’s comedy club. We host concerts, farm shows, and anything in between. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Digital Echidna?

We did have a website before embarking on this project, but our business is constantly changing. We’re always adding new events and wanted a website that could reflect this, get the most information across to customers, seamlessly flow from event to event, and reflect the kind of product we were offering. Our previous website was a bit more rigid.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Digital Echidna designed and developed our Drupal website from top to bottom. We had a yearlong project during which we redid our website from start to finish, deploying a new backend, a different content management system, content input structure, search-bar features, and so on.

We like our website to be visual and have many experience-based components. A part of our brand consists of creating unique experiences, and we wanted the website to reflect those. The previous site was more copy-driven, not as visually stimulating, less intuitive, and not mobile-friendly. The new website is image-heavy and calendar-based, and it can capture each of our business units, bringing them together in a seamless and intuitive way for customers. It’s also a completely responsive page.

Digital Echidna took a hands-on approach with us and got to know our business and everything we do. We have a unique model with multifaceted offerings. Their team members immersed themselves in the experience we wanted to convey to customers. They took the time to research, asking the right questions for each facet. We had an extensive opening phase for the project where we discussed our needs. In the beginning, we didn’t necessarily know what we wanted the website to look like, but they helped us shape it in a way that’s been very successful for us.

Our website is laid out in a more integrated way with our social media. We are able to display our Twitter feed and pull in social media content to the website in a way that looks natural. Digital Echidna has helped us find ways to encourage our customers to explore different touch points beyond the website.

Digital Echidna has made the backend process more understandable to a non-tech expert. Although I’m a marketing expert, my team isn’t that tech-savvy. As a result, we needed to make sure that the backend was intuitive for either myself or a new employee to use. Digital Echidna pared down our options to make sure everything was populated with the right information and that we weren’t leaving areas empty. They have a lot of experience working with other companies and let us know which pages might sound good but wouldn’t work as well. This was our first time using Drupal, and it’s been great.

How did you come to work with Digital Echidna?

We looked at different companies and had them all submit proposals. We ended up selecting Digital Echidna because of their customer service. They don’t create cookie-cutter websites. We’re a unique business, so it took their team some time to really understand us, but the dedication was there in order to transform this knowledge into a great website design and functionalities. Digital Echidna is also a well-known company in our area. We had heard good things about their work and may have even used them in some capacity in the past. That would have been before my time, though, so I’m not sure.

How much have you invested with Digital Echidna?

The cost of their work was around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Digital Echidna in January of 2016. The project ended in July. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our bounce rate has decreased significantly since the new website was launched. We’ve seen tangible results from it. Customers are staying on the site longer.

We cross-promote our businesses and want customers from the Yak Yak facility to become customers for the beer-and-barbecue show, for example. We have been able to facilitate this through the website.

The process for adding content has become much more efficient. The platform allowed us to develop a related app, as well as create other tools down the line. Digital Echidna is helping us modify certain fields of the website so that it can feed into the application, without requiring us to enter the content into 2 systems.

How did Digital Echidna perform from a project management standpoint?

They put many processes in place that kept the project on track. Digital Echidna was incredibly good at moving the work forward, staying on top of timelines, and limiting our team’s responsibility. We fed them information as requested and focused on content population, but their team guided the process. Project management is a key skill set of Digital Echidna’s.

We had regular communication. They’re proactive and made sure we were happy with our product. Whenever we’ve needed updates or changes to the site since its launch, their communication was great.

What did you find most impressive about Digital Echidna?

They’re able to understand our unique business and apply an approach that fits our needs. Digital Echidna really immersed themselves in the process and shaped what the website looks like and how it works. Their project management is top-notch, and they kept the work moving quickly. Digital Echidna worked extremely well under the tight timelines we gave.

Are there any areas Digital Echidna could improve?

I’m sure that they’re continuing to improve, but we’ve had a great experience and no complaints. Digital Echidna’s members are experts in their field, are easy to communicate with, and have great customer service.