Orium

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Accessible Media Inc. is a non-profit organization based in Canada. We work as a digital broadcaster, operating 2 television stations, an audio service, as well as French and English websites. We serve the blind and lower-vision community in Canada.

What is your position?

I am the Director of Digital Strategy for the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Myplanet?

We had been tasked with upgrading our website. The page at the time had been running for about 3 years, and it wasn't a very robust or flexible platform. It was based on SharePoint and didn't really respond to our audience's needs in terms of an online experience. We had very low traffic and a high bounce rate, being unable to feature content online. At the same time, our audience was starting to tell us that they were consuming more and more content online, in a social media format. We weren't able to keep up with this demand, so we decided to go through a full redesign. We had a one-year strategy setting period, figuring out accessibility for the site, developing wireframes, a content strategy, and an internal digital capability.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

The design of the website had already been done by a different partner. We handed Myplanet fully-developed functional specifications and designs. Myplanet handled all aspects of the hard coding, development, and testing for the site. They proposed using Drupal, which we were also interested in. Myplanet recommended the 8th version of the platform, which was just being released at the time.

How did you come to work with Myplanet?

At the end of 2015, we went through a request for proposal process, selecting Myplanet for our development process. We scanned the local environment, looking for companies that could understand who we are. They needed to have a good sense of the broadcasting landscape, and also understand non-profits. We are unusual in the sense that we work within both of those environments. With Myplanet, the fact that they deeply understood the blind and low-vision community, stood out to us. Myplanet's lead developer is a member of that community, which enabled us to translate wireframes and what we were trying to do.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The total development cost with Myplanet was in the range of $175,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The development phase was kicked-off at the end of November, 2015. The website has been launched, but we are continuing to work with Myplanet on further refinements.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We've only reached a month past the release of the project, so we're still gathering comparative metrics. In general, we've seen much more traffic to the site and a lower bounce rate. Our bounce rates were hovering around the 60% mark, depending on the page. They've now been basically slashed in half. There is a lot more engagement on the site and more flexibility in terms of the type of content that we can host. We have much more video and short-form content that our users love to consume and share. There is a lot of positive feed-back for the site. People have found it to be much easier to navigate and visually more interesting, which may sound ironic, given that it's a website for the blind.

How did Myplanet perform from a project management standpoint?

Myplanet is very deadline-driven. We haven't had any issues in terms of staying on time and within budget. Both sides of the project felt that there should have been more time factored into it because of our use of Drupal 8. Myplanet has a deep understanding of Drupal, but because that new version was so very new, there were some unexpected things which we came up against. There was the added complication of making the site fully-accessible, which can be difficult to pull off if someone is not completely familiar with the CMS [content management system]. This isn't really negative feed-back for Myplanet. We both learned from the experience.

What distinguishes Myplanet from other providers?

I loved the way in which Myplanet approached the development. They are an Agile company, which can be an uncomfortable thing for an organization which isn't used to it. Working with Myplanet was an easy and pleasant experience. We never felt uncomfortable, and they appreciated that we could make quick decisions because of the work we'd done previously. It was a mutually-pleasant experience with little friction, even though releasing a website can be a high-pressure engagement.

On the personal side, Myplanet had a lot of empathy for what we were trying to do. They felt and understood the mission we had for the site. Myplanet worked with us during the usability testing phase which, when dealing with users with vision impairment, cannot be done in a standard way. We had to invite people on-site or have telephone testing. Myplanet understood this and worked with us.

Is there anything Myplanet could have improved or done differently?

We all thought that more communication in the early stages would have been a good thing. We had an Agile process by which we moved quickly in order to produce code. We should have had a 2-week pause in order to have more conversations, set expectations, and clarify what the roles around the table were. It took us a bit longer to get up to speed, but we got there.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Cisco Jasper has recently become a part of Cisco, currently acting as their internet-of-things [IoT] cloud division.

What is your position?

I am the Chief Marketing Officer and the Senior Vice President Of Business Operations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with MyPlanet?

During my work with another company, we had an impending challenge ahead of us: we had acquired four or five companies in the space of about 18 months. During that time, we also engaged in a company rebranding and repositioning. The goal was to consolidate our acquisitions and reposition ourselves from a traditional hardware provider to a software-as-a-service cloud provider. Everything that we did was going to be based around the voice of the customer. We had around 40 disparate platforms to work with as a result of our acquisitions, and engaged MyPlanet for two reasons: to give us a voice in terms of customer-driven experience, and also integrate all our platforms. A third goal was to launch our digital and traditional brands.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

MyPlanet is currently helping me move my current company from being Jasper to Cisco Jasper. We're also evaluating our digital brand and presence. They're developing our digital strategy, user experience, and information architecture.

The one item with which MyPlanet is very good at is applying user experience backwards and discerning information architecture. As a hidden jewel in their crown, they recruit very talented people. Many of the employees in digital agencies lack experience with any sort of meaningful work. MyPlanet has worked with some large brands, and in my experience, they pulled out all the stops in order to help us with a huge problem during my work at the previous company. It was the reason for which I re-engaged with them.

How did you come to work with MyPlanet?

I first worked with their company during a previous job.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The total cost of their services was around $300,000-500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our first project took place in 2014. Our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We launched our new brand in October of 2014. From day one to January 2015, we experienced a 300% increase in site traffic and 200% increase in leads coming from the web. Our bounce rate went down and our net promoter score went up. Quality, effectiveness, bounce rate, customer satisfaction, and a drive in demand were all improved. The success wasn't completely the merit of MyPlanet, but they were the engine driving those results.

How did MyPlanet perform from a project management standpoint?

They were very good in this respect. Their main leaders oversee much of the work being done, but the rest of their project managers are very effective as well.

What distinguishes MyPlanet from other providers?

Their hiring culture is very customer-centric. While other firms say that they do this, MyPlanet actually practices it. They weed out the low performers. They expect high results and engagement with customers. They measure themselves on customer feedback, not on what they themselves perceive to have accomplished. MyPlanet is customer-centric, from their design philosophy, to their project management, to what they deliver. I was very lucky to find MyPlanet. It was an accidental find which materialized into a three year engagement.

Is there anything MyPlanet could have improved or done differently?

Their proximity could be better. I'd love to be able to work with them locally. MyPlanet has discussed potentially opening a shop here, but this has never been a big issue.