Plume.co.uk LMS

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Founder of Training Sensei

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

www.trainingsensei.com provides a comprehensive learning solution to help Small and Medium-sized Enterprises to plug compliance and skills gaps.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Plume.co.uk LMS to accomplish?

• Create a learning platform that helped us to convert more trials to customers
• Give us the flexibility to add new features ourselves
• Help us to deliver our services more efficiently

SOLUTION

How did you find Plume.co.uk LMS?

Online Search

Why did you select Plume.co.uk LMS over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit

How many teammates from Plume.co.uk LMS were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We contracted Plume to help us design, build and maintain a learning platform that would allow us to deliver our services in specific ways, that could not be delivered using off-the-shelf software.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The number of people who started a trial with us, and subsequently entered into a sales dialogue has increased by over 30% The average number of courses completed by our customers has increase by over 40% Our own internal user feedback ratings have improved from 3.9/5 to 4.7/5

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Our experience with Plume has been nothing short of exceptional and their proficiency in their field was truly highlighted throughout the entire process. From the outset, Plume demonstrated not only an in-depth understanding of software development but also a deep grasp of our business needs. They didn't just blindly execute our instructions, but challenged us when they saw potential for a better solution, or a more cost-efficient way of implementing our ideas.

This showed their genuine interest in our project's success, and their proactive mindset saved us time and resources. Their development team was highly professional, knowledgeable, and approachable. Communication was seamless throughout, and we appreciated the regular updates. The final product was beyond our expectations. 

Despite the complexity of the project, Plume managed to deliver on time and within the agreed budget. When we did spot things that didn't work quite as expected in the real-world, Plume were quick and efficient to provide a remedy and so the impact on our clients was minimised as far as possible.

What was your primary form of communication with Plume.co.uk LMS?

Virtual Meeting

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

What particularly stood out was the structure they gave us. Plume are extremely process-driven which gave us full visibility of what was going on, and the comfort to trust the process. They did not just deliver a product, but a comprehensive solution that truly transformed our original idea into a practical reality. 

We intend to continue our partnership with Plume for future software development projects. Their professionalism, creativity, and technical expertise set them apart from other agencies we've worked with in the past. Plume truly goes above and beyond, and we would highly recommend them to anyone looking for a software development agency that delivers superior quality and exceptional service.

Are there any areas for improvement or something {provider_name} could have done differently?

Greater clarity around how the relationship continuous following the initial delivery, but this really is a minor point, and something we have to accept some of the responsibility for.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of a Wellness & Fitness Company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Personal Training and Online Fitness Coaching

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Plume.co.uk LMS to accomplish?

• Develop Health & Fitness LMS

SOLUTION

How did you find Plume.co.uk LMS?

• Online Search

Why did you select Plume.co.uk LMS over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We were looking for a bespoke membership platform that could connect our marketing site to the LMS seamlessly. Additionally, we intended to incorporate gamification elements such as points and leaderboards to further motivate our learners to achieve their fitness goals.

The existing system was no longer fit to support our expanded community as we had a patchwork of multiple workarounds to keep things running. Our final goal was to have a unified, fast loading and user friendly learning environment supporting our growth goals.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Improved client retention rates
• Increased client sign ups
• Improved outcomes for clients

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Clear, concise and to the point. We had some delays throughout the project. Nothing major, though. Anytime we had an issue, they were very helpful and understanding in resolving it.

What was your primary form of communication with Plume.co.uk LMS?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email
• Messaging App

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

There are very few expert agencies that solely focus on LMSs, and because of that. The team was well-versed in all aspects of their technology. Kaine and his team went the extra mile in consultation and helped us uncover some interesting opportunities for future iterations.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Plume.co.uk LMS could have done differently?

I think it’s a pretty expensive upfront investment for a product you don’t know how it will turn out. We had a lot of hesitations on our end at the very beginning. Doing the Blueprint reduced these, but still, it felt risky to move. As we launched recently, I could only comment on the launch and development process, which went smoothly. Hopefully, the system will stand the test of time as well.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder, director and primary instructor at JD Genius, a boutique LSAT prep company offering educational services to aspiring attorneys.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

I wanted an LMS to be able to have a very streamlined user experience for my students in terms of finding the product, enrolling in the class, having immediate access, and having a payment plan or subscription service there. I also wanted custom drilling, testing, and flashcards features. And I needed to free up my own time by having less administrative work to do in terms of enrolling students.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

I must have looked at 30-40 companies that provide custom LMS's, and by far the most impressive was Plume. They seemed organized, streamlined, and capable of handling complex projects which proved to be true.

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

It was vitally important that both our website and LMS looked amazing and branded to us, but also have various custom solutions. A major technical requirement was the drills and tests features. I wanted to create a platform where students could target and personalize their study toward their individual needs. The tests feature allows students to mimic test conditions, and the drills feature allows students to chose which areas of the test to focus their study on. So it's very targeted; it's very personalized and allows students to practice in a number of different ways within our own platform without having to go outside and find something else that provides that to them. From where I'm standing, it looks like the sky's the limit with Plume. Anything I want to do, it seems like they can do. So I really love that.

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

• Kaine (Founder)
• Iryna (Project manager)
• Diana (UX designer)
• Richard (Developer)
• Hannah (Tester)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One thing I did like about the entire process is it was extraordinarily organized. We had the initial call, and I got a quote immediately for what I wanted to do. We went into Scoping, and this was really great because I was able to clarify my vision. I liked the fact that I had to distill that and explain it to people who are not in the industry. And then they took it and ran with it.

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

Plume is a well-oiled machine; everybody on their team works well together. There are platforms where I can communicate with the project manager, the developer, the designer. I can see the design developing in real-time. I can see on the staging website exactly how it looks. I can play with it; I can see it and experience it the way my users would.

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

We went into design and it was really exciting to see the design coming along and becoming more who we are and really being able to put that on a website and communicate that to potential students. Then we went into development sprints which were great because they're discrete chunks of time where a certain amount of work is done and I can see results right away. We can then talk about any possible tweaks that we need to make before moving onto the next phase. So the process has been an absolute joy.

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

I think it's sometimes hard to communicate exactly what I need to people who haven't experienced the LSAT or are not familiar with standardized admissions tests in general so there have been some small areas of misunderstanding along the way but these have been easily cleared up.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO of Grip Advertising, and we've worked with Kaine and the rest of the Plume team for around 4 years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We were looking for a specialised LMS developer that could deliver to the exact requirements.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We looked at options in the UK and overseas within Europe. However, given that they are UK-based communicaiton would be easier. Besides, they're one of the few specialised LMS agencies, so their experience with other successful projects was also a factor.

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

LMS with marketing website, courses, built in authoring, quizzes and community.

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

We had our discovery and workshops with Kaine, Iryna and Michael, Plume’s head developer. When the project started, Vanitha and other team members joined as well. Overall, seven people.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our new LMS solution runs and loads much faster than the previous model. The UX is marvellous and beautiful to work with for our users. Thanks to Plume's eLearning expertise, we've seen a steady increase in our growth.

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

Very organised, onboarding was quite time-consuming, but I now understand it was necessary.

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

They have a good balance between technology and design-driven agency. It’s great to make something look good, but underlying technology is critical.

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

They are a bit pricy, but you get what you pay for.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the owner of Vounder Analytics. We're a team of insurance data analysts & actuaries helping develop teams in the world of commercial general insurance.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We required a solution that would help us to educate insurance professionals clients on use of the custom insurance data systems.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

Plume had expertise in Learning Management Solutions. Hiring a local company was essential for ensuring great communication.

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

Learning management system built in Node.js and React.js

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

We worked directly with the founder (Kaine) and 5-6 other team members.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We created automated client training, which resulted in a more hands-off training experience on our end. This has reduced the number of support requests that we receive and how quickly we can point our clients to existing demos and training.

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

They had a very clear understanding of our requirements, and we'd spent a good deal of effort mapping this out. They were very helpful in guiding our project to an appropriate scope of requirements. We collaborated well during the design phases and they kept us updated during development. The project had a good amount of team work from us and them together.

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

The communication was clear throughout. Everything was explained to us thoroughly, and we avoided any costly surprises as a result.

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

The development of some integration work took longer than expected. Although we'd scoped everything out, we hadn't left enough wiggle room here. This was our first project of this size, so partly our remit here too.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are the largest and most popular dentist and aesthetic medicine practice in Liverpool. We have over 1,000 five star reviews and work hard making thousands of patients happy with our work. We also run aesthetic medicine training courses.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We have online courses to teach medical professionals how to inject and treat with Botox and filler.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

There aren’t many specialised LMS providers and the senior management team interviewed a number of companies and settled on plume because they promised a great product.

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

Plume were to design and develop a custom LMS that is intuitive, scalable, that we have full ownership of and that is profitable (able to return investment of around £50,000 in first year) and has advanced features such as cross sells, up sells and gamification intelligently baked into the product.

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

One developer - Igor Kaine - sales person and strategic lead Vanitha - project manager Iryna - second project manager when vanita failed And a number of individuals who were supposed to test, conduct QA and design the site and its features. Also UX consultants.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After we agreed a start date and set aside time we were initially delayed by a week by plume’s availability. Things were fine in the initial sprints and we made it very clear we had a budget that must not be exceeded. It soon became clear that the initial budget was woefully inadequate to complete the job to the agreed specification. Plume seemed unable to budget effectively and allocate time. Our team members were increasingly called upon to make important decisions about the site and a back and forth ensued that lasted months and months. we were paying eye-watering bill after eye-watering bill and having meetings about meetings while very little development was being done. We finally set a deadline and on reaching it we’re presented with a site that had no integrations with our email marketing software, was full of bugs and had features that either didn’t work or had been poorly conceived.

A database error likely to be due to development faults cost us several weeks and for which Plume charged us to rectify. Glitches that should have been rectified as part of their qa testing were billed to us. Kaine also admitted that the finished site had not been tested and that there had been failings in the QA process. That it had not been done. He promised to remedy things by giving us ‘free’ development hours.

We agreed to this and after a week the site was still not finished and it transpired that the free hours were actually costing another £5,000. I refused to pay this and Kaine removed all our privileges to the project management software and refused to release passwords or files. We eventually agreed to pay half of the bill and we’re sent the website files to transfer it to our servers. So after promising us an all singing all dancing site that we would own, we were left paying almost £80,000 for a google drive full of files and little or no understanding what to do with them. Kaine also informed us that we were not to communicate with the team and were cut off entirely.

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

Project management was appealing. I think the reason thing went so wrong was because the project manager vanitha was incompetent. The previous project manager had recently left when we signed up. As has a number of important contractors. A new project manager was hired shortly before We terminated the contract and refused to carry on paying for substandard work.

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

The sales pitch was the only impressive thing. We really trusted them and thought we were in the hands of professionals with unique knowledge of how to solve our problems. The finished site has had little or no useful input from Plume aside from technical development.

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

Towards the end the level of mismanagement of our expectations started to feel like dishonesty. And the final act of holding us to ransom confirmed this. We agreed on a list of items to get the site live, one of which was ‘transferring control’. When I asked to have the final site pointed to our servers they first said this was not possible, then when I insisted they claimed it would not be optimal. Then when I insisted again they said it was against their policies. And then when I insisted again they billed us for £5,000 and cut us off completely. If you hire plume you are essentially locked into a contract forever. And poor customer service and mismanagement will fast decay into malevolent, dishonest behavior.

Company Responses

The vendor responded on February 16, 2023.

I'm deeply saddened and genuinely upset by this review. In the 14 years of running my own agencies, I've never seen or had such a review.

Here at Plume we like to leave on a good note. I'm still at the end of a phone if you'd like to discuss the issues you have faced.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I own and am a named director of Ford Creative LTD. We're Branding and design specialists that go above and beyond. not only are we experts in branding and design but really, we find what makes you extraordinary and tell the world through building brand experiences that help you flex, scale and transform.

Combining our expertise with a flexible and relaxed approach, we work closely with each of our loved clients to ensure that your problem is no problem.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Ford Creative and some of our clients have been working with Plume since 2017 to build various websites and web apps.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We were referred to Plume. Our first project came together without a hitch and we have continued to collaborate since.

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

Various websites and web apps, including for some of our global clients.

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

Four in total, Vanitha was our project manager (Very excellent at her job). We worked with a UX designer and two developers, Michael & Igor. However, other developers often joined our calls as well.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Every project was delivered to spec and on time. Support has been excellent as well and has allowed us to be very hands-off with the tech.

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

They use a wide array of tech stacks for project management, bug reporting, etc. Over many years of work, we’ve had some delays here and there, but that is understandable, as certain things don’t go according to plan.

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

Their attention to detail and QC process. Their team is very process driven (they are clearly experienced)

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

There have been very few hiccups over the years, but when something isn't quite right, they have been quick to rectify issues.