Scopic

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing and technical director for KidsTale Playgrounds. We’re a distributor of playground equipment for parks, schools, daycares, and so on.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Scopic?

We brought them in for several key projects, starting with software development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, Scopic created a playground design tool for our independent sales playground consultants, so they could sit down with a customer and design a playground in 3D based on their needs. We had the criteria for the objectives, and they did all the programming work. Additionally, we had another team working on the models, and then we brought the two together. Scopic did a lot of Ruby on Rails scripting, and we built the application around SketchUp, an existing open-source 3D platform.

Other projects emerged once we started scaling the demo up to full-scale production. KidsTale Playgrounds didn’t have any marketing efforts, so I took a look at them and went back to Scopic. In addition to the playground designer software, we put together a marketing strategy and rebuilt our website.

What is the team composition?

We deal with two people regularly: a lead programmer and a project manager who oversees all the operations on their end. Several people are involved behind the scenes, but we don’t know the exact number. 

How did you come to work with Scopic?

We found them using Guru; we were looking for someone to do the scripting. After reading their profile and conversing with them, they seemed like an excellent fit. 

How much have you invested with them?

Over four years, we’ve spent quite a bit with Scopic. The cost is above $100,000; it’s been $80,000–$90,000 on the website, and the SEO and everything that goes on the site is additional.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2018, and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve done other software development projects with other companies and individuals, but none of them went as smoothly as with Scopic. They’re very trustworthy, and we value their team members. The lead programmer is knowledgeable, and we appreciate his feedback. It’s a genuine partnership, and we like their hard work — we’ve released a phenomenal product and had an astounding number of clicks and leads on social media.

How did Scopic perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is handled well. They’re the best company we’ve worked with; we’ve heard many nightmare stories on website development, but Scopic isn’t like that.

We’ve had several project managers for various things, but we’ve established an excellent working rapport with them. Moreover, they’re excellent at communicating issues and understanding everything we’ve put into the project initiative. We seem to speak on the same level, which allows us to do amazing things.

Every week we get a clear log on a journal to see what they’ve worked on and the hours that go along with that particular task. In that sense, they’re very transparent. Some other companies just give us a general invoice for 20 hours, but there aren’t details on what they did during those hours. On the other hand, every team member of Scopic logs in their hours and what they do on the project. Since we also operate under a budget, we manage that and communicate our high-priority projects with the project manager to control where we spend time.

Scopic has a platform to manage the project, and that’s our primary way of communicating with them. Additionally, there’s a secondary person with the marketing team, and we use Skype to be a little quicker.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their level of honesty and integrity is outstanding. They don’t tell us they can do something if they don’t have a clear idea. If the project scope is questionable, they go back, have a meeting, and then return to us to let us know what they can do.

Also, we work on multiple projects simultaneously, and they’re great at adjusting time and hours to ramp up the work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It’d be nice if we could sit down in the same office space from time to time, but we’ve been working remotely, and their talent spreads across the globe. In reality, our only hurdle is that our budget isn’t as big as we’d like to engage more with them. We don’t have any criticism or items to improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’ve recommended them to other clients, and I’ve advised them to document the work and lay out some type of architecture. Scopic is more than capable of putting together an architectural diagram, but the better information you give them, the better products they’ll deliver.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner and principal consultant at a software consulting company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Scopic?

We needed their help with building a software product that serves as a 3D model and a learning system.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?
We’ve initially launched a scoping phase to detail our requirements and exchange ideas with Scopic’s team. They mainly perform frontend development work using TypeScript and JavaScript, collaborating with our in-house team in building software solutions for our mechanical system. It enables students to understand different readings through a simulator and a learning system.

We’ve already completed the product and are hosting it through our own means, but Scopic continues to support us with software maintenance services.

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact is Martha (Project Manager).

How did you come to work with Scopic?
I found their team via Guru while looking for potential companies to onboard for this project.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $15,000 at this point.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement with Scopic started in September 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Scopic has done a great job of meeting our technical and timeline requirements. They always allocate skilled and efficient resources to complete our product’s features, no matter how small it is. We’ve tasked them with both urgent and complex tasks throughout our engagement, and Scopic has managed to deliver every time.

How did Scopic perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate and manage workflows through Teamwork. Scopic has an organized system, and they keep us in the loop at all times.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Scopic has effective coding skills that accurately address our needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

From my perspective, there’s nothing else that needs improvement.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Set clear goals and trust them to deliver those within your timelines.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the patient care administrator at a small private therapy practice. We specialize in treating anxiety, depression, OCD, and so on.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Scopic?

We needed someone to help us grow our presence on search engines.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Scopic helps us with SEO, social media marketing, and advertising. In terms of social media, our efforts are primarily on Instagram and Facebook. 

They’ve created a guide on what type of content to post on a daily or weekly basis. Additionally, the team has designed templates to help us engage with our audience.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with five people, including two project managers, a social media manager, and two other teammates.

How did you come to work with Scopic?

I found a few companies on Google that had some good ratings. After conducting introductory calls with all of them, I decided I liked Scopic’s approach the most. 

They genuinely wanted to help me understand their work rather than just telling me what to do, which was essential to me.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend $200–$500 per month depending on the work we’re asking them to do.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in December 2020, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In terms of social media, we’ve seen a massive increase in followers who actually engage with our posts. Our web traffic has improved, and our ads have been very successful. 

Overall, Scopic has done an excellent job of helping us increase engagement.

How did Scopic perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management has been fantastic — Scopic is highly organized and communicative. Additionally, they listen to us and accommodate our requests to shift their focus on specific tasks.

We mainly communicate through email. The team sends summary emails every week, so we always know what they’re working on and the time it takes for them to finish tasks. 

Occasionally, we also have conference calls with the Scopic team when we need to have in-depth conversations.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Not only is Scopic knowledgeable, but they’re also willing to share their expertise. Throughout the project, the team has been very open to working closely with us. My background is not in marketing at all, but the Scopic team still takes the time to help me understand their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they could improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just be clear on what you want the outcome to me and listen to their recommendations. Take their expert advice under consideration even if it’s not what you expected.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a pharmacy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Scopic?

Our previous website was outdated, and we were looking for someone to help us build a new website with a fresh, crisp, and innovative look.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Scopic built our website from scratch. I first provided them with my design preferences. Since we’re a specialty pharmacy, I wanted the site to look futuristic. 

After development, Scopic has implemented SEO on the site. I’ve given them our target keywords, and they are handling everything to ensure we rank high on search engines.

Our partnership is ongoing, and I contact them anytime I want to do edits or add something to the site.

What is the team composition?

Diana (Marketing Manager) and Mo (Software Engineer) are my primary contacts, and they have people working under them. I also speak with 2–3 other resources. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent close to $14,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July 2020, and it’s ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our clients are telling us that they found us through our website. I’m happy and satisfied with Scopic’s work, which got me more inquiries, leads, and clients. 

Additionally, Scopic has hit my design goals on the dot — they’ve transformed my vision into reality and captured everything I wanted. 

How did Scopic perform from a project management standpoint?

Scopic meets all our deadlines. Sometimes, it takes a while for me to review their work, but they are always on top of the project. We communicate via email and Zoom calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Scopic has taken my ideas and made them real. They have both creativity and a sense of direction. As a business owner, I’ve worked with companies that don’t deliver what I want. Meanwhile, Scopic has delivered exactly what I wanted.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything. I have no complaints. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You’ll get the project done a lot quicker if you review their work on time. That said, they’re good at following up and keeping you on top of the project. Follow their lead.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

For over 20 years, Houston Pump and Gear has specialized in the repair, restoration, and upgrade of industrial rotating equipment including gearboxes, pumps, compressors, centrifuges, turbines, and blowers. I am the company Owner

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had previously engaged with another company to design our website. We were unhappy with the final product and had wanted guidance on how to increase our company visibility on Google.

SOLUTION

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

Scopic was amazing from the start. They were very professional and extremely responsive. They listened carefully to each of our concerns with our current website and really took the time to understand our goals as a company. They presented a thorough plan to address not only our immediate marketing needs but also our long term goals. Their clear communication and thoughtful and professional presentation made working with them no-brainer.

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

Ultimately our long-term goal was to increase the visibility of our company on Google and to rank for specific industry search terms. To start the project, Scopic did an in-depth review of our website that had been done by the other company. They discovered a number of issues that would affect the ability of our site to rank highly in the future. They took a systematic approach to address the coding, speed and design issues to ensure our site was in the best position to begin SEO optimization and content creation.

In order to deliver immediate results in the meantime, they suggested launching a Google Add campaign. The team successfully created, implemented and managed a Google Add campaign that met our goals to drive website traffic and most importantly generate leads. In tandem, they worked diligently to complete the website improvements needed to launch a successful SEO campaign.

After the site improvements were completed, they effectively optimized the content on our site, began actively blogging and created a dynamic back linking strategy. These activities have resulted in first page Google rankings for desired key words.

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

In order to successfully execute our project we worked with a number of Scopic' s team members, each of whom was an industry expert in their respective field. This truly allowed us to optimize our spend and get the best results from the best in the business.

I can't say enough good things about Sarah! She is my main point of contact at Scopic and organizes, plans and allocates each step of the project amongst Scopic' s industry experts. I have a lot of competing priorities on a daily basis and she really keeps things on track. It is so nice to have someone so aligned with our company goals and objectives and can keep us moving in the right direction.

She is very thorough, communicates clearly and concisely and I can always count on her to meet the deliverables we set. I hardly even take notes during our calls anymore because I can always count on her to and action items after each meeting. There is no way we could have accomplished any of this without her. She is the best and truly an extension of our team!

• Petra - Google Add Campaign design, implementation and monitoring
• Maksim / Ovi - Backlinking Campaign implementation and management, SEO monitoring and weekly evaluation
• André - SEO specialist
• Ljubo - Page Development and Design
• Raimer - Developer and Techno lead
• Andre - SEO Keyword research and strategy
• Nensi - QA specialist
• Helen / David Van - Content Writers
• Francis - Page design
• Shereen - Project Manager (Development)

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Scopic has delivered on every project decline and deliverable set. We're organically ranking for many relevant industry key words and are actively working to build domain authority.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Thanks to Sarah, it has been seamless. There are so many moving parts, she plans and distributes all tasks in order to meet our deadlines and within budget. She works collaboratively with us to determine workflows that work with our schedule while still allowing us to meet our deadlines.

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

The people and the results! Scopic is truly a team of industry experts and professionals. They are a marketing dream team that you can call on to solve any digital marketing issue you many have and help you meet your goals. They go above and beyond to communicate every step of the way and are always accessible to answer any questions you may have. I highly recommend working with them!

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

Honestly, no they have been wonderful.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of a website called Thankster, which operates by a SaaS model. We provide a service for businesses where we create personalized mail written in simulated handwriting. It’s a useful tool for customer retention and lead generation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Scopic?

We had a small version of a website up and running but we needed to rebuild it, so we brought on Scopic.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Scopic rebuilt, redesigned, and re-engineered our site from scratch. They also played a key part in developing the algorithms that would simulate the handwriting. The team kind of did everything for us as a white-label product.

At one point we could only sell the simulated handwriting separately, but Scopic spent a while building and integrating the handwriting component into the site so that users could access it from there. They also built the APIs.

After the website was launched, they stayed with us for a few years to maintain it and add new features every now and then. We put the engagement on pause until recently, when we had to bring them back in to rewrite the whole site. Currently, the team is scoping out the work. It will most likely be done in the same phases as before.

What is the team composition?

Over the years, there were around 7–10 people working with us. We had Martha (Project Manager), the developers, and Tim (Founder & President), who would check in every once in a while. People cycled in and out depending on the work or because they had left the company. 

Right now, there are three members on board, including a designer and developers, but I’m sure that’ll grow as we bring in more people of different expertise.

How did you come to work with Scopic?

I found them on a freelancer website. We filtered through hundreds of developers, but we ultimately went with Scopic because their combination of expertise and price seemed like a good value.

How much have you invested with them?

I would estimate that it’s around $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

It was so long ago that I can’t determine exactly when, but I would have to say we started around March 2011. The partnership is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our website has grown and has been really successful, which was the main measure of their impact. Scopic has been very responsive and effective in building exactly what we asked.

How did Scopic perform from a project management standpoint?

It’s been good. Martha has been really great at overseeing the project. We mostly communicate through email and phone and have a weekly Skype call with the developers.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Scopic is very flexible and presents high-level expertise at a reasonable cost.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have any advice on this aspect. They’ve been really good.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear idea of what you really want when you work with Scopic.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm Vice President of a software company

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our team has skills focused on C++ desktop applications. For projects outside this realm, for example, cloud-based or mobile Apps, we go to Scopic. In this case, it was a cloud-based recurring billing system which enables SaaS.

SOLUTION

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

We've used Scopic for several years. Small projects at first, but growing in scope over the years.

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

They used the Stripe payment system API and hooked it up to a SQL customer database all running in the cloud, and provided a C++ callable API that our code talked to.

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

There were 3 - 2 engineers and a project manager. Probably another 1 or 2 behind the scenes.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It about to launch, so we don't yet know the final outcome! But its looking good.

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

For me its great because it is all via email. No interrupting phone calls. They handle most everything, so it is truly possible to delegate to them. I guess we had a kick-off ZOOM meeting as well.

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

I like how the project manager handles a lot and insulates us from some of the details. I like that I can email directly to Tim the CEO (which typically I only do at the very start of a project - to check that its the type of thing they can do --and it seems, it always is.)

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

My company is probably the weakest link -- sometimes they are prompting us to review their work, and we are the slow down overall.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Zonal began in the UK in 1979 when the McLean family noticed they were having issues monitoring sales and operations at their family hotel and bar in Edinburgh. Ralph McLean, the founder, realized the hotel was losing around 30 dollars a night. He invented a solution to manage and control operations, creating the first Zonal POS system. In 1993 Zonal expanded to the US, setting up operations in Florida. Today Zonal has offices in Florida, Georgia and New Jersey and continues to expand through both direct and reseller channels. We have over 400 employees worldwide. The US market is our key focus. The unrivaled financial stability and success of Zonal has enabled the business to invest significantly in product development, and we lead the market with innovation especially in the field of customer engagement, guest management, optimizing the power of social media and digital marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We have used Scopic for several projects and support issues with products that were designed by other development firms. Scopic has worked on our Z-Loyalty and iOrder products the most, which are both fully integrated with our POS systems that reside in store. The goals have been different everytime we have hired Scopic, once was to find and fix a memory leak in our loyalty application that was mission critical, another was to enhance the user ordering experience in our iOrder application where customers can order food and drink from their mobile device.

SOLUTION

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

We found them on Guru by looking at recommendation and we couldn't be happier with their work or their team

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

The scope of work has always started with a technical call to discuss the needs, estimates on the work including optimistic, realistic and pessimistic cases. Our work crosses several technologies including iOS, Android, Web, Google Firebase, SendGrid, Heroku and I am sure I left out a few!

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

For my projects the average was 5 which consisted of a project manager, 1-2 developers, an operation manager and an accounting manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Scopic has always met our expectations and we will continue to use them for any other work needed.

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

Scopic uses a cloud based project management solution called Teamwork, it is easy to use, even for a non-developer like myself!

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

They are always on top of our requests and willing to work on anything, no matter how the program was developed or maintained

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

Nothing I would change.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

dSurf is the platform where years of accessibility knowledge and passion for equality in the workforce come together to create a community where knowledge can be shared.

dSurf offers free resources in the form of webinars, blog articles, and videos for end-users, teachers of end-users, parents, documentation and content creators, sighted testers, and engineers. Our primary focus is helping people who are blind or visually impaired and testing web sites for accessibility.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Scopic helped me create a website that defines who dSurf is to the world. When I first reached out to them I had a few ideas, but they helped me define the mission and role we want to play in the market.

This included creating a whole new website, mission statement, logo and images, SEO, CSS, and much more. Scopic's team has helped us show the rest of the world who we are and what we do in what is a relatively specialized market.

SOLUTION

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

I chose Scopic for their track record of helping others.

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

I had a very basic, functional web site that did not look or feel modern. I had some basic ideas outlined there. Scopic brought their entire team to focus on several things, including:

1. Creating a logo
2. Identifying "who" we are
3. Providing graphics and images for social media (i.e., Twitter, YouTube)
4. Writing content and biography pages
5. Creating text and images for the web pages that are accessible
6. SEO optimization
7. Speed of web page loading
8. Etc.

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

The team from Scopic included the following members:

• Project Manager
• Technical team lead for web dev
• Designer for graphics
• Marketing lead and copyrighter
• SEO specialist
• Testers and auditors

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I have already had positive comments via the blog from clients within a few days of launching the web site.

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

The project manager coordinated all team members and meetings. If I need to speak to given members of the team, those members are present at the meetings we hold. The project manager used Zoom for most meetings and we have used Skype and email as well for communication.

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

I am fairly skilled in front-end and User Interface design (UX), however I have not the skills for the back end of the web site. This is the reason I hired Scopic, for their technical and marketing expertise.

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

We had one missed meeting due to circumstances beyond the project manager's control. Those things happen in any work environment. The project manager has been on top of getting it right whenever there was even a minor issue.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

The company is a start-up and will, when authorised, design instrument flight procedures for private and commercial aircraft operators and airfields. I am assisting the owner as an aviation consultant with experience of software development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

The development of an application for IFP design is very complicated and requires extensive use of 3D maths and transformations. The task was to create an app from the ground up so we wrote a long specifications document to say what it should do.

SOLUTION

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

I used Scopic several years ago to design a similar system for a previous company of my own, so they were the logical choice. They managed to get hold of the engineer who'd worked on the previous project so he already had a good deal of the required knowledge.

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

Far too much to detail here. The project has been ongoing for over a year and will take maybe another six months. Scopic review progress with us every couple of weeks and we tweak the requirements according to what we find during testing, which works well.

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

Normally two: one engineer and one coordinator.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The project was slow to start but this was because we and Scopic were investigating COTS solutions for the 3D display of the designs, but once this was settled they built a back end first of all and then started to add functionality.

As a consequence, it took quite a while for us to see the proof of concept app, but after that it's developed more quickly.

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

Communication is done via email and bi-weekly Skype meetings, which works well. They have their own portal for managing the project but it's not something that I use since it adds a layer of complexity that I don't have time for and don't need.

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

Scopic are very flexible with regard to working hours and the contract we have with them is also flexible. They are very happy to make changes to the app that wasn't in the spec, and don't complain even when we change our minds about how a tool should work (several times).

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

I can't think of anything specific.