SPARK Business Works

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Owner of Mattson Floor

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a high end flooring solutions company specializing in hardwood floors.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire SPARK Business Works to accomplish?

• Rescue and rebuild our website.
• Improve our marketing tactics.
• Grow our social media presence.

SOLUTION

How did you find SPARK Business Works?

Referral

Why did you select SPARK Business Works over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from SPARK Business Works were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

SPARK Business Works led the redesign and development of a new website for us.  The team hosted workshops to help us discover key aspects of our business, our clientelle and our competitive advantages.  

SPARK completed a strategy and planning deliverable that helped us craft our digital strategy.  This lead to the development of a new website focused on lead genereation.  The new website told our story better than before and help clients contact us easily.

Once the website was live SPARK moved on to assist us in our social media and digital advertising strategies.  They continue to assist us in content creation, social strategy and digital advertising.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The professionalism of the website and it telling our story correctly.

The performance of our website (lead generation).   

The success of our online advertisements (lead generation).

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

SPARK assigned a dedicated project manager to us.  This individual always kept us up to date with weekly updates and timely communication.  They helped us with what they needed from us and kept us up to date on SPARK's progress. The SPARK Business Works team is always quick to respond to our needs.

What was your primary form of communication with SPARK Business Works?

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

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

SPARK's team of experts impressed us.  They brought in a subject matter expert for various specilaitis (content, branding, design, advertising).  These experts showed the dept of the team and their experience.  Other firms we have used in the past only had one or two people who were expected to be experts in everything.  SPARK has these experts and brought them in and out of our project as needed.

Are there any areas for improvement or something SPARK Business Works could have done differently?

I don't believe so.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the President of HECO

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

HECO helps industrial plants utilize more dependable motors and equipment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire SPARK Business Works to accomplish?

• Connect Independent Systems together
• Provide a way to report on cross system data
• Automate processes that had dual data entry

SOLUTION

How did you find SPARK Business Works?

Referral

Why did you select SPARK Business Works over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from SPARK Business Works were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

To connect a variety of independent applications together. They created a datalake to input data through APIs from all of them and then have items automatically transfer between the applications. Had to connect a variety of key identifiers and pull data out of 3 or 4 systems into one. They ended up automating a variety of processes that were done manually in the past. This is an ongoing project where we will continue to grow these automated processes.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Data transferring automatically. They built me a daily email alert that showed me what happened overnight. We could then verify that things were transferring properly and this email became a routine update that we use to know when things happen. 

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

Very timely. If anything they were waiting on me to respond and i slowed it down not them. Weekly updates are great and allowed me to always know what they were working on when we didnt communicate. Anytime i wanted to chat with them a meeting was setup quickly and had without any issues. Everything was perfomred as expected for both time and cost.

What was your primary form of communication with SPARK Business Works?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Normally when i work with a software development company, they promise me the world and i only get 80% of what i am looking for. Spark delivered 100% of what i was looking for without me having to push. They are honest people who do what they say they will. They will take the time to do the hard part of "understanding what we truly want" and then develop it. They are unique in their space.

Are there any areas for improvement or something SPARK Business Works could have done differently?

I cannot think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Owner of Hounds and Co.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

At Hounds and Co., we provide top-quality pet nutrition for dogs and cats, focusing on natural and organic options to keep your pets happy and healthy for a long time to come.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire SPARK Business Works to accomplish?

• Create new website with online ordering capabilities.
• Build out a marketing automation system with email and text messaging.
• Develop a larger following on our social media channels.
• Ensure we were findable in Google/Apple Maps, Yelp and other local listing services.
• Create new signage and window graphics to attract more drive by attention.
• After acquiring the business, we wanted to rebrand it.

SOLUTION

How did you find SPARK Business Works?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select SPARK Business Works over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from SPARK Business Works were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

We purchased the business and needed it rebranded.  It was previously branded under the old owner's last name.  SPARK worked with our vision to create a new name, logo, colors, fonts and put it all in an easy to use brand kit.  

Once the brand was established, SPARK helped us design and develop our new website.  We love it!  It is built on top of our POS system so our customers can now login and purchase their favorite items.  They can be delivered or picked up.  This was a feature our customers were asking for!
In addition to the website, SPARK helped us develop a system for email/text based marketing.  This is also tied into our social networks and SPARK manages it all for us.  They do a great job and our customers love the interaction.
Lastly, SPARK helped us build a custom order management tool.  Their developers connected to our POS system and built a tool that analyzes the last 8 weeks of data.  It tells our team exactly what we need to order more of and how often.  We order thousands of items each week and this tool has taken this process from 8 hours down to 1.  It has also shrunk our inventory costs by over 25%.  
The team we worked with was very professional and fun.  We enjoyed every moment of seeing our vision come to life with the help of the SPARK team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The measurable outcomes of this project were:

• Increase in online orders
• Increased engagement from our current customer base from email/text marketing
• Increase in store volume
• Increase in online search traffic
• Increase in social media followers and interactions
• Reduction in time to reorder products each week
• Reduction in inventory costs

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

The project management at SPARK was very professional.  We met very frequently during the high points in the project.  They had a Slack channel that we used to communicate quickly during the day.  One thing I liked the most was SPARK sent a weekly update each week reviewing their accomplishments from the current week and what the plan was for the next week.  This update helped keep us on track for what we needed to provide SPARK.
They were always very accessible and quick to respond.

What was your primary form of communication with SPARK Business Works?

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

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

The branding work was tremendous.  They had a very structured process to gather information about our vision.  The outcome was amazing...they nailed it!

The digial marketing efforts were great.  What we were very happy with was their developers who build us an amazing inventory management tool.  This is truly one of a kind and fits our businses perfectly.  Their awareness of business process and automation was very impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement or something SPARK Business Works could have done differently?

I don't believe so.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Digital Marketing Manager of Oliver Packaging and Equipment Company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Oliver Packaging and Equipment Company offers meal packaging and bakery solutions; manufacturing food tray sealing machines, bread slicers and dough make-up equipment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire SPARK Business Works to accomplish?

• Design and develop a new website

SOLUTION

How did you find SPARK Business Works?

• Referral

Why did you select SPARK Business Works over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from SPARK Business Works were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

SPARK Business Works developed a custom website for our manufacturing company. We needed a more branded website with straightforward navigation, responsive design, and an intuitive backend platform.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our new website launched on time, on budget, and had all the features that we needed. We now have a beautifully branded website that is mobile-ready, has a working search product, and the backend is so easy to use to create and update pages.

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

SPARK's team was the best. They made every change we requested or discussed what might work even better, answered a million questions with a great attitude, demonstrated how to update each part of the website, and were very clear about timing and budget usage on the project management side.

What was your primary form of communication with SPARK Business Works?

• Email or Messaging App

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

The best thing about working with SPARK was their team and seeing the investment everyone made in learning about our manufacturing niche so that we got exactly what we were looking for. During this project, it felt like we were all on the same team, not working as an agency and client.

Are there any areas for improvement or something SPARK Business Works could have done differently?

I can't think of anything. This was one of the best projects I've worked on in my career.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CFO of Volleman’s Family Farm

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Vertically integrated dairy farm bottling milk in returnable glass bottles.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire SPARK Business Works to accomplish?

• Develop a custom app to record and integrate bottled milk sales into our accounting system

SOLUTION

How did you find SPARK Business Works?

Online Search

Why did you select SPARK Business Works over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from SPARK Business Works were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Spark developed a custom driver delivery app for our glass bottled milk deliveries to stores, along with a backend portal to view the drivers’ trips and plan future trips. The app pulled item data along with sales orders from our ERP software (Netsuite/Oracle) via API’s to populate in the app for drivers to make correct deliveries to stores and create real-time invoices and credits to our customers. 
Once a drivers trip was completed in the app, the app pushed the information (customer invoices & credits) back into our ERP system to the accounting side. This eliminated the need for manual entry of invoices and credits on the office AR side, allowed our driver delivery team to view the most up-to-date item data, and allowed supervisors to view real-time delivery data in the backend portal.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Invoices & credits coming into our accounting software
• Item data from ERP system syncing into mobile app

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

We were very impressed with their project management. Everything was fully transparent as far as timeline and deliverables, which were prompt.

What was your primary form of communication with SPARK Business Works?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Spark was completely transparent and upfront through the development process. They never tried to upsell us just to make a buck. They truly care about working together and making it a partnership that works for both parties.

Are there any areas for improvement or something SPARK Business Works could have done differently?

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the President of Contract Dewatering Services Inc.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Our company is a dewatering contractor serving the heavy civil construction sector.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire SPARK Business Works to accomplish?

• Our goal was to collect critical data from our field operations that we couldn't gather with off-the-shelf software options and to create a shared place for project information.

SOLUTION

How did you find SPARK Business Works?

social media event notification

Why did you select SPARK Business Works over others?

Referrals from SPARK Clients

How many teammates from SPARK Business Works were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

SPARK created custom software for tracking our projects throughout the Midwest on a real-time basis, eliminating the wait period for key information to be submitted on paper into our office a week or two after the fact. As we know, data is critical in decision making and we needed access to it sooner. Key deliverables included well log reporting, production tracking, and payroll time collection.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Project reports received in 1 day instead of 10-14 days.

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

SPARK's project management team was great to work with, understanding of our unique needs and good communicators. The overall timeline of the project went over by a bit, but it was more important to us as a company to get as many bugs worked out as possible prior to pushing out to our team as opposed to pushing just to hit the initial timeline goal.

What was your primary form of communication with SPARK Business Works?

Virtual Meeting

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

We say within our company that we are the exception to most rules because we do not fit the mold of many organizations or even most construction companies, for that matter. SPARK Business Works' ability to understand and support our company and accounting software program was impressive.

Are there any areas for improvement or something SPARK Business Works could have done differently?

I feel in the latter stages of the project that our needs weren't met as well as they were at the beginning of the project. Perhaps not enough hours budgeted to accommodate the tweaks necessary once we were up and running? We felt like we fell off the radar at times.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My organization is TeleReach Corporate. We’re a virtual call center that does B2B lead generation and outbound calls. We’ve been in business for 26 years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SPARK Business Works?

We were working with another website company. They didn’t meet any deadlines or get things done. We needed a new partner.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SPARK Business Works has helped us automate and improve our website, particularly the career and recruiting sections. They’ve built forms and added and changed things to automate our recruitment and hiring process. For example, they’ve added a calendar so people can schedule their interviews. Also, they can upload their documents and verbal resume straight into one place in our CRM. Furthermore, individual job applicants can schedule themselves to attend one of our video conferences. On the sales side, there’s a calendar for prospective clients.

Additionally, we do maintenance and hosting through them.

What is the team composition?

We work with one primary person, who is our main point of contact. Sometimes they bring in other people, so others are behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with SPARK Business Works?

I got a referral through word of mouth.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $25,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in August 2021, and our relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our current projects have saved us a lot of labor costs. We were doing a manual process before, and our automation now saves us money. Moreover, the site has improved and is more user-friendly.

How did SPARK Business Works perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is perfect — they nail it every single time. They're very orderly and organized. We talk about what we’ll do, and they write it down in a list and do it exactly the way it’s planned, so we’re always on the same page. We don’t have to stress over anything.

Also, they always keep it within the budget and are excellent communicators. If something isn’t going well, they tell us and give us an updated schedule so we know what’s going on at all times. We enjoy working with them; we’ve had a great experience with SPARK Business Work.

We have standing Zoom meetings with them to keep us on track. In between, we use emails and phone calls as needed. Also, we look at things on screen share to see whatever project piece we’re working on at the moment.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re extremely smart and organized. They think things through and anticipate problems. Moreover, they’re proactive and excellent communicators.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re hardworking and conscientious. It’s hard to find people like that.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a systems and capacity enhancement analyst for a location-based scholarship company. We provide full tuition and fees between 65%–100% for students. I set up systems and utilize our database to support our staff while they support students. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with SPARK Business Works?

SPARK is working with us on a new database project that I manage. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

SPARK built a custom portal for us to access pieces of information such as students’ general information, billing details for schools, and enrollment records from K-12 to college. We initially did a discovery process. Since the COVID-19 pandemic started around the time we began the project, our teams had to decide which things were more important than others. 

Our engagement then ended up growing a bit more than we planned. First, we put our scholarship forms online using a WordPress site. Then, the SPARK team developed the portal for our staff and students. We were able to put the scholarship forms there. 

At present, we’re still working with the team on developing the platform. We’ve been improving our staff’s ability to access student information by exporting student data. Our staff can also filter and search student data based on various demographics and scholarship statuses. The portal also allows us to add schools and users, providing dashboards for each of our partner schools.

Moreover, the platform’s features allow us to attach PDFs to our contacts, view logs and invoice records, and get error reports. It also has automation features in terms of monitoring students’ academic progress. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with a lot of people from the SPARK team. We work with a project manager, a business analyst, and developers; the project manager and the business analysts are our primary points of contact.

How did you come to work with SPARK Business Works?

Our executive director was looking for local development companies when we met SPARK. We then decided that the team would be a good fit for the project. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We connected with SPARK in March 2020, and the engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our staff can now pull data easier through the portal; we weren’t able to do that in the previous portal. Students can now also submit their applications and acceptance forms online, which is crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Moreover, our staff can now tag and monitor students better without using separate Excel spreadsheets. This has improved our coordination since we do things directly on the database. We also now have a two-step approval process, so we’ve got two sets of eyes on every form. 

How did SPARK Business Works perform from a project management standpoint?

For project management, SPARK uses Miro for planning. They also use GitLab and Slack, which are great tools for reviewing and monitoring tasks. Our teams also use them to communicate and ask questions and clarifications as we test things. The SPARK team also uses Google Spreadsheets heavily. Apart from these, we also have weekly Zoom and in-person meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

SPARK is willing to go the extra mile for their clients. They’re also invested in building relationships with customers. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The engagement would have been smoother if we had a little more clarity in terms of scope. For context, we missed some discovery and scope definitions because of the COVID-19 pandemic. SPARK intended to go to our office and work with some of our team members to see how we interacted with our old system. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do that. As a result, we had a ton of scope creep during the project. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be sure about what you want. SPARK is creative and knows how to make things happen. Given that, if you know your business and product needs, then the team can do a great job for you. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the COO of a software company, SalesPage Technologies. We provide a distribution platform for Asset Managers and are located throughout the US.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SPARK Business Works, and what were your goals?

We hired Spark to help us with our internal project time tracking. All of our project initiatives needed to be tracked daily as well as our non-project initiatives like administrative tasks. Spark provided the software to use as a baseline and then customized it to meet our needs.

SOLUTION

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

We knew Spark from some other small IT project interactions through our physical office environment and felt comfortable with their leadership and management approach to projects.

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

Spark started from an existing product and where we wanted to make our own customizations wrote up business requirements to align our teams on what development work needed to be done. From there they implemented the tasks and we participated in the user acceptance testing phase. I'm not sure what underlying technologies where used.

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

As the project sponsor I delegated the day-to-day tasks to our Project Manager and she worked with the direct team. I stayed in contact with Bob Armbrister (CEO) from the executive sponsor level.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The software was launched on time and our users especially appreciated the integration with our existing workflow tool, JIRA. In general, the roll out went smoothly and our team was able to begin using the new software seamlessly.

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

As the sponsor I received weekly email status updates, which was perfect for my involvement.

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

They seem to continue to attract talented team members. We've had good interactions with anyone who's worked with our team.

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

I can't think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder of Dome IQ, Inc., a virtual platform designed to instantly connect elected officials with the information they require to optimize public policy outcomes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire SPARK Business Works, and what were your goals?

I entrusted SPARK Business Works to develop the back end of our platform. The goal is a simple one: Build seamless operation to ensure clear, intuitive, one-click navigation for all users, from signup to sign-in, then from one feature to the next.

SOLUTION

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

SPARK came highly recommended based upon the following:

1. A proven track record of success
2. Demonstrated depth and breadth of expertise
3. "Been there, done that" experience of the CEO and staff SPARK has proven to be all of the above, as well as interested, flexible and responsive to preferences based upon "feel" and "nuance." A (very) rare mix...

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

SPARK successfully developed from limited, base "wireframes" of another company to the lush, finished product our investors and (initial) users rave about today. SPARK's process involves personal interviews to determine desired outcomes, routine check-ins to update and verify "fit" w/ vision, testing, then launch.

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

SPARK is careful to align tasks w/ talent so as to meet project budget and timeline.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

To date I've found SPARK wholly receptive to feedback and proactive in identifying, then pursuing, any adjustments needed to align work product w/ vision. "Timeline" is a relative term in this space, but SPARK has met and/or exceeded our goals w/ rare exception. I can honestly state that most if not all "surprises" re: Timeline (and/or invoices) have been due to an oversight or flat out misunderstanding on my part.

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

SPARK Business Works--in the image of the founder--can best be described as "flexible." They just..."get it." There isn't much that they've not seen, and should that situation arise, they gain traction quickly and efficiently, then simply pivot. Our public policy platform is proof positive that SPARK is not just an "off the shelf" shop; they actually enjoy--and excel--at "custom" work!

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

In a phrase: "Buy-in." SPARK Business Works partners very closely with our chosen Design company to minimize time and, therefore, cost. This is not a firm that automatically defaults to "black letter" contract language should "outcome" not align w/ "vision." SPARK patiently seeks out options to achieve your preferences...not just minimums.

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

Other than provide yours truly w/ a crash course in all-things "startup?" No. This has been "learn as I go." I've managed to find every sharp edge along the way to MVP, and the quality of SPARK's work shows in every way: Investment, user experience and, ultimately, acceptance. Ours is a partnership that will only continue to grow as we continue to build our firm.