Andigo

Please describe your company and your position there.

BPA Worldwide is the global provider of assurance services. I serve in the communications and marketing capacity.

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

The BPA website was last updated nearly 10 years ago and was in need of a refresh. We did not have in-house developers to assist with the project, so we turned to Andigo to design and develop a WordPress-based site for us. With the launch of the redesigned site, we hope to make the user experience flow more smoothly while also increasing overall traffic.

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

Based on several recommendations from industry peers, we whittled our list down to three and interviewed each to let them know "want to haves" and "need to haves" in the new site design. Utilizing feedback from these meetings, as well as cost and timing, we settled on Andigo.

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

Following several kick-off calls to discuss goals and objectives, the team provided updated content, design and wireframes for the redesign. The BPA team worked closely with the Andigo team to formulate a cleaner WordPress -based site with better flow that heightened the user's experience.

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

We worked mainly with Andrew, Digital Strategist at Andigo.

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

After the site launch, we saw significant traffic increase to the site. We also received very positive feedback from internal and external constituents. A few comments received: “Really looks impressive. Such a needed facelift for BPA!” “Looks good, I went through it and was easy to navigate.” “I think this is great. Bigger font, easier to navigate, plus a quicker way to audits. It’s also a much smoother ride throughout the site.” “Great overhaul and it looks great!”

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

Our work with Andrew was straightforward and direct. He and his team with very responsive to our suggestions and requests and helped make the project run as smoothly as possible.

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

Andigo was a great partner during our redesign project and created a new site design that we are proud of.

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

No issues here.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the president of Allied Safety Associates. We are an occupational safety and health consulting firm.

What challenge were you trying to address with Andigo?

We engaged Andigo to help us build a new website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We wanted the new site to look professional yet functional. It needed to provide information through a bold and interactive design, distinguishing us from other consulting firms without appearing too flashy. A key feature is an easy-to-use yet modern navigation system. Our side developed the content and strategies to include the final site. Andigo first built a one-page holding site while we shut down our old site. It informed users of who we are, what we do, and how to get in touch with us. They also transformed PowerPoint presentations that we use in training for clients into highly polished slide decks with innovative graphics.

What is the team composition?

Andy (Digital Strategist and Web Developer, Andigo) was our main point of contact. He coordinated a larger team behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with Andigo?

A colleague of mine highly recommended them; Andigo had done excellent work for them in the past.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from October 2017 to October 2018.

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

The website is still in a beta launch phase, but it’s received positive feedback so far and earned us contacts to reach out to in the future. We plan on enlisting Andigo again to implement SEO in our site; however, we already have excellent rankings in search results.

How did Andigo perform from a project management standpoint?

Andy accommodated time zone differences and our project’s pacing. The team met all deadlines and scheduled updates. Any delays came from our side. He also patiently explained the technical work being done in layperson’s terms. On occasion, he tactfully pushed back against our requests when he knew they would not fit into our budget or bring us the results we wanted. His expertise, reliability, and consistent communication made collaboration a breeze.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Andigo is incredibly easy to work with. The team is professional, patient, reliable, and highly accessible.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Andigo’s honest feedback on our less feasible ideas worked well for our team. However, their approach might rub some clients the wrong way.

Any advice for potential customers?

Have a clear vision of the product you’re trying to achieve. Then turn it over to Andigo and trust their guidance to bring it to life.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the executive director of the international federation of 49 chemical societies.

For what projects/services did your company hire Andigo?

We needed to switch our website to a WordPress platform so we could do content updates ourselves.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to relaunch our website with a fresh, new look. We also wanted to add a few new features.

How did you select this vendor?

I worked with Andrew (president, Andigo) on another website project. I knew he and his team did great work, were responsive, and had a lot of integrity.

Describe the project in detail.

Andigo started by asking us a number of questions about our federation, our goals, and how we interacted with our member societies. They then created a WordPress website and new graphics. They migrated over most of our existing content, including our database of users. They also maintained the site’s link to MailChimp.

What was the team composition?

My main contact was Andrew. A number of members of his team did the coding.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Andigo delivered the new website on time and in budget. My management team was thrilled. We've received many compliments on the new look and feel of the website. Andigo's team added several new features since the initial launch. Their intake process was very helpful in clarifying our digital strategy.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Their team is fabulous. Andigo delivered what was promised, on time. They got all work done quickly and Andrew provided months of support at no additional cost. All products were easy to understand with no jargon. A task force on our side gave final approval on everything.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They delivered high-quality work at a reasonable price. Their help on strategy, and the additional support, made them stand out. I’d highly recommend Andigo.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I don't think so. We'll continue to work with Andigo.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the Digital Director at Lorelli NYC, an advertising agency.

What challenge were you trying to address with Andigo?

We needed someone to develop a series of websites for an end-client that was looking to update their online presence.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Andigo serves as a developer, handling all of the backend coding and infrastructure development for four different websites. Their deliverables were code and interfaces – which they’d been given designs of. The scope expanded partway through the project to include an availabilities platform, which is a tool that enables the client to update information at one entry point and have it populate automatically and dynamically throughout the site. They work primarily in PHP and use WordPress – along with custom themes – as a CMS, but there’s also custom JavaScript functionality as well.

The biggest obstacle was to use the end-client’s limited budget to create a custom interface that would allow them to update a specific kind of content on multiple sites from one GUI. WordPress doesn’t innately allow for that, but they found a workaround: creating a WordPress site that simple stores content and then feeds it onto other WordPress sites.

What is the team composition?

I have good relationship with Andigo’s owner, Andy, so I talked a lot to him. I also worked with their client services person, who brought on developers as necessary.

How did you come to work with Andigo?

I have a history with Andy, who’s the owner and founder. We've worked together in the past and I knew what I was going to get with them. Their competitive pricing and the relationship there made it an easy decision.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $25,000—$26,500 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since December 2017.

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

Andigo consistently meets the specs of a project and does so on time, as long as the scope doesn’t change. They always meet my and my client’s expectations. As far as them enabling other business goals, that would be a bit unrelated, given that business goals may or may not be well-informed or well-strategized. Meeting a poorly assembled business goal isn't going to have a great result. What would be more relevant is that, especially compared to other developers, they’re extremely consistent.

How did Andigo perform from a project management standpoint?

Compared to other developers, their management is very good. We use a project management tool internally, but Andigo isn’t checking in on Slack or updating a Trello board. The correspondence and management is done over email. Their client services contact consistently responds to emails within 24 hours and is highly agreeable. We worked through that person and then corresponded with the development team on a limited basis.

They do a respectable job of not overpromising, which is a good thing. The most common response to a functionality inquiry is that they’ll get back to you after conferring with their team. They never overreach.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Compared to other developers, Andigo is much more willing to work out an unconventional solution to a problem, which I really appreciate. I prefer developers to assist in coming up with solutions rather than just executing a solution that's provided to them. Andigo is willing to get their hands dirty and push into unexplored territory to find unconventional solutions. In my experience, many are very hesitant to do anything that's not explicitly defined in scope, which I can understand. They're more about getting the project done and making the client happy than following a scope to that letter. They just have that small business, “get it done,” attitude.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Given that they have a small team, you can definitely feel pinches in progress in projects over time. There’s a difference in productivity whether or not the project is a priority issue for them – just because of their limited staff. When you know that your product is the priority, it's great. But, you can also obviously tell when it's not a priority. The constructive criticism would be to scale their operation to have more capacity.

Any advice for potential customers?

If you're solving your own problems, check with them. Make sure that your solution is good and don't assume that your solution is going to work. If you're solving your own problems and trying to think on behalf of your developers, check with them. My number two thing is to give as much notice as possible if the scope might change, even if you're not sure. If there's a chance that it's going to change, you need to inform the developers immediately. They're able to monitor and work efficiently if they have that warning. If they don't, you increase the chances of their time and your time and your money being wasted.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I manage the advisory department at the Winston Art Group. We are a leading independent art appraisal and advisory firm. We specialize in appraisal and advice on all fine and decorative art, jewelry, and collectibles.

What challenge were you trying to address with Andigo?

We needed a redesign to update our website and make sure that it worked. We also wanted to move it to a WordPress platform.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We came to them with general knowledge and ideas on what we wanted. We knew that the website was on an outdated system that didn’t work with cellphones or other mobile devices, and we knew that we wanted to update the website to better reach our audience.

They moved the entire website to WordPress, which has made regular updates easy for us and anyone else we hire to work on the website. They helped us better organize the website’s traffic to the respective specialist. We have five regional offices and on the previous website, it just wasn’t clear as to who people should contact based on location, but now you can easily identify that information.

An additional feature they implemented was a tagging system. We have an ongoing blog and can now tag various specialists in different collection categories with each post. That way, if a user is looking at one of our recent projects and then becomes interested in fine art in Miami, for example, they can find more information, different projects, and specific specialists related to that.

For a separate project we did together, they moved another one of our services to WordPress and incorporated it with the new website. For $50, clients can get an online evaluation of their pieces. They were able to move and incorporate that, while still clearly having it be its own service, and simplifying the submission process for users.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact was the head of the company, who acts as the head project manager. He was quick to respond, and understood what we were looking for and our technical capabilities. He listened to what our problems were, understood what we wanted for the future, and responded with thoughtful recommendations. There was a team working for him, but he was always the person we talked to directly.

How did you come to work with Andigo?

We submitted a request for proposal to several tech companies but found Andigo through a colleague that had previously worked with them. Based on that recommendation, how cost effective they were, and their understanding of the project, we decided to go with Andigo.

How much have you invested with them?

We originally budgeted for $10,000–$12,000 but decided to incorporate some of their design suggestions, which brought the cost closer to $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in April 2016, and the website was launched in November or December 2016.

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

I don’t have specific numbers, but our online traffic has gone up. We estimated that with the previous website about 10% of our clients were coming from online. Now we’re estimating that 25%–30% of our clients are coming to us through the website.

We’ve heard from many clients that the website makes it much easier to understand the different collection categories we serve. We work with over 75 different categories, and it wasn’t clear who to contact with the previous website. Now everything is very clear; there’s better understanding of our regional offices and different geographic categories.

How did Andigo perform from a project management standpoint?

They were amazing. There were no delays on their end. Any hit to the project schedule came from us trying to figure out, internally, what images and text to use for the website.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were unbelievably personable. They were patient with us, especially since we are not a tech company and didn’t have an in-depth understanding of website design or coding. They provided several overall site design suggestions that we would never have thought of but ended up incorporating.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing major that comes to mind. They’re a great business that understands their market, their product, and is smart about how they approach different companies. We had some helpful ongoing discussions, but I do think it would have been beneficial—helped us to better understand all of our options—if Andigo had shown us their portfolio of successful websites for previous clients at the beginning of the project.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s important to understand that, while websites are a constant work-in-progress, Andigo has the specialty to recommend options that you may never have thought of. People need to understand all the different available options, how to best organize and implement those, and take advantage of the variety of services Andigo offers. They go beyond building a website and handling the design component; they capture the storytelling component as well.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the editor and publisher of Business Ethics Magazine, an online publication that focuses on corporate responsibility topics.

What challenge were you trying to address with Andigo New Media?

We engaged Andigo twice to build our original website and then revamp it more recently.

What was the scope of their involvement?

In our most recent engagement with Andigo, they redesigned and developed our website on WordPress. We worked closely with their team to select an appropriate template that was mobile-friendly and suited our content-heavy site. Features include an archive of articles ranging in length from 500–1,500 words, as well as a tagging system that recommends articles to visitors based on particular articles they open.

What is the team composition?

We work directly with Andrew (Digital Strategist and Web Developer, Andigo New Media), but he also manages other members on his team working on our website.

How did you come to work with Andigo New Media?

A friend and colleague of mine recommended them to me after working with them. I felt they would provide reliable, quality services for a reasonable price.

How much have you invested with them?

We've invested about $7,000 on the most recent version of the website.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our last project took place in 2017 and they continue to maintain the site and make changes as needed.

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

Andigo's efforts have helped us improve our online presence overall. The modern upgrades they made to the site have received a lot of positive feedback from users and allowed us to more efficiently post content on our end.

How did Andigo New Media perform from a project management standpoint?

I've met Andrew several times in person, but he's always easy to get ahold of through email and phone as well. He goes over our priorities for each project in-depth and is great about managing it all from there.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Andrew responds to any issues we have with a great sense of urgency. I know I can completely trust that the site is in good hands with their team.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It's important to go into any engagement with a vendor knowing what you want, who your audience is, and how visitors are going to use your site. Andigo is very good at interpreting that information, but it helps to do as much homework as possible in the beginning.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the head of marketing and branding at a sustainably focused investment bank and asset management company based in New York, Zurich, Paris and San Francisco.

What challenge were you trying to address with Andigo?

After having built our website many years ago, Andigo currently maintains the site and provides website analytics work. On top of sending out email blasts to our contacts, they also keep us up to date with best digital media and marketing practices.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Since working with them for over four years, they have built the first iteration of our website and helped us, twice, with our rebranding efforts. We specifically worked with a graphic designer to come up with our color scheme. After that, they continued to help us implement the look we have wanted for our site; uploading images, providing site maintenance and handling our branding. They also have provided SEO services over time and helped us create and edit corporate videos. After our launching a new asset management fund, they were able to add a lot of pertinent information in a short amount of time.

What is the team composition?

I work directly with Andy (Digital Strategist, andigo) who manages an internal team.

How did you come to work with Andigo?

Before I began working here two years ago, our firm already had a working relationship with Andigo, which we have continued.

How much have you invested with them?

In the last two years, we have invested around $50,000 to $70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The engagement is ongoing.

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

As part of our targeted branding push, Andy has definitely helped us build our brand through his digital marketing practices. We have increased our site traffic by 30% just over this past year and a half. We send out blast emails whenever we secure an important deal or release a new product; 25% of our emails are actually read and digested by those who receive them, which is a significant increase than before.

How did Andigo perform from a project management standpoint?

Andy and I speak via email and phone and it’s been seamless. Responses are almost immediate, usually received within an hour or two during the workday. Andy always makes himself available to engage in detailed conversations where he can simplify and explain some of the complicated technical aspects of the project. They always turn around high quality work in very short order. I’ve never had any issues with the site going down or something working incorrectly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I am most impressed with the speed at which Andigo is able to provide us with the required services. The accuracy of their work is also notable. Andigo is a relatively small and nimble firm that is eager to work with us and get the job done well and at a price that is fair.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I cannot think of any areas to improve, I’ve only ever been pleased with the work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s important to have clear parameters from the onset. If you can clearly explain what you are trying to do, and are open to hearing Andy’s suggestions to help reach the company’s goals, you’ll likely find yourself in a better position. That’s exactly what my experience has been. I’ll call Andy to discuss goals and timeframes and he’ll often steer me in a direction that helps me reach our goals faster and with better quality.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the creative director of Red Rooster Group. We’re a full-service branding agency that specializes in working with nonprofit organizations. We help our clients uncover branding insights that can help shape their name, visual identity, and messaging. We also provide print and website services

What challenge were you trying to address with Andigo?

We partner with them to provide web development for our clients.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve collaborated with them on dozens of websites over the years. Most of the sites are built in WordPress and there’s been one in Drupal. Since our clients are nonprofits, many sites require calendar plugins and donation tools. Andigo’s staff will research different options and provide us with recommendations on what’s a good match for a particular client based on their needs, budget, and goals. Some of the sites have also needed advocacy tools, such as an interface that lets you write a message to your Congressional representatives. In addition, there’s a lot of integrations on the back end between WordPress and the clients’ CRM systems or third-party services.

What is the team composition?

I mostly work with their owner, but sometimes we’d also work directly with their developers.

How did you come to work with Andigo?

We got a referral from a designer I knew and respected.

How much have you invested with them?

It’s been such a long time that I’m not sure, but it’s somewhere over $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in 2008 and our partnership is still ongoing.

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

All of our clients’ site launches have been successful and they’ve been satisfied with the work Andigo has done. Their team usually goes above and beyond in terms of meeting the specifications that our clients ask for. They make a bid when we start working with a client, but sometimes we’ll discover that an existing website is a total mismatch from the client’s aspirations. Whenever that happens, Andigo makes an effort to accommodate those needs even if we didn’t factor them into the cost at the start of the project. They’re very conscious about delivering a highly functional site that will add value to an organization, especially when it comes to ensuring that the backend is easily comprehensible to people who aren’t tech-savvy. That’s critical for us since our clients are nonprofits and they’ll need to be able to update their own content even when they don’t have the budget or expertise to do complicated edits.

How did Andigo perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve used a variety of tools over the years, including Teamwork and Basecamp. Typically, we’d set it up in our system and give them a login so they can track projects. I’d also touch base with them by phone and email. Their owner has been pretty accessible and responsive throughout the process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their owner is smart and he’s been around a long time, so he has a good sense of perspective. Instead of focusing narrowly on a specific aspect of development or pushing a particular kind of website, he’s great at asking questions and understanding where the client needs to go. This helps make our discovery process more effective because then he’s able to think through the specifications and determine how all the features will work together. He’s a genuine partner, rather than a contractor who just takes our orders and carries them out.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They have a relatively small staff, which hasn’t really hindered us so far, but expanding would help with flexibility when we have multiple projects going simultaneously.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

See them as a genuine partner. Engage in good dialogue, ask a lot of questions, and work together. Your projects will come out better if you’re focused on collaborating rather than telling them what to do.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Waypoint Group, a consulting and software company. We have a software product called TopBox that helps companies better listen to their customers.

What challenge were you trying to address with Andigo?

Our website was antiquated and needed to be modernized. We also wanted to add new functionalities the old site didn’t have.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Andigo primarily redesigned our WordPress site and added new content. They improved search capability, implemented a new CSS, and created a responsive mobile design. The website has a much cleaner look and messaging.

We did the work in phases. They first started with market requirements then looked at our competitors to see what they were doing. After that, they interviewed some of our team members to better understand the product. They then built wireframes and began the actual dev.

What is the team composition?

I worked directly with Andy (Digital Strategist, Andigo) who had a team under him.

How did you come to work with Andigo?

One of our partners, whose opinion we greatly respect, recommended Andigo. I’d also heard Andy speak at a webinar, and I was impressed with his approach and style, so we hired them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from November 2017–May 2018.

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

We showed the early designs to a few trusted customers and team members, and they all enjoyed it. We typically go through a few different ideas, but the first one Andigo created was so good that we didn’t need any others. Not only does it look much better than our previous site, but it’s also easier to use.

How did Andigo perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project management wasn’t great. We didn’t have a clear timeline or project plan, so I often wasn’t sure how much progress we had made. They didn’t update us frequently, so when things were delayed, I didn’t know what was happening. I trusted them, though, and the project eventually turned out great.

We mainly communicated over phone and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They always knew what they were doing. They’re the experts, and I could give my comments and thoughts, but I didn’t have to worry about the details. I knew they’d get the job done.

This is the third iteration of our website, and it’s by far the best. The process was smooth and easy; I highly enjoyed working with Andigo.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We could’ve tracked our project better and had milestones established. Considering the quality of the site, though, this wasn’t a big issue.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a partner at Creative 4 Media. We provide training programs primarily for the pharmaceutical industry. These programs can be instructor-led trainings or online sessions. We also support such programs with print materials, custom apps, simulations, and the like.

What challenge were you trying to address with ­Andigo?

About ten years ago, Andigo helped create an interactive workshop simulation program used in helping teach various audiences about the drug discovery process, to determine which compounds to bring forward to develop in clinical trials. Since then, the standards of care and the technology platforms have changed so radically that the program needed a complete overhaul, so we brought Andigo in again. This was not an update or a refresh, but rather an entire reinvention of the program into a custom app and we made it multi-platform with this version.

Another factor adding to the challenge was that the app had to remain completely independent of the web or cloud services because it was meant to be used at various universities, medical centers, and other facilities, some of which may not have dependable web access.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Because so much has changed since the app was created a decade ago, Andigo was charged with reimagining the entire application.

What is the team composition?

One individual served as the project manager. We had weekly online meetings with him to address issues and trade information. He put together his developer team according to his process and it worked perfectly for us. He seemed very able to pull in exactly who he needs.

How did you come to work with ­Andigo?

We worked with them on this app about ten years ago and I worked with them up to fifteen years ago while I was at another company.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them on this project from March—November 2017.

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

Everyone is impressed with their work. Based on this work and the excellent feedback we are receiving, I suspect there may be opportunities for more work presenting themselves in the future.

How did Andigo perform from a project management standpoint?

There were multiple areas being developed simultaneously with different build dates scheduled. We were able to hit all of the completion dates we had set in our development plan. The process began with an initial build for approval and comment, and then a refining period for the final, for each section.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their flexibility is probably the big one. This was such a bear of a job in terms of doing something that wasn’t web-based. Everyone wants to slot you in a certain idea or way of doing things in terms of trying to make something that is web-based work in a non-web environment through emulators, but Andigo was on board early on to create the standalone app we needed.

This project was not about creating something to simply call up saved data, but actually using various selections that have been made to do some serious number crunching. Considering the complexity involved, it was impressive the way they were able to pick it up and run with it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, it was a huge success for us and it’s always a pleasure to work with Andigo. They are the supplier that gives us the most impressive results and the least amount of heartache along the way.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Of course, they are great at the conventional development work, but if you have a program that’s particularly challenging because it’s a little bit out of the norm, I think Andigo would be a perfect choice to go to first for development.