Animink

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Information Technology of Mississippi School Boards Association

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Train School Board Members and District Superintendents in the state of Mississippi, while providing multiple add-on services including software and technical expertise.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Animink to accomplish?

• Serve All Districts in the State of Mississippi by Maintaining, Supporting and Coding our Online Paperless Board Meeting System.
• Ensure our system functions optimally and support our member base.
• Ensure our member base is satisfied with our software's function and operation.

SOLUTION

How did you find Animink?

Online Search

Why did you select Animink over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Experience withour Technical Stack

How many teammates from Animink were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

They stepped in to replace our original development team to support, debug, code, optimize and test our statewide paperless board meeting system.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our system continues to function and receives consistent and timely upgrades and updates.  Bug counts continue to decline and functionality continues to improve.

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

They are exemplary at managing the project; timely and responsive.  In any emergency they have stepped up and made our issues their top priority.

What was your primary form of communication with Animink?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I am extremely happy with this company, their skill level, efficiency at project management, timeliness and cost.

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

I can see no areas in need of improvement. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Program Coordinator of a nonprofit company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

A non-profit organization providing ongoing and accessible physical therapy for individuals with neurological mobility challenges. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Animink to accomplish?

• build out a 100% customizable scheduling platform w/ confirmation text messages
• interactive database that complies all of our program's data and can be pulled into a report
• streamline out reconciliation process with automated invoices

SOLUTION

How did you find Animink?

Online Search

Why did you select Animink over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

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

Animink met with us almost on a weekly basis during the discovery process where they explored exactly how our program currently operates and understood where our program is looking to improve our processes with their services. Animink built out our ZOHO CRM to include a 100% customized scheduling platform with the ability to send out confirmation text messages. 
They also understood the many different data points we are responsible for tracking and built out our ZOHO reports to pull exactly what we need. Lastly, they streamlined our reconcilation process for our HR and accounting team to make the monthly invoice processess much more efficient. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We would meet almost weekly where they would show us what they are building in the "ZOHO Sandbox". Here we could see progress and make changes as needed. Then once we approved, they would push the function to be "Live" and we would have access to use the new function as designed. Anytime we had questions, the Animink team guided us in a timely fashion. 

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

We were highly impressed with the level of care and attention they provided us with. I often told them, we are not professionals in this area of work so they would always listen to our questions and guide us through the coding terminology that would otherwise be a second language to us. They were very timely when we would contact them with questions and they would teach us how to use every function that they built specifically for us! 

What was your primary form of communication with Animink?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The President of Animink was on just about every virutal meeting we had set up, cc'ed on every email regarding our project, and played an extremely active role in monitoring the project delivery from his team. Markus was always up to speed on our project needs and timeline. 

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

A few functions we rolled out needed to be adjusted a few different times due to glitches in the coding, but they were always very responsive when working through a glitch. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Product Manager of YouScience/formerly NC3T

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Support schools with Career and Technical Education, particularly around employer engagement.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Animink to accomplish?

• Design an initial website
• Develop the site over several years
• Assist with customer support and management

SOLUTION

How did you find Animink?

Online Search

Why did you select Animink over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Animink were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

We were education consultants, no technical experience, and we had decided we needed an app to help high school educators manage their work-based learning activities. Our initial product needed to address the following: 

• Provide EVENT MANAGEMENT for work-based learning activities, including assisting in the development of partnership agreements and needed materials (parent waivers, etc.) as well as scheduling each activity and sending calendar reminders 
• Offer TRAINING and other support, including links to how-to videos and guides for both teachers and their business partners 
• STORE DOCUMENTS, including partnership agreements, advisory board minutes and bylaws, etc. 
• Provide REPORTING for educators, including tracking hours of business partners and students and demonstrating outcomes for these activities.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Launched the initial product on time and within budget, with very positive feedback from the initial set of users. Over course of several years they continued to develop new features and product areas working closely with our team and went above and beyond to create a quality product within estimates.

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

Yes, they work very quickly as long as they're provided with good feedback. While we were not technical people they brought us up to speed on their project management/Agile system so we had full transparency. Every product is going to have hiccups, but whenever an issue arose they were very responsive and collaborative and worked hard to correct things as soon as possible.

What was your primary form of communication with Animink?

Email or Messaging App

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

First, an understanding of how to meet user needs. They did not have the expertise we had in the education space but their designs and product flows are excellent in terms of meeting the expectations of our educator clients. And next, just the working environment they created, it was very collaborative and open, a great experience for several years.

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

None that come to mind - there were occasional issues, as there are with any project, but they were proactive wherever possible, very good at communicating solutions and timelines, and worked hard to make needed fixes.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Administrator of Duraflame, Inc.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We sell fire fuel and grilling products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Animink to accomplish?

• Create an online survey

SOLUTION

How did you find Animink?

worked with them before

Why did you select Animink over others?

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

How many teammates from Animink were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

We were looking for an online tool to help us collect pricing surveys we conducted out in the field. We have various employees who collect pricing from a number of retailers and needed a way for them to easily submit this information to us. Animink helped create an easy to use site where pricing and pictures could be uploaded by various users. The best part is the website was set up for in house employees can design pricing surveys ourselves.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Checking in via zoom and email. Testing out the site with various in house users. We did some practice price surveys to make sure features we needed were captured in the new tool.

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

Yes, everything was delivered on time. Anytime there was a hiccup in the tool the animink team was quick to respond and offer a solution. Great team to work with overall.

What was your primary form of communication with Animink?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They were very easy to communicate with and willing to work with the timeline I had. They are upfront about costs and additional work something might take. Good communication and delivered a tool that we enjoy using.

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

At this time I can't really think of any. Anytime I've had a problem with the tool they are quick to lend a helping hand.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Lead Training Coordinator of Pathways Early Autism Intervention

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We train IDEA Part C organizations in our innovative, evidence-based, naturalistic developmental behavioral intervention parent training program that support toddlers who have or are suspected of characteristics of autism.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Animink to accomplish?

• Create a training database that is user friendly
• Create training certification tracking
• Create a way to collect records for many fields related to training

SOLUTION

How did you find Animink?

Online Search

Why did you select Animink over others?

• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Animink were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Animink helped us develop a training database where our individuals could track their training, certification and program materials.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They were able to meet with us frequently to listen to our needs and desires and build our database from scratch based off ideas. They brought our ideas into an workable system that was efficient and systematic.

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

Their project management was delivered in a timely manner. They might not have corrected all system errors in 24 hours but gave time frames that were regularly met.

What was your primary form of communication with Animink?

Virtual Meeting

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

They've taken our ideas and brought them to life in a way that helps our clients have the best training experience.

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

We have seen areas of repeated errors but the Animink is always willing to continue to fix them in a timely manner.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the General Manager of Lowe Vintage Instrument Company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We sell high-end vintage and used fretted instruments.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Animink to accomplish?

• Build a professional website that showcases our inventory that could be easily updated in real-time.
• Help with SEO goals to push our site towards the top of search engine results.

SOLUTION

How did you find Animink?

Referral

Why did you select Animink over others?

• High ratings
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Easy to work with

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

Animink was responsible for designing and building our site from the ground up, making it as easy for us to update in the back end as possible. We have gone through several changes over the years, and they have always delivered a fantastic product that we're proud to have our name on; we consistently get positive customer feedback on the site's overall design and ease-of-use.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We use Google analytics to measure monthly web traffic, bounce rate, etc. We saw a sizable increase in monthly web traffic once we implemented some SEO strategies suggested by Animink.

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

Animink and their team consistently met timeline goals, and often exceeded them. Markus, Dino, and Jason are all extremely responsive any time we had an issue or need to update something.

What was your primary form of communication with Animink?

• In-Person Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I liked that Animink listened carefully to what our needs were, what we were trying to achieve, and most importantly, our budget. At no time did we feel like they were trying to upsell us any services we didn't need; they're conscientious of the project parameters and have done a wonderful job sticking to them.

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

Animink delivered on time, on budget, and were wonderful to deal with in person and via email. I wouldn't change a thing!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an Officer at NC Transportation Museum

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The N.C. Transportation Museum provides educational and entertaining experiences centered on North Carolina's rich transportation history, while also preserving the artifacts and sites that tell the story of transportation in our state.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Animink to accomplish?

• Improve website navigation & user experience.
• Create a cleaner, brighter visual identity for the website.
• Build a website with a user-friendly back end administration so regular updates could be made by organizational staff.

SOLUTION

How did you find Animink?

Online Search

Why did you select Animink over others?

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

How many teammates from Animink were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The scope of work was for a full build of a new website, including design and build out of key landing pages and all interior pages. Content for the new site was to be transferred from the old site, with additional content provided by the organizational also added. 
The site needed to have clean, user friendly navigation that would be adaptable as organizational needs changed. The site needed customizable contact forms and be built with a back end that could be edited by organizational staff with no or limited knowledge of web design.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Total visits to the site, length of time spent on the site by each visitor and the number of leads through completed contact forms increased significantly after launch of the new site. Organizational staff reported high satisfaction working with the back end of the site.

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

Animink was regularly in contact to make sure they received all organizational assets need to stay on the timeline. They met all project deadlines and returned revisions quickly. They were easily to adapt when project needs changed mid-project. We found them to be highly responsive at every step.

What was your primary form of communication with Animink?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Animink took the time to really understand our organization and our needs to make sure they provided the best solution for our situation and didn't try to oversell us. They were very flexible and responsive throughout the project.

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

N/A

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Chief of Staff of RockITek

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

RockITek is a progressive distributor offering a portfolio of enterprise cybersecurity solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Animink to accomplish?

• Build a custom CRM tool that would allow partners to submit deal registrations and provide a wikipedia-like content portal
• Redesign and build our company website.

SOLUTION

How did you find Animink?

Online Search

Why did you select Animink over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• they understood what we wanted, their process, they didn't over-engineer the solution

How many teammates from Animink were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

We went to Animink after looking at way too many COTS solutions that would not do all that we wanted in a single tool. As a distributor in the US Public Sector, we have 100s of Resellers submitting requests for deal registrations, quote requests. We also needed a way to inform/share OEM information and messaging, receive custom material requests, and collaborate on artifacts. 
At the same time, we were looking for a design company to update our outdated website. When we met Animink, we realized they could do both. They started with requirements gathering, then designing and storyboarding, before moving on to construction of the two projects. We were so impressed we found other projects along the way that we engaged them for, projects that we wouldn't have even thought of without having worked with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The initial storyboards of their design interpretations of what we were asking for, which, mind you, were very bad napkin sketches and ill described visions. As a small startup, we had to do all the work before. With Animink, we just had to meet to say what we wanted and/or liked/disliked. 
And they don't charge you until you approve the storyboards, they tell you project price, and you approve. We worked for months on the vision, got a quote, and then the work was done in a matter of weeks. The side projects we threw at them were extremely reasonably priced (I had several other vendors provide proposals that were 3x as much and nowhere close to what we wanted) solved problems our partners had, which in turn made us look like heroes.

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

Since first working with Animink, we now make all of our other subcontractors follow their process. First, their project/product manager has a google doc with all notes, tasks, and next steps that is shared with you. Their requirements gathering is painless, just follow the form. 
A recurring checkin SCRUM call. The thing that for us made a huge difference, they heard what we were worried about, thinking about, what our goals were, and they came up with solutions that we really appreciated. We were able to expand on what they brought to the table to get the outcome we wanted.
Dilip always came back with a solution. They use an interactive web storyboard that allowed us to see our visions come to life, make comments in our own time, then a week later, new storyboard. Approval, done. 
They did tell us a few times we could do something, but it would be cost prohibitive and here was something we could do. As a startup, that was critical. They didn't just try and nickel and dime us to death. The only delays in our project were because of us not getting them comments, input, or approvals on time. Animink never missed a deadline.

What was your primary form of communication with Animink?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Design and Storyboarding first - then project quote, with approval THEN billable work. They were not just a web design shop. They built us a tool. It was very very hard for me to find a company to do what they do. Also, I was very impressed with their ability to find solutions to our "I wish we could do X with it" requests.

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

On our projects, the biggest area for improvement was us. We dragged things out because we were busy doing other things. Animink was endlessly patient.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Department Coordinator of Westminster School

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are an educational institution.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Animink to accomplish?

• To create a custom grade reports program that could be accessible anywhere for teachers to use.
• To then create a bookbill program to use the profile data from the grade program to bill parents
• To make it accessible to use anywhere.

SOLUTION

How did you find Animink?

Online Search

Why did you select Animink over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned
• Willing to work with a school and create a custom program specifically for the school.

How many teammates from Animink were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

A grade program was created first and tweaked throughout that year. Then the next year we added the Bookbill program to the same grade program. It was tested and used for that year, and both programs and running extremely well. We never had an issue with Animink perfecting any part of the programs that wasn't working as we needed it to. Animink is available to add any additions to the program that were needed and to correct any part of the program that wasn't working correctly. Animink is an outstanding company. Animink worked with the school with care and treated the project as if it was vital as a huge company. They are amazing!

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Progressive demos on the program. Emails with videos to see the program-building stages.

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

All stages of the project were timely, as the school had to have the program working for the school year, and it was not an issue with Animink to complete the program on time and resolve any issues that happend during the building stages.

What was your primary form of communication with Animink?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

We were impressed with their genuine interest in delivering a solution that worked well for our school. The hard work Animink did to meet the timeline completion.

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

Well maybe, a little more information on managing the program, it is not necessary, but a concern on the school taking on more responsibility of managing the program and not having to contact Animink as much. However, Animink is willing to resolve any issue promptly.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a sports gear company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Animink?

We needed to update our current website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I hired Animink to make updates and improvements to my e-commerce website built on Magento.

How did you come to work with Animink?

I found Animink online and like their presentation.

How much have you invested with Animink?

[No total amount provided.] Animink required half of the money down at the beginning, and we paid the balance when the project was done. Once I found out that it was going to cost $3,000 to fix their mistakes, Animink wouldn’t give me a refund. I’m currently trying to get my money back through my credit card company.

What is the status of this engagement?

I first engaged Animink in May 2016. The project was supposed to be complete in July, but it wasn’t finished until October.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Their work was a nightmare. Literally, our shopping cart was selling the product for free. Inventory was disappearing, and shipping was always messed up. The store would go down, and the shipping prices were never accurate. My customers called complaining that they couldn’t check out, or that there was no price attached to the products.

We advertise on multiple websites, and all the links we had set up got wiped out. They were supposed to go to our landing page, but they weren’t going anywhere.

Animink wanted to expand the project into SEO [search engine optimization] work, and I asked for references from them for that type of work. Animink gave me two, but when I contacted the people, I got the sense that the references were staged.

How did Animink perform from a project management standpoint?

When I called Animink, they could never explain to me what was going on.

What did you find most impressive about Animink?

The whole business relationship with Animink was a disaster.

Are there any areas Animink could improve?

I wasn’t happy with anything they did.

Company Responses

The vendor responded on January 25, 2019. The reply is written by Markus (VP, Animink).

Animink was hired to create the website, which we completed and is still in use by the client. We experienced production delays because the client did not provide all the deliverables in a timely manner. We requested the missing items repeatedly, but did not receive the deliverables for several months. Readers should know that our company has helped many satisfied clients achieve their goals, as evidenced by Google reviews.