BrightMinded Ltd

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the global head of marketing and communications at FLOCERT, the certification body for the fair trade system. Fairtrade International sets the standard for the fair trade system, and we’re its global certifier. Thus far, we’ve certified over 6,000 companies worldwide for fair trade standards.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BrightMinded Ltd?

We needed help with our website, our digital presence, and our social media channels.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve been working with BrightMinded Ltd for around seven years on our digital presence, so we’ve collaborated on many web development projects. For example, they’ve helped us relaunch our website completely, adding a payment processing system and many bespoke tools for our customers to facilitate self-service. Currently, we’re relaunching our website once again.

Ours is a WordPress website focused on brand reputation. It has a public-facing side with many different tools to help our existing customers. Additionally, it hosts our member databases and allows the entire fair trade system to find related content. It also has an archive/library functionality and at least 3–4 gateways to other systems that our customers use for reporting. Moreover, it has a lot of information about certifications.

What is the team composition?

We work with three people from BrightMinded Ltd, including a customer service representative and web developer, as well as two tech support specialists working in the background. Additionally, Dan (Co-Founder) is our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with BrightMinded Ltd?

We started working with BrightMinded Ltd before I joined the company, so I can’t talk about our initial engagement.

How much have you invested with them?

The current website relaunch project alone will cost us around €50,000 (approximately $54,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2015, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our most successful results are our ongoing partnership and the great functionality of our website. It’s rather unusual for companies to work with the same website developer for such a long period of time because when someone in my position joins a company, they usually try to find someone new to freshen things up. However, it has been outstanding to see that BrightMinded Ltd has stayed on top of our website.

They’ve also been very creative and highly technical, allowing us to maintain an amazing relationship with them. Our website is complex by nature, but BrightMinded Ltd has done a great job at making it easily accessible. Moreover, thanks to them, our digital presence is functional and highly secure — we’ve never faced any technical issues throughout our engagement, which is impressive.

As for hard metrics, we saw a 33% increase in unique users 12 months after our latest website revamp. In addition to that result, we also had other metrics tied to this revamp project. Thanks to BrightMinded Ltd’s work, we met our goals.

How did BrightMinded Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

BrightMinded Ltd has delivered on time and within budget — whenever we’ve had timeline issues, those have been on our end. As for communication, they’re very transparent and attentive to our needs.

As for collaboration tools, we use project management and low-threshold tools, Microsoft Teams, and Skype. Still, over the years, our collaboration has had all shades of communication channels, including in-person meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

BrightMinded Ltd has been extremely helpful and supportive in translating our requirements into actual technical and digital solutions for our customer problems. Their team has done an amazing job in that regard. The number of years in which we’ve collaborated directly with the same teammates at BrightMinded Ltd is also outstanding. Dan has been my counterpart and the main point of contact since I joined the company in 2018, which is great.

In addition to that, we really like that BrightMinded Ltd is always involved in the planning, strategy, development, and implementation of projects. As technical experts, they get excited about the parts of the project I usually am not excited about. They focus on problem-solving from a very detailed development level, and they’re very eager to write code, leading to very unique and bespoke solutions within our platform’s environment. As a result, they provide our users with something valuable and unique that makes our company stand out from the competition.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing BrightMinded Ltd could improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Work with them!

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of an organization that sends volunteers to developing worlds to gain work experience, culture immersion, and out-of-classroom experiences. We send about 6000 volunteers a year to destinations around the world like Nepal, Cambodia, Peru, Tanzania, and Ghana.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BrightMinded Ltd?

We had two challenges when we first engaged with BrightMinded. One was a redo of our website because it was taking too long for our in-house developers to build. The second one was to secure our databases for GDPR purposes.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The first part of the project was scoping out our objectives. We identified what we needed to do, what the quote was, and then the negotiation for our approval. After that, they took over the website redesign, which involved configuring the backend for the databases. The initial agreement was a four-month project, which we paid for, but we were so impressed by their services we put them on retainer — they’ve become our sole IT provider since then.

Now, BrightMinded maintains all our websites, databases, CRM, and they also help with our network and servicing — with the majority of the work still being done in-house. We’re going to be meeting with them to use their expertise to find out how we can process our customer journey better. We’re going to identify how we’re going to make the process more efficient, and what solutions we could put into place to improve productivity within the company.

What is the team composition?

I believe we work with about five people from their team. Initially, I engaged with John and Chris (Co-Founders) so they can know my business better. Although they don’t do all of the work, they’re still very much involved in the ongoing process to closely supervise the team members. If there is ever an issue, I will know who to call and speak to. We can get through to BrightMinded immediately and they make sure our problems are addressed.

How did you come to work with BrightMinded Ltd?

We found them online in 2018 while we were researching IT companies in Brighton and London. We sent our requirements to about 10 companies and shortlisted three of them — those three pitched to us and BrightMinded was the most impressive, so we chose them.

How much have you invested with them?

If I recall correctly, we’ve invested somewhere in the region of $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The ongoing partnership started in April 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

First off, they were able to take over an incomplete website that dragged on for a long time. Within three months, they brought our website back to life, which is a big improvement. Since then, the website has been performing better in terms of speed and customer experience.

How did BrightMinded Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very thorough when it comes to project management. Their teams are set up very well, and they always know what the outcome should be. When we propose a new project with them, it would be all costed out and the work will be broken down into different stages. We usually communicate through phone and email, and we would do face-to-face meetings every Friday.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their directors take on a real and genuine interest in our company. They’re very curious and interested in our organization and we really feel that they want us to be successful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I always want to pay less, but I found out that all IT services are expensive, so I think that they’re actually quite competitive.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would say to make sure that you’re clear about the scope of the work before you start.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing director for a UK-based tour operator selling holidays to Asia, North America, and South America.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with BrightMinded Ltd?

At the time, our websites were outdated and we had a separate URL for every destination that we sold — we had some 20 websites. Our challenge was bringing those platforms into one URL, modernizing the website, and improving our SEO performance.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

BrightMinded first developed our new website using WordPress. After that, they migrated all our old websites into the new site. They did it such that there’ll be minimal effect on our SEO performance. They also linked the new website to our back office booking and pricing system so we can have updated pricing on the site. 

After they completed the initial project, we kept them on a monthly retainer. They’re currently responsible for continual website development and infrastructure updates. 

What is the team composition?

We have worked with one web developer and one of their directors.  

How did you come to work with BrightMinded Ltd?

They were one of the many companies recommended to us. We wanted to partner with a Brighton-based agency, and BrightMinded ticked that box. 

What we liked about them was they were a very small company at the time, and there were only 4–5 people on their team. Our project was quite big for them, so they were focused on us and we even had one of their directors involved for most of the process. That was important for us, since we didn’t want to be just one of the many clients of a big agency. 

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around £50,000 (approximately $70,500 USD) for the website project. Since then, our retainer is around £10,000 (approximately $14,000 USD) per year. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in the last quarter of 2014, and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

BrightMinded keeps our website functioning, and we haven’t had any significant outages or technical problems from their work. We’ve also received good feedback from the other web designers, SEO/PPC agencies, and IT providers that we work with. Additionally, BrightMinded is easy to work with. All of those are the reason why we continue to work with them through the years. 

How did BrightMinded Ltd perform from a project management standpoint?

The project was delivered on time and within budget. We didn’t have any significant issues regarding their project management. We used a project management tool but I can no longer remember what it was. Nowadays, we communicate mostly via email. 

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, we haven’t got any significant tasks for BrightMinded, other than routine updates and keeping the website up. We’re in a very small retainer with them because our needs are very small as well. However, when the situation improves, we would be doing more productive projects with them. 

We like their team — they are down to earth, straight talking, and they are good at communicating technical details to a non-technical person. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re approachable and transparent. We also liked that they can explain things with us without using technical terms. It’s easy to build trust with BrightMinded.   

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They have a very capable team — that’s why we’ve worked with them for so long. Just trust their ability to deliver the project. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We provide qualifications in PR and communication. We are the largest centre for qualifications accredited by the Chartered Institute of Public Relations with hundreds of practitioners learning with us every year.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire BrightMinded Ltd?

We wanted to simplify enrollment, enable students to pay by installment, and have better lead tracking and nurturing.

SOLUTION

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

We carried out a tender process working with our digital marketing agency.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

Brightminded designed and built our new website integrating it with Xero, Stripe, and Active Campaign.

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

We worked with a web designer.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have seen a fantastic return on the investment with increased student numbers and more engagement with our content.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Brightminded provided excellent project management.

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

The team at Brightminded quickly understood our business and what we wanted to achieve. They identified a better way to do things and challenged us to ensure we got the best results. We were impressed with their attention to detail and focus on making things as simple as possible for us and our customers.

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

No.