The C2 Group

Please describe your company and your position there.

Digital Director-Project Owner for 3 to 1 Consolidation of legacy CommScope, ARRIS and RUCKUS sites

For what projects/services did your company hire The C2 Group, and what were your goals?

With millions of collective visitors to the individual legacy CommScope, ARRIS and RUCKUS websites, our digital channel is one of the most visible and has the most reach. Ultimately, we moved from 3 websites to a single consolidated online experience. Getting there will be a key milestone of the transformation. One website allows us to portray a single face externally, showcasing our broader capabilities and enabling us to capitalize on cross-sell and upsell opportunities.

How did you select The C2 Group and what were the deciding factors?

We began our shortlist with key Episerver partners and began a comprehensive RFP review. C2 proposed a well-rounded approach for this complicated effort.which not only included unifying content but also migrating to all new platforms.

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

This was a comprehensive work effort which engaged executive sponsors and numerous workstreams, as well as stakeholders and testers from around the globe.

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

A business development person (who helped frame and scope the project with our other implementation vendors), a project manager plus numerous development resources

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

Implementation of four new, platforms to support the web experience, Incorporating millions of lines of code. Seven international sites were translated, A catalog of 100,000+ parts were consolidated into the unified eCatalog. Dozens of customers provided input and testing, Hundreds of CommScope team members contributed to the project—providing content, input and testing support. 

Thousands of product and marketing pages were created, Thousands of images and documents were uploaded to the new site. International Awards

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

Ongoing standups, hybrid working methodology. Project managers and CommScope aligned and continually revisiting our approach to adapt to changing circumstances.

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

C2 had to partner early on with a number of vendors as part of this massive undertaking and they were team players -- setting egos aside and focusing on CommScope's requirements.

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

When you undertake a massive effort of this nature, there are always areas for improvement but C2 helped us achieve a very major milestone and we are very grateful for their involvement in this phase of our evolution.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of strategic communications at Alamo Colleges District, a large community college system. We have about 90,000 students.

What challenge were you trying to address with The C2 Group?

We had six different websites and there was no coordination, no unified template, and no look and feel. It was very disaggregated. We were just starting a branding journey where we were collectively trying to become greater as a whole instead of working against each other as six separate entities. It was sort of a matrix system where we had to agree by committee to make it fly.

We had purchased a web platform that is the predecessor to Episerver, but we hadn’t been able to roll it out. It had been on the shelf for two years, and we weren’t collectively able to focus on it and come to an agreement to actually implement it. We needed someone from the outside to help us navigate this.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They helped us with strategy and development. For strategy, we had a brand standards guide already, but it wasn’t geared toward the web. Additionally, there’s a lot of politics in higher ed, and they were great at helping me navigate that by allowing people to be involved and letting them have a voice in the decision making, yet forcing us to come to an agreement to move forward. They were really good at helping to give me creative concepts I could show to people to remove roadblocks.

One of our focuses is making sure students have a good idea of what they are pursuing, so the C2 Group helped us develop an interactive career finding tool. If you’re interested in welding, you put welding in there and it will surface what welding programs we have. On top of that, it will say what a welder makes in this DMA. It will say what the outlook is and how many openings there are. It’s really statistically honest. It helps steer students and their expectations in their career choices. Another vendor had the data and the tool, but The C2 Group helped us integrate that into our frontpage via an API system. We felt that it was and still is a powerful tool.

Aside from my department having a relationship with The C2 Group, our IT department has a managed services contract with them. Under that relationship with The C2 Group, we migrated to the cloud which has helped us a lot as far as capacity. They manage the response time if we ever have any off time, and how they’ll get us back up. We’re very satisfied with that.  

What is the team composition?

I normally have a project manager that’s the day-to-day contact for my webmaster. If I have to get involved, I will. I get more involved in the strategic side of things. They have developers that we talk to from time to time as well.

How did you come to work with The C2 Group?

We had an RFP, and The C2 Group was one of the respondents.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $750,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October 2010, and the work is ongoing.

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

We’re very excited because, earlier this year, we were recognized by a group called NCMPR, the premier marketing/public relations/communications organization for community colleges. It’s got at least 1,000 members. We were recognized within that group as having the best website in the nation. That’s a testament to our journey from where we started to where we are now.

Before we migrated to Episerver and they designed the templates for it, we were a college system that didn’t have a mobile responsive website. It didn’t work well with phones, tablets, and other handheld devices. Once we migrated to that, a little over a year ago, our web traffic from mobile devices—it’s kind of flipped. At one point we were at less than 40%, and now we’re at 66% mobile traffic. People are comfortable using their handheld devices, and that’s really important for us.

How did The C2 Group perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very clear with an online web tool. They use a lot of technology in this regard to track projects. We sometimes have maybe 20 small things happening with them regarding fixes and changes, and I can look, at a glance, where we are.

I prioritize weekly what’s important, and they’re very adept at pivoting to what our pain points are at a given time. We have a weekly call with our project lead, but I’m very comfortable picking up the phone at other times. They’re very responsive. Their business development guy was in our office two weeks ago because I had an important event related to a project that we’re working on. He made the rounds. I feel like they prioritize us as a client.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They follow through and are very creative. They’re really good with UX as well, giving us great ideas. Sometimes, I challenge them with things that feel impossible, but they come back with an executable solution that I’m able to leverage. I appreciate that relationship. It feels like they’re a partner, rather than us just being another client to them. I feel as if they’re invested in us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’ve always been happy with them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Layout expectations. I tell them what my goal is and they’re very creative. They’ve had a lot of customers, so there’s not much they haven’t seen. Let them come up with solutions for you instead of trying to prescribe to them what you need. Ask for things in a broader sense.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of Information Technology at the Moody Bible Insitute of Chicago.

What challenge were you trying to address with C2 Group?

For about ten years, C2 Group helped us redesign and maintain our web properties.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Over the years, the partnership morphed and developed. They’re now our primary web developers, filling a similar role to our in-house team. It was an economical choice.

Initially, they helped us redesign all our web properties and relaunched the site. After that, we continued our work with them. They now enhance and upgrade various features on the site and have been doing so for the last 7–8 years.

One specific project we undertook related to our publishing firm, an arm of our organization. We wanted to implement a customer-facing platform to sell our books directly to consumers without needing a distributor or retailer. They suggested the Episerver e-commerce solution that we chose, helping us with the design of pages, layouts, functionalities, and integration points. 

What is the team composition?

We had two main points of contact: one who manages overall projects for us and another that takes care of day-to-day support tickets and site maintenance. Additionally, they oversee a whole host of members that they bring onto projects as needed.

For instance, if we’re putting up a new audio player for our broadcasting firm, they bring in specialists that can optimize that process. The same goes for tweaking our e-commerce site or modifying any of our web properties. 

How did you come to work with C2 Group?

We sent out an RFP and chatted with about six web development firms. They met us with the best methodology at the best price. We felt confident that they’d be able to accomplish our goals.

How much have you invested with them?

On an annual basis, we spend about $700,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement started in 2009, and we’re still working with them today. 

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

The redesign of our web presence, in particular, has caused an uptick in page hits and views. They’re our go-to partners because they have a great understanding of Episerver and Episerver e-commerce. It would be cost-prohibitive for us to hire staff like them here in Chicago. They’re already deeply knowledgeable in precisely the skills we need, so they’re essential to our success. Our team works with them well daily, and workflows are always easy. 

How did C2 Group perform from a project management standpoint?

We have a central point of contact on their team that we speak to about our projects. She gathers all the information, does spec work, and lays out the project plan for us. Then, she works primarily with internal teammates to get everything scheduled according to the plan. Throughout it all, she keeps us on track by coordinating with our team, making sure resources are available for QA testing. In that light, project management has gone extremely well.

Our team has weekly calls with the C2 Group to discuss our priorities and progress. I have 1–2 team members on our web team who are in touch with them daily, talking about which tickets should take priority based on the needs of our end users.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a good, quality team that cares about our business, mission, and accomplishments. Fully understanding our aims, they’re supportive of our efforts to achieve our goals.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind at this point. Our relationship with them has grown stronger over the years. We’ve had some bumpy roads in the early years, as they were changing ownership, but we hit a really good stride with them in the past 4–5 years. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

We approach them as if they were consultants and partners, not just a vendor. They’re our confidants, feeding into everything that we’re trying to do. Let them function this way, so they can give you valuable input needed for a successful business.