Cascade Web Development

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a digital content specialist for Friends of the Columbia Gorge. As a nonprofit organization, our mission is to protect the natural, cultural, and recreational resources of the Columbia Gorge. Our efforts include outreach and hiking programs for public education. We also function as a legal advocacy group for the gorge.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cascade Web Development?

Our website was built in 2009 and we put off upgrading it longer than we should have. Since then, we’ve implemented other features like a membership database and a program registration system. We needed those integrations to work together seamlessly and that was no longer possible with the site’s current build. Additionally, it wasn’t mobile friendly and that resulted in us not fully utilizing it internally. We hired Cascade Web Development to build us a new website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We don’t have an IT-person internally, so our outreach manager and I had to the lead the project on our end. We’d never done a web redesign project before, so Cascade Web Development was heavily involved in determining the project’s scope. They helped us gather the materials we needed and outlined the technical aspects of the process.

They provided multiple wireframe designs for us to choose from. We picked one and that design informed the subsequent development effort. They built a brand new website from the ground up. The most notable feature they implemented is the trail database which includes information on roughly 100 trails. Users can customize hikes by filtering trails through various details like elevation gain or the number of waterfalls present on a route. It’s easily the most trafficked and intricate part of our platform.

What is the team composition?

We primarily interact with their CEO or a client services representative.

How did you come to work with Cascade Web Development?

We asked around for developers and they were referred to us by a colleague.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in July 2015 and the new site launched in May 2016.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Anecdotally, we get a lot of the compliments from visitors about the site. It works great even though the initial launch was two years ago. We heavily rely on it for event registration and guided hikes. We’ve had some people complain about specific parts of the design, but it’s hard to make everyone happy. Overall, people seem to enjoy the site.

The scenic area surrounding the gorge caught on fire last year and the blaze lasted for three months. We feel fortunate to have had the new site up and running because we were seen as a credible community resource. As a result, our web-traffic numbers quickly doubled and continue to grow each year. The site also functions as a major tool for us to promote what should happen to the gorge in the future.

How did Cascade Web Development perform from a project management standpoint?

I got the impression that we required some complexities that they hadn’t experienced while building other sites. Our CRM integrations presented new challenges to them and that generated some frustration. They also used a clunky project management software that didn’t work well with us. They’ve since cleaned up their problem-solving processes and it’s currently a good system. We communicate via email and phone calls. Their office is close by, so we meet in-person for issues that would be difficult to resolve over email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re not technology experts and Cascade Web Development accommodated us in that area. They took the challenge of winning our business seriously and believed in our mission. In fact, their CEO is a big fan of the gorge and hikes there often. I feel like that gives them more intrinsic motivation to make sure our site works correctly. They also understand that face-to-face and forthright communication is important.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They proposed an initial project cost and went over it by a significant amount during development. I suspect this was due to our lack of ability to accurately describe what we needed to be built. However, they want to grow and have done an outstanding job improving on their weaknesses.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be realistic about your budget, so you don’t get any unpleasant surprises. It’s going to be expensive if you want a high-quality site.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing director for a Portland, Oregon law firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cascade Web Development?

We've been working with Cascade Web Development for many years. They did a full redevelopment of our website in 2013 and it was time for a complete revamp.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked with another company on design and some of the content of the website. Cascade took the designs and turned it into an actual website. When some of the designs didn’t translate, they helped figure out the correct functionality. Our old website was built before mobile responsiveness became standard. Their proprietary platform, Evergreen, now provides seamless mobile responsiveness. They’ve also given us a lot more flexibility in terms of how information displays on each page. Cascade trained us on Evergreen so that we can go in and make content adjustments and changes within the website ourselves. It’s a very flexible backend, and fairly intuitive for my staff to learn and implement.

What is the team composition?

Ben (CEO, Cascade Web Development) is my main point of contact. He oversees our account and handles big picture issues. My staff person also has a direct point of contact at Cascade Web to handle the day-to-day operations.

How did you come to work with Cascade Web Development?

Back in 2009, our website was built on a nearly obsolete platform. We needed to find a firm that could help us do website updates on that platform. One of the firm’s partners had a son in IT, and he introduced us to Cascade. We developed such a good relationship that we’ve worked with them ever since.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $50,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

This project took place from July 2017–March 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everyone we’ve talked to agrees that it’s a cleaner, more consistent site. People really noticed the redesign because the old site was so stale. All the comments have been very positive. The streamlined design elements really stand out. It's intuitive in terms of how you find the firm’s information. Cascade did a great job of implementing the design recommendations that the other agency helped us develop.

How did Cascade Web Development perform from a project management standpoint?

The team is great, very responsive and positive. I liked that they were always willing and able to come to our office to review comps of web pages in person and not do it all over the phone.

What did you find most impressive about them?

When things weren't going perfectly, I could pick up the phone and call Ben. He really listened to me, and we were always able to reach a resolution or decide on next steps. I never felt hesitant about making that call. I really appreciate a vendor willing to have frank conversations.

Are there any areas they could improve?

While overall I was happy with the project management, the project got rushed at the end. There was some over-promising in terms of delivery date that they missed by a week. We’re partly responsible because we had unrealistic ideas about how fast things could get done. Everyone was feeling a lot of pressure.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am a staff attorney and coordinator of technology projects at the mandatory provider of primary malpractice coverage for lawyers in our state. We provide coverage to every attorney engaged in the private law in our state.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cascade Web Development?

We needed a new website because the one we had was 10 years old. We needed to bring it into the modern era, increase functionality, and implement new features.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built a site from the ground up that allowed users to log in, access event calendars, and use our Continuing Legal Education library. They used Evergreen 2.0 for backend development, and since they don’t have in-house designers, they outsourced the website design to a local company that did a great job.

They’ve continued to enhance our site over the past several years. In 2017, they helped us build an online application portal for our Excess Coverage program, and we’re getting ready to kick off a project where they will build an online payment module for the program.

What is the team composition?

I would occasionally have contact with their president/CEO. He tries to be involved at the beginning of every project. Usually, I would interface with two people on the team at a time. I’ve worked with four individual project managers because there was a lot of turnover in that role. We also worked with two developers.

​​​​​​How did you come to work with Cascade Web Development?

Cascade Web Development created a website for a local bar association and a few other law firms in town - seeing their success with similar websites helped us make the decision.

How much have you invested with them?

The initial website project was around $60,000. We’ve had other large projects and engagements with them with varying budgets, but that was the cost for the main project.

What is the status of this engagement?

They gave us the initial RFP in March 2013, we began the project in July or August 2013, and the website launched in fall 2014. They continue to update the site with new features.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There has been a huge improvement from our previous website, which was mostly informational and not very functional. There has been a lot of positive feedback since we launched and the usability is much better. Users are able to log in, make online payments, and get information that was difficult to find before. We had positive feedback when we first launched and are continuing to get it four years later.

How did Cascade Web Development perform from a project management standpoint?

I've enjoyed working with their team. They have a good strategy in place and talented developers. We've met all of our goals without unexpected hiccups.

We communicate mostly over phone and email. We also had a number of video chats. For any project that I work on, I insist on meeting in person at least a few times a year, and they've been very accommodating.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They are knowledgeable and experienced in developing lawyer spaces and easily meet those niche needs, which involves education classes, resource materials, and member directories. Their specialization has been very helpful for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Cascade really has a knack for handling large projects with many moving parts.  When we initially approached them about working on a smaller site for a sister organization, we were surprised by a more expensive price tag than we were expecting for a project of that scale. The small scale needed for that project did not seem to be a great fit and that was somewhat unexpected.  

There were also several staffing changes over the years. Every person we’ve worked with has been talented, but more stability would be nice.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of Dovetail Coffee, a coffee roaster. We have both retail locations and a wholesale business.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cascade Web Development?

I was brought into Dovetail to turn it around so I decided to do an identity transformation. Part of that process was getting a scalable website that would give us a ton of control and would let just about anybody manage it.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I’ve done about six or seven websites with them for a number of different ventures, so they’ve become a critical partner. For the most part, we’ll grab frontend templates – or have a separate resource build a custom interface – and then use Cascade to build a backend on an Evergreen CMS. For Dovetail, they also built us a wholesale interface portal that can handle standing orders, management, and billing. It also provides retail location support tools and business management and marketing tools.

What is the team composition?

I work with their CEO for the most part, but in terms of implementation I'll work with a producer, their Director of Operations, and their programmer. Most of the time my marketing person works with the producer and I'll work with the Operations guy - he's their lead product manager.

How did you come to work with Cascade Web Development?

I was introduced to Cascade through one of my business partners and mentors. Their one of the premier development companies in Portland so they’re pretty well known.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent around $150,000—$200,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

I started working with them in April 2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There’s probably 80 different coffee roasters in Portland, but no one else has the backend wholesale portal. Other cafés look at us and think it's amazing, because no one ever does this. Cascade has really helped us create a competitive advantage there.

I brought them in on an environmental services company I was helping and they upgraded them out of a WordPress site. That company went from earning $3 million a year in revenue to $12 million. They also made Oregon’s Top 100 Fastest Growing Companies list two years in a row. I would attribute a lot of that to my identity transformation and Cascade’s web platform.

How did Cascade Web Development perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is really good. We’ll communicate over phone and email, but since they’re local, we’ll also meet in person.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re always working on our sites. As users use it and as your business evolves, you need to create new features, so your site is always evolving. They 100% reliable too. They can do anything we ask them too and they pretty much always on time. If they’re ever late it’s because of something I did. In the five years I’ve been using them, they’ve always done what they said they would do. We get great ROI with them. I wouldn’t even consider looking for another partner.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We have such a good working relationship that I can't imagine what they could do to improve. If they could do it I'd be developing apps with them thought. That’s something.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the COO and General Counsel of a non-profit organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cascade Web Development?

We had an outdated website which needed to be redeveloped.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Cascade completed the original build of our site a few years ago, and did a pretty deep redevelopment for us this time. Our website is on an Evergreen platform. We wanted these changes to be more outward facing, and for the website to be a lot easier for us to edit from our side.

What is the team dynamic?

We had two to three employees from Cascade working on the redevelopment.

How did you come to work with Cascade Web Development?

I had a relationship with Cascade Web Development’s owner, Ben McKinley, prior to the project.

How much have you invested in them?

We have invested about $25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We originally started working together in 2012, and this project was completed in June 2017. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have had really positive feedback regarding the redevelopment of the website.

How did Cascade Web Development perform from a project management standpoint?

It was good. We communicated through email, phone, and we had in-person meetings as well.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Cascade is really invested in their clients, which is something I appreciate. They were close and accessible, and they understood who we were as a client.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Some of their initial visioning processes, for someone that doesn’t do it all the time, was a bit of challenge. I personally didn’t really know fully what they were doing, but other than that it was fine. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the Director of Marketing & Strategy at Earth Advantage. We are a nonprofit focused on green building certification, education and research.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Cascade Web Development?

We originally hired them, years ago, for the first generation of our website. The current iteration was to update the website to mobile-ready and consumer focused.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started with a couple of brainstorming sessions where we discussed my organizational goals for the updates to the website. Cascade Web Development gave me a lot of great feedback in terms of industry standards, options, and available approaches. From there, we created a timeline, scope of work that matched my budget.

The site itself was built on Cascade’s own proprietary platform. We had a Drupal site originally, but they built this site using their backend from the ground up, with my design specifications and site map. I now manage the site content.

The biggest change in the current development is making the website mobile responsive. Cascade added a capacity for video, the ability to upload CSV files, and easier navigation functions in the training section.

What is the team dynamic?

I started off working with their project manager and lead developer. Throughout the process, the project manager is my point of contact with us sharing a project management platform where we can exchange ideas, updates, and bug fixes.

How did you come to work with Cascade Web Development?

I met Ben McKinley at a function and we chatted. Afterward, I spoke with some past clients and other businesses that highly recommended Cascade. In the end, I felt comfortable with the team at Cascade and their interest in our non-profit mission.

How much have you invested with them?

To date, it's somewhere in the neighborhood of $50,000 for the two iterations.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around September or October of 2013 and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The new website won’t officially launch until October, but I can tell you our internal responses are very positive. The people that I worked with from Earth Advantage for the site, that helped me to figure out the content and review it, have seen the draft version and are really excited about it. The speed results from Google on the test site are also excellent.

How did Cascade Web Development perform from a project management standpoint?

I think they're excellent people to work with. They're very attentive and have great suggestions but they're also very hands off. If I push back and say, “look this is the way it's got to be”, Cascade is very respectful of that. That's the reason I went back to them for a second time to do the updates for the website because I'm very comfortable working with them and I trust them. They're very accommodating on a number of different levels.

In terms of communication, early on in the project I usually go and meet with them in person. Cascade will either come to my office or I go to theirs. We had a couple of those sessions this time around. The rest of the follow ups are conference calls followed by a final in-person training to our staff.

What did you find most impressive about them?

In the initial stages when I was interviewing organizations, Cascade paid attention, on a very personal level, to what I needed. They were willing to meet with me, listen to me and have a conversation about what it is I wanted to do in earnest. This wasn't the case with the other people that I interviewed. I want to be able to sit down and see who I'm working with and build a relationship with them. For a lot of the firms that I talked to, that seemed odd to them and that made me wary of working with them.

Another important thing is that Cascade is very committed to our mission, one with an environmental impact focus, it's actually meaningful to them as a business. They have always worked with my budget constraints to find the right balance between my needs and their capacity. They're not just a business doing something, they care about what we're trying to accomplish.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything that stands out. Everyone can improve and I’ve seen them make changes when needed to how I need to communicate or with my timeline.