Solving complex business problems with technology
Cloud Brigade provides strategic, custom business and technical services. Since our inception in 2005, we focus on building innovative projects and solving complex business problems with technology. For over 15 years, we’ve utilized our extensive breadth and depth of software development, machine learning and operational IT skills and experience to serve small to large companies, resulting in customer business growth, referrals and partnerships.
The Cloud Brigade Difference
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We love a good challenge. Due to our unique breadth of expertise, we have the ability to see between the lines, and identify and solve business and technical issues others can't.
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We believe in building up communities. Since our inception, we have empowered nonprofits and educational organizations through technology and training that enhances their missions. As a result, our local employee and support network consists of the most cross-functional skills. Throughout our 15 years, we've launched the careers of 40+ local college students.
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As the Cloud Brigade team pushes boundaries to develop solutions unyet heard of, we have a bigger mission. As a wise man once said, “Failure is not an option.” This strong work ethic follows the team internally and throughout every project and every client.
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We are a purpose-driven company. We’re committed to make our clients look good by providing services enabling companies to make a positive impact with meaningful outcomes.
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Focus
Portfolio
Correcting Bad Behavior with AI
What do strange dogs pooping in your yard and the way some people are responding to COVID-19 have in common? Both are undesirable behaviors that can be hard to detect and correct – until now. Applying the phrase, “with conflict comes creativity,” we got creative and designed and deployed an efficient and powerful Machine Learning/Artificial Intelligence solution for detecting and correcting problems like these.
One night I had walked down the hill in the dark to fetch our garbage cans. About 30 minutes later I began getting that familiar whiff. You’ve been there, right? I had stepped in dog poop. Coincidentally, we had recently acquired a pair of AWS DeepLens cameras, essentially a development kit to explore machine learning through computer vision. Now I had the conflict, and the resources to get creative.
Nordic Naturals Captures Chinese Consumer Business
Nordic Naturals wanted to expand consumer product sales into mainland China. The company had a Chinese-language marketing website to display its offerings, but it wasn’t set up to allow e-commerce. The company’s internal web development team lacked sufficient staff to handle the development needs, which included complex integrations with their e-commerce platform and their enterprise resource planning (ERP) system. Nothing about this project would be “cookie cutter” simple, but Cloud Brigade got their system launched, helped build business in China and then provided advisory technical services to plan how to move forward more broadly with their e-commerce strategy.
Reviews
the project
CMS Platform Migration for Nonprofit Tourism Agency
"We value their expertise in building websites, keen knowledge, and determination to create an efficient website."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I work for a Destination Marketing Organization that promotes travel and tourism to the county of Santa Cruz. My primary role at VSCC is I mainly handle all website related projects and all things digital. My position is the Director of Online Marketing.
For what projects/services did your company hire Cloud Brigade?
We enlisted the help of Launch Brigade to migrate our old CMS platform to our new (current) CMS platform. Because our website generates over 1 million website traffic annually, we wanted to ensure that during the migration process, we kept the disruption of service as much as possible while maintaining our traffic to site.
How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?
We had a total of 3 different vendors who bid for our website migration project, and Launch Brigade being the most technical out of the three and also cost effective leaned us to select them as our primary choice. Also, Launch Brigade headquarters being in Santa Cruz, it was a perfect relationship because they knew what we're about.
Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.
The project started back in 2018 of October where we enlisted the help of Launch Brigade. Our goal was to migrate our website to a better CMS platform where staff members can easily change their content with little to no knowledge of the back-end. Through the process, we made sure to retain our 1 million hits of traffic to the website and keep the disruption of service to a minimum.
How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?
In total we worked with about 5 staff members from Launch Brigade all the from their CEO, Chris Miller, to their developers, Rex Reyes, website developer. The other staff members that helped were Stephanie Nelson, Project Manager, and Ben, Back-end developer and another developer, Darren Odden.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
Launch Brigade was able to meet our deadline of launching in March of 2019 where we typically launch our annual Spring campaign which is our largest effort. They continue to provide us website related services to this day and we have created a great working relationship.
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
All projects are handled through Asana which is a seamless management system that allowed us to keep track of all related tasks while keeping transparency to VSCC.
What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?
We value their expertise in building websites, keen knowledge, and determination to create an efficient website.
Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?
Near the end of the website launch, there was some doubt that Launch Brigade could launch in time for our Spring Campaign however they managed to pull through together for us and make it happen.
the project
IT Services for Nonprofit Organization
"They were always prompt and responsive."
the reviewer
the review
The client submitted this review online.
Please describe your company and your position there.
I am the Marketing Manager at the Santa Cruz Museum of Art & History. I support our online and digital efforts to reach audiences interested in visiting and supporting our non-profit museum.
For what projects/services did your company hire Cloud Brigade?
IT maintenance and support as well as website maintenance and support.
What were your goals for this project?
We needed help with ongoing pain points with our IT services due to year of lack of oversight and maintenance. We also needed to secure our site which was being hit by hackers causing the website to crash regularly.
How did you select Cloud Brigade?
We reached out through our local networks for recommendations. Cloud Brigade came highly recommended and their mission and values aligned with our own. Plus, they could assist with all levels of our technology needs making it easier and more cost-effective for us.
Describe the project in detail.
The first task undertaken to improve the network was the migration of the Internet connection from wireless broadband to a newly launched fiber offering, both provided by Cruzio Internet. Although we had a decent collection of IT documentation, we didn't have staff members with the required level of technical knowledge to handle the migration, especially in the areas of migrating down and addressing unexpected issues as they arose. Cloud Brigade then resolved issues allowing current employees to gain access to information that we had previously been unable to access due to old login information tied with past employees.
Then, as restrictions for the pandemic hit and we had to begin working remotely. Cloud Brigade set up VPN access to keep us connected to the network and fully productive during their work-from-home period. Following that they helped us maintain our digital archival system for exhibits and other materials in the cloud. Plus, ongoing tech support for printers, wifi, new computers, etc.
What was the team composition?
We were in contact with Chris and Stephanie predominantly over email. Chris was the lead, occasionally meeting us on site, but also pulled in other people on his team to assist digitally with certain projects.
Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?
Our site is secure, up to date, and running smoothly. It's been a huge weight lifted knowing we have someone on our side for when any tech emergencies or needs arise.
How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?
The workflow was great. We communicated over email and even over text in emergency situations.
What did you find most impressive about this company?
They're breadth of knowledge. No question or problem was too small or big. We felt fully supported.
Are there any areas for improvement?
Nope, we're happy with their work!
Cloud Brigade was able to finish an easily navigable output at a crucial time. The client described their management, which was handled on Asana, as seamless and transparent. The partners even kept in contact after the project because of the vendor's satisfying work.