CR Software Solutions

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a Tier I Automotive supplier. I am the CAD dept manager and am also responsible for the business processes of the Product Development dept.

For what projects/services did your company hire CR Software Solutions, and what were your goals?

We had a number of home-grown database solutions written in .NET circa 2003 that needed updating. Our goal was to modernize and improve upon these tools with a current Microsoft .NET/SQL stack. We also use CR Software on another application where we internally develop a Django backend and CR Software provides HTML/CSS/Bootstrap for the GUI.

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

We searched online for vendors offering customer software development by the hour, where we would maintain ownership of the code. We wanted somebody responsive and adept with reasonable rates.

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

We hold discover meetings and discuss feasibility/difficulty of different possible directions. Then I provide a specification with functionality/GUI mockups for Chris to work to. He provides an estimate of effort for each feature and I manage those decisions to stay within budget and get the most bang for the buck. Chris provides deployment packages which we will test and deploy upon validation.

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

We work directly with Chris, who is the owner.

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

Our user base is very happy with the look / performance / functionality improvements we have brought in the upgraded tools.

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

Chris is prompt and responsive. We have established a good working system for code management

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

I am really impressed with the value they provide at very reasonable rates.

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

We had some issues with deployment packaging but those were resolved and the issue has not been repeated.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner and Clinical Director of Maka Group Services. We provide residential and in-home care to adults with disabilities.

For what projects/services did your company hire CR Software Solutions, and what were your goals?

My company began working with CR Software Solutions for purposes of website and application development. My goal was to streamline our hiring process and to build a website that was secure, professional, concise, and aesthetically pleasing.

How did you select CR Software Solutions and what were the deciding factors?

Referred by the owner of the tech company that services our computers. Deciding factor: Met with Chris and he was attentive, available, met deadlines, and a small business owner.

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

We held several development meetings before we got started. I liked how we broke each service up into sections so that we could assure that the right words were used to explain each service in detail. Chris kept us updated weekly and we communicated and shared documents through Microsoft Teams which ensured that documents didn't get lost.

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

Web designer and developer - Chris

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

Our website has become interactive and we were able to decrease face to face contact with applicants by 85%

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

We used Microsoft Teams to communicate, share files and video conferenced weekly to discuss project updates.

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

Their customer service is awesome.

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

I can't think of anything that they could have done differently.

Please describe your company and your position there.

TCS Michigan is a Commercial, Residential, and Industrial Heating, Cooling, and Refrigeration Contractor. I am the Office manager, I handle the schedule, office duties, billing, and clerical work.

For what projects/services did your company hire CR Software Solutions, and what were your goals?

Our website never really embodied all the varieties of work that is done at TCS Michigan. Whether it be replacing a furnace in a residential home, or upgrading 10,000 sq ft church control system to automation. CR Software was able to reflect the vast variety of services that we offer, clearly and professionally.

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

Our owner David Smith met Chris Richmond from CR Software Solution's, via the BNI (Business Networking International) group that they both participate in. Mr. Smith had seen some of his work and knew that he would be the right fit to upgrade our website to the professional standards this age expects.

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

Dave and I meet with Chris multiple times via video call during the COVID 19 shut down, where we discussed layout, aesthetics, photos and verbiage of services and details of our company.

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

Chris was our main contact and did a fabulous job! Extremely helpful!

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

Our specific landing pages have helped be able to see where our customers are finding our site and how we can reach back out to them.

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

Our communication consisted of phone calls, video calls, email and teams messaging.

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

CR Software Solutions, provided us with an updated, professional and aesthetic looking and functioning website that is streamline and modern to draw our customers in!

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

We couldn't have asked for a better functioning site.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a sports performance and fitness company. We’ve been in the industry for about 25 years and help people from a fitness and competitive sports standpoint.

What challenge were you trying to address with CR Software Solutions?

We had a social media and website partner in the past but realized that our presence still wasn’t great online. Information was becoming outdated, and our partner was less accessible. We needed someone to help us out with that.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We haven’t moved forward with social media work yet, so their main focus was on the website. It was their job to make sure all the data was up to date and functioning the way it needed to. They examined the site and created a rundown of things that needed to be done on the platform. We sat them together and built a strategy to move forward with the corrections they supported, hoping to change and improve the site. 

Our existing site contained some misinformation. For instance, we changed locations a year ago, and that wasn’t completely represented online. Their team also found the platform to be a bit cumbersome, recommending we change our CMS. Some pages weren’t functioning correctly and videos weren’t playing, but we didn’t know why. The site as a whole wasn’t as professional as it could’ve been either. They added helpful features and more functionality. While there are things we still need to build out, they ensured the content was up to date and that the pages were working correctly. 

What is the team composition?

We worked mainly with Chris (Owner & Full-Stack Developer, CR Software Solutions).

How did you come to work with CR Software Solutions?

I was referred to them and decided to check them out. We sat down and Chris seemed like a good fit for our company. He was understanding of our niche place in the market and knew which funnels people were using to covert. I noticed that he took the time to listen to us rather than interjecting with his own ideas for the site. It was a good back-and-forth, and he was fair in price. That encouraged me to hire him. 

How much have you invested with them?

His services cost us about $1,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The entire engagement only took about a month and a half. A good bit of that time involved us redoing site components and getting him up to speed on our progress. We were working from August–September 2019 on the site.  

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

At this point, we haven’t noticed huge changes in conversions from the site. We have seen a small uptick and responses coming in via the web, but there are still a few tweaks we need to make to vastly improve. Capturing those outstanding leads falls more on our shoulders now.

How did CR Software Solutions perform from a project management standpoint?

Chris visited our facilities to sit down with me and really get an idea for our creative goals. Together, we came up with a series of solutions in our several collaborative sessions. We never had any issues with communication because it was laid back, yet professional.

What did you find most impressive about them?

He made efforts to understand the business and project goals. Sometimes, service providers won’t totally internalize what you tell them, but Chris wasn’t like that. He was patient, conscientious, and wants to make the customer happy. I was completely comfortable with him. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

In hindsight, I would’ve waited to engage them until I had more time on my end. There’s been a lot going on in the past year, so I wasn’t as attentive to the project as I could’ve been. That’s completely on our end and not theirs though. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure there’s a clear understanding of the process and timeline on your end. It’s important to have a solid basis of knowledge of what is happening throughout the project. Their team was great at estimating based on price points and determining timelines.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a marketing specialist at a university.

For what projects/services did your company hire CR Software Solutions, and what were your goals?

Our website needed calculator solutions. CR Software Solutions was able to swiftly provide us with the backend code needed for our calculators and style them as proposed by our UI/UX designer. We're impressed by the final product.

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

We conducted a phone interview and felt that the way we were treated as clients was very professional, and appreciated the transparency and the time CR Software Solutions took to explain all necessary processes.

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

They used WordPress, Java, HTML, and CSS to create calculator on our consumer-facing site.

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

The owner of the company coordinated with us.

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

They communicated through email and phone. They were appropriate and timely.

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

Their personal care and approach to work and communications impressed us.

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

None.