Creatuity

Please describe your company and your position there.

We manufacture and distribute over 3,000 different skus of forensic equipment and supplies. We were started in 1993 and have over 20 employees. I am the Marketing Director.

For what projects/services did your company hire Creatuity?

Upgrade our commerce website

What were your goals for this project?

Create a more user friendly, visually appearing website.

How did you select this vendor?

They were easy to work with and showed a level of experience and solutions that we liked.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

They took our dream designs and developed them into a functioning website. They provided details and solutions for us to review on ways to improve our performance and look throughout the process that ultimately deliver a stellar website.

What was the team composition?

The team was about 4 individuals. From an initial client manager, to developer and some accounting individuals that helped with billing, etc

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Our revenues have increased 25% and we finally reached our target of $1M in revenue online in a single year.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

1 client manager communicated clearly between us and the developer. Discussion could be logged on a messaging board (Portal) that were clearly documented.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their ability to complete development items that were new or outside the original scope sets them apart.

Are there any areas for improvement?

During our project the client manager seemed distant because conversations were mostly done on Portal. Now there is a bi-weekly call that feels more personable and also gets quick items knocked out right away.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of marketing for a lifestyle brand. We sell a variety of product categories to both consumers and businesses directly.

What challenge were you trying to address with Creatuity?

We needed a development partner to manage our Magento e-commerce website because it was having problems. The site was pretty much on life support. We knew that Magento had plans to end support for Magento 1, so it was a good time for a move to Magento 2.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, we hired them to redesign and re-platform our website from Magento 1 to Magento 2 Commerce Cloud. We had our in-house team create a new look and feel for the site but Creatuity implemented the design. Our team didn’t do any of the code or actual development. Creatuity executed redesign and re-platform for us, launching the new site in February. Since then, we’ve had them on retainer to manage new feature additions, bug fixes, and day-to-day maintenance of the platform.

What is the team composition?

I worked with four people including a project manager directly but there were more people working on the project. I would imagine there was probably a team of eight.

How did you come to work with Creatuity?

Initially, a colleague recommended them. I’d first worked with them when I was at a prior company. For this project, we got proposals from multiple development agencies. We thought that Creatuity did the most extensive scoping process among all contenders. We felt the most confident in their proposal and that we would finish the project on budget.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $250,000–$500,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in August 2018 and the project finished in early April 2019. We’re still working with them on a month-to-month basis.

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

The website’s in a much better place now. We don’t have to worry about it going down on a daily basis like it on Magento 1. Internally, we have a lot more confidence in its capabilities. Year over year, we’ve continued to grow our e-commerce business. We feel confident that the Magento 2 site’s a scalable solution and will continue to grow with us.

Creatuity did a great job. We designed the look and feel in-house so it’s a custom theme on Magento. Anything we asked for, their team implemented.

How did Creatuity perform from a project management standpoint?

I worked through their portal on a daily basis, which they responded to quickly. It was a really useful tool in making sure that we have records of all our communication about the project. We haven't used email or phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Creatuity finds creative solutions to implement difficult requests. Again, they've never said no. Their team has always recommended an alternative if they couldn't do exactly what we wanted. For a fashion lifestyle brand, it was really important to get the look and feel exactly how we wanted it. Even if their team experienced challenges, Creatuity has never said they couldn't accomplish a task. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only constructive feedback I have is that we were not communicating about the budget as much as we should've toward the end of the project. We had an original scope of work with a specific number of hours, which we went over slightly. I wish that the minute we went over I would’ve been alerted.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It’s important to clarify when you expect them to manage something versus when you want to handle a task internally. For example, if you’re asking for a new feature, they’re always willing to give you the keys to the car to manage that project on-site even though they’re fully capable of managing it for you as well. Clarify that expectation. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for a company that manufactures and sells commercial pressure washers, pressure washer supplies, detergents, and training materials. I am the communications coordinator.

What challenge were you trying to address with Creatuity?

Originally, we wanted to expand our online presence and we knew that Creatuity had quite a bit of experience with the Magento platform. At that time, we were using Magento One Community Edition. We hired them to help us design and build our Magento site.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Their role was purely web development, so they handled everything on that end but just as it covered the design and build of the website itself, as well as ongoing maintenance. That includes basic operations work as well as the development of new features for the site.

What is the team composition?

We have a project manager and then a senior project manager, as well as the developers themselves, so on a typical project I might interact with two to three different people.

How did you come to work with Creatuity?

Their team was sort of just dropped into my lap. I think the original reason the company went with their firm is that they are local, have a reputation of being reliable, and are reasonably priced.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend between $50,000–$100,000 a year.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in 2012 and their support is ongoing.

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

Typically, we are pleased with the products they develop for us because, by the time we finish the extensive testing steps we go through, they work very well and integrate smoothly into the rest of our system.

How did Creatuity perform from a project management standpoint?

Most of our interactions were through an online portal. We would leave a discussion, and comments and responses could be posted within that forum to track the project progress. Overall, I have found them to be responsive, typically hearing back within a few hours to a few minutes. They are very helpful in terms of explaining issues since we have less of a development background.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I like that they have dedicated account representatives. I’m always talking to the same people and can call them up or ask for them by name if I ever need to talk to them. Having that, along with the proximity that allows you to develop personal connections really benefits the provider-customer relationship.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They have had some problems with certain projects dragging on. I understand that development can be very slow, but we have occasionally been disappointed with the speed of the work. We have to be very specific in creating instructions to replicate any particular issues that we’re facing so that they can find and fix them.

We also had some issues with billing at the beginning because of a lack of communication around how many hours things were taking, but we have worked with their team on that and gotten the issue resolved.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be sure to communicate your needs clearly. They’re a very documentation heavy team and like to have everything spelled out for them, so my advice would be to take time on the front end of a project to outline exactly what you need them to do and then they’ll usually do great work.