CTI Digital

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Marketing Manager of Certas Energy UK Limited

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Off-grid fuel and lubricants supplier 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire CTI Digital to accomplish?

• Beyond the Grid campaign planning and execution

SOLUTION

How did you find CTI Digital?

Already with the company when I joined

Why did you select CTI Digital over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from CTI Digital were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Large scale campaign to help improve brand warmth for our off-grid community. Through the introduction of campaigns, competitions and various marketing channels, we're aiming to grow the community and put Beyond the Grid (Certas Energy) at the forefront of their minds. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Increased engagement
• Higher online traffic 
• Increased competition entries
• Improvement in SEO

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

• Great ideas during planning stages
• Always good with contact and keeping us updated (email, Teams calls etc.) 
• Engaging in-person meetings
• Their work was of high quality and turned around very quickly

What was your primary form of communication with CTI Digital?

Virtual Meeting

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

I really enjoy the creativity during our BTG campaign - we've introduced new ideas for our campaigns which have never been seen before within the company and show a high success rate. 

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

• Just the time between planning phase (meetings) and putting the development into action. This has been recognised by CTI for FY26 planning, so we believe this will be improved for this year.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Digital of The Donkey Sanctuary

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The Donkey Sanctuary aims to improve the lives of donkeys every day so we create a world where every donkey has a good quality of life.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire CTI Digital to accomplish?

• Build new website to build credibility as world-leading experts, educate audiences to improve donkey welfare and drive income growth

SOLUTION

How did you find CTI Digital?

• Referral
• Worked with one of their subsiduaries previously

Why did you select CTI Digital over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from CTI Digital were assigned to this project?

11-15

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

A new organisational strategy with a significant  change in direction for the organisation combined with a number of critical issues with the previous website, not least Drupal end of life being imminent, meant a website redevelopment project was essential for The Donkey Sanctuary's continued success.

CTI were tasked with developing a website to reflect the new strategy and brand positioning, increase revenue and make the website the leading source of information for donkey welfare across the globe.

The primary objective of the project was to create an inspiring, user-centric UK master website template for Drupal 10 that can initially cascade across the regions of Ireland, Italy and Spain.

The project was separated into 3 parts - UX/UI research and design targeting 6 specific audience groups. E-commerce project to support our offline shop and a new UK website with various multi-language websites in the future.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Improve perception and recognition of TDS as credible and trustworthy
Raise status of donkeys and increase understanding of how to care for donkeys
Improved user experience
Lower costs involved in delivering TDS future digital needs
Able to report on key performance metrics more effectively
Continued contribution towards Fundraising income target from website activities
Greater recognition as a leading visitor attraction
Better customer experience for on-line shop purchases 
More efficient back-end processes  

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Overall project management was good and CTI responded swiftly and positively if and when there were parts of the project that weren't meeting our needs, especially when we needed to overcome difficult internal stakeholder management.

The project was delayed by 3 months but that was due to The Donkey Sanctuary setting unrealistic deadlines initially.

What was your primary form of communication with CTI Digital?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Account management and communication was excellent, felt like a collaboration.

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

CTI were undergoing internal restructuring at the time and at times ift felt like the workstreams weren't communicating with each other and we were dealing with different organisations but that was overcome during the project with the implementation of a programme manager.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the head of digital marketing for the London Transport Museum.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CTI Digital?

We brought CTI Digital on board to build a website for the museum.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Building the website involved integrating our online collections database and our donation site that was hosted separately.

Before the project started, we worked internally to determine what each department needed from the website. We outlined the requirements and what else they would like on the site. CTI Digital helped us refine those ideas to determine what we needed for each section of the website.

What is the team composition?

I regularly work with five people on the team including a project manager, lead developer, and designer. If we needed to work with a specialist, others came on board too. Over the course of the project, we probably worked with 10–12 different people.

How did you come to work with CTI Digital?

We started with a robust procurement process with our parent company. CTI Digital pitched us

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in January 2020 and the site launched in October.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When we launched the website, feedback was extremely positive from our colleagues, museum board, and trustees.

The website is performing well — we’re happy with the traffic, donations, and conversion rate on the site. It has met our hopes and expectations.

How did CTI Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

Since day one, they’ve been organized and have managed our time well. Project management has seemed seamless.

Most of our communication is over Jira, but then we had weekly team meetings on Google Hangouts. We’ve also used email and have held ad hoc phone conversations.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They continue to provide lots of ideas. They came into the project with a fresh pair of eyes and they brought up opportunities we hadn’t thought about before.

We were also their first clients from a museum and were clearly interested in breaking into our sector. As a result, they were really dedicated to make this project a success. I’m sure that they put a lot of time into our project before the launch because they wanted to make sure we were happy with the final product.  

Are there any areas they could improve?

I think it would have been easier if we met face-to-face, but because of COVID-19 that wasn’t really an option. Considering the circumstances, I think they managed the project very well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be honest and give them a clear brief of what you want. We were clear about what we wanted for certain pages and designs and that helped the project. I’d advise any new client to maintain communication with them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founding director of an online art school for leisure and hobby artists. We offer tutorials and tips via video courses to people who want to improve their drawing and painting skills.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire CTI Digital?

We hired CTI Digital to manage the initial build of the website and provide ongoing development. Our latest project is converting the site into an e-commerce platform so that our courses can be purchased à la carte, rather than having to join the site on a year-long membership.

What were your goals for this project?

We sought to increase our profitability by opening up a new market and providing our existing customers with a different way to consume our courses.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We chose them in 2011 for the initial build and continue to use them for our development needs.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

CTI Digital’s first objective was to convert our existing membership site into an e-commerce store that makes every course a standalone product. In doing so, they redesigned our website’s frontend to make it more appealing to our target audience. Further, CTI Digital developed a bespoke affiliate program and created a system that tracks students’ progress through courses and allows them to download a certificate upon completion. Lastly, they found a more suitable way to track usage, key financial metrics, and student engagement.

What was the team composition?

The team assigned to our account consists of a project manager, an account manager, at least four developers, and two designers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It is too early to provide specific measurements because we have yet to launch, but so far, the process has been exceptional. CTI Digital’s workflow has been well-planned and thorough. We’ve experienced clear and timely communication.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

There is always a clear point of contact for the project, but we also get direct access to developers and designers through Jira for clarifying details, which tends to speed up the process. Their UX technicians were tremendously helpful. Their members were heavily invested in understanding our ultimate goal. As the product owner, this process has helped me realize how important it is to take extra time to think about new features and review the user experience.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They take ownership of the project and go the extra mile to make sure they deliver what we expect. There is a perfect balance between access to a project manager and their team at-large.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

In the six years or so we've worked with them, CTI Digital has grown into an extremely professional and efficient outfit. They continually improve, and, opposite to so many businesses, their growth has actually increased the amount of personal attention we get from them. I can't fault them in any area.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We’re a U.K.-based company with 100 offices internationally. We work with the U.K. government and overseas governments on a variety of different projects, which can be from face-to-face involvement to a digital offer for teachers and young people to help them work towards a better future.

What is your position?

I’m an outside consultant, and I act as a project manager.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenge that you were trying to address when you first approached CTI Digital?

Previously the main challenge was that the website had been going for quite a while, and it had been built internally. It moved to being managed by two separate companies in terms of server hosting and the development. We had one company that did the server hosting and another that did the technical development. That was not efficient, so we put out a tender to look for a single managed service, which is the contract that CTI won.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the actual scope of work assigned to them?

The main service is the server hosting, which was outsourced by CTI, but ultimately they’re responsible for it. The other area is the technical development. CTI has a team of developers that we use to update our website. The website isn’t just a content management-based website, it also has transactional tasks on there, which is very similar to an e-commerce solution. A user can apply for grant funding, going through the various steps on a digital form. There are all different functions like that. There are different awards they can apply for, and they can download resource packs.

At the time CTI got involved with us, everything was fragmented, and we were operating on Drupal 6. The work they were doing for us wasn’t just maintenance and business as usual, but it was also a migration project from Drupal 6 to Drupal 7 and moving from the old supplier to them as a new supplier. They’ve used an agile approach to the work.

How did you come to choose CTI Digital as your partner?

Because we work in the U.K. and work quite closely with the U.K. government, we have a recommended list of suppliers. A supplier would have to be on the list, and I think there were three or four suppliers that we looked at in terms of the tendering process. CTI Digital was one of them, and they were a recommended Drupal supplier.

Can you provide a ballpark dollar figure for the size of the work that they’ve done for you?

That number is confidential. In terms of volume of users, the site attracts between 40,000 and 60,000 visits per month, and we have more than 100,000 registered users on the website. It’s definitely not an insignificant engagement.

What is the current status of the project?

The relationship remains ongoing. When we tendered for a new supplier, it was on the understanding that it was initially to get through this development window, and then it would be a year to two-year contract that is renewable at the end of the first year. We’ve just renewed our contract with them for another year.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the quality of their performance?

It’s difficult to say because this website, 12 or 18 months ago, was in quite a bad place. It had a bad reputation, both internally and externally, for going offline quite a lot and for the transactions being complex. We’re only just now getting into the position where we’re starting to get that confidence back.

I would say that in terms of a website, it’s still very much in its infancy. We’re still dealing with a lot of support calls as a result of developments that weren’t tested properly by CTI. That wasn’t really their fault as we had put them under pressure to deliver and deploy solutions that maybe weren’t tested properly. As a result of that experience, we have built in a QA [quality assurance] and testing process, so things are a lot better now than they were. We still get quite a few support calls, and we use CTI Digital more for support than development right now.

When working with CTI Digital, is there anything that you would consider unique about their strategic approach or development methodology that distinguish them from other vendors?

The support is really great. The team that deals with support is absolutely brilliant. They understand your business very quickly. They understand and are sympathetic to the fact that when something goes wrong you want it fixed as quickly as possible. You can very easily build that trust in the working relationship. For example, I will not demand something be fixed the same day if I know we can wait a couple of days or a week. We have a very good two-way working relationship.

In terms of my all of the suppliers I’ve worked with, CTI would definitely come in second. The support is really good, and it’s all down to the way we got these working relationships and the communication.

In retrospect, are there areas in which you think they could improve as a service provider?

It wasn’t a user-centered design approach that they used. I think that might be different now because they’ve learned a lot of lessons through the work they’ve done with us. A lot of the developments that were made were done without any consultation with the end-user community. As I said before, that isn’t just CTI’s fault. As an organization, we were at fault there. I think if we were to do this scale of project again, it would be more user focused at the beginning.

The development side is solid, and it’s a lot better than it was, but it tends to be very heavy on the processes. So, it’s all about the process, not about what the customer wants. I don’t think that my needs are taken into consideration. It’s more about CTI and their processes.

What advice, if any, would you give a future client of theirs?

I would recommend being more conscientious of the end user when moving through the development process. It’s the most important part because you just never know how the end user will interact with a solution. The only way to figure that out is to incorporate them into the process deliberately.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Ecommerce of Little Greene Paint

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Manufactures and sells luxury paint and wallpaper

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire CTI Digital to accomplish?

• Online revenue optimization
• New website build
• Hosting

SOLUTION

How did you find CTI Digital?

already working with them

Why did you select CTI Digital over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• expertise

How many teammates from CTI Digital were assigned to this project?

1 Employee

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Maximise online sales. deliver a strong ROI from advertising campaigns and SEO. Optimise the website with contnt refresh, functionality development improvements.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

revenue, ROI, ROAS, AOV

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

permanent project manager, weekly meetings, available via email 5 days a week. they delivered on time and met our needs. Their communication was strong and they understood th Brand and what we were trying to achieve.

What was your primary form of communication with CTI Digital?

Virtual Meeting

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

Their digital expertise was most impressive, also their strong communication, innovative

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

slightly more proactive to challenge us would be an area for improvement.