CURTIS Digital, Inc.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior director of corporate communications for ESO, a company that provides software and data services for EMS agencies, such as fire department, hospitals, and emergency departments. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CURTIS Digital, Inc.?

We had some technical deficiencies on our website and also wanted to redesign it to drive conversion optimization.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CURTIS Digital, Inc. came in at the beginning of our project because we wanted them to be a full partner in our website optimization project. They identified key concerns and problems then began scoping out the project milestones. We iterated on the project details until we agreed on the goals. From there, they started working on the technical and design components of the site, including changing our URL. They improved the UX/UI and overall flow of the site to improve demand and lead generation. 

What is the team composition? 

We worked with three people.

How did you come to work with CURTIS Digital, Inc.?

I’d worked with them before, but a friend originally referred them.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost about $15,000, and we spend about $3,000–$5,000 a month to have them on retainer.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started this project in November 2017, and the work is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When we transitioned to the new URL, it only took them about six hours, and we didn’t lose any traffic.

How did CURTIS Digital, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re responsive, and they keep our project on track. The team is organized and meets our deadlines. We have weekly calls and communicate via email, phone calls, and Slack.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re honest, professional, and go above and beyond to make sure our products are as good as possible. There’s nobody better than them when it comes to website design and optimization.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes, they aren't as available as we'd like, but they have lots of clients. 

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Define your projects and needs, but also get their recommendations. Tap into their knowledge and skills to get the best outcome. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former founder and CEO of a technology company. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CURTIS Digital, Inc.?

We wanted to help our clients visualize operational risks, such as supply chain or cybersecurity risks.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CURTIS Digital, Inc. acted as our design and dev partner, helping us flesh out our product and take it from concept to real life. They built a visualization engine that normalized risk data from different inputs and allowed our end clients to instantly see where they had unhealthy risk concentration, whether that be in a business unit, process, or vendor. They worked on everything from the initial architecture to writing the code.

The technology they used changed, but they did the visualization in Flash and Flex and used a Microsoft database to store large amounts of data. We packaged the product as a virtual appliance we could host, or that end users could deploy their own internal infrastructure.

What is the team composition? 

The team size changed as the project changed. We worked with 6–8 core team members, sometimes adding technology-specific experts.

How did you come to work with CURTIS Digital, Inc.?

A marketing consultant found them. The owner and his team seemed extremely capable and able to accomplish what we needed, so we hired them.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent under $1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from 2009–2014. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Their team was very capital efficient because we could add fractions of a person when needed. The market changed quickly, but they were able to implement new features and updates in a timely manner.

How did CURTIS Digital, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?
They served as an extension of our company, seamlessly integrating with our in-house team. We held weekly stand-up meetings with the project manager and team heads.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The owner is great at finding exceptional tech talent. I’ve worked with numerous dev teams, and CURTIS Digital is one of the best in this regard.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There are always ways to do better, but I’ve used them for multiple projects; they’re my go-to team.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

To get the best results, treat them as an extension of your team, not just an outsourced partner.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing director of a technology company focused on providing information on fire departments, hospitals, etc.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CURTIS Digital?

We’ve worked with CURTIS Digital on multiple projects, but a major hurdle they helped us overcome was building a singular repository for our online content. We have a high generation demand for PDFs, webinars, and other forms that weren’t organized in an easily accessible way. We hired their team to build a resource library for all of our materials and offers.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We began this project with a discovery meeting and worked through the specific technical needs we had. They helped us design the wireframes. To develop the platform, they combined the use of WordPress and custom coding. A unique feature they incorporated is a tagging system that allows users to filter and refine their searches to find relevant content on the site.

In addition to creating the platform, they also provided consultation on how to set up the site in terms of security and abiding by new regulations.

What is the team composition?

For this project, my main contacts were John (CEO & Founder, CURTIS Digital) and Shannon (Project Operations Manager, CURTIS Digital). They directed their internal team behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with CURTIS Digital?

We followed a word-of-mouth referral and hired CURTIS Digital.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $25,000–$50,000 on CURTIS Digital’ services—we’ve worked on several projects with them so it’s difficult to narrow the cost down for one task.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together on this project from September 2017—March 2018.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We don’t have any specific measures of success, but we were very satisfied with the work CURTIS Digital produced. Their team was sharp and they consistently delivered strong work.

How did CURTIS Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

We primarily used email and Slack to communicate about the project. Although they were responsive, project management was one of the areas they had room for growth in terms of keeping the work on track. However, if there were ever technical emergencies such as our site being down, they were responsive and ready to help.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their technical expertise was far and beyond other agencies. Their development skills and helpful guidance made them a great partner. We appreciated that they always provided the necessary information for us to make an informed decision.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Keeping the project on schedule and meeting our deadlines are areas that could have been managed better. There were instances where their team would miss some details, such as copywriting errors or other small mistakes, which lead to additional rounds of provisions. However, these issues tend to happen in projects with many moving pieces.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Making sure you have a strong efficient manager to keep the pace moving is a good idea. Strong communication between the teams will help ensure everyone is doing the right work.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of an emergency management company called H20 Partners, Inc.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CURTIS Digital, Inc.?

We were trying to find a seamless way for the companies we work for to provide information to employees who are answering technical questions about flood insurance.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed a one-stop web-enabled portal for the employees at a call center. The users open it in the morning, read announcements, word search for documents, and look at manuals that CURTIS Digital developed, such as a claims manual for insurance. Those manuals can be word searched too. 

They also created a system that enabled us to simplify the process of building online courses in a government system.

What is the team composition? 

We worked with 10–12 people.

How did you come to work with CURTIS Digital, Inc.?

They were referred to us by another consultant we worked with who had used John (CEO/Founder, CURTIS Digital, Inc.) and his company before.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from November 2014–April 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The products have been very useful and were happily accepted by our government clients. The development work accomplished the goal—our curriculum development staff are able to do more work in less time and with more accuracy using CURTIS Digital’s projects.

How did CURTIS Digital, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

We had frequent interaction. If our client has a question or if they aren’t sure a function is working properly, our program manager contacts CURTIS over the phone or in-person, and they get it resolved. They’re based in the same general location as us in Texas, so face-to-face meetings are quite easy. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very creative at coming up with solutions. If there’s an additional feature that the clients want, they’ve been very perceptive in figuring out how to fit that into the existing development project. They have experience in a wide range of development needs, so can tell us about something they’ve built before that might enhance our project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

No.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the vice president of business intelligence and operational systems for a student housing company. We own and operate on- and off-campus housing properties across the US.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CURTIS Digital, Inc.?

We engaged CURTIS Digital, Inc. to build us an updated CMS and an online resident portal. We wanted to improve our web presence with systems that we can easily maintain in-house.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

CURTIS Digital, Inc. built out a CMS program. Their team designed wireframes and made adjustments based on our feedback. They also created different branding styles for each of our properties. After developing the system, they helped our properties migrate from our old CMS and integrate the new CMS into their sites.

The CURTIS Digital, Inc. team also created a resident portal that allows residents to submit rent payments online. It interacted with an online payment processing system, a receivable system to post payments, and a leasing system that identified our residences and their addresses. CURTIS Digital, Inc. led the project and provided strategic insights throughout.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager and a set of developers.

How did you come to work with CURTIS Digital, Inc.?

Our CTO found them through a reference.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent over $1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from 2010–2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

CURTIS Digital, Inc.’s CMS and web portal met our requirements perfectly. We’ve recently moved to a different CMS platform, but we were highly satisfied with their work.

How did CURTIS Digital, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

The team delivered timely work and ran a smooth project from start to finish.

What did you find most impressive about them?

CURTIS Digital, Inc. excelled at understanding our needs and visualizing ways to take our proposals further.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the senior director of IT Digital Real Estate at the global headquarters for the retail sector of Brookfield Properties. We were just recently acquired by Brookfield and are now the largest real estate company in the world. I’m responsible for every platform that supports our business capabilities, including leasing finance marketing, asset management, and construction and development.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with CURTIS Digital, Inc.?

We originally worked with them when we needed help transitioning our website and digital technologies. We were moving over to AEM and needed integrations with our ERP systems. John (Founder, CURTIS Digital, Inc.) helped with integrations and data cleansing, and he built an entire platform for website publishing that we still use today.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We moved from design and build to an agile framework for the whole website. John made sure the data moved from system to system and that we could verify it was correct and auditable. He built our search feature and helped with tagging on photos. Since then, their team has provided IT support and added functionalities to the publishing system while also helping update our marketing content.

What is the team composition?

John was our main point of contact and Shannon (Project Operations Manager, CURTIS Digital, Inc.) was his right-hand person.

How did you come to work with CURTIS Digital, Inc.?

Some of our employees had worked with John in the past and highly recommended him.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent $600,000–$700,000 initially, and maintenance is around $300,000 for smaller requests that he helps with.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with them from March–November 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Thanks to their development work, we now receive search analytics, which we can use to track trends in merchandise. John introduced the mindset that if the data exists, we need to be able to audit it, and he provided that function for every feature his team implemented. We now have a culture of measuring our performance and their work introduced that focus to our marketing team.

How did CURTIS Digital, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

We always managed the project on our side to ensure no decisions were made without our input. We use Slack on a daily basis, but John is good at innovating and delivering work when he says it will be delivered. He was very scrappy in getting some of the resources aligned and flexible to help with all kinds of crazy requests that we had. Shannon was also very responsive and helpful with project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

John can take a very complex and ambiguous problem and find a solution that is innovative, cost-effective, and practical. That’s why we keep going back.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Project plans aren’t their strong point, which is part of why we manage in-house. I wouldn’t trade their strength in innovation for better project management, however.