Hero Digital

BACKGROUND

Could you briefly describe your company?

Ballard Spahr is a national general practice law firm. We’ve got 14 offices coast to coast and more than 500 lawyers. Our core practices include real estate, intellectual property, business and finance, public finance and litigation law. We’re a corporate firm that has clients across nearly all industry verticals.

What is your position?

I’m the senior marketing technology manager. I liaise between the marketing department and technology functions, both internally and externally.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenges you were attempting to address when you initiated the relationship with Delphic Digital?

The primary reason we reached out to Delphic Digital was because we wanted a reliable Web developer that we could partner with, an individual or company to audit our existing Sitecore website to help us improve certain things, and for them to make recommendations for how to optimize it. 

Once we fully understood their capabilities, we also utilized their services to create several electronic cards, two holiday cards, and one announcement card announcing our 14th office in New York City, which was a very big deal that had to be handled in a unique way. They conceptualized those cards and implemented them from start to finish. They were excellent.

SOLUTION

Could you describe for me the scope of the project? For instance, did it involve custom visual design, backend development, training, or support?

So far, they’ve made a number of fixes and changes. There are certain types of changes within our website that we can make internally. However, our IT [information technology] group really hasn’t been trained in terms of the backend of Sitecore and isn’t in a position to make more complex changes for us. Some of the changes they made were fairly basic.

We started working this year with them. They did a full-site search engine optimization audit, describing a number of different things where we’re not optimizing our site and really outlined what we can do moving forward. We're now in the process of addressing those opportunities. 

They’ve also supplied us with a plan to optimize our existing site for mobile. However, we haven’t started down that road yet. We talked to them about possibly going to a dynamic site. But, due to internal factors here, we’ll first optimize what we have before we go to a dynamic site, mostly because it would require a lot of additional design work.

How did you select Delphic Digital as your solution partner?

We researched a lot of different companies. We got a list of companies that were Sitecore partners and did research on each of them. We did a side-by-side comparison of three different Sitecore partners. In a chart, I said these folks are capable of this and we just compared different things. I think we ultimately interviewed each of the companies, and then talked to references before deciding upon Delphic Digital.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in monetary terms?

I think the largest single project was around $12,000 although, throughout the year, we have several different projects that are around that scope or less.

When was the project completed?

The most recent project was completed at the very end of December [of 2013]. They’re working on something for us right now as well, so there’s an ongoing project, too.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any specific statistics, metrics, or user feedback that you’ve received that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work Delphic Digital has delivered?

I don’t have any metrics, but I’ll say that we’ve had very positive feedback on the e-cards they’ve created. The first audience is our own lawyers, and they’re pretty tough, so to win them over with the work that Delphic Digital did is quite an accomplishment. A number of the projects that they’ve worked on outside of the cards are really things that, so far, the end user or even our lawyers wouldn’t even notice, but everything that we’ve asked them to do, they’ve completed exactly the way that we’ve expected it. I’d say we’re at 100 percent satisfaction.

Do you remain confident that the Sitecore content management system solution will continue to meet your business needs into the foreseeable future?

Yes, I think it’s adequate. We have discussed possibly changing to a different CMS solution. If we did, we would absolutely work with Delphic Digital to select an alternative, and also help transition our website from Sitecore to another.

When working with Delphic Digital, is there anything you would consider unique or special about them compared to other vendors with which you’ve worked?

They’re close by. That’s not the reason why we picked them. Our largest office is in Philadelphia, and they’re located in Philadelphia, too. That said, we’ve met in person only a handful of times, so I don’t think that really plays a bigger factor, but it feels like they’re close by. They’re very responsive. Whenever we needed an update, or if we needed them to speed up a project, they’ve done that every time it was asked.

In retrospect, are there areas that you think they could improve upon, or are there things you'd do differently as the client before approaching this type of project?

I really can’t think of anything. I think they’re really accurate with their estimates. Their project managers do an excellent job of managing everyone’s expectations, everyone at the table, whether it’s me from a project management perspective, or the other folks internally. There aren’t any surprises with Delphic. As a result, I don’t think that there’s anything that I’d want them to change.

BACKGROUND

Could you describe your company?

I work for a casino in Atlantic City, N.J.

What is your position?

I’m a project manager working with the IT department.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenges you were attempting to address when you initiated the relationship with Delphic Digital?

We needed a new CMS [content management system] in order to increase our process efficiency, gain more control on our content, and enhance the interactive aspects of our website. Our older system was really inhibiting our growth and efficiency. 

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of the project? For instance, did it involve custom visual design, backend development, training, or support?

The visual design work was delegated to a different vendor. Delphic was responsible for implementing our Sitecore CMS, which included backend development, systems integration, testing, data preparation and migration, and ongoing support.

How did you select Delphic Digital as your solution partner?

Once Sitecore was chosen, our [vice president] then approached several Sitecore certified companies with a small scope of work for all three of them. We evaluated their performance and capabilities during the mini projects and ended up selecting Delphic. They were definitely the most amenable with our company in terms of business culture, collaboration, and location.

What in-house expertise did you contribute to the project?

We didn’t have developers per se, but we managed our counterparts through our custom .NET development initiatives. We also provided all of the media content and copy for the site. We dealt with the strategic oversight and content components, and Delphic handled the backend development and integration components.

Could you give a sense of the size of this initiative in monetary terms?

I can’t disclose that information.

When was the implementation completed?

The entire implementation, including the official website relaunch was completed in September of 2013. Delphic remains our go-to resource for Sitecore support and maintenance.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics, metrics, or user feedback that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work they’ve delivered?

I can tell you that we’re very pleased. Our staff members have expressed great enthusiasm for the work done by Delphic. They really know what they’re doing. I don't have any specific performance indicators, but the website operates far better than our last site. Users spend much more time on the site interacting with various components, and general maintenance has decreased significantly. 

When working with Delphic Digital, is there anything you would consider unique or special about them compared to other vendors?

I would definitely say that their involvement is at a very high level. You can contact their project manager and she is intimately aware of what you’re talking about on the site. They’re all very knowledgeable. They’re very granular when you speak to them, from a customer experience standpoint. That's a huge deal for us.

In retrospect, are there areas that you believe Delphic Digital could improve upon, or are there things you’d do differently as the client before approaching this type of project?

I really don’t think that there’s anything that I would have them do differently. As vendors go, they’ve always offered support and resources. They’re a small company, but they can still cover your gaps. Their size allows them to excel in customer experience and service areas. They’ve done everything we’ve ever asked them to do without issue.

BACKGROUND

Could you briefly describe your company?

We are a nonprofit organization that provides performances as well as arts and educational programming for the Northern Virginia area. We also have a national early arts and education program.

What is your position?

I am the Web production coordinator. I work across the foundation on our various websites and digital spaces to maintain functionality, upgrades, communicate between the foundation and our vendors, and support the content updates and email marketing campaigns as needed.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenges you were attempting to address when you initiated the projects with Delphic Digital?

Right now, I have eight different projects going on with Delphic. The very first project we did with them was while we were facing some major technical difficulties with our primary website. We were struggling with a prior vendor to migrate content from a hard server to a Cloud-based solution. At that point, we hired Delphic to be our main Web development firm. Since then, they have done a number of projects updating features on the current website, and we’re in the process of doing a major facelift to the current website as part of a rebrand.

SOLUTION

What platforms did they develop for you?

Our primary website runs on the Sitecore CMS, and that is what they have done the majority of their work on. They have also sustained our net community by Blackbaud website, which primarily does transactions. Their role in that has been more cosmetic, such as updating the CSS design. We are also in the initial stages of starting an education portal, which has a community aspect to it.

Why did you select Sitecore as your CMS?

At the time, it was what was recommended by our former Web vendor. We were originally hoping to have a custom CMS, but after negotiating the requirements and stipulating our goals, they decided Sitecore might be the best fit. We’ve been with Sitecore since then. I’m quite pleased with Sitecore at this point. Since we are a nonprofit, Sitecore very generously donated the license for it. It’s not really cost effective at this point to try and move away from that.

How did you select Delphic Digital as your service provider?

The point in time that we switched to Delphic, the problems were with the Sitecore website, so we knew that we wanted a Sitecore certified partner. I did a number of interviews with companies in the area. I did not find anyone who had the technical background as well as the nonprofit experience, both of which were desired. I felt very confident in Delphic’s technical staff based on their methodology, their documentation, the way they go about their process.  They had experience with other nonprofits, and understood some of the challenges we have in that we have the marketing side that needs to sell tickets to the shows, but then we also need to promote memberships for our donors, that sort of duality. Because they had the strong technical staff, I felt very confident in some of the marketing aspects. We selected them even though they’re in Philadelphia and we’re in Northern Virginia. They’ve come down a couple of times for major project kick-offs, but it has never been a problem working remotely with them.

Could you give a sense of the size of this initiative in monetary terms?

The very first project was within the $10,000 to $15,000 range.  We have since completed much larger projects, and we have new websites preparing for launch in the new year. Each of those projects are within the $120,000 to $150,000 range.

When was the first project completed? 

October of 2011.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

In terms of results, could you share any statistics or metrics that would demonstrate the effectiveness of the work they’ve delivered?

With the first project, our website went from non-functional to functional, which was fantastic.  They stepped into a problem where the website was crashing every couple of days, and we had to reset the server in the middle of the night multiple times a week. We’ve not had to deal with any of that since. They really shored everything up, and that site is technically sound. We did not have accurate tracking metrics on our website, and they helped me add that. We now have for the first time valid analytical data for the website, which is invaluable, and we never even had it before. We were in bad shape before Delphic began working with us. We’ve already seen significant increases in traffic, visibility, and conversions. We’ve also engaged Delphic for some of our SEM and pay-per-click campaigns. They’ve optimized our content for search at least twice already. Over half of our Web traffic comes in from search engines, so we’re very, very pleased with that.

How do you think that Delphic Digital has performed on these projects?

Fantastic. I’m thrilled with them and their performance. Our account representative is fantastic with managing the various projects. Everything has always come in within budget and on time, unless there has been a major delay on our part. There have been a couple of times where my foundation has held things up, but even in those cases they have been able to accommodate us. I have been extremely pleased that from their end, everything runs on time, and we have a project schedule to which we strictly adhere. The quality of work is great, too. There have been a couple of projects where we were upgrading the Sitecore system; we had to upgrade from Sitecore 6.1 to 6.5. We didn’t know if there were going to be some bugs with it just because the website was not originally written by Delphic. That upgrade was completely flawless. Projects never come in early and under-budget; that never happens. I feel very confident in working with them, and that’s largely why this year we’re jumping into such large projects with them. They have a proven track record with us.

In retrospect, are there any areas that you feel Delphic Digital could improve upon, or are there things you’d do differently as the client before approaching these types of projects?

As a client, I think I would approach some of the marketing initiatives a little differently. There have been a couple of times we talk about how they might help us with our email campaigns or some of our other online marketing initiatives. There will be meetings with Delphic higher-ups and my higher-ups and people will throw out all these great ideas, but it doesn’t go anywhere because it’s sort of outside the workflow of what we need. I wish that those types of meetings were a little more realistic, but I think a lot of that has been on my foundation’s side. It’s difficult when people who are not in the position to oversee the project are in these meetings and don’t really understand the challenges we face. I don’t know how to make that better, but I feel like there was an opportunity there for either more short-term or actionable things, or just to have that conversation be more about what can they actually do for us in the next year, rather than the theoretical discussions that everyone gets excited about, but aren’t going to happen anytime soon.