DMS Designs Pty Ltd.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing manager at Graham Lusty Trailers. We design and deliver trailers in Australia, relying on social media and our website to advertise our business.

What challenge were you trying to address with DMS Designs?

We’re a small business that doesn’t have the technical capabilities to build and maintain a website. We engaged with DMS Designs to create and manage a site based on our direction.

What was the scope of their involvement?

DMS Designs developed our original site four years ago, and we’re currently in the process of finishing a new one. We made sketches and provided a list of basic functionalities. Their team developed the backend to replicate what we were after and with coding relating to our users’ communication. DMS Designs also provided other design services.

Their team created our logo and other graphics, including the rendering of computer-generated trailer images, making the art look more realistic. Based on the sketches we provided, they designed brochures and gave us multiple options on the print and book styles. Their team worked on the layout, formatting, and printing the materials. They’ve also developed an app for our race car transporters.

What was the team composition?

We interfaced with Derek (Director, DMS Designs) and his team.

How did you come to work with DMS Designs?

I met Derek through a colleague who owned a residential building company. DMS Designs did a lot of design work for him, and I trusted his opinion. I met Derek for an informal interview and looked over his past work. After seeing how successful their work was on the smaller projects we supplied, I went to them to fix the website. I’ve used other graphic designers in the past but felt that DMS Designs would be better at communicating.

What is the status of this engagement?

I first started working with DMS Designs around eight years ago with another company and brought them along when I moved to Graham Lusty Trailers. The new website is set for launch soon.

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

It’s been a tedious process getting the site up and running. DMS Designs is fast at responding and getting work done, but there’s a lot of graphic design on the site that needed our approval. Results have been positive. Derek takes our direction on how we want our work to look and feel. Projects that DMS Designs created have received media attention. That has been positive for our brand and sales.

How did DMS Designs perform from a project management standpoint?

DMS Designs gave us a timeline at the beginning of each project. Their team always stuck to the schedule, either delivering on time or early. Just like any other company, there were a few delays and issues, but their team always communicated that to ours.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their maintenance support is noteworthy. If there’s an issue, DMS Designs fixes it right away. Their design work and technical knowledge are great, but I mainly appreciate their reaction to technical problems. Those are important because we rely on our site for sales.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Instead of using spreadsheets, I would like a new management portal on the project management side to see the progress of jobs.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Clients should be clear about how they want their projects to look and feel. When it comes to our site, we provide a lot of drawings and details on how we want things to function. Being super clear about your vision and goals saves time.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the VP of a marketing and business intelligence company. We specialize in benefit programs and customer loyalty initiatives.

For what projects/services did your company hire DMS Designs Pty Ltd.?

We needed someone to develop a website and a CRM solution.

What were your goals for this project?

We were aiming to overcome several challenges with our existing solution regarding functionality and business hierarchy. Additionally, our CRM wasn’t set up in a way that allowed us to maximize its capabilities.

How did you select this vendor?

We found them on LinkedIn, and someone recommended them to us. After comparing them to four other vendors, we selected DMS.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

Derek (Director, DMS Designs Pty Ltd.) and his team created wireframes and a prototype of our website so we could have a clear picture of what it would look like. They tackled API and XML request issues and built the site with ASP.Net.

DMS suggested we initially launch the MVP and then proceed to a final version. We liked the idea, and after we launched the MVP, we did SEO to build good traffic. Currently, we’re waiting for people to get excited before launching the full version.  

What was the team composition?

We worked with a project manager, a designer, three developers, and a QA resource.

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

The MVP has had a tremendous effect. People enjoyed the site's functionality, and, internally, we appreciate the CRM.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

We documented everything via email and managed the project on Trello; Jira helped track bugs. Our documentation and tasks were allocated to DMS’ designers and developers, who worked on an hourly basis. We also had daily meetings.  

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their designs and communication stood out to us. They were professional and responsive and delivered a design that was perfectly suited for our website and CRM. In my opinion, they’re the best development team in my region.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Timing was our top concern, seeing as we were in different time zones, but starting a shift on US time would fix that.