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    Chicago, IL
    312.529.3000

We Build Connections

5.0
3 reviews

Duo is a web design and development agency that uses Drupal to build business platforms that forge deeper relationships with your customers. We’ve spent the past 20 years helping organizations like yours drive measurable results by taking a strategic approach to website design and development.

We’re not just a development firm; we’re consultants who provide ideas and recommendations for your web presence as a whole. Our hands-on team handles every aspect of your project from start to finish. Our development model combines a highly-skilled, business-focused strategic team that works face-to-face with clients, and technical teams that provide efficiency and scalability for enterprise clients.

We are a leader in the open source community and trusted for the work that we do. Duo focuses on Drupal because of its open source architecture and well-documented API, which means that we can easily integrate your website with other applications to create custom solutions for marketing automation, eCommerce, and more. With the added resources of parent company CIGNEX Datamatics our open source expertise includes Liferay, Hadoop, MuleSoft, and MongoDB.

Our services include:

  • Strategy
  • Discovery
  • Accessibility Audits
  • Site and Content Audits
  • Support Agreements
  • Whiteboarding Sessions
  • Experience Design
  • UX/UI Design
  • Visual Design
  • Drupal Development
  • eCommerce
  • Integration
  • Marketing Automation
READ MORE...
 
$50,000+
 
$100 - $149 / hr
 
10 - 49
 Founded
1999
Show all +
Chicago, IL
headquarters
  • 641 West Lake Street Suite 301
    Chicago, IL 60661
    United States
    312.529.3000

Portfolio

Key clients: 

Chicago Botanic Garden - Duo worked with the Garden to integrate a new ecommerce platform with the website.

Verizon - Duo made key updates and created a user friendly, geo-targeted careers site for Verizon's corporate site.

Other clients include: Bosch, Cook County, FIGO, Littler, Freeborn, BDO, BVP, The Episcopal Church, Loyola Medicine, Domu, Cappex, Much Shelist, NOSCO Packaging

Reviews

5.0
3 reviews
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Drupal Implementation Midwestern Law Firm

"They remained calm under pressure and offered a number of keen insights throughout the process."

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
5.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$50,000 to $199,999
Project summary: 

Duo Consulting migrated and developed an existing law website and CMS. They built backend functionality, system architecture and QA prior to launch. The team now works in an ongoing support capacity. 

The Reviewer
 
201-500 Employees
 
Greater Chicago Area
Chief Marketing Officer
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

The new website yielded an eightfold increase in site visitors. Duo Consulting has experience working in the legal industry, which was great for the project because it allowed them to anticipate the site’s functionality needs. The team has effective project management and leadership overall.

BACKGROUND

Could you describe your organization?

Our organization is called Freeborn & Peters, which is a law firm based in Chicago with a very broad range of capabilities, mostly on the civil side.

What is your position?

I’m the chief marketing officer. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenges you were attempting to address when you initiated the relationship with Duo Consulting?

We had a very old and inflexible website based on an obsolete content management system. We were looking for a new system that was going to be easier for us to maintain, allow a broader range of media types, and have a more sophisticated look and feel to it. 

SOLUTION

Could you describe the rationale behind your selection of Drupal compared to its competitor products?

There were two main reasons behind the decision. One, it’s an open source solution, but I had a great deal of confidence it was a very well-supported system. I didn’t think we’d be losing anything in terms of relevant capabilities. Secondly, because it was open source rather than proprietary, we knew we could get support from numerous places in the event that our relationship with Duo Consulting didn’t work out. 

Could you describe the scope of this project? 

They took a rough design and applied a theme to it. Much of the design work, at least cosmetically or aesthetically, was done by someone else. They built the backend functionality from scratch and implemented the entire website from that point forward. There was considerable data prep work involved and information architecture, too. They were also responsible for testing the system and making slight adjustments to our performance standards. They continue to provide ongoing support. 

How did you select Duo Consulting as your solution partner for this endeavor? 

It was a combination of two things. We had distributed our RFP [request for proposal] to several potential vendors that we felt could implement our solution and rebuild our website. Duo was one of these potential vendors. We were familiar with Duo because they had worked with us in the past on unrelated projects. We knew they had experience working with clients in the legal industry, and that was a significant factor in our decision to give them our work. Outside of that, we were confident that they had the expertise to take us through the deployment process in an effective and professional manner. 

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

The implementation cost approximately $100,000. 

When was your new website launched?

It went live in March of 2013. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve seen an eightfold increase in the number of businesses and prospects visiting our site. In addition, we now have the ability to track and monitor the progress and effectiveness of our digital marketing campaigns. This has allowed us to streamline and simplify our marketing initiatives. 

When working with Duo Consulting, is there anything you would consider special or unique about their approach or methodology that distinguishes them from other vendors you’ve worked with in the past?

I was incredibly impressed with their project management approach as well as the strength and leadership of the project managers. Their leadership was extremely diligent and well organized. They remained calm under pressure and offered a number of keen insights throughout the process. The firm responsible for the visual design wasn’t nearly as effective or responsive as Duo Consulting, but the Duo project managers were able to corral them and keep them on track, which was fantastic. 

In retrospect, are there areas you think that they could improve upon, or are there things you’d do differently as the client before initiating a project with Duo Consulting?

I’d give them more responsibility than I had because I think they did a much better job than the other firm we were working with. Working with vendors in the IT space can be hit or miss, and this project really highlighted the fact that some firms have a very holistic approach, and some simply don’t. 

5.0
Overall Score  
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
     
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
     
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
     
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer

Drupal Implementation for Large Business Information News Provider

“They’re excellent at sitting down with you and strategizing the project down to the tiniest details.”

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5.0

Quality: 
4.5
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
4.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$200,000 to $999,999
Project summary: 

Duo Consulting migrated an existing platform to facilitate conversations and news between business and financial professionals to Drupal. They completed all design and development in this project.

The Reviewer
 
10000+ Employees
 
New York City Metro Area
Social Media Program Manager
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

The team has done fantastic work, going above and beyond to train employees in the new platform’s functionalities. Duo Consulting provides a set account manager who is very accessible and detail oriented. Overall, they are very easy to work with.

BACKGROUND

Could you briefly describe your organization?

I work for a leading business and financial news provider. We have a global presence and have more than 10,000 employees worldwide. 

What is your position?

I’m a social media program manager. I’m responsible for managing our proprietary online community.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenges you were attempting to address when you initiated the relationship with Duo Consulting?

We wanted to build our own proprietary community around business financial news and information. It would enable us to have closer contact and engagement with some of our clients. We wanted to use the power of our brand to establish a safe platform for business professionals to have deeper conversations around their topics of interest.

SOLUTION

What was the rationale behind selecting Drupal compared to its competitor solutions?

There were several platforms that were evaluated, including Lithium and Jive. The decision was a combination of Drupal being an open source platform, and also the size and stature of the community that contributes to it. We have the ability to select from a wide range of custom modules that are either core modules or contributed modules. Selecting Drupal would allow us to meet our business goals and technical requirements without the need to spend all of our time developing custom functionality.

How did you select Duo Consulting as your solution partner for this endeavor?

It was actually through a reference from a consultant that we were working with. This particular consultant helped our executive team evaluate different platforms. When Drupal was selected as the preferred solution, he then suggested several leading agencies to work with. Duo being one of them. Once we interfaced with Duo, we realized that they would be a great fit. We were very impressed with their capabilities.

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

We really gave them responsibility for everything. They designed and developed the platform under our supervision, but they were the ones in the trenches. They collected and prepared all of our backend data before migrating it to the Drupal platform. They organized and architected the backend, and integrated it with several of our third-party services and systems. They conducted all of the UI/UX and A/B testing before our soft launch, and then customized some of our social integration functionality. There was also some considerable training involved in order to get our staff up to speed and comfortable with administrating the backend of the site. We have a retainer with them for ongoing support and one-off modifications.

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

Last year, we spent almost $450,000. We expect to spend roughly the same amount this year with Duo.

When was the site launched?

The first launch that I worked on occurred in April of last year [2013]. The version that we’re working on now is version 3, and we plan to launch it in the summer.

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’t share any site metrics with you because we prefer not to make them publicly available.

When working with Duo Consulting, is there anything you would consider unique or special about their approach, methodology or services that distinguishes them from other vendors you’ve worked with?

They’ve been a fantastic partner. I have a dedicated account manager who I speak with daily and sometimes several times a day. Other vendors we’ve worked with haven’t been so accessible. They’re excellent at sitting down with you and strategizing the project down to the tiniest details. They’re extremely proficient thought partners in that respect. I find that they’re really easy to work with, too.

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

Yes. We spend a lot of time ensuring that the solution we went with would be the correct choice. A lot of due diligence was put into the decision-making process. Thus far, we’ve been very pleased with the system.

5.0
Overall Score
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
  • 4.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
  • 4.5 Quality
    Service & deliverables
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer

Drupal Implementation for International Financial Services and Advisory Firm

“They take a very methodical approach to design and development.”

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5.0

Quality: 
5.0
Schedule: 
5.0
Cost: 
5.0
Willing to refer: 
5.0
The Project
 
$200,000 to $999,999
Project summary: 

Duo Consulting migrated a CPA firm’s SharePoint platform to Drupal. The team was given a concept from which to create designs and custom functionalities.

The Reviewer
 
1001-5000 Employees
 
Minneapolis Metro Area
Director, Alliance Membership
 
Verified
The Review
Feedback summary: 

The new portal is more intuitive and user-centric, with over 10,000 users. The team was very methodical in their approach to the project, handling each step with care. The team demonstrated a very in-depth knowledge of Drupal throughout this project. 

BACKGROUND

Could you briefly describe your organization?

I work for an international CPA Firm. Domestically, we have 52 offices and about 3,500 to 4,000 employees. The group I represent inside the firm is the Alliance Program. That’s what our relationship with Duo was for: To develop a portal that we offer for our Alliance organization members.

What is your position?

I’m a director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

Could you describe the business challenges you were attempting to address when you initiated the relationship with Duo Consulting?

Internally, we had a SharePoint portal that we used for our Alliance members to convey information to them. Unfortunately, it was inside our firewall, which made it very difficult for us to do a lot of things, and the SharePoint site was not user friendly. We reviewed a number of different development tools and platforms to move our portal to. The Drupal platform was the one that came out, the highest-rated solution of all the ones we looked at.

SOLUTION

Could you describe the scope of the project?

Duo was involved throughout the entire process. We approached them with our conceptual design and their team reviewed it for viability. Once we agreed on the scope and the deployment strategy, they began their work. They handled the custom design work under our direct supervision, and then built the site from the ground up. A lot of what we needed was included in the core modules, which was relatively simple to implement. They also created some custom functionality for us and stress tested our system before the site went live. We still use them for ongoing support and case-by-case modifications and enhancements.

What was the rationale behind selecting the Drupal compared to its competitor solutions?

We had a fairly extensive list of requirements that needed to be fulfilled. Some of our selection criteria were the availability of custom modules, the overall cost of the solution itself, maintaining the product, and the acceptance in the market.

How did you select Duo Consulting as your solution partner?

We developed the requirements and submitted them to seven or eight Drupal developers across the country. We invited the people that produced research and had sponsored DrupalCon, because we wanted a partner that was invested heavily in the Drupal community, and had a deep expertise with the platform. We submitted the proposals to all of them and interviewed the top three candidates that we felt met the requirements. Duo Consulting seemed to be the best fit throughout the process.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative?

The initial cost was between $250,000 and $350,000. We’ve done a lot of work since then. We’re in the process of updating the UI [universal interface] now and upgrading to Drupal 7, so we’re probably going to spend another couple of hundred thousand dollars in the near future.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s difficult to give you specifics. The problem is, on the SharePoint side, we really didn’t track usage statistics. We knew the number of logins but, overall, it was a completely redesigned process. One of our goals was to eliminate email communications as the primary source of conveying information to our Alliance members. The portal was designed to be much more intuitive and user centric. We have a lot of content, but you could select the content that you were interested in following, if you will. To that end, it was very successful. We now have upward of 11,500 participants in the portal. Our previous site probably had closer to 3,000, and the statistics now show there’s a lot more activity on the portal than we ever had before.  

When working with Duo Consulting, is there anything you would consider special or unique about their approach, methodology or services that distinguishes them from other vendors you’ve worked with?

Their process is extremely thorough. They take a very methodical approach to design and development. Each stage is approached with extreme care and attention to detail, and their documentation practices are quite fantastic.

In retrospect, are there areas you think they could improve upon as a service provider, or are there things you’d do differently as the client before initiating this type of project with them?

I honestly can’t think of anything. It was a very successful engagement. It was certainly what we had hoped for and probably more.

Do you remain confident that the Drupal CMS will continue to meet your business needs into the foreseeable future?

That was one of our key decisions in looking at historically where Drupal had been, when we looked at where 7 was at that time and where 8 is now. We knew that each consecutive version would bring enhanced functionality, but that the previous versions could also be sustained for quite some time even after a new release. That was important for us because this was a very large investment, and we expect to get a lot out of the system.

5.0
Overall Score
  • 5.0 Scheduling
    ON TIME / DEADLINES
  • 5.0 Cost
    Value / within estimates
  • 5.0 Quality
    Service & deliverables
  • 5.0 NPS
    Willing to refer