EMERGE

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a marketing manager for Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise company. I work in the customer experience and engagement office. My responsibilities include designing experiences that our customers value to help us sell solutions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Emerge Interactive?

Their efforts revolved around the construction of our Customer Experience Center. The goal of this project was to provide customers with a space where they can meet our executives and product managers to gain a better understanding of the company’s capabilities. As primarily a Wi-Fi and wired network vendor, we wanted to focus on providing our guests with memorable digital experiences. Therefore, we hired Emerge Interactive to create an application that drives the digital experiences present in the new space.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Emerge Interactive developed a cloud-based application that guides visitors through a tour of our Customer Experience Center. They insisted on a design meeting at the beginning of the engagement. We talked through all of the use cases and interface screens to establish a detailed development plan.

Our tour guides use the app to cast vignettes on various monitors around the facility. The vignettes walk our guests through different Aruba scenarios like a waiting lobby, a retail experience, and a digital workplace. Not only does the software look attractive to potential customers, but it also functions seamlessly throughout our campus and performs backend administration tasks without disrupting the experience. We use Heroku to support the platform.

To further enhance both the visitor’s experience and our ability to sell solutions, the app is integrated with several of our existing products. For example, the app’s primary integration is with our location-based service. Within the context of the space, visitors can use the app to figure out where they are and different things will happen depending on that location. Several experiences within the facility are built around that functionality. Other software integrations within the app include a mobile campus robot and a conference room scheduling system. While the app is complete, they’re currently working on adding integrations with a wireless smartphone charging company.

What is the team composition?

We initially spoke to a salesperson, several project managers, and their CEO when defining the scope of work. Aubree (Project Manager, Aruba, a Hewlett Packard Enterprise) and two developers took over the project during implementation.

How did you come to work with Emerge Interactive?

We considered a small handful of software developers that have done work for us in the past. Emerge Interactive possessed the app development expertise we looked for in a partner and also knew how to create experience-focused designs. The other candidates we considered lacked the ability to deliver on both fronts. Additionally, their location made communication easy.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in October 2016. The space opened in March 2017, but we contracted them to provide ongoing maintenance as needed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The app they delivered is critical to how we bring in customers and showcase our products. While other companies may attempt similar approaches, our space looks different and the visitor experience is distinct. That uniqueness generates sales and we couldn’t have achieved it without Emerge Interactive. We perform demonstrations using their software 300–400 times a year.

How did Emerge Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

We’re happy with their overall availability and responsiveness. I usually communicate with Aubree via Slack, but can also utilize different team members to get answers quickly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They understand advanced design concepts and utilize that knowledge to augment development. The result is an application that looks good, functions appropriately, and sells products.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’d like them to be faster, but they probably deliver quickly compared to other developers. I’m not well-versed in software development, so it’s difficult for me to be sure.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Communicate a clear idea of what you want from the start and they’ll deliver what you ask.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the former principal technology advisor at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Emerge Interactive?

We had a group of technology expert advisors spread around the world, and we wanted a way to connect them all and create profiles for each one.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Emerge Interactive built a web app called the Technology Partner Network that helped us engage with our global technology experts. They also made the app functional on mobile devices. The platform lists all of the experts’ past experience with nonprofits and NGOs, allowing us to identify the best partner for any project.

We started the engagement by reviewing our objectives and required functionality. That turned into a design session that resulted in wireframes and then moved into development, testing, and release.

What is the team composition?

We worked with up to seven people. We had designers, tech people, and an account person.

How did you come to work with Emerge Interactive?

We began talking to them at a conference we both attended. They were located near our headquarters and had an impressive resume, so we decided to hire them when this project came along.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent between $100,000–$200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked with Emerge Interactive during 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We gathered a comprehensive database of technology experts that facilitated our ability to discuss and act on topics, such as blockchain. That had a direct influence on how we designed our programs.

How did Emerge Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated regularly with about three people, and we held weekly calls to keep everyone on the same page.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They had lots of energy and were willing to take on any challenge. They kept commitments and delivered on promises. Instead of passively taking instructions, they proactively collaborated to make the best product possible.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

If possible, meet with them in person. You’ll catch their energy, which is a lot harder to do over the phone.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The company is Markies LLC, and I’m the founder. We’re currently in the end stages of development for a mobile, social augmented reality app, which we’ll be launching in the next 60 days. I have another app in the market that’s been financially successful, so this is the second round of that process.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Emerge Interactive?

The development for all our mobile apps and software development is contracted out. Emerge is helping us with this particular project.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The application is fairly robust. It has an augmented reality component, which makes for difficult work, to say the least. It is also a straight-up social app. There’s a lot of liking, following, friends lists, and commenting on posts. It’s an interesting combination of robust backend database kind of work, as well as some cutting-edge client-side technology. It is a challenge, but it’s interesting to start meshing augmented reality with social media.

I first reached out to Emerge to help me with the strategy. They helped me create a game plan for how to tackle the project. Then they went through some more traditional processes, beginning with airing out the scope, the feature sets, and the creative side. They put together the graphics and user experience, which is sometimes the most difficult thing. We sorted through that user experience before we even started doing any code.

Then we went into development. That’s when they put their head down and started creating the product in earnest. At this phase, I’m receiving builds, which I’m using for demos. That’s been nice, as I can show the investors what we have. I can talk to the traditional ad agency. Emerge has been handling mobile app tactics, which I would call mobile app ad agency work, but I also have a traditional ad agency. Having a demo to show them has been good.

The next phase is going to the MVP, which we’ll put out to a group for testing, then we’ll go to the app store.

How did you come to work with Emerge Interactive?

I had two false starts with this app, so I wound up asking around to find the best possible provider for this particular technology. That’s how I came across Emerge. I had worked with part of their team prior to this app, on another project of mine. I had approached Jordan Bryant about another app. During that process, Jordan’s company merged with Emerge. I had a meeting with some of their executives. Their business development interests aligned with a project like this. A big factor for me was whether they could execute on the project. After two stalled efforts prior to this, I wanted to make sure I was choosing the right partner. So far, that’s been shown to be true.

How much have you invested with Emerge Interactive?

I’ve invested over $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in September of 2016, and the work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

When you’re talking about a mobile app business, it really is a whole business. You have intellectual property and financial concerns. You want to be in the position to ramp up if the launch is successful. You need expertise in app industry mobile tactics but also in traditional marketing requirements. The experience with Emerge has been interesting. They didn’t just develop it, bug-test it, and give it a 60-day guarantee against bugs: they actually contributed to these other categories. They improved the product through the creative phase and the MVP phase, where we actually start cutting features and refining it down to its core functionality. That’s been helpful.

They provided a project manager to translate my layman’s terms into tech-speak, which was extremely helpful for me. I’m heavily involved in the product roadmap, but I’m not a developer. So far, the experience has led me to have greater confidence in the potential for success.

How did Emerge Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been flexible with me. I like to be more involved than most clients, and they responded to me in that regard. I have weekly checkups. Their office is local, so I visit them occasionally for a face-to-face collaboration, which I think is a tremendous advantage. They’ve tailored their project management to my specific requirements. We mostly use email for communication.

What did you find most impressive about Emerge Interactive?

I have a comfort level with Emerge because they’re a larger company. They have a lot of people in their office, so I’m not going to lose momentum if a resource goes away.

They’re very down to earth. There’s no drama; they’re very professional. When talking to them, it’s obvious that they’re focused on resolving whatever issue or challenge is at hand. Computer software developers are creative people, and they have all kinds of personality types. It’s very comforting to walk in and actually deal with folks that are extremely professional and there to get the job done with you. They pay attention, and they consistently move forward. They’re consummate professionals.

Are there any areas Emerge Interactive could improve?

Sometimes I would like to be more informed about what’s happening with the code architecture. For example, I want to know what kind of load testing we’ll do to ensure we can handle a large influx of users, what the process is for removing unwanted posts, and what the architecture looks like. I worry about those things, and I want more of a peek into what they’re doing at the code level. However, I have to admit that’s probably just my experience. Most people wouldn’t ask for that level of detail. When I ask them questions, they are completely willing to answer.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the managing director for an advertising and public relations firm focused exclusively on environmental and public health issues.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Emerge Interactive?

We worked with them on some internal challenges, as well as an external project that never came to fruition, which happens a lot in our field. The challenge I’ll focus on is the internal one, because I think it speaks more clearly to what I perceive are some of Emerge’s greatest strengths.

Our company was behind on its digital strategy in terms of how we ran the agency’s digital approach and how we applied digital strategies to our clients. We engaged Emerge as our digital strategy partner to drive an internal-first approach to how we used digital strategy to engage with our clients. We used them as our partner in client engagements.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The first piece was bringing Emerge’s senior leadership to the table with my senior leadership. I was the facilitator of this engagement and I knew where I wanted my leadership to go, but I was too close to the situation to speak truth to power. I engaged Emerge as experts in their field to inform us on what digital strategy means to our company, and how to drive digital strategy into a communications strategy.

Emerge helped us turn the ship of the overall agency’s thinking about what it means to be digital first. They played two roles in the beginning. One was as leaders and facilitators, educating the senior leadership of my organization about what the digital culture was beginning to look like, how the agency talked and thought about itself. So it wasn’t just providing a digital strategy for a project, but rather a comprehensive management and leadership approach to bringing a digital strategy into an organization.

The second piece was helping us to create a plan. What are the strategies and tactics we’re going to take? How do these things fit into our strategic roadmap? What are the most important things when it comes to this culture change and the implementation of things? Emerge did not implement for us. They did this facilitative management work, created a strategy, and then turned it back over to our team. So, that was our first engagement with them.

After that, it was more project- and implementation-oriented. The key thing they did for us was the engagement at the strategic level. They really sat at the table with us and created that internal cultural shift. From a project perspective, we worked on a couple projects where we partnered together. As we were developing our own capabilities, they came to the table on client projects. They stayed integrated into the team as we scoped each project and determined how to find the solution.

How did you come to work with Emerge Interactive?

I knew a lot of the players in the digital field. As I was trying to work as a change leader in my organization, I was looking for someone who is aligned to my vision of change and could drive that strategic conversation. I’m in Portland, Oregon, and there are lots of local digital organizations. I thought Emerge brought the ability to sit at the big table, have strategic conversations, and guide a strategic, management-led approach. That leadership influence piece set them apart from their peers.

What is the status of this engagement?

The relationship began in 2012 - I don’t know the month - and ended in 2014.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I think the most important work we did together was setting the table in terms of how to help the firm emerge as more of an integrated digital strategy firm, instead of being an advertising firm that tracks some digital on at the end. The success there was helping to transform from a single focus to a more integrated digital focus.

How did Emerge Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

I’m very picky in this area, and I felt they were good project managers. Sometimes it’s hard in an agency-to-agency environment because you have multiple forms of project managers involved. I always felt that I understood how they were investing their time and resources. They engaged my team in the right way at the right time, but they weren’t over-engaging, which is a point of sensitivity for me.

What did you find most impressive about Emerge Interactive?

What stood out for me was their high-touch engagement at the right level. We had a significant amount of access to their senior leadership. I felt they were bringing the right thought partners to the table at the right time. Then when it was time to get to implementation, the brains in the room could back away from the table and let the people at the right level implement. I think that’s important at a firm in that mid-range size. You still have access to senior leadership and the strategic thinking that comes with it, but they have the size, scale, and sense to allow the right people to implement when you get to that phase.

Are there any areas Emerge Interactive could improve?

They are one of my favorite partners. I don’t remember wishing they did anything differently.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Stowe Communications, a strategic communications consultancy.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Emerge Interactive?

I had a client, one of the top universities in the world. We were looking to develop a digital platform that was reflective of their newly created strategic plan for their environmental institute. I was tasked with searching for a digital partner, and that is how I came across Emerge Interactive.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The project ran for about a year. It was about establishing the digital platform, primarily a website, to convey the value and the work of the environmental institute. First, we sat down and developed our strategy: what we were moving from, what we were moving to, and what our needs from a design perspective were in terms of information architecture and backend technology. From there we developed a recommendation, a plan, and the execution timeline. For us to run with that, there were check-ins with different members of the institute at different times.

This website was the first project we worked on together. It went so well that other people in the university were interested in engaging with us. We did multiple, similar digital platforms for other university areas. The different organizations were at different stages and the projects varied in their depths, complexity, and lengths of time, so Emerge had to adjust to the individual situations each time. Whether we needed something more robust or we needed to scale down, Emerge Interactive did a good job. Nothing was cookie cutter. They really had to look at the different needs of the different websites and organizations.

Everything was built on the same platform but some websites were hosted differently. The takeaway is that Emerge Interactive has the ability to work on multiple platforms depending on what your needs are.

How did you come to work with Emerge Interactive?

I started out doing a lot of research into several organizations and I narrowed it down to a few with whom I had in-person discussions. I was not going to put someone through a formal RFP if I could help it. Our process was more of having multiple conversations with multiple organizations, narrowing them down to a select few, and then bringing them in to see the client. Three firms did in-person presentations, and it was unanimous that Emerge Interactive was the right choice. They were fantastic, so we went with them, and they did an incredible job.

A key differentiator for me was that Emerge Interactive is just as strong in technology as they are in design and content. So rather than working with multiple agencies — one for design and one for the backend — I was able to get everything together with Emerge Interactive. I really appreciated that.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first engaged with Emerge Interactive in 2012. The project was so successful that Emerge Interactive and I ended up working on about six more projects together over several years at the university.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I would say that we’ve received favorable feedback on all of the projects we’ve done together. The feedback was qualitative and quantitative, both from within the client organization and from the visitors who went to the different websites. I don't have the numbers right off the top of my head, but anecdotally I would say that if they were new sites, we drove traffic to them, and if they were sites we had refreshed, we saw an increase in traffic.

How did Emerge Interactive perform from a project management standpoint?

Emerge Interactive did a good job from a project management standpoint. I think the teams and team members rotated out based on need and availability, so I had the chance to work with several different people at Emerge Interactive. They were all great to work with, and I had full confidence in them. They tried out a couple of different project management systems, and so it was an opportunity to work with them on that, but they had good, solid project management, which I think is key in those projects because there are so many moving parts.

One thing I liked was that each project had an assigned project manager who was the point person on the team. Of course, if I wanted access to someone on the team for whatever reason, something specific, that was certainly available to me, but there was a point person, a dedicated project manager, that then worked with a team within Emerge Interactive. The project went smoothly, even though it was complex because there were a lot of different people involved. It was high profile, it was long-term, and there were challenges like in any type of project like this.

What did you find most impressive about Emerge Interactive?

I think a differentiator for Emerge Interactive is in the way they operate. They really get into their projects; they are completely invested in their client’s success. They immerse themselves and get excited about the business. When they do their work, they are personally attached to doing a great job as opposed to just moving the project in and out the door. You feel that in the way they go above and beyond and how they bring a tremendous amount of energy to their work. You never feel like you're just one of 50 clients. You feel that they are attentive, responsive, and engaged.

Are there any areas Emerge Interactive could improve?

Emerge Interactive is great to work with. If I had any criticism off the top of my head, I would be happy to share it, but I don't really, so I'd say no to that.