Fynydd

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the membership director for The Clinical Laboratory Standards Institute. We’re a nonprofit, member-driven association that sells publications and documents detailing best practice standards for clinical labs. Our website brings in about half of our product sales and handles all of our membership. In total, we have approximately 2,000 members who bring in roughly $3 million in revenue.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fynydd?

There is specific software for association management that we have to use. We decided to change our software platforms, which necessitated changing our volunteer management platform and website online store. We needed someone to rebuild a web store that could handle the complexities of our membership levels and our 200 products.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We worked with a different company that has handled our SEO data for a while to design and develop wireframes. We brought those wireframes to Fynydd, and they executed the designs and built a backend solution that integrated with our new database.

We have 2,000 organizational members, but underneath them could be 100 employees. To accommodate that, we have different pricing tiers for each membership level, which means that our web store was not as straightforward as a regular e-commerce solution. The website they built using Umbraco, fully integrates with our new database and can handle all the complexities of layered or tiered membership. For example, they designed and launched an online membership renewal feature, which was not available before.

What is the team composition?

We had a team of four or five people—including developers and the product manager—that we communicated with directly.

How did you come to work with Fynydd?

We heard about them through other people in the industry. We had spoken with a few different agencies but decided to go with Fynydd because they listened to what we needed and had a good grasp on what the end product would be.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from May 2016 until July 2018. We have an ongoing maintenance contract with them, as well as separate initiatives to launch new website features.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our users find the website much easier to use, and we’ve been able to easily launch features that we couldn’t before.

How did Fynydd perform from a project management standpoint?

They introduced us to Trello and Slack, which were tools that we weren’t familiar with. Now that we’re using them, we’ve found them helpful in keeping up to date with our projects and staying in communication with all of our vendors.

It was great working with Fynydd. They listened to what we needed and went beyond providing a basic solution to really identifying and solving the base problem. They delivered solutions that will help us in the future and can adapt to potential challenges.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They made an effort to understand the uniqueness of our business and customers. They identified ways to implement long-term solutions, instead of just meeting the scope and building a website.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing immediately comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would recommend adopting the project management tools that they use. That will help the project move smoothly, and could help your organization in the long run.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of operations and analysis for an advisory services firm that serves pharmaceutical companies.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fynydd?

We hired them to develop two websites: one that would represent our business accurately and another that would serve a specific customer market.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve developed a couple of sites from scratch for us using Microsoft ASP.NET. One site provides an overview of our business and the other is more customer-oriented with an online portal. The Fynydd team handled all of the wireframing and design work, as well as UX optimization. They also worked with us to find the best way to represent our brand online. Once all of that was in place, they performed all of the development and implementation of the new sites. They’re also our ongoing hosting partner.

In terms of site features and functionality, our customer-oriented site educates visitors about certain business aspects that appeal to one segment of our market. Visitors can browse sample report content and sign up for guest access to the customer portal to see if they’re interested in our services.

What is the team composition?

We worked with a project manager, a developer, and a UI expert. One of the owners was also periodically involved with our project.

How did you come to work with Fynydd?

We got a referral from someone who’d worked with them before. After we reached out, they offered to come onsite and give us a presentation. We ended up choosing them over several other companies that submitted proposals.

How much have you invested with them?

We probably spend around $50,000 per year, so about $150,000 in total at this point.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in December 2015 and they’re still working with us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The new sites have enabled us to meet our goals, which is why we’ve continued to work with their team for so many years. We see significant user traffic and regular engagement by guests on our customer portal.

How did Fynydd perform from a project management standpoint?

We use a tool called Asana to provide specifications and keep track of project timelines.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a really good sense of what the latest trends and web capabilities are, so they’ve done a great job of keeping our site current. They’re also great with UI/UX design. Our sites are intuitive to navigate and easy to understand.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s good and bad about working with a small company. We get a lot of personal attention, but on the other hand, they’re short on coverage for our project if one of their employees isn’t available.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be very specific with your business goals and your timeline and treat the job as a partnership that goes both ways. You need to be willing to commit your own time and resources to the project in order to maximize their potential. Make sure you provide feedback in a timely manner and keep the project moving.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the Director of Operations at WIN Home Inspect. We’re a franchiser of home inspection services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Fynydd?

We were having some challenge with our website provider—for both WIN corporate and our franchisees. We wanted someone to migrate us off a WordPress platform and fix and advance our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They stepped up, responded, and transitioned our old website from WordPress onto Umbraco. When they were trying to fix some of the bugs, we realized that the previous provider had done some custom coding that was causing problems. At that point, Fynydd did an analysis based on our requirements, and we determined that we would create an entirely new site.

We provide them with some of our initial thoughts—maybe a few wireframes—and they would come back with their own wireframes, and then we’d collaborate to come up with a solution. They designed and developed the new site and introduced both an advanced search functionality and a third-party scheduling software integration.

What is the team composition?

For the initial project, there were four to five people on their side including a UI expert, a technology expert, and a project manager. On a day-to-day basis, I primarily interact with two people: their lead developer and their managing partner.

How did you come to work with Fynydd?

Our previous marketing manager had worked with them before, and he selected them. I’m not sure what his selection process was.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent low six-figures.

What is the status of this engagement? 

We started work together in January 2015 and the engagement is ongoing. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our clients have liked the improved, modern look and feel, and any issues we were having previously have gone away. Our franchisees love that its easier for customers to find them, and that they can go into their scheduling software in one click. Going with Umbraco has given us a lot more flexibility than we had with WordPress. It lets us be much more responsive and give our franchisees more ownership of their own websites.

How did Fynydd perform from a project management standpoint?

As we were both learning at the beginning of the project, they were highly responsive. If we needed a more detailed schedule, they got it for us. I wouldn’t call it over the top project management by any means, but it was the right level for us. We didn’t need a lot.

We did use email, but our primary communication was through their support or ticketing system. If we needed bug fixes or enhancements, we could capture the request, track it, and then have a place to get feedback before testing them and closing it out. We also had several face to face meetings. On a day to day basis, I primarily interacted with three people: our project manager and two developers.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Fynydd has definitely become a trusted partner; we actually call them a vendor-partner. While they’re providing a service for us, they’ve done things for our company that previous vendors weren’t able to do. Their responsiveness, capabilities, and willingness to go above and beyond has been fantastic.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything off the top of my head.