Gemstone

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Project Officer of Spelthorne Borough Council

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Local Authority, Spelthorne Council

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Gemstone to accomplish?

• Design new website
• Build new website
• Maintain new website

SOLUTION

How did you find Gemstone?

Procurement

Why did you select Gemstone over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Gemstone were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

o   This website will act as a central hub for content relating to public services, community and local government users across Spelthorne. o   Navigation will be clear and simple, to allow for ease of user journey. o   The site will be built with a Mobile first design approach. o   The website will be built using LocalGov Drupal and editable content will be managed using a Block Builder.  o   The site will be built in such a way as to allow for day-to-day management by the allocated teams at Spelthorne Borough Council, including page and content updates, publication of news articles, uploading of documents and creation of new site pages.  o   The site will be fully GDPR compliant. o   The site will be heavily optimised for Accessibility, ensuring to reflect WCAG 2.2 AA standards at all times, and higher where possible. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

o   To offer an easy to use platform for Spelthorne residents to stay informed about local services

o   To encourage and promote the use of the ‘Portal’ for actioning payments and applications.

o   To reduce burden on the Customer Support teams by allowing users to simply and quickly locate relevant information on the website. 

o   To better reflect the aims and objectives of the Spelthorne Borough Council team in 2025.

o   To align with the branding requirements whilst offering a truly Accessible user journey. WAG standard.

To provide quantitative feedback through Google Analytics and Google Tag integration. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Our website hosts were incredibly accommodating and understanding of the tight time frame we were working with. Communication was smooth and efficient via Teams and email, with someone always responding promptly. It genuinely felt like they were invested in delivering the best possible outcome, which made the whole process much easier and more reassuring.

What was your primary form of communication with Gemstone?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

What I found progressive and unique was how proactive and genuinely collaborative the team was. They didn’t just wait for instructions — they offered ideas, responded quickly, and really seemed to care about getting things right. It felt more like working with a partner than a service provider, which made a big difference under tight deadlines.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Gemstone could have done differently?

While the overall experience was very positive, one area for improvement could be clearer upfront timelines and expectations around key milestones. At times, we had to prompt for updates or clarification, which could have been avoided with a more structured project plan. That said, the team was always responsive and willing to adapt, which helped keep things on track.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a department director of Anthesis, a sustainability consultancy business. We help clients understand their CO2 emissions and devise strategies to achieve their targets of being net-zero customers. Our clients often have targets to hit net zero by 2030, 2040, or 2050. We have experts in the field who can help them with their sustainability journey.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Gemstone?

From a finance and operations perspective, we were looking to automate some of our processes and create better business management information.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We've employed Gemstone to help us create a data warehouse in Microsoft Azure, which is the key piece of technology we now use. We're feeding data from all of our systems into this data warehouse, transforming that data, and providing reporting to our internal stakeholders in Power BI.

Gemstone has helped us with other technologies, including Microsoft Power Apps. They've created some APIs to pass information back and forth between our different systems. They've also done some custom solutions for us in Excel using macros.

What is the team composition?

We mainly work with three people: Jonty, the data engineer; Jamie, the MD and our key contact; and Ben, the web developer.

How did you come to work with Gemstone?

Someone in our team had previously worked with Jamie. And that person recommended Gemstone to use.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent between $200,000–$1 million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working together since November 2022, and the engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've had many challenges, but they haven't been caused by Gemstone. They've been amazing at helping us through that journey and resolving our general challenges. We've seen an increased ROI and efficiency. The data warehouse is performing as expected and meeting our business objectives. Gemstone has brought an important perspective on technology we didn't have in our organization. They've really helped to accelerate the use of more advanced technologies in our business.

How did Gemstone perform from a project management standpoint?

They've been brilliant. The team meets deadlines and stays on budget. We use Jira and GitHub and have daily stand-up virtual meetings, and someone from the Gemstone team is usually involved.

Are there any employees from the service provider's team that you would like to give a shout-out to in this review?

I want to give a shout-out to Jonty.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have an excellent technical background and experience. They're very easy to work with. They strike a good balance between helping us appreciate and acknowledge our requirements and guiding us on how we might think about doing things differently. They are very good at maintaining a positive client relationship.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can't think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They have a broad skill set, so understand all the different services they can help you with. We started working with Gemstone on one particular thing, and now they're supporting us on a few different things. Be open-minded to where they can help you.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Project Manager of RSSB

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

CIRAS provides confidential health and safety reporting for the UK and ROI transport sector.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Gemstone to accomplish?

Build a Mobile app for confidential reporting.

SOLUTION

How did you find Gemstone?

Public Procurement Exercise

Why did you select Gemstone over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Were able to meet our requirements

How many teammates from Gemstone were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The objective of this project was to create a mobile app for employees of CIRAS’s members to raise health, safety and wellbeing concerns. Gemstone were required to design and build a native mobile app. A significant requirement was the use of 'scraping' functionality to embed the 'Raise a Concern' form which exists on the CIRAS website into the app. 

They also developed autofill functionality to allow users to save their details which could be automatically reproduced on the form. Lastly, Gemstone added a component allowing users to call CIRAS.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

An increase in confidential concerns being submitted and a significant number of app downloads.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The project was delivered on time and Gemstone responded to our needs in a timely manner.

What was your primary form of communication with Gemstone?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their adaptability to new requirements was highly commendable.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Gemstone could have done differently?

Anticipate potential issues regarding app publication.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Digital Project Lead of Calderdale Family Hubs

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Family Hubs are here to help every family receive the support you need, when you need it. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Gemstone to accomplish?

• Build website
• Create online survey dashboard
• Build online professionals forum
• Build online awards portal

SOLUTION

How did you find Gemstone?

Tender process

Why did you select Gemstone over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Gemstone were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Public Facing Website:

Static Online Information:
Specification: Dedicated WordPress pages for "Healthy Schools" and "Healthy Early Years" awards, badges, and details with user-friendly navigation.
On entry to the site, prompt users to identify their type of user (e.g., parent, teacher, doctor) to customise content accordingly.
Clearly outline all requirements of the Start for Life Family Hubs Programme with easily navigable sections and signposting to external resources.
Provide comprehensive information and booking options for the range of services listed, such as parenting programmes, early language development, and infant feeding support.
Include clear and accessible information for immediate danger situations, particularly for services like domestic abuse support.
Offer signposting and integration with existing directories, ensuring they are brought into the new platform where necessary.
Address digital poverty/exclusion by providing information in multiple formats.
Multi-language support to be integrated.
Social Media Integration:
Facebook SDK, Twitter Widget, Instagram Embed, YouTube API
Specification: Embed live social media feeds and share/follow buttons.
Search and Retrieval Function:
Specification: Integration of Search for basic and advanced search with phonetic matching.
Incorporate advanced search capabilities to include filters specific to the family hub services, such as age range, type of service, and location.
Integrate phonetic search to aid users who may misspell or are unsure of the correct terminologies.
Implement a feature for machine-learning driven content suggestions to improve user engagement and help users discover related services or information they may not have initially searched for.
Allow for multi-media content search to cater to the requirement mentioning "multi-media", enabling users to find videos, images, audio, and documents.
Facilitate access to directories, such as the Early Years, Education Childcare & Family Services Directory, by incorporating these into the new platform's search functionality.
Ensure the search function can link users to integrated content from the West Yorkshire Healthier Together and other relevant sites.
Secure E-Referral Facility:
Specification: Secure online forms with TLS encryption for referrals – to be sent via an API or via email.
Online Booking System:
Specification: Secure online booking system.
Integrate with EventBrite to allow events to be consumed from external sources
Newsfeed:
Specification: Dynamic newsfeed managed through WordPress CMS.
Interactive Virtual Services:
Specification: Community forums, direct messaging, and secure virtual appointments/group interventions.
Calendar of Upcoming Events/Campaigns:
Restricted Content for Health, Education, and Childcare Professionals:

User Access:
Users should have automatic access to restricted content if their email contains one of a set of pre-defined domains
Other users will be prompted to wait for approval on registering, and a notification will be sent to an admin for approval
Calendar of Upcoming Events/Campaigns:
Specification: Integration with professional calendars with OAuth 2.0 authentication.
Resource Repository:
Specification: Secure hosting of PDFs, Word documents, and links with Elasticsearch search.
Secure hosting of resources should include the capability for users to favourite certain resources, sticky posts, and categorisation by topics.
Some resources should be internally hosted while others can link to external quality-assured sources.
Message Board Function:
Specification: Secure posting and topic subscriptions with email notifications.
Allow for dynamic user-created topics within defined categories, with an approval system for certain domains or external links.
Audit Facility: Healthy Schools and Healthy Early Years Audit Facility,
Interactive Survey Results Reporting: (See “Interactive Survey Results Reporting Facility
Online Booking System with Secure Payments:
Integration with EventBrite
Enquiry Form:
Specification: Secure form submission with reCAPTCHA spam protection.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Project delivered on time and on budget. 

Functionality as per specification.

User satisfaction. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The team is very responsive. We had bi-weekly project meetings and additional meetings as required for specific items in the scope. 

What was your primary form of communication with Gemstone?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their ability to engage and collaborate with non-technical members of the team. They are excellent listeners and were able to translate stakeholder needs into the finished product. Everyone enjoyed working with them. They also were creative in solving many of our technical challenges and thrived on creating new things for us. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something Gemstone could have done differently?

I appreciated the slides they prepared in advance of our routine project update meetings, it would be great if they could create a webpage for each project where the client could have access to these for download and ability to refer back to for our project reporting. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Business Development of a financial services company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Ethical Investment Manager

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Gemstone to accomplish?

• New website hosting

SOLUTION

How did you find Gemstone?

Referral

Why did you select Gemstone over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Gemstone were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• Gemstone supported us in the launch and development of a new website. 
• Improved file organisation and embeded PDFs in website

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Successful website launch 
• Quick to respond to requests for amendments 
• Improved website functionality 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

• Brilliant project managemment. Well organised and strong communication.
• Very responsive and ensured our project was delivered on time and to a high standard.

What was your primary form of communication with Gemstone?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their strong communication and project planning ensured we had a seamless experience.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Gemstone could have done differently?

N/A

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Head of Digital of Yours Sincerely

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Marketing Agency

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Gemstone to accomplish?

• Build a website
• On budget

SOLUTION

How did you find Gemstone?

Referral

Why did you select Gemstone over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Gemstone were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• To build a WordPress website for our client
• carry across existing branding
• create page templates according to wireframes
• upload all agreed content
• select imagery
• optimize pages
• install necessary plugins 
• coordinate hosting

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We were working to a tight time frame and budget. The website was built within budget and went live as scheduled. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

We were assigned a dedicated account manager who kept us informed at all times. Cat was extremely helpful and able to test and make small edits once their developer had built the site. Jamie assisted with getting the site live speaking directly to our clients developer to get the correct settings deployed. They were extremely helpful, professional, and respectful of our client relationship.

What was your primary form of communication with Gemstone?

Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They grasped the brief straight away. They worked quickly and efficiently.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Gemstone could have done differently?

I can't think of anything. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive of SimplyCook

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

DTC subscription and ecommerce

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Gemstone to accomplish?

• Staff augmentation
• Integration with logistics supplier

SOLUTION

How did you find Gemstone?

• Referral
• Other

Why did you select Gemstone over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Gemstone were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We used Gemstone in 2 ways, first, staff augmentation to facilitate a move to working across 2 delivery squads. This meant embedding engineers and a tech lead in our teams to deliver a roadmap of features. The 2nd piece of work was a fixed priced piece of integration work after we brought in a new logistics supplier

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Feature delivery (resulting in revenue generating improvements to customer experience)
• Better bottom line performance stemming from outsourcing

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The team worked brilliantly, responding to feedback, going the extra mile and ensuring we were happy at every stage

What was your primary form of communication with Gemstone?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

High quality, but delivered by a much smaller team which gave us confidence the individuals cared about outcomes

Are there any areas for improvement or something Gemstone could have done differently?

nothing, keep doing what you do

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an executive at Match Manager Ltd

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Match Manager is a mobile app aimed at streamlining the management of running a sports team. The app provides functionality ranging from providing key information on upcoming fixtures, chasing availability and collecting match fees.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Gemstone to accomplish?

• Build the app to be compatible with iOS and Android devices
• Run the application process with the two respective app stores
• Provide a dashboard to monitor app usage
• Provide ongoing technical support

SOLUTION

How did you find Gemstone?

Referral

Why did you select Gemstone over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Gemstone were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

The project involved building both the front end application as well as the back end architecture, including structuring the cloud database in a scalable format. The Gemstone team have fully delivered the build and ensured successful admission into both the Apple App Store and Google Play Store. The team have continued to provide support to the project post the application going live with regards to minor bug fixes etc.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

fully application build, well structured cloud data architecture, successful approval to app stores

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

The Gemstone team communicated well and met agreed project timelines.

What was your primary form of communication with Gemstone?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The Gemstone Team took the time to fully understand our requirements and have been very responsive to our needs.

Are there any areas for improvement or something Gemstone could have done differently?

N/A