GrayCyan

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a business development / territory manager with a medium sized manufacturing concern based in southern Ohio.

For what projects/services did your company hire GrayCyan?

Our website looked as though it dated back to the internet 1.0 era. We wanted something that gave a basic presentation of the services we offered and the ability to submit a simple job application online. But, we didn't want to be over equipped with too many bells & whistles that didn't fit our needs.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We submitted a few inquiries to various design firms and heard their pitches. Many other companies wanted to sell us more website than what we needed. GrayCyan's sales team seemed to understand our needs and were happy to accommodate.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We had an initial discovery session to outline my company's needs in greater detail. I had already started a very rudimentary page that I wanted to use as a guideline. I also shared pages from a few other companies that demonstrated what our firm was looking for. From there, I submitted media to use on the site to GrayCyan's team. They started doing design mock-ups prior to the programming phase. I believe we went through three design mock-ups before programming began. Once programming started we went through three or so other rounds of revisions. Finally, we got the site launched then went through a punch list of some smaller details that were outstanding.

How many resources from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

I worked with about five people from GrayCyan from inception to completion. First, I worked with a member of the sales team, then a member of the design team, then a member of the programming team, and finally with another member of the programming team who launched the site and ironed out any outstanding details for us.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The ultimate outcome is that we have a new website that looks great. We're able to receive basic job application submissions without having prospective employees come in person to pick up an application. The new site demonstrates our capabilities and shows our services, without offering more product than we needed.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Workflow was good. Most everyone on GrayCyan's team could be counted on to respond in 24 hours. I honestly fell behind on submitting some of the details they needed from me once or twice, but they offered gentle reminders that got me back on track. They were willing to schedule calls when needed, and kept me apprised of their progress.

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

There was admittedly brief slowdown toward the end of the project when a member of their programming team either left or was let go from the company. Another member of GreyCyan's team stepped right up and took over the remainder of the project and fast-tracked completion.

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

Not really. We're satisfied overall and appreciate GrayCyan going above and beyond to make sure we were satisfied with what we received.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Lung Cancer Canada is Canada's largest organization devoted specifically to lung cancer patients and research. My role is three fold, providing support with marketing, website content, and government outreach.

For what projects/services did your company hire GrayCyan, and what were your goals?

We wanted to create an online platform that provides a memorial space for community members that have passed from lung cancer. Our goal was to resemble our physical grove of trees located in Toronto, ON, in a way that mimicked the serenity and calmness of the project, in an online format.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We had searched through several larger web developers who did not think the project was viable in our time frame. By reaching out to smaller companies, we were hoping to connecting with one that understood our values and ideas.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

There was a tight timeline for this project. After connecting with Armand and Nish, we were confident in their ability to work with our goals. We submitted our key features list and met with their designers who has various ideas of how to bring our vision to life.

Over the short time frame, they were regularly available, asked lots of questions, and made sure to get regular and meaningful feedback.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We really enjoyed working with their team. Their business developer Armand, provided great insight to their operations, and Nish was able to give us a deeper look in to their full capabilities. When the project was confirmed, Nish kept regular contact, and we met with a designer and a coder to really bring the project into fruition.

The team was incredibly personable, and asked thoughtful questions that demonstrated their goal to create our perfect site.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The 2 week timeframe was very tight, but the team at Greyscan delivered a stunning product that exceeded our expectations.

Although we had a vision of what we wanted, the designer was able to go above and beyond and create the serene, and calm energy that we wanted the site to emit. I cannot thank Shrutika and Lorna enough for their cooperation and flexibility in creating this project.

As we launched the site to our immediate community, we have received only positive feedback, we hope to expand the site in the future with the Greyscan team.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

Frequent and thoughtful communication, good questions, regular feedback with a wonderful comment tool. The team was constantly available for questions and concerns. Changes were made promptly and I truly appreciate their commitment to the project considering the very short time frame.

The expectations of the relationship were clear, and the team was impactful.

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

The level of professionalism and commitment was refreshing and genuine. We are a small company as well, and Greyscan really took the time to understand our own constraints and our needs for this project. I was very impressed by their overall flexibility and the transparent communication.

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

Considering the constraints of the project, I have no critiques for how they conducted their work! They understood the project, and were very vocal for feedback to move forward. I appreciate their determination to complete this project in the short period of time.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the CEO of the company and we work on industrial projects

For what projects/services did your company hire GrayCyan, and what were your goals?

Company web design

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

online reviews. We trusted the 5 star reviews and decided to go with Graycyan for our startup's web design. If you are willing to use one of their predesigned templates, or if you are not a web expert, you might find them a good fit for your elementary jobs. However, if you have some ideas of the design quality and your web functionality, Graycyan is not the company to proceed with.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We started a contract with them for two websites. The timeline estimate they gave us prior to signing the contract was about 6 weeks to complete an initial version. Even in the contract they explicitly stated "deployment to live site: 8-9 weeks". We trusted them on all this, signed the contract late February 2021, and paid 2700 dollars up front. From the first meetings things started to go the wrong way. They took much longer than expected for every page.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

3 people, a graphist and 2 technical staff

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

They explicitly mentioned they need 1 week for each page, although practically they spent 2-3 weeks on each page. They disagreed and confronted with many of our comments simply because they required a more careful design. Long story short, after months of work and meetings, they uploaded a first version of the first website (yet the coding to be completed). This was late June, 4 months after the start of the contract, everything already overdue, and yet we were not even close to complete the first website.

They did not share any of the designed content with us. So technically speaking, we paid 2700 dollars, our startup web design got months delayed (you realize what that means to the company's revenue), attended hours and hours of exhaustive and tense meetings and ultimately got NOTHING! We transferred the entire job to another company and they completed everything in 5 weeks at 30% of the cost Graycyan asked for. We only had one meeting with their design and technical team!

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

We gave them some feedback about the poor functionality of some features on the website, such as a floating menu and they emailed us that "it requires extra coding resulting in extra charges, ... we peg the success rate at 65%". Basically, to fix a flaw in their own code, they would ask for more money, yet cannot guarantee it works.

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

See the comments above

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

Later after we completed the job with another company, they perfectly finished the same job at 30% of the cost Graycyan billed us. After months of back and forth, we finally decided to stop working with Graycyan and go with a different web design firm.

If you are looking for an honest review, I tried to share my honest review with you, unlike some of the other reviewers who are asked by the company to leave 5 star feedback. Please be aware of where you are investing and lower your expectations before proceeding with Graycyan.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the office manager. I basically deal with set up, payments, and so on.

What challenge were you trying to address with GrayCyan?

We wanted to create a workout program so users could find going to the gym as successful as they’d hoped. Crys, one of our founders, connected with a fitness trainer and decided to use his knowledge and expertise in the field to create a website together.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We started out with just an idea; we’d never launched a website before. We got together and we discussed and brainstormed concepts. We wanted to make a workout website with videos, but we weren’t sure how to set it up exactly.

We contacted GrayCyan and they helped us through each of the steps to figure out how to take the ideas we had and bring them to reality. They delivered a fully-functioning website with hosted videos, an interactive frontpage, and a sales page. They also set up a domain, customized our email so we could communicate better, and showed us how to secure the videos so people wouldn’t rip them off.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Nishkam (Founder & CEO) and Sagar (Project Coordinator).

How did you come to work with GrayCyan?

Crys found them initially. He searched on Google for people in Canada and came upon them. He made a quick appointment through the telephone, and they hit it off from there.

How much have you invested with them?

The cost was $5,200.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2021. We thought we would end in April 2021, but some of the content we needed wasn’t finished yet because of COVID-19 — a lot of the filming couldn’t be done because we needed certain permits. They were understanding of it, and they allowed us to finish and launch the site in May 2021.

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

The website hasn’t been actually promoted or launched, so I don’t have any metrics on that. However, we had a lot of success dealing with GrayCyan. The website itself looks fantastic, and the functionality works really well. We went through the signing up process, and it was very simple. I believe it's going to be quite a success when it finally launches.

How did GrayCyan perform from a project management standpoint?

They met every deadline we had for them even faster than what we’d thought possible. Once the videos were ready, we thought it would take about a week to host them, and they did it in two days. We also thought it would take them another week to apply the color scheme we had picked out, but it took them 2–3 days to apply it to the entire site. They beat our expectations on that front.

On the other side, their communication was very professional and prompt. They got back at us usually within a day about any changes to the website or questions that we emailed. We had a few Zoom meetings, and they went very smoothly.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very professional, but I was really blown away by the speed at which they were able to accomplish a lot of the ideas we had. Therefore, I would say it was their promptness.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Initially, I guess they assumed Crys had more knowledge about creating a website. Some of the first emails had terms that he wasn’t familiar with, so it’d be good if they didn’t assume people know what they’re talking about from the get-go.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have a point person who communicates with them and has a little bit of knowledge about website development. That’s probably the key to being the most successful right up front.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Out & About Cannabis is a cannabis retail store located in Riverside South, Ottawa, ON.

For what projects/services did your company hire GrayCyan, and what were your goals?

We hired GrayCyan to design and build a website for us, with several pages, a blog, and e-commerce. Our goal was to create a beautiful site that was easy to navigate and that captured the true essence of our brand. It was also very important to be able to work on / modify the website individually, once "the keys" were handed over.

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We searched online for web developers who not only understood the cannabis industry but also had a strong aesthetic. GrayCyan consistently rose to the top of our list when searching for our website developer.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We had a kick-off meeting to describe our goals and objectives. Following that, we worked with the GrayCyan designer who scoped out the website concept. We loved what she created and approved her design. Following that, the designs were handed to the development team, who created the concept on WordPress. After some back-and-forth tweaks to the website and some live time with the actual developer to play with a few ideas, we landed on the final website product - which is wonderful and very easy to work on, if/as needed.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with a salesperson (Armand), designer (Phoebe), project manager (Sagar), and the owner (Nishkan).

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We are very pleased with the end result of our website. Customers have commented on how the site really reflects our brand and that using the built-in e-commerce platform is a smooth, straightforward experience (which was very important to us!). We also really appreciated the design concept they created. Both during and after the site construction, when we forgot to ask for or consider something, GrayCyan either proactively reached out to alert us of what we might want to consider… and/or very quickly responded when we realized a fast change was needed.

They went ABOVE and BEYOND to ensure the website was perfect. It was an enormous relief knowing they were willing to jump in to help at a moments’ notice… we really appreciated that “ownership” they felt for our business’ success. We also appreciated their training when it came time to “turning the keys” over to us – and that their team has consistently been a friendly, reassuring voice at the other end of the phone line. Thank you GrayCyan!

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

GrayCyan has a team of people who are consistently friendly, flexible, and who truly listen to customer requests and feedback. They were very responsive to emails and phone calls, as well as proactively providing updates.

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

The "ownership" that GrayCyan took to ensure the website was working well and exactly what we wanted, far exceeded my expectations. The team went above and beyond to ensure my satisfaction with the site. Not only that, the GrayCyan owner Nishkan personally reached out to offer specific considerations for the launch timeline as well as for compliance within the cannabis industry.

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

Out & About was a very particular client for GrayCyan - we had a very clear vision of what we wanted and wouldn't budge until we saw that exact vision come to life. Because of this, there were probably a few more back-and-forth tweaks between us, the PM, and the developer than normal - but everyone was always very kind, responsive, and committed to bringing our vision to life. This wasn't a negative - just an acknowledgment that we were a tough client - which GrayCyan handled beautifully.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We’re a cannabis retail store, and I’m the manager.

What challenge were you trying to address with GrayCyan?

We wanted to simplify our website to have more online sales.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built a functional and user-friendly website for us. We have a home page where we announce our sales, a section with more detail, photos, and descriptions about our company, and a shop menu that directs people to our stores and products, which is nice. All that was built with front and back end pages that they developed.

What is the team composition?

We worked with around two people from their team.

How did you come to work with GrayCyan?

They were referred to me by someone who worked with them before. We also chose them because they offered good pricing.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked from February–March 2021.

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

We grew in our sales, especially with the COVID-19 pandemic, the site has been used a lot more, and it’s been functioning well with no issues. Everything’s simple, easy, and when we had problems setting it up, they were quick in assisting us.

How did GrayCyan perform from a project management standpoint?

Everything was nice, and there was great communication. We mostly communicated through phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their responsiveness was great for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t think there’s anything they can improve on — I didn’t get any negative experience with them. We’d only recommend creating a little bit more interacting sites, with side menu features and more color.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director and co-owner of a cannabis dispensary.

What challenge were you trying to address with GrayCyan?

When COVID-19 happened, the government started letting us do online pickup services. We brought on GrayCyan to integrate a website with our POS system.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They built us a website that automatically knows how much stock is in our inventory. This allows customers to go online and order for online pickup. They can only order what’s available. That way customers aren’t ordering what we don’t have. If a customer comes in person to our store and buys 10 products, our inventory is automatically updated on the website.

GrayCyan built the website from scratch. They handled the web design in collaboration with my business partner. Their team showed different ideas, themes, and colors for us to provide feedback on.

What is the team composition?

I worked with Nishkam (Founder). He was my main point of contact.

How did you come to work with GrayCyan?

We were referred to them by the company that does our POS system. They gave me Nishkam’s contact information. I emailed him, and we took it from there.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested around $4,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our project was from late September–October 2020. They did everything in a week or two.

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

The website is good, and we’re happy with its design; it looks great. Their turnaround time is incredible. I asked them to add a new store we’re about to open, and they did it in a day.

How did GrayCyan perform from a project management standpoint?

We mostly communicated through Zoom, emails, and phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was very impressed with the overall speed at which they did everything. We were kind of in a scramble, and we pushed them to be on a tight timeline. We ended up being behind pace with them. We made this big push to execute quickly and it turned out they were waiting on us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

If you’re looking for someone to build your site from bottom to top, they’re pretty good.

Please describe your company and your position there.

My name is Dr.Grace Machat, and I am the founder and CEO of Machat Medical Aesthetics- a medical spa located in the heart of Vaughan. We are specialized in all things skincare and beauty, including (but not limited to) skin tightening, fat reduction, botox, and fillers.

For what projects/services did your company hire GrayCyan, and what were your goals?

We've been working with Gray Cyan for the past couple of months and have only the most glowing reviews about Nishkam and his team! They have built us a beautiful pseudo eCommerce webshop and added various engaging functionalities to our site in a timely and professional manner, responding to each of our inquiries with the utmost attention and care.

Our vision has been brought to life and we could not be happier with the end result. We're so excited to continue to collaborate on our SEO initiatives and highly recommend Gray Cyan to anyone looking to improve their online presence!

How did you select GrayCyan and what were the deciding factors?

We interviewed upward of 10 local Web Design and SEO firms, none of which offered the same level of care and transparency as GrayCyan. Ultimately, it was their honesty in our introductory call and thorough follow-up that led us to hire the team.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We kicked off the project with a detailed zoom discussing our objectives, which included improving our site's CTAs as well as creating a pseudo-eCommerce platform.

The purpose of this project was to redirect visitors to our vendor's custom webshops for our spa, to drive online sales during the COVID lockdown. The team then designed some sample visuals for us to choose from, and quickly got to redesigning on WordPress.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked directly with 2 Customer Success Coordinators from the GrayCyan team. Both were very involved and responsive throughout the process.

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

We've just completed the site development project and are now embarking on our SEO journey with the team. While we don't have any quantitative KPIs yet to measure the project success, we've received positive feedback from clients and are personally impressed.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

GrayCyan was highly responsive at all times, within and outside of business hours. We communicated mostly via email, phone, and weekly Zoom meetings to recap project progress.

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

Not only are we impressed with the quick turnaround and professional appearance of our new website, we appreciate the extra time and effort that the team dedicated to explaining their processes to us.

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

We haven't run into any issues so far. There was one small hiccup with our server but the team was quick and proactive, resolving the problem in no time.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the office manager at Royce Metal Products Limited, a custom metal manufacturing business.

What challenge were you trying to address with GrayCyan?

We wanted to update our website to bring it into 2021. We hadn’t updated it in many years.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Originally, GrayCyan proposed a multi-page website, but that wasn’t something we were looking to do. They came back to us with a proposal for a one-page website, which was more in-line with what we wanted for the company. It turned out to be just the right solution.

Our existing website was also a one-product page, and we liked having everything in one place. We didn’t have a specific design in mind, but we did know we didn’t want a DIY website like Squarespace. I trusted GrayCyan to come to us with a nice template, and they did. We sent them a bunch of pictures that we wanted on the website. Their team took all of the information off of our old site, and they reconfigured it into the new one.

What is the team composition?

I worked with three people, including Nishkam (Founder), Armand (Director of Business Development), and a website designer. 

How did you come to work with GrayCyan?

I had read good reviews of GrayCyan online, and my best friend also recommended them — she’d used them for her company’s website. 

We figured that they were the right fit because they came back to us with a solution for the one-page website, which was also less expensive than their original proposal. However, it really came down to the fact that they came back to us with another solution, and we appreciated that.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $1,000–$1,500 CAD (approximately $790–$1,200 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

I began speaking with GrayCyan around mid-November 2020, and the website went live in January 2021.

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

They did a fantastic job. All three of our contacts were easy to get ahold of at all hours; I even spoke to them after business hours. Whenever we were editing the website, they implemented the changes immediately. It was a very quick process.

How did GrayCyan perform from a project management standpoint?

Their performance was fantastic — I’d give them a 10/10. We communicated through email and phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We thought about doing a website last year, and the company we spoke to didn’t sound very professional or motivated — I emailed them and didn’t get a response for two weeks. GrayCyan was on top of things and kept in touch with us. They were good at making sure the project went smoothly and moved forward in a timely fashion.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t think so. They did an amazing job for us. I was very satisfied.

Any advice for potential customers?

Try to work with all of the people they suggest working with, such as a website developer and their sales team. I’d also suggest listening to any feedback that they have to give you. They suggested where we could improve on our old website, and I told them to do what they needed to do. The suggestions that they implemented turned out to be great. Just listen to them — they know what they’re doing. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Jerry Chun: We’re a group of pharmacies called Care Pharmacies. I’m a senior accountant.

What challenge were you trying to address with GrayCyan?

JC: We reached out to GrayCyan to restructure our website and make it more user-friendly.

What was the scope of their involvement?

JC: In the first phase, GrayCyan assessed the website and its set up. We then talked about where we could improve. Our team had an ideal design and flow in our minds. When we talked with the GrayCyan team, they made suggestions that were better for our website.

Penny Massar: For example, they pointed out that our website glitched on mobile devices. After those conversations, their team implemented the changes.

JC: We then took time to review their work to ensure the updates were what we wanted.

PM: Their work was done in WordPress.

What is the team composition?

PM: We worked with two people from GrayCyan.

How did you come to work with GrayCyan?

PM: We searched for different companies on Google and eventually found GrayCyan.

JC: We read through their reviews, which were positive. Their team was friendly and willing to work with us.

How much have you invested with them?

JC: We spent less than $10,000 on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

JC: We worked with them in December 2020.

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

JC: They recently completed the project, so we’re hoping to receive good feedback from site visitors.

PM: Our CEO is happy with the website. This wasn’t a huge project. It was essentially a trial, and we plan to continue on with them.

How did GrayCyan perform from a project management standpoint?

JC: We communicated via email and phone calls as necessary. Their team was organized, flexible, and professional. They set out the different stages of the project: assessment, review, implementation, and further review. GrayCyan made it easy for us to approach this project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

JC: GrayCyan was professional and responsive. Based on their online reviews, we had high expectations that their team met.

PM: They didn’t come back to us with problems. Rather, their team came to us with solutions. If we couldn’t make something happen, they came to us with different options.

Are there any areas they could improve?

JC: No, we were satisfied with their work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

JC: Explain what you want in detail. GrayCyan will come up with solutions and options for you.