Hammerhead

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Communications Coordinator for the Department of Physics & Astronomy at the University of British Columbia (UBC). I oversee the department's communications projects, including our website design project.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We were migrating our website from Drupal 6 to Drupal 8, and needed to upgrade the look and feel to align with the University’s CLF. We hired Code Hammerhead to transition us in this process - to assist with data migration, implement modules, and to adapt the UBC CLF/Drupal template.

SOLUTION

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

We sent an RFP to a few companies that we knew of, and compared their proposals and estimates. In the end we decided to go with Code Hammerhead because 1) they laid our a comprehensive plan and objectives 2) they provided insights for planning ahead so the site and platform won't be outdated within a year 3) their budget is the most reasonable (one other proposal was almost 8X of their proposed cost!!)

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

In this particular project, we decided to stay with existing information architecture, and focused more on the technical side of the migration - content, structure, database, and modules. We started with a meeting with Evan and Rory to learn more about their process, and agreed on the next steps forward. They also engaged with the UBC IT team to better understand their succession plan for the UBC CLT template.

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

We worked closely with Evan Holmgren (Business Director) and Rory Mullin (Operations Director), both co-founders of the company.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The transition brings our website to standard with other university websites, and provides a much better interface compared to the previous design and look and feel. We have heard some praises of the updated website, and a few UBC coworkers contacted us about the project and our experience working with them.

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

We received regular updates regarding implementation, and it was really easy to communicate with Evan regarding our questions and any concerns we have. The team was very accommodating with our timeline, as well. They allowed us some flexibility so we could reach out to our community to properly collect feedback on the updated website. They also stayed in touch after the project was completed to ensure the website has been working properly.

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

They were down to earth and easy to work with.

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

If I really need to pick on anything, it would be in the final stage to provide more training materials for us to distribute to our users that will assist us with a smooth transition to the new interface. That said, overall we were pretty happy with the process.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Owner / Manager

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our website was created over 15 years ago and had become outdated Since we didn't have In house developers to invest in a new website, we hired this team to design and develop a WordPress site for us. By doing this, we were hoping to increase our traffic substantially by the end of the year.

SOLUTION

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

We searched online for web developers in our area and shortlisted 5. After interviewing them, we chose this vendor based on their past projects, design skills, and cost estimate

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

We had a kick-off meeting to discuss our goals and objectives. From there, the team delivered mock-ups and wireframes for our site. After a few iterations, their team designed and developed an informational WordPress site. They updated the content to reflect our company services and created a landing page with a contact form

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

A project manager was our main point of contact throughout the process. There were also 2 full slack developers and a designer working behind the scenes.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After launching our site, we saw a 70% increase in traffic, and our incoming leads doubled month over month thanks to the landing page. Clients love the updated design, and they now have a better understanding of our services.

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

We had daily stand ups with their project manager, who communicated with the rest of the team if there were any delays they let us know ahead of time so that we could prepare. We used slack Jira, and GitHub to coordinate, and they worked well with our team

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

They gave us a professional site that's easy to update: My team had never worked with WordPress before, so they took the time to teach us how to update the content ourselves

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

When we first launched there were some minor bugs on the contact form. We let them know and they were quick to fix the issues

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the COO of an online education company - Pacific Rim College Online. We provide top quality online courses in Holistic Medicine & Sustainable Living.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Hammerhead provides our ongoing tech support and regular site development builds.

SOLUTION

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

Hammerhead was a referral from a respected contractor we work with.

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

Hammerhead delivers fast and efficient technical support. They also provide solid web development.

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

I mainly work with Rory.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Hammerhead delivers quality work.

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

We mostly work with Rory and he is always kind and gets to the bottom of any tech issues as quickly as he can.

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

They really care! They inherited working on a site that had a lot of issues. That take that in stride and work to find resolutions. They also STICK TO THEIR QUOTE, which is beyond appreciated.

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

I think they are pretty busy, so sometimes certain developments are put to the back burner. However, our site has a lot of problems so things just take longer.