ICONA INC

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Oyaco Products Inc. is a distribution company of baby, maternity, and children’s products in Canada. I am the owner.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ICONA?

They developed my first website 15 years ago.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’ve done several websites for us including B2B and B2C with e-commerce aspects. They did both the design and development of those sites. The current website is built in Magento after looking at some options.

How did you come to work with ICONA?

It was so long ago, but I think we reached out to them.

How much have you invested with ICONA?

A typical project with them costs between $50,000 and $75,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with ICONA about 15 years ago, and we continue to work with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are happy with what they’ve done for us. The quality of the sites has met our expectations.

How did ICONA perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re a smaller firm so if I would grade their project management I would give them a 7 out of 10.

What did you find most impressive about ICONA?

Because they’re a smaller firm, there is more of a personable relationship with those working on the project. ICONA understands our business and they design and build according to that knowledge.

Are there any areas ICONA could improve?

Everything’s done online including their project management system. I personally like to micromanage, so it would be good to have updates through weekly meetings.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a sports medicine company located in Alberta, Canada. We deal with injured athletes, mainly amateurs. We have been around for over 30 years. I am the director of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ICONA INC?

We wanted the ability to connect with the millennial generation, regarding the services that we could offer, and what we could do for them. Our website was 5 years old, the technology had changed, and we had a recession happening in Calgary. Most of the business we'd seen in the last 15-20 years was through word-of-mouth. With the population aging and with the dramatic layoffs occurring, we felt that we needed a different avenue for attracting the younger population of downtown Calgary.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

ICONA provided website development for our company. They provided a fabulous team of copywriters and designers which allowed us to reflect on how we did our business. More than redesigning the website, we rebuilt it from the ground up. Every bit of content was analyzed, which forced us to look at our business structure and model. This didn't cause a significant change, but rather more documentation and more communication with our staff. It was a very good exercise to go through, although it was difficult, given the time and energy involved. We were very happy with the process. 

How did you come to work with ICONA INC?

The company that performed our initial analysis is based out of Edmonton. They recommended some different strategies for our organization, one of them being a new website. They recommended 2-3 Edmonton companies, but, considering our location and the fact that we're in a fairly significant recession, I wanted to use a Calgary company. There were some investigations done, and I believe that ICONA was recommended by the Chamber of Commerce.

How much have you invested with ICONA INC?

The cost of our project was between $30,000 and $40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with ICONA 12 months ago. They continue to monitor our SEO, as well as handling our Google advertising.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

This is a hard question to answer, given our market. Alberta has been hit viciously with an energy crisis, which led to some layoffs in downtown Calgary. Our buildings have around 20% vacancy, which didn't exist even 12 months ago, and the figure is expected to rise by the end of 2017. 

Despite this, I would say that we're doing pretty well. We've been able to hold year over year, even though we haven't seen a particular increase in our business since the site was launched in August 2016. At the same time, we haven't seen the 20-25% slide reported by other healthcare businesses in our area.

People are going to the internet and choosing the physicians they want to see based on their web-style bios, which came as a suggestion from ICONA. The user is better able to identify their own problems with those of someone else. We've heard this a lot from clients who have asked to see individual practitioners based on what they read online. We are attracting more people involved in extreme sports, but who also have families. This combination of giving our personal information along with our professional interests has drawn a different type of clientele, which we may not have seen previously.

How did ICONA INC perform from a project management standpoint?

ICONA's team was good and thorough at the front-end. We did end up being delayed by 4-6 weeks, but that came as a combination of us not understanding what our commitment was at times, and a staff emergency on ICONA's side. There wasn't anything that would make me say ICONA wasn't as good as what they presented initially. They managed the internal glitch really well.

ICONA has an interesting way of doing business, by which everything is handled over the internet, with few face-to-face communications. I found that a bit awkward in the beginning, given that I like getting to know people, but the process was painless. If we did need to meet for more complex issues, there was never any hesitation on ICONA's part. I put that down as being the way business is done in the modern world, for efficiency.

What did you find most impressive about ICONA INC?

I appreciated the precision in ICONA's way of doing the work. Nothing was ever grey; if we had any questions, they were clearly explained, in a quick and efficient manner. The caliber of people which ICONA assigned to us was immensely impressive. There is a high standard of professionals that were involved in our project.

Are there any areas ICONA INC could improve?

If ever there was anything that wasn't working, we could email or call ICONA's principal and have the issue dealt with right away. It was usually a case of my team being unclear about terminologies and what things meant. We've had to ask a bunch of questions, but we did receive the answers.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

The Canadian Cattlemen's Association is a non-profit organization advocating on behalf of beef producers. The provincial associations are our direct members. Through them, we represent the people who produce beef cattle on the ground. I am the communications manager of the association. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ICONA?

When I came onboard, the communications part of the association was in a state of disarray. I was tasked with making it a viable working department. ICONA had to address several challenges for us.

First, our old site had issues, mainly because it wasn't branded properly. It had problems in terms of visuals and usability. ICONA had been involved in the previous build; it wasn't their greatest work. That’s mainly because there wasn't one person of authority within our organization. They found themselves working with people who often had conflicting opinions about what the website should look like. Our website was built with no clear direction from anyone, and ICONA was the first to admit this.

Second, we'd had the same logo since the 70s and it really didn't capture the high-level work that our association does. Our organization deals with federal governments and we're a trusted source of information internationally, not just in Canada. The general public wasn't aware of that because of a lack of adequate branding. I decided to try out ICONA and see how they would perform. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

ICONA has been involved in many small tasks for our organization. A major project was the total rebuild of our website. With the new build, we discussed if there was anything salvageable from the old website. There was some content but, in terms of architecture, there wasn't a whole lot. Based on best practices and award-winning website designs, I came to them with a vision of a striking website for our association.  ICONA determined how we could get people to our page, what should be on it, and how many clicks it took to get to content. They handled our content management system.

ICONA also worked on a logo redesign. The default for the beef industry is to have a silhouette of a heifer or a cow, and I didn't want to do that. ICONA listened to what I was trying to capture and came back with a design. It didn't take too many changes or alterations in order to be finalized. We presented 3 design options to the board and everyone seemed to be happy with the one which I also liked the most.

In addition, ICONA provides the layout for a bi-weekly newsletter. I am able to change content on our website through the CMS. Certain elements like images need fine adjustments at times, so I let ICONA do this.

How did you come to work with ICONA?

They were in place before I started working for the organization. I'm always surprised when I see ICONA's other work. I recently managed an RFP for a separate division of our organization and ICONA was invited to apply. I looked at their corporate work for lawyers' offices, mental health associations, and so on. I was astounded by the level of quality, especially since I'd only been focused on our own designs over the last few years. ICONA has an excellent design team, which is important when going back-and-forth on ideas. No client wants to get stuck paying for 100 revisions.

How much have you invested with ICONA?

The cost of ICONA's recurring services has been between $18,000 and $20,000 per year, not including web development.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our project with ICONA 4 years ago. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I found ICONA to be very collaborative. If any of my ideas proved too demanding from a technical or budget perspective, ICONA let me know. They either found a better option or simply abandoned that piece. I appreciated ICONA's expertise on everything. When we launched our new website, we needed to address a number of issues with the old one. Many people were coming to our website and searching for things so that functionality needed to be top-notch. People have complimented us on all of those points, especially in terms of look and ease of navigation. Our organization is active on social media. Users have come to know that if a piece of information is not on our Twitter account, it will be found on our site's main page. Any urgent or important information can be easily published there. Website engagement has increased by about 450%, compared to the old page.

Even though no one hated it, some people have told us that they liked the old logo better. Those are people who probably haven't changed much in the last 30 years, so this opinion doesn't hold a lot of weight with us. There was a lot of push-back from our own board because the new logo was a departure from what had been in place since forever. I felt that the new logo was a more professional touch for our organization, reflecting our high level of work.

The new website and redesigned logo became the signature of the association. They signaled to everyone that we were projecting ourselves differently. Even though we weren't resting on our laurels, we did have an enviable track record, a solid brand, and an excellent reputation.

How did ICONA perform from a project management standpoint?

ICONA is extraordinary in this regard. When we engaged them for a chat on any project, ICONA was good at letting us present our ideas then articulated what that involved on their end. From our initial meetings, we started a discovery process. ICONA created a document which helped manage the process. It clearly outlined how many hours of work each piece entailed. The document also presented what was included in the package, from technical systems to photography services. ICONA has helped me become a better project manager because I understood the level of detail required, from cost to deliverables.

What did you find most impressive about ICONA?

We have a very small communications staff so I've appreciated ICONA's flexibility in working through long weekends. I know what their needs are and ICONA also understands my needs. ICONA has listened very well. Judging by their range of clientele, I've found that ICONA adapts designs to the particular business or association with which it's trying to communicate. That’s both from a visual and a written perspective. They gave us access to high-quality writers and designers.

I come from a newspaper background where the rule was that graphic designers would try to fill up 3 quarters of a page, with only 2 columns left for print. I never got this from ICONA. Their designers understood our vision as long as it was clearly articulated. Whenever we asked for 3 to 4 versions of a design, one of them was always close to perfect while the second was a maybe. We could all agree that the third was not the right choice. This was actually helpful in nudging the decision in the right direction.

Are there any areas ICONA could improve?

ICONA has a small staff and I can understand this, but I don't know what their long-term plans are. We've never had this conversation because ICONA was always extremely accessible to me. 

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are policy school for a university. I am the Communications Specialist of the institution.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ICONA?

We needed to rework our website, focusing on publications and databases. The website needed to look good, but also be functional and appealing to researchers and students.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

ICONA developed our website based on our wireframes and concepts. ICONA provided a number of platform options, but we found that WordPress would be the best fit for us. We merged ideas from other sites into a better version of our own page, which is how every process should start. We had several meetings with ICONA's team over the course of 2 months and made subsequent changes as we moved along. The data from our previous site needed to be migrated. I had worked with the platform in the past, so I could deal with information updates on my own, with guidance from ICONA.

How did you come to work with ICONA?

I was in charge of reaching out to the best company for the job, through an RFP [request for proposal] process. Many of the companies considered had very poor customer service and didn't meet the deadlines of the RFP. If they couldn't even handle this, it would be unlikely that they'd meet the actual job deadlines. ICONA responded to us within the first day and had an above-board proposal. In the end, their customer service won them out. ICONA was awarded the bid, and did the job successfully.

How much have you invested with ICONA?

The total cost of our project with ICONA was around $30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with ICONA one year ago. We have an ongoing relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

I have worked on a website launch for a different university. ICONA has been the best team that I've worked with in terms of deliverables. They were on time and on budget.

We're still working out certain items, making changes which we identified after people started using the site. I am in contact with ICONA a few times per day, getting feedback and clarifications on things that I'm unsure of. ICONA has been fantastic in every area possible.

How did ICONA perform from a project management standpoint?

I had to manage the project on my end, but ICONA also provided several managers, who were all the best I'd worked with.

What did you find most impressive about ICONA?

I appreciated ICONA's work ethic. Their owner is highly intelligent and probably knows more about this field than anyone I've seen in the industry. He also has many quality individuals working for him. ICONA was an extremely knowledgeable and reliable company, going above and beyond what needed to be done, without charging us more for additional changes.

Are there any areas ICONA could improve?

No. I would hire ICONA again in a second.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

The company is called LivingWorks Education. It's an international suicide prevention training company. We have an actual base of 7,000 trainers worldwide delivering ASIST and safeTALK programs.

What is your position and responsibilities?

I am the project coordinator and materials management at LivingWorks.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with ICONA?

We were in a position of needing to have a website redesigned. It had actually just been redesigned by a different company here in Calgary, and it was immediately not meeting the requirements. We put out an RFQ [request for quotation], and they were most interested in helping us.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

It's actually been a number of projects during the last probably four years, starting with a phase one rebuild of our public and member trainer sites. We've also done other projects, such as conference registration sites.

How did you come to work with ICONA?

I learned of them through a coworker.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It was probably anywhere from $20,000 to $80,000 in a year.

What is the status of this engagement?

The projects are ongoing. They are our source corporate vendor for website development, and we continue to work with them on an ongoing basis.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

It's kind of a challenge for us to measure, because our website has been very, very well received, both by the public and the trainers. I don't have any Google Analytics in front of me right now to speak to, but it's been very positive. Also, some of the work that has happened has actually helped us to improve some of our internal business processes.

How did ICONA perform from a project management standpoint?

If I were to rate it on a scale, I would probably say eight out of 10. They were quite good with responsiveness and communication.

What distinguishes ICONA from other providers?

ICONA has been very good at coming on board, interested in terms of what our own internal business processes are, helping us assess what we need to do, and how our website can help support our goals and our mission. Even when we're starting to draft concepts for web, they come back, and they ask quite a lot of questions. They don't move too quickly in providing a solution because they want to be really thorough.

Is there anything ICONA could have improved or done differently?

Sometimes, I would like to see the speed or the timelines shortened for some of these projects. I understand what some of the frustrations would be on their side, but just more timeliness on some of the more complex projects.