Illustrate Digital

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Senior Digital Manager at Foot Anstey LLP

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We needed a complete refresh of our corporate website from a technical point of view, bringing the site in line with best practice coding, setup, hosting and also taking the opportunity to refresh design language and consistency, whilst utilizing the latest web developments and practices to increase site speed as a priority.

SOLUTION

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

We selected Illustrate Digital due to the strength or our existing relationship with them through other project work, the excellent results, standards and communication.

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

We discussed goals and objectives with Ullustrate's team and several internal stakeholder which led to a details SoW, costs and timelines. The project was based on WordPress and went from the SoW through to detailed front and back end user stories for each individual component included in the project. In addition to this, site speed/core web vital were also investigated and different tech solutions proposed.

The project as a whole was based on a WordPress site and moving from a decoupled to a standard setup was also another key piece of work

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

Project manager, CEO, account manager, various developer contacts right from sneior through to junior devs and specialists in certain areas e.g. experienced in Algolia to ensure the search function was created as best practice. Account Manager Emily was the key point of contact throughout and was superb both in terms of work, clarity of communications, managing expectations and being flexible to line up with any internal requirements.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

General feedback was positive across the board in terms of front-end look and feel and backend usability. Main measurable outcome was site speed moving right to the top of legal firm ratings and eventually to a consistent 90+ rating of both mobile and desktop site speed.

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

More than anything else, the project management style was collaborative. They work hard to act as an extension of your digital team and will work to provide milestone/key project updates when necessary. Tools used to facilitate this included Slack, regular account management team calls, dev catchups and project board tools.

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

Communication, collaboration, management of expectations, and ability to meet and exceed project goals in a timely, cost-effective manner.

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

No

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a co-founder of Avoir fashion. Avoir fashion, is a fashion tech company which aggregates and compares the prices of fashion products across multiple brands and retailers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Illustrate was hired for the design and build of the front-end and back-end of our platform. Our goals were to use our algorithms to match products in our custom database and display the results in the front-end for our users.

SOLUTION

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

Illustrate Digital was highly recommended by other developers we approached and following meetings with their team, we felt confident that they could deliver our vision.

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 objectives and how these could be delivered. It was decided to use Python to build the back-end of the platform which would operate the algorithm and data processing and the result would be pass onto a Wordpress front-end via API.

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

We worked with over 10 people from the vendor's team. These included:

• Founder and CEO
• Project manager
• designers
• developers
• UX team
• managers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We knew from the outset that this was a very complex and time consuming project. In terms of deliverables, our MVP has been developed and we hope to raise further funds to fully commercialise the platform.

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

We had scheduled weekly meetings with the Illustrate team and were in constant communication using email, Asana.

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

They have a divers team of experienced individuals who assisted with the various aspect of the project. Communication was good and they responded to our needs and requests as they came up. Illustrate Digital, is passionate about what they do and our interaction with the whole team was always friendly and amicable.

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

They are improving and taking on more experts as they need.

BACKGROUND

Pease describe your company and your position here.

Identitech is disrupting digital identity verification with their ground breaking, innovative, white-label SaaS platform. The company is able to offer UK and International digital identity verification solutions to companies of all sizes, operating in sectors such as finance (including banks and building societies), legal, conveyancing, mortgage broking, estate agencies and regulated gaming organisations, to name a few. 

I am the CEO at Identitech.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hired Illustrate Digital, and what were your goals?

As we are a start-up, we needed some real expertise in getting our platform and brand off the ground.  We hired Illustrate Digital to kick start the development of our actual platform, and looked for them to employ their UX/design expertise on our applications and to build out our website.

SOLUTION

How did you select Illustration Digital and what were the deciding factors?

The market is full of differently skilled agencies, but we found Illustrate Digital to be a one-stop shop of expertise.  They were able to take care of all our requirements, whilst providing (and maintaining) high quality, support and value for money.

With regard to our platform, they were able to help design everything before we started building.  One of our USP's is the experience that we provide for all users of our platform, and they were enable to nail that before we wrote a line of code. 

They were able to provide contracted developers before we decided to employ development resource directly.

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

They were able to help us with the research, design, planning and initial build stages (until we brought resources in-house).  Following this, Illustrate Digital have been pivotal in building out our website and social media presence. 

In addition, they are still supporting us through software QA, and behave as if they are part of my organisation, rather than just a contracted out third party.  Having their staff/resources work as closely as they do with my team is refreshing when compared to agencies I have worked with in the past.

How many people from the Illustration Digital team worked with you, and what were their positions?

I've had a number of their staff work with me directly including their Directors, Product Managers, Designers, Project Managers, Developers and QA resources.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our company is at a stage now where we have a full commercial solution/platform available to the masses.  This would not have been possible without Illustrate Digital's inital support, especially to the timescales that we have achieved.

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

The workflow between our teams is seamless., as they were able to embed themselves into our organisation.

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

The fact that they they are willing to listen to their customers, but also challenge when appropriate is so refreshing.  If I had to do this all over again, they would be my "go-to".

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Digital Marketing Executive at a specialist law firm.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Illustrate Digital to undertake the continuing development and support of our website.

SOLUTION

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

We were recommended to use Illustrate by our digital marketing agency at the time.

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

Illustrate have been instrumental in keeping our website user-friendly and accessible. Their knowledge of WordPress was vital to understanding the foundation the site had been built on and the route forward regarding future development.

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

Currently we work with two account managers and a project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've received consistently good feedback regarding our UX, and a substantial part of that success is down to Illustrate's hard work.

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

They utilise various different tools to ensure that projects are being managed efficiently.

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

I'm just a big fan of their approachability - initially we worked with their CEO, Scott, and his positive attitude informs everything about the way they work.

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

N/A

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Operations Director for the Pure Property Finance which acts as an intermediary on behalf of our clients who require assistance in sourcing, structuring and obtaining various types of property finance.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We hired Illustrate to develop a quotation tool that searches the market for the most competitively priced mortgage product for our client, giving the client an indicative quote of the overall cost of each product helping the client decide on the most suitable option.

SOLUTION

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

We chose to work with Illustrate due to the quality of their previous work both for ourselves, and our awareness of the high quality of some of the other projects we've seen them deliver for third parties.

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

We spent time with Illustrate fully documenting the scope of this project early on. They also provided us with a clear view of the customer journey from the outset to ensure we were in agreement on what steps were required.

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

At least 5 people, including the Operations Director, UX/UI Designers, Senior Software Engineers and a Project Manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We are incredibly pleased with the outcome of our project, it has significantly improved our engagement with our clients and our competitive advantage when tendering for new business contracts.

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

Illustrate kept us involved at each major stage of development, asking for regular user testing, quality assurance, and user experience feedback to ensure the final product was high quality and met the requirements of various stakeholders.

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

The leadership and project management of this project have been of really high quality. The team has gone above and beyond in terms of the scope of their work, to the point of helping us manage 3rd party contractors when bottlenecks in their area threatened the delivery date of this project.

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

We've been very happy with this project.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing director of Technology Connected. We look to unify the technology industry as well as promote its social and economic impact and champion its position on the world’s stage.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Illustrate Digital?

We had undertaken a rebranding process at the beginning of this year and needed a brand-new website to reflect our new image and strategy. Our team was looking for someone who could deliver something really interesting and exciting for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They delivered a brand-new website, very much in line with our new strategic objectives. We were implementing a completely integrated system between a new backend membership management CRM system along with the website. Illustrate Digital not only created a new website but also had to integrate the event management and membership parts of our new backend system.

It was very much a collaborative effort. They came up with the design and the whole theme that ran through the website. We then were responsible for the content and imagery.

What is the team composition?

Scott (Managing Director) was our original contact and then we dealt with their design team under the direction of Melin (UX Director). Then, we moved onto their project management team which was under Lydia (Project Manager). All in all, we worked with about five or six people.

How did you come to work with Illustrate Digital?

We put a brief out then we went and spoke to about half a dozen organizations. We knew about Illustrate Digital because it’s a small space and we were aware of some of their work. We went through a selection process and Illustrate Digital came out on top across all of our criteria.

What is the status of this engagement?

We put the tender out at the end of March or early April 2020, and the website was delivered by the third week of July 2020. We continue to work with them as they are hosting our site as well. They're our backup support.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Illustrate Digital successfully achieved the work in the target timeframe. We tracked every single stage to ensure we were on target. It was a collaboration so both parties needed to make sure they were responding to queries and questions.

In terms of value for money and once it was launched, we looked at analytics to see how the site was progressing. The work was well-received by our internal team and we have had many favorable endorsements from outside of the organization with regard to the new site.

The creativity, design, and the whole process were made exceptionally easy for us, and their creativity was second to none in capturing the whole ethos of what we are about.

How did Illustrate Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

Having gone through the exercise of putting a new website in previously, which was very painful, I was exceptionally apprehensive. I’d say they were extremely professional from the first minute we started to speak with them. Illustrate Digital always delivered on time and was very responsive.

They were exceptionally creative and extremely adaptable to any request that we needed to make. Their team explained the process to us if we had a query or wanted to do things differently. However, if we were unable to do that, they were very professional, mature, and a pleasure to work with.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s their customer-centric mindset and the way they worked with us. They have a solution to every issue, query, or question. The way in which they resolved any problems that we had was excellent.

What also amazed me is the speed at which they grasped who we were and what we were trying to do considering we had just gone through a new strategic review and rebrand; they were able to put that into something really visual.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only comment I’d make is about the integration between apps from another system to working with us. That was down to them being able to work with it. I suppose it was just the time that it took on both ends. It certainly wasn’t a negative thing though.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Just do it.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the web product owner at a financial services company that provides mortgage products within the United Kingdom. We’ve been an established bank for over 50 years.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Illustrate Digital?

We’ve been on a journey to upgrade and digitize, and their team has been a part of that process.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

With them, I manage our web upgrade process with WordPress technology. They’ve done a number of web projects, including the build of a new site for our mortgage broker audience. In that effort, they handled everything from wireframes and concepts to deployment of the completed product. At this point, they manage and maintain our sites.

What is the team composition?

I work with two project managers and about 6–7 developers. There must also be a few teammates behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with Illustrate Digital?

Our operations manager was looking for a partner that could easily work with our WordPress technology. He stumbled upon them that way. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our relationship in August 2019, and our teams still work together. Currently, we have them on retainer with us and anticipate a long-term relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The feedback we’ve collected from internal stakeholders about our newest site has been very strong. We’re also tracking web analytics to gauge our success with customers. Since we just went live, it’s a little difficult to tell how we’re received at this point. However, we’re seeing some encouraging metrics on usage. Additionally, internal responses have been great. 

How did Illustrate Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been very clear from the start. On top of that, they didn’t merely implement our brief. Instead, they wanted to really engage with us and understand exactly what we were trying to achieve. They kept in contact with us to make sure they were on the right track, going into detail on their work. Their team always made sure we were fully up to speed, which made it really easy to communicate with them. 

In terms of delivery, they generally stuck to timelines. When we threw them curveballs and changes, they pushed the boundaries and took on the challenges with no issues. If there ever were issues, they’d highlight them for us and detail how they planned to fix them.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They focus specifically on WordPress. Because of that, they truly understand the scope of what the technology can do. We got a better outcome because of their expertise. They were local to our offices, so we were also able to have face-to-face discussions with ease. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve done a great job of meeting our needs. Things could’ve moved more quickly potentially, but I’m sure that they took the time necessary to ensure that things were done correctly.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Listen to their recommendations because they can provide the expertise needed to benefit you the most. Additionally, make sure to schedule regular meetings to stay engaged with them in a meaningful way.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the general secretary for Fintech Wales, a nonprofit that represents Wales with the fintech industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Illustrate Digital?

I worked with them while I was at a different startup. When I came to Fintech Wales, I brought up Illustrate Digital to the board of directors because I knew that they could help us with branding.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They assisted with branding and digital media. They put together a proof of concept, in the front and backend. They created content for social media, our WordPress site, and anything that required a logo or new branding.

What is the team composition?

I interacted with six people, but Scott (Managing Director) was my main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Illustrate Digital?

I worked with them at a previous startup, who did their own background research when they sought to hire a website developer in the South of Wales. As an accredited WordPress developer, they felt comfortable with them.

How much have you invested with them?

Probably about £20,000 (approximately $25,000 USD) at the moment, although we’re looking at another round of work that would be £60,000 (approximately $75,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together beginning in January 2019, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

While we don’t have any hard performance metrics that can directly tell us the quality of their work, we’re very happy with their work so far. Everything we’ve done to date has been extremely successful, surpassing all expectations.

How did Illustrate Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

I have experience being a customer of theirs so my experience was atypical, but my experience was great. They have some pretty good project management.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I’ve worked with numerous similar companies in the past. Scott stands out. They’re very responsive and flexible. They go the extra yard to make things right while maintaining a strong personal relationship.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing obvious that I can say here.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I advise you to reach out to them because they’re very approachable. They’re not going to try to swindle you — they’ll give you an honest assessment before anything happens.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the run a SEO eCommerce company, giving practical advice to small business owners on how to grow their business online.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We supported a client with a website migration onto a whole new platform

SOLUTION

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

Trust! The team were excellent, listened and felt trustworthy and solid throughout the process. No hard sells but a genuine concern and understanding of us.

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

Full build from scratch of a WordPress site, with a LOT of heavy lifting in terms of content and product imports. A fair amount of design work but most of the work was behind the scenes.

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

3/4 - Designers, account managers but mostly support team.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Much better site experience with a solid back-end which made product and order management so much easier!

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

Empathetic, understanding and patient. Lots of calls where needed, less where not needed - but got the job done. Really great.

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

Sam from the support team has been fantastic. I've sent endless requests and questions their way recently and always got a fast, well explained response. Night and day compared to a company we've used for WP support in the past!

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

Keep it up!