ioVista, Inc.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of IT operations for Vitality Medical, an online e-commerce company that specializes in retailing a whole gamut of medical supplies such as hospital beds and diapers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ioVista?

We were looking for a vendor to help us update our outdated Magento e-commerce platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We first scoped out the Magento 2 migration project and outlined everything we wanted in a word document. They then started the development, as well as handling the design aspect involved to present a few iterations.

In addition, they utilize a slew of technologies for the build, including Apache, MySQL, PHP, and JavaScript.

What is the team composition?

We first talked with the owner a couple of times, but we’ve mainly been interfacing with a project lead and a team of people that exclusively work with me.

How did you come to work with ioVista?

We came across ioVista through a Google search and ended up choosing to work with them because we felt confident in their abilities to deliver our requirements.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $120,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing partnership started in August 2020, and we’ve put them on retainer so they continue providing their service for us.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The launch of the website was successful, but it wasn’t exactly error-free. Regardless, they’re always on top of every issue and make sure that they’re resolved quickly.

How did ioVista perform from a project management standpoint?

They perform quite well from a project management perspective as they do an easy job of keeping the process organized.

We manage the entire project through Monday.com and typically communicate through that software, as well as email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We’re impressed with their velocity to accomplish tasks and diverse range of services. We also like that they have people that specialize in different areas, like system administrators and frontend developers, so they have a lot of experts we can use depending on our needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Maybe they can have more flexible hours outside of their standard business hours, as weekends are optimal for maintenance work.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I would advise you to have proper documentation of the project and be as detailed as possible to limit the amount of confusion.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the Owner and CEO of Advantage Products Group. We are consumer product manufacturer, distributor and retailer

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We asked ioVista to develop a customized theme with variety of functionality for desktop and mobile for our Bigcommerce site.

SOLUTION

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

I called and interviewed several Bigcommerce developers. Mike's knowledge and demeanor were the primary reasons that I decided with ioVista. He was very helpful and not pushy and he and I developed a friendship

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

We wrote out in detail what we wanted as far as aesthetic and looks of the site and functionality. We provided references and several mock ups for our vision. We then had a kick off call with Mike and his team. They did several different designs and we went through them and revised them. We were short staff and clearly un-organized but ioVista team were patient and helped us navigate the issues and made the theme we wanted.

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

Several. I only dealt with Mike and Sam but several designers and developers involved.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

After launching our site has better speed in mobile and significantly better functionality such as video in each product. The site visitors spent more time on the site. We are seeing better conversion as well

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

We used ioVista customer management system to communicate.

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

Whatever we asked for, somehow they figured it out and made it happen for us.

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

NO not really. We are still working in progress and in testing phase, I'm sure we will be asking them to revise certain things in near future to optimize our performance and conversion

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of Squibb Taylor. We’re a commercial-grade propane equipment distributor.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ioVista?

We needed their team to develop our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our website was developed in 2000, so its tech stack and design were both outdated. We addressed this issue by hiring an agency to refurbish our platform and integrate e-commerce functionality into it, but we eventually had to severe the contract due to financial disagreements with the vendor.

ioVista has come into the picture to pick up where we’ve left off in developing that platform. First, we’ve had a discovery phase to discuss the current state of the project and the remaining work that needs to be done. ioVista has then finalized the tech stack to kick off the implementation stage. They’ve used Drupal, Joomla, and Magento to generate development solutions and reformat our platform. 

We’ve particularly tasked ioVista with integrating user-specific functionalities to optimize the experience of our customers who directly buy items from our site. Along with the Quick Order and Shipping Status panels, ioVista has also devised a product inventory and a tracking system for our distributors. We continue to rely on their team for site maintenance.

What is the team composition?

My main point of contact is Deep (Project Manager & Developer), but we also work with Albert (Business Development Manager) and Mike (CEO).

How did you come to work with ioVista?

I found ioVista online while searching for potential local agencies to onboard for this project. I reached out to them, and I was impressed with their preparedness and attention to detail from the get-go, so I onboarded them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $50,000–$70,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We kicked off our ongoing engagement with ioVista in April 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

ioVista has successfully delivered a user-friendly and functional platform that’s reached the go-live stage despite the difficulty of resuming another team’s development work — that’s our only success metric for this project. We’re happy that we now have a polished and up-to-date platform after at least five years of trying, thanks to their team’s proactiveness. Overall, I’m satisfied with everything they’ve come up with.

How did ioVista perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicate via email and rely on Teamwork for project management. ioVista has a systematic work approach that allows them to promptly deliver our needs. Due to the pandemic, we’ve encountered minor delays and miscommunication, but it’s not really a circumstance within our control.

What did you find most impressive about them?

ioVista has not only agreed to take on a huge challenge to help us, but they’ve also supported us until the finish line. We’ve come a long way because of their team’s perseverance and solution-oriented approach. 

Additionally, they’re receptive to our feedback and can take both our criticism and praises — I take this as a good sign that we’re not just working with a vendor but collaborating with a dependable partner.

Are there any areas they could improve?

ioVista can benefit from refined communication skills to avoid any delays, especially during the crucial development phase.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the owner of a restaurant equipment company, and we started our business in 2008. We specialize in buying and selling restaurant equipment as well as sell new and mostly used equipment. We have two locations in Dallas, Texas.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ioVista?

I wanted to improve our position on different search engine result pages, especially Google. We knew this would happen with time as we understand it’s not like a light switch in terms of the placement on Google.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

ioVista clearly explained the SEO process and the steps to follow. They asked us what our motivation and goals were, and our goal was to improve our position on Google and be more visible in terms of the search engine results. The steps they provided were pretty clear.

The process took three weeks to a month to complete. We had to define the keywords we wanted and exactly what it was that we wanted to do. With the creation of a list of keywords that we defined together, ioVista started the project and put some content on Google.

What is the team composition?

I mostly work with Albert (E-Commerce Specialist).

How did you come to work with ioVista?

I was using another company before but wasn’t pleased with the progress. I went on Google and found 3–4 companies so we did some research on them. From there, we did interviews and chose ioVista because they had a good placement on Google. They also had a strong history and experience in terms of the service they provide. We’re lucky that we found the right pick.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve invested about $25,000–$30,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started around January 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We wanted to have a clear understanding of the progress. I use the report ioVista sends us as a key metric to evaluate and validate the progress. I like that we get progress reports at the end of the month, and we can clearly see the progress.

We’re improving our position on Google. We’re on the first page for most of the keywords that we have — sometimes even in the first position. Their efforts have translated to more traffic in our stores. We asked our team to see where the traffic is coming from and most teammates are saying Google. To me, there has been a direct impact of their work on our company. There’s definitely a correlation between what they do, the traffic we’re getting, and the position we’re getting on Google.

How did ioVista perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is key for us, and Albert has been doing a great job. He’s always available to pick up the phone and chat about any concerns we have. He guides us and explains things in terms of progress. I appreciate that they’re always available to talk if I have a concern about progress. If I send an email, I get a direct reply.

What did you find most impressive about them?

It’s the communication and the progress report we receive on a regular basis. That’s something I didn’t get from our previous provider. ioVista is pretty fast in terms of the project as it took three weeks to a month to put it in place. SEO is something that won’t show instant results the next day, we understand that it’s normal.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind. I’m pleased with the service and our ROI. The return is good so I’m definitely not looking for another company; that’s a good sign.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Define your expectations and be realistic with SEO. It isn’t a light switch and you need to have patience. If you clearly define the expectations, ioVista will be easy to work with. They’re doing a good job in terms of helping their customer and that’s why they’re successful. I’ve referred them to my friends who have opened businesses. I’d definitely refer more people to them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Get Poms, an online business for cheerleading pom poms and megaphones.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ioVista?

We wanted to update our platform to something easier to manage on the backend.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team at ioVista designed and developed our BigCommerce site, including the homepage and all of the product pages. They advised on different tools to use, such as for capturing orders, etc.

What is the team composition?

Mike (Business Development Manager), the project manager, was the main point of contact. There was a team of developers, including a graphic designer.

How did you come to work with ioVista?

They called us looking for business. We did some research, and a former client of theirs highly recommended them. I also liked that they were locally based.

How much have you invested with them?

The project cost around $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from February–September 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It was a seamless launch, with an amazingly low amount of issues that arrived. We immediately started getting orders. The site is so easy for customers to generate their own quotes using Quote Ninja.

Their graphic designer made a beautiful homepage, and the team gave great insight when we asked questions.

How did ioVista perform from a project management standpoint?

From a project management standpoint, they did extremely well. The time difference didn’t cause a problem, which had been a concern of mine. We had regular calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team patiently walk clients through each step of the process. Their creative team found a way to work around the platform's unforeseen limitations, giving us exactly what we wanted on the frontend for customer experience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We ended up teaching ourselves because they didn’t train us on the platform.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

There are many challenges in changing platforms, and they aren’t all created equal in terms of functionality and features.

Take time to discuss this with them in the beginning to make sure you choose the right platform to meet your needs.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a bifocal eyewear company that caters to cyclists and pilots.  

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ioVista?

We hired them initially to create our e-commerce website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created our e-commerce site. We came up with the design, but we took their suggestions about navigation and what works best. The team also worked on SEO. Most recently, they helped us migrate our site from Magento to Shopify. They adapted our content and imagery for Shopify, too. Additionally, they created instructional videos for us to learn how to use the new site, too.

What is the team composition?

We work with 1–3 people, including the owner and a programmer.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend around $30,000 per year, typically. This year, we spent about $70,000 for the migration.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2011, and our most recent project went live in October 2020.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With bigger companies, it’s always tough to get things done quickly. That’s why I appreciate how fast-paced ioVista is. The team helps us keep up with the latest trends, and they’re always there to resolve any issues, too. They were instrumental in guiding us through e-commerce and learning works best for our business.

How did ioVista perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re great. The team is quick to respond and they’re very helpful. We’ve been with them for so long that they know what our next move is going to be.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their response time is their biggest highlight. We were also incredibly impressed with how they merged the site from Magento to Shopify.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, nothing comes to mind.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My company is called Kilt Rental USA. Our primary business is the rental of tuxedos with Scottish-style kilts and clothing. I’m the store manager, but I basically run the entire business. There is ownership but they’re partially retired.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with ioVista?

Another company built our Magento store initially, but we brought ioVista onboard before my time when we experienced a hack, a security breach.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They patched the immediate breach, and through that process, we developed a relationship with them. Most recently, they’ve managed our migration to Magento 2. The way migrating in Magento works it was almost like a complete rebuild of the site. Not everything is just ported over.

The migration was the original ask, but they came back to me with design upgrades and refreshes. They brought that to the table themselves. One specific improvement was them changing up the color scheme. When you hit our home page there was always a rotating banner at the top. They totally revised that to a set image with the rotating banner next to it.

Currently, they provide SEO and PPC for the site as well. I had some campaigns in place already but they’ve brought some suggestions to the table. A lot of it has been collaborative too.

What is the team composition?

The primary contact for me is Mike (CEO). There are three other people I talk to as well.

How did you come to work with ioVista?

They came on board before I started working here; I inherited them. I kept working with them because they had a familiarity with the website. They’d done patches and fixes and updates on the Magento site since we’d brought them on initially as security consultants.

Just as important was Mike's ability to build relationships and check-in and communicate. We’d built trust. When it came time to migrate to Magento we shopped around and found Mike’s pricing to be very fair and in-line with everything else we found. His previous experience made it make the most sense to stay with him.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent close to $100,000 with them. The migration itself was about $45,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since the summer of 2008, and the migration happened between June and November 2018. We still have them on retainer for SEO and PPC.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

For us, it was about our customers' experience. We wanted the transition to be as seamless and smooth as possible with as little interruption to our daily work as possible. the main metric was how many calls we received from customers saying X, Y, or Z wasn’t working. Things happen when you migrate, so it wouldn’t be all on them anyway.

They did pretty well with it in the end. It wasn’t totally without road bumps but it never will be, and they managed anything that came up very easily and quickly.

How did ioVista perform from a project management standpoint?

They have their own portal we communicate through. It also held all our resources including files and images. They were highly responsive. I can’t be down or waiting, and I can’t give any higher praise to their team from that. I reach out and they get back to me in minutes.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their creativity and design work is great. They also have really strong initiative. If I describe something to them they come back to me with it completed, and there have never been many tweaks to make. They turn what I say into a reality with very few steps in between.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There was sometimes a language barrier between computer speak and laymen speak. I’m not a web programmer so that may have been part of the issue. I don’t know how you avoid that in these cases, but that maybe was the main frustration. There were challenges with the time differences as well. They’re 12 hours ahead of me given the time of year, so communication sometimes happened very late at night for one side. It wasn’t a huge hurdle, but it’s worth nothing that it was there.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Double C is a service provider for any type of Fabric applications. Truck tarps, Awnings, exterior vinyl and screen curtains, Steam curtains, large fabric enclosures and Repairs. I am the owner

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ioVista?

We knew we needed a better solution to our online store. After struggling with 2 different website developers and 3 different e-commerce carts. I was determined to find a company that would listen to what we needed and honestly advise us on how to get it. We hired Iovista for a consultation, we took their advice,hired them to build a WordPress Woo commerce solution and some plugin extensions to automate shipping , taxes and some marketing

What were your goals for this project?

To get a website that would not break down when customers tried to order and that could be seen by major search engines as well as a website that myself and employees could admin.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I saw that they had produced an online store which i liked and regularly purchased from so I clicked on website designed by Iovista

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

It started with a in person consultation Iovista looked at what we were doing and asked me if there was anything I wanted to change in the way we sold and fulfilled online orders. Told them about my downtime frustration with losing sales and customers and shipping tax issues. They came back with two solutions. We choose WordPress Woo-commerce. We went through a design phases, after that was approved they coded the site checked for bugs and when I felt it was done we went live

What was the team composition?

Project Manger , e-Commerce specialist Back-end developer Front-end developer User Interface-User Experience

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Our products are seen in search engines Our sales have definitely gone up and if we had stayed on the old website that just would not have happened. There is a HUGE difference between a company that makes an e-commerce website vs an e-commence website company Over the last few years, ioVista has helped my business with upgrading, SEO and e-commerce advice.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

They use a project management system so there was a lot of email within that system and I had weekly communication with my Project manager via phone However I knew I could a]t anytime phone or email the CEO and he would reply

What did you find most impressive about this company?

That they are not trying sell you a particular solution because that is the only solution they are partnered, Iovista listened to what I wanted my online store to accomplish, gave me choices on how to accompish it and gave me solid advice on how to improve my processes.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None as far as I can tell

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a principal at Monarch/Cypress a manufacturer and distributor of hotel quality bathrobes, towels and sheets.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our website was due for an upgrade and we needed it to work with our current software. In addition we were not happy with our paid search consultants We hired ioVista because of their knowledge of yahoo stores.. our current platform as well as their full knowledge of paid search.

SOLUTION

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

We looked at a few companies, but ioVista had the best support, knowledge on the subject.

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

Full web site redo, custom java programming, creation of a blog, full paid search.

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

IoVista has dedicated persons for web development, programming and search. We are working with at least 4 people.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our results have been impressive. The new website is miles ahead of anything we had before and the custom java programming is impressive. Their paid search management has lead to a 30% increase in revenue and a 20% DECREASE in spend!

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

They use Teamwork, which is great.

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

They are very easy to get hold of and quite responsive as well.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There are always areas to improve... but nothing specific.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are a property management firm located in Michigan. We primarily manage single family homes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire ioVista?

We needed to update our web site and use search engine optimization.

SOLUTION

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We needed to update our web site and use search engine optimization.

What was the team composition?

unknown

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

We have been using them for years.

Are there any areas for improvement?

no