MG2 Media Inc.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm the president and CEO of ePasslive, an online ticket vendor. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MG2 Media?

We needed a vendor that could rebuild our website. The site we had at the time wasn't meeting the expectations of our client base.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We provided MG2 with a 120-page document laying out the requirements and concepts of our website. MG2 created wireframes and provided the design, integration, and development of a custom site.

They incorporated features that allowed us to offer customers both physically printed tickets as well as e-tickets. They're also developing a mobile app to complement the site.

What is the team composition?

It depends on the phase of the project, but we've collaborated with about 10 people in total on their team, including staff working on the UX, design, mobile app, and website.

How did you come to work with MG2 Media?

They were referred to me.

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent around $100,000 or more.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the engagement in February 2016. The website is live, but MG2 will continue working on it in upcoming months to incorporate additional features.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We've seen a 25% increase in sales since we released the new version of the website. Overall, we're very happy with end result.

How did MG2 Media perform from a project management standpoint?

I have a very close relationship with their team. Their project management is satisfactory overall, but could use a little improvement when it comes to time management. They've recently been bought by another company, which I think will increase their resources and improve their ability to meet all deadlines. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

I appreciate how open they are—clients are welcome to take part in the project, provide feedback, and communicate with all the staff involved. I have access to everyone working on our project, which allows me to communicate one-on-one to various people what our challenges and expectations are. I also appreciate the quality of the website they built—it's nearly perfect.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Not really.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

It's worth providing a very detailed project document like we did, so your expectations are clear. The more information they have, the better the outcome will likely be. A large part of the success of our project came down to our high level of involvement with their team from the start.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of technologies for a nonprofit organization that is an information and referral service.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MG2 Media Inc.?

We needed web development and design for our nonprofit organization. We wanted a website that displayed the information of the more than 5,000 organizations we refer. We wanted to have a fast and responsive website, which included a CRM. We also wanted to have good SEO for our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We developed the first version of our site in 2016 but have since made some new developments. They took care of all the website design, development, testing, and provided hosting. We provided them with examples of websites that we liked. We started from scratch and then they built the wireframe. It’s an SQL database and they used PHP, JavaScript, CSS, and HTML5 with their own CRM.

One of the complexities was that we have a database with many fields. We have to look through different information and they built several XML Documents to pass through those. They also built an auto-suggest menu on our website, with a category search that goes through the information we are able to update ourselves. It was really important for us to be able to update our XML documentation and be able to make changes.

We developed a way to create printable directories right on the website using the same database. We connect to our CRM and can decide which category and territory we want, then upload a PDF automatically. We’re able to create that for any partner that we have.

What is the team composition?

We work with four or five people from their team. We had some project management at the beginning and during some of the major developments, but we mainly work directly with the designers and programmers.

How did you come to work with MG2 Media Inc.?

We went through an RFP process and submitted it to around 10 companies. We interviewed all the companies that responded and shortlisted two of those. From the beginning, we felt that MG2’s was the best proposal.

How much have you invested in them?

We have spent around $70,000–$80,000 CDN ($54,826–$62,659 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in June 2014 and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve had some really great feedback from users. We’re a nonprofit and we have seen some different websites that aren’t great, but all our users really like the website, its usability, and its design.

We always get requests from users and improve based on those. MG2 is responsive to what people have to say and to working on new development or adding functionalities. It’s a constant process of evolvement, which we really like.

How did MG2 Media Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been really fast and responsive. We communicate through phone and email, while also meeting in person. They always respected the fixed budget from the beginning and met deadlines most of the time.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re a really comprehensive company that will propose a solution and offer their ideas. In the beginning, one of the main reasons we chose them is because they really understood our needs as a nonprofit organization. They made a proposal that suited our needs, which is something we didn’t see with the other companies.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We had a few issues with testing. The first version needed a lot more review than we initially thought, but we liked the final product that everyone agreed on. The scope was just sometimes a challenge.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the founder of Catermarkt, a web platform that highlights catering services around Quebec, Canada.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MG2 Media?

We needed a programming team to build the complex platform. The functionalities are similar to Uber Eats and Just Eat.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

I wrote down every functionality that I wanted to be included in the platform in an Excel spreadsheet. Then, they did the design and custom development work and helped us with the content on the site as well. Together, we found the perfect way to present and implement the platform.

We wanted it to be easy for caterers to upload their menus, which was a pretty complex task. Our priority was to make sure that the information on the platform was clear, reliable, and easy to use. Plus, the site enables a potential catering client to order from a specific caterer and the caterer to accept the order.

They still provide a lot of maintenance and support. If I have a problem, I send an email directly to the programming team and it is fixed right away.

What is the team composition?

I worked with about six people from their team including Geoffrey [Partner, MG2 Media], Mathieu [Partner, MG2 Media], the programming team, and the account manager, who handled all of our requests. Sometimes, however, we were redirected to designers or programmers.

How did you come to work with MG2 Media?

I submitted the project to several programming firms. We were about to sign a contract with another programming team and were lucky to find MG2 through a Google search. They understood our vision right away and were reasonably priced. It was an obvious decision for us. We met with Geoffrey right away. He showed us different projects he was working on. Their portfolio made us forget the other firms.

Our contract with MG2 had clear terms and was adjusted along the way. The pricing was collaborative; they understood what we needed and did everything to make it possible.

How much have you invested in them?

We spent $45,000 CAD ($35,690 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from May 2015 until October 2015.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We constantly work with huge multimillion dollar companies that tell us our website is amazing. MG2 recently updated our main landing page and the result is incredible. We’ve also received positive feedback from the caterers who love it and have asked who developed it.

How did MG2 Media perform from a project management standpoint?

All our design ideas were respected, and communication was smooth.

Geoffrey was really involved in the process, which was important because even though we had an account manager, we knew that Geoff was leading it all behind the scenes. We have been able to reach him right away when things have come up, then things are taken care of really quickly. They always checked with the programming team when we needed to add a new function to see what the timeframe would be.

We communicated mostly in person, but also by email, telephone, and Skype. We had regular meetings to discuss the development, and they gave us updates on important topics along the way.

What did you find most impressive about them?

MG2 thinks about business completely differently than other programmers. Geoffrey had a clear vision of what we wanted. They don’t think in terms of coding; they think in terms of business. This makes all the difference; it has been incredible.

Even with the clear vision of what we wanted our website to look like, they challenged us and didn’t just take our idea and run with it. They put a lot of thought into the project. The final platform is completely different than what our initial vision was. It is much more optimized.

Finally, the contract stated our desired launch date and everything was completed by that date. It was really impressive given the workload that we knew was required.