MMDA

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and CEO of a tech company. We help companies better track, measure, and share their impact.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MMDA?

We’re a small startup, that’s primarily backend. We needed frontend support.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They worked on our Drupal site’s frontend. They helped us realize our design and vision for the tool.

What is the team composition?

We worked with two developers and two others on the business side.

How did you come to work with MMDA?

Our backend developer referred MMDA to us. He’s a Drupal developer and had heard good things about them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $10,000 – $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in August 2017, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’re very responsive. They always identify new work and accommodate us as a small firm. I love their customer service. We’ve created a great rapport.

How did MMDA perform from a project management standpoint?

We don’t have to do a lot of back and forth with their work. We usually work with the same individual and it’s been a good partnership.  We know what we need, and have been working directly with them to achieve it. They always give us notice when they’re going on vacation, which is great. We use Slack and Bitbucket to create tickets.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their response time and support have been stellar throughout our relationship. I feel like we’re a team, and it’s really easy to tackle barriers. I’d highly recommend them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything at this point.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Viajanet is an online travel agency. We have about 200 employees total, and 80 are on the tech team. We’re based in São Caetano, Brazil.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MMDA?

We’ve worked with them since the establishment of our organization. MMDA developed our first website layout and logo.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

MMDA currently oversees design for the company. They initially delivered HTML code as well, but we have internalized the development process since. MMDA continues to design all our collateral marketing materials, as well as our site’s user experience. They also developed our affiliate platform, which was a substantial challenge from a development standpoint.

What is the team composition?

We work with about five people from their agency. I’m usually in contact with the whole team on a daily basis. Diego (Founder, MMDA) participates in top-level discussions.

How did you come to work with MMDA?

We were introduced to MMDA by another partner of ours. They were also referred to us by previous shareholders. We are based in São Paulo, while they are in the south of Brazil, in a city called Porto Alegre. We found it to be an advantage to work with a company outside of São Paulo, given that they would be less likely to work with our competitors. There are also very good specialists in the south of Brazil.

How much have you invested with them?

We have a monthly fee of about $10,000 for day-to-day work. The affiliate platform had a development cost of $20,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with MMDA eight years ago. They are the only marketing provider we’ve used since the start of the company. We’re plan to launch the affiliate platform within a month.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

My team is very happy with what MMDA delivered to us. I can’t speak to much about the development side, but the code they’ve delivered to us was always good. We decided to stop using them for development only after establishing an in-house team. They create value for our organization and they’re very easy to work with.

How did MMDA perform from a project management standpoint?

We work closely with them to ensure that targets are met. The affiliate platform was delivered on time. I can reach Diego at any time if we have a problem. We would not have given them more projects if they delivered late.

I have mentioned to them that it’s important for the team to visit us in São Paolo once per month. Communication is done by Skype, and there is no physical presence on a daily basis. Whenever they have business in our area, they come to our office and we make sure everyone is on the same page.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They sometimes wanted to deliver more UX work than we could accommodate on our end in terms of capacity. They strive to deliver great results, and they’re proud of their work. They’re a very good provider for us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We hope to work with them in person more often. We’ve been very happy with the engagement thus far.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We're a fairly large business providing English-language courses worldwide for university exam preparation and academic validation. We employ around 2,000 members of staff globally. We are based in London, UK. I am the head of digital products, responsible for managing and delivering new offerings. My position involves marketing, but I work closely with IT.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MMDA?

We needed to redesign and replatform our Drupal 7 blog, migrating it to Drupal 8.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We made in-house designs and MMDA was in charge of implementing those designs on Drupal 8, while also migrating our content. Over the course of our partnership with MMDA, we have worked in many different ways, including fixed scope and fixed time projects. We have used around three or four developers from MMDA's side, mainly for the Drupal technology.

How did you come to work with MMDA?

We had worked with other agencies in the past. MMDA was recommended to us by one of our senior developers. We had a couple of interviews and decided to give them a try. We have worked with them ever since. MMDA's pricing model was fairly flexible and competitive in comparison to European agencies.

How much have you invested with MMDA?

I cannot disclose this information.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with MMDA in March 2016. The initial project has been completed, but we've continued to use MMDA for delivering new features for the blog and our main website. Whenever we need additional resources, we can rely on MMDA, agree on a scope, get an estimate, and loop in one or two of their developers.

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 the way in which projects were delivered. MMDA stuck to our agreed-upon time and budget and were always willing to accommodate any additional requests. They are definitely easy to work with as an agency. In terms of how successful our projects were, their successful delivery would be one metric.

How did MMDA perform from a project management standpoint?

MMDA has been easy to work with and has adapted to our approach instead of trying to craft something new. We gave them access to our JIRA board and Slack channels, integrating their developers into our Scrum team. As a result, there were no delays in communication or bottlenecks.

The English proficiency was good as well. MMDA assigned developers who spoke the language, and their project manager was able to break down information and translate it into Portuguese. We haven't had any communication issues. Because of the time difference, MMDA's team was willing to start the day as early as 5 AM in order to participate in our standups, and not have us change our processes.

What did you find most impressive about MMDA?

The key strength is the ease of working with MMDA. They accommodated pretty much all of our requests and remained flexible. Starting work early in the morning in order to align with our timelines was a sign of this willingness to help.

Are there any areas MMDA could improve?

I cannot think of anything.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Community Climate Solutions is creating an online platform which can help raise awareness around solutions for climate change and engage people to take action.

I am the founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with MMDA?

We are developing an online engagement platform.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have worked with one frontend developer from MMDA for the last eight months on the build of our Drupal site. There were other programmers working on it before MMDA came on board.

How did you come to work with MMDA?

I was referred to MMDA by another development agency.

How much have you invested with MMDA?

The cost of MMDA's work has been over $100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with MMDA in June 2016. The beta version is live, but there is always additional work to be done.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

MMDA has done excellent work. Their developer has been responsive, quick, and effective. He got things done, was good to work with, and I couldn't say enough good things about him.

How did MMDA perform from a project management standpoint?

We have worked with a single programmer from MMDA, and I've worked out the schedule myself, so there was no need to use project management tools. I am also coordinating other programmers outside of MMDA for the same project. In general, the company as a whole has been great to work with. Our administrative contact has been fantastic to communicate with as well. She was always on top of things and remained positive.

What did you find most impressive about MMDA?

There's more than one thing which distinguishes MMDA. They've done everything well, and have been great to work and communicate with. I've worked with a number of programmers before MMDA and they've been better than the rest.

Are there any areas MMDA could improve?

No.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with MMDA?

I would simply recommend MMDA highly.