Multidots

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a digital agency specializing in CRM [customer relationship management] consulting, marketing automation, and reputation management. I am the Chief Executive Officer of the marketing company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Multidots?

We needed development for the section of our website focused on business-to-business services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have used Multidots for a number of projects, including development of our website and SEO.

I have worked with a point of contact from Multidots, as well as with designers, developers, and project managers.

How did you come to work with Multidots?

We came to know about Multidots after visiting a website created by them. We reached out to that company and were directed to Multidots. We have been working together ever since.

How much have you invested with Multidots?

The total cost of our project with Multidots was under $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working on with Multidots in 2016. Our project has been completed after one month of development, but we continue to use Multidots for updates and other work.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Everything went smooth. Multidots is a communicative and easy-to-work-with team. They've done a wonderful job in terms of customer support, managing expectations, and keeping in touch.

How did Multidots perform from a project management standpoint?

Multidots provided a project management system which works great. Milestones and questions were tracked through it, and Multidots made sure that our expectations were met accordingly.

What did you find most impressive about Multidots?

Compared to other groups we've worked with in this space, there were no surprises with Multidots. On other occasions, there were always unexpected issues which led to increased costs. Multidots was thorough in upfront preparation, and everyone was always in agreement about the next step going forward. Any changes were detailed thoroughly. Multidots' biggest strength is communication and an ability to move the project along, but they also have an incredible amount of resources. There are many intelligent people on Multidots' team, from different backgrounds, whom we were able to cross-reference and collaborate with, bringing in additional expertise.

Are there any areas Multidots could improve?

No. Everything was great.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are an online publishing company which builds student-focused websites, mainly in the education space. I am the founder and Chief Executive Officer of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Multidots?

We're a small company with only 2 employees, so we outsource all of our web development.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Multidots handles all our WordPress development and update needs. We are working with a full-time dedicated developer from Multidots, and utilize additional resources as needed in the form of QA and CSS frontend design. My developer is my main point of contact. As he builds and completes projects, I will also communicate with the QA team.

How did you come to work with Multidots?

We found Multidots through a referral from a referral. My business partner uses Multidots for another company that he works for, and he was referred to Multidots by a colleague.

How much have you invested with Multidots?

The total cost of Multidots' services has been between $10,000 and $50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Multidots in January 2016, and 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?

Before working with Multidots, we handled our own development. The websites that I was able to build were considerably less automated. Multidots has built every project much faster than I thought, and created a system with more functionality than I could have dreamed of. We query a lot of data, and what would have taken us 2 days to update, can now be done in 10 minutes.

How did Multidots perform from a project management standpoint?

Multidots has a ticket-based project management system in place. While our individual projects are complex, they're also relatively independent from one another, so we don't personally have to track multiple ones at the same time. The ticketing system is sufficient for our needs and we haven't had a problem with it.

What did you find most impressive about Multidots?

I haven't used any other outsourced developers, but I have worked for companies which had development teams. For better or worse, it's easier to work with Multidots mainly because I can tell them what I want to do without having any push-back, and ask them to build products that someone else may not be interested in. I've never needed to email a complaint yet, over our 9-10-month collaboration.

Are there any areas Multidots could improve?

Even though Multidots is able to fix issues, they don't always tell me what was broken. If I ask about it, they will explain it to me, though.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

ABUV Media builds proprietary websites handling all digital media formats. We engage in 100%-organic media, building high-end content sites. I am a co-founder and the Chief Executive Officer of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Multidots?

We have around 10 proprietary websites which have been built on the WordPress platform using a simple frontend, and with varying degrees of complexity in the backend, from SQL databases to plug-ins which we've created. We needed the ability to scale high-end content and tools for both the client and development sides.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Multidots has been our entire frontend and backend engineering team for the past 3 years. Our websites feature many scalable ways of producing content which Multidots has built for us. We produce a great amount of content, and Multidots has established design libraries which helped scale our business.

Once we actually gain traffic for a site, we need to monetize it using a home-grown backend ad server, which Multidots has helped build for us.

We have created many tools aimed at helping users make decisions about their future. We provide a cost-of-living tool, a mortgage calculator, a refinance calculator, as well as insurance and school search tools. We work with very complex datasets which we turn into hopefully easy-to-use tools. This takes a lot of art and science married together, which Multidots helped solve over the past 2-3 years.

Our team size from Multidots has fluctuated, but it currently numbers 15 developers. Most of our work is done using PHP, MySQL, and jQuery.

How did you come to work with Multidots?

We had been working with another team in India and weren't fully satisfied. My business partner found Multidots online. We tested them out and have been really happy since then.

How much have you invested with Multidots?

The cost of Multidots' services has been between $25,000 and $50,000 per month.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Multidots in 2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One of the things that I look for in a development team is for them to produce a lot of content for our company. In Q1 of 2016, Multidots created 3 complex decision tools for us, and around 400-500 pages of web content.

Multidots is a quality development team, and take feedback very well. One of our main challenges, as with any other stateside company working with teams in Europe, was the communication barrier, maintaining efficiency, attention to detail, and the developer's ability to follow direction. Multidots has been able to structure its organization in a very effective way. Not everyone on their team is a great English speaker, but most of them are, especially the team leads communicating with the developers themselves. Multidots has a management structure in place which allows for a very effective communication structure, meaning that we didn't have to go through extra cycles to get a project done.

How did Multidots perform from a project management standpoint?

We currently use Basecamp for project management, and communicate using Skype and phone calls. The model has worked well over time, allowing for very specific communication on certain projects and keeping things organized. Multidots has been adaptive to our project management system.

What did you find most impressive about Multidots?

The overall quality of Multidots' work is very strong, especially for the breadth that they can tackle. Multidots acts as our entire development team, and they also handle our servers, hosting setup, as well as domain names management and registration tasks. Multidots can handle anything digital media or internet-related.

Are there any areas Multidots could improve?

Nothing comes to mind.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Director of Marketing & Product Management of a consumer products company

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Manufacturers and distributes consumer and industrial products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Multidots to accomplish?

• Transfer website from legacy system to wordpress
• Integrate PIM, Salsify, with new website

SOLUTION

How did you find Multidots?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select Multidots over others?

Good value for cost

How many teammates from Multidots were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Change of website/CMS/hosting and PIM feed from legacy systems to integrated system using WordPress/WooCommerce. Including helping resolve PIM issues.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Completion of the project and decreased ongoing budget expense.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

We worked well together and they adapted to our delays.

What was your primary form of communication with Multidots?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

Able to do what others could not with our integration of PIM feed.

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

Not at this time.