NuCitrus Technologies

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the Founder and Executive Director of ALTEC Services, a nonprofit organization providing services and support to people in the south-eastern part of Pennsylvania.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with NuCitrus Technologies?

We were looking to develop and update an outdated website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

From my previous experience, designing a website was a very labor-intensive process because you have to feed information to the firm responsible for the design. After meeting with us and spending time getting to know us, NuCitrus was able to completely redesign our site. The new site is user-friendly, and NuCitrus was cost conscious because they knew we were a nonprofit organization.

I founded the organization 25 years ago, and NuCitrus is the third firm we’ve used. This is the first firm that has spoken to us in a way so we can fully understand what is needed. Louis [CEO, NuCitrus Technologies] is particularly good about this.

Presently, NuCitrus has taken on full IT responsibilities for our firm. We had connectivity issues between both our geographic locations and issues accessing information. NuCitrus did a complete rehaul of our technology system. We still use the server for my sense of security and to retain confidence that information is being maintained accurately.

Since NuCitrus redesigned the way we communicate in-house 2 years ago, our invoice amounts have decreased. Louis has set up systems that allow us to communicate with him more efficiently and are not as labor intensive on his part. He recognizes we have purposes for our money outside this endeavor.

Louis pointed out that our website wasn’t mobile-friendly about 2-3 years ago. They knew us well by this point, and with very little guidance from us, they converted our site to a very mobile-friendly platform. It manages everything from our donation pages through PayPal, applications needed for employment, to the marketing of our services in populations that might need it. We are easily able to maintain it by changing different calendars and posting upcoming events. We’ve been very pleased with it.

Louis created an app that could run on any iOS or Android device after I mentioned needing a major change in the way we were tracking our services. The app tracks the services my people are in, then feeds this information into billing reports. This generally makes it easier for our staff to keep track of things, and it's very simple to use for people who aren’t tech savvy.

The app went through beta testing, which was a tough process with many ups and downs, but we worked through it. Three years later, we are now at the point of expansion.

What is the team dynamic?

There are around 7-10 team members who are working on our projects, and we really feel they are a part of our organization. NuCitrus also sponsors a lot of our fundraising events. I’ve been really appreciative that their team is compassionate and that they try to learn about our industry. At the same time, they complement it without trying to build up their own company. They’ve really moved our organization forward, and they are our go-to for any type of technology we may be involved with. I truly feel they are a part of our future.

How did you come to work with NuCitrus Technologies?

My daughter had heard of NuCitrus and reached out to them. After some connections were made, I took over the discourse.

How much have you invested in them?

We’ve spent around $90,000 over the past 6 years.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in July of 2011, and the relationship is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We’ve been very satisfied with their work, and other organizations are beginning to look at our app because of its simple user-friendly style.

How did NuCitrus Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Occasionally, we have issues, but especially during the beta testing of the app where there was a feeling of general frustration. In the long run, however, we knew this app would be so much healthier for our organization. Like any firm, there are times when there are multiple challenges facing us.

We had weekly telephone calls during beta testing. Louis was quite accessible and assigned a project manager to us who we communicated with at least a couple times a week during the 6-month testing period.

A couple of years ago, NuCitrus established a ticketing system which seems to work very well. We no longer have to call Louis or our primary contact to try to get something scheduled. Instead, we can go online and manage the request ourselves. I am also copied on any ticket that has been opened within our organization, so I’m always aware of what we may be having issues with and from what location.

We also have in-house meetings on a regular basis. Louis, one of his key team members, my fiscal director, and myself all participate in a progress meeting approximately every 6 months. Louis is always well prepared for our large planning meetings, and he speaks in a language I can understand. He also prepares PowerPoint presentations and presents them well. He is not hesitant to create diagrams that explain how information moves through the system.

In the past, I’ve never had things explained to me to the point where I could walk out of a meeting and make a sound decision on what my organization needs without having to call the firm back. His follow through is excellent, and he seems to find very gifted people to provide support. We also have their cell numbers, and we always know they are just a phone call away if there is a serious problem.

What did you find most impressive about them?

NuCitrus is a really polished team, and they bring a progressive sense to the corporation.

We had a situation with a particular phone system I purchased that was causing a lot of difficulties due to old phone lines. Even though NuCitrus had only been working with us for 6 months at that time, they worked hand-in-hand with the phone system’s technicians. They will do just about anything our organization needs, and they go above and beyond, even if that means pulling old wires, replacing things, and working over weekends. Everyone I talk to in-house always has something positive to say about Louis or someone from his team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

As someone who founded an organization myself, I can see what Louis is trying to do. In the past, he may have had his hands in too much, and we were often calling him for incidental reasons. However, in the past year he has been delegating, has a great team under him, and there is much less relying on him.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the Director of Development and Communications at Habitat for Humanity in Montgomery County, Pennsylvania. My role is to oversee all external communications with any stakeholder group that we have; whether that’s someone who is served by our programs, a donor, a volunteer, or just the general public. That includes managing our website, PR, marketing, advertising, communications more generally through social media channels, as well as doing all the fundraising.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with NuCitrus Technologies?

Originally, we needed a functional website because we didn’t have one. That was about 7 years ago. NuCitrus helped us get a website that would load quickly, was functional and allowed volunteers to have easy access to sign up. That’s a huge part of what we do, and we were having issues with that, as well as the process to receive donations online.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

NuCitrus Technologies found a Joomla! template for us to use and built the site. We supplied content and photos, but they did all of the layout. They installed all of the necessary widgets and adjusted the template to make it fit our brand and who we are, they also changed the colors and fonts.

They created the whole site. They created the menu structure, sliders, and video. We have the main menu at the top, but then we have a sub-menu that runs down the right side of our page. They set that up, as well as the footer and getting that designed so we could have a constant restoration for our partners. They were the all-in-one experts on getting our website up and running from a basic free WordPress site that was horrible.

They do all of our training for new staff on how to run the backend of our website, we send folks to their office. We do the bulk of the work on our own as far as updating content and changing out photos, while they do the more complex changes that we’d like. If we need to change something major in the template structure, they handle that for us. They manage our domain, do the renewal, and keep all of the important domain stuff that is too technical for me to even fathom. They help us with our SEO and meta tags.

We’re working with them currently to do an entire redesign of our website because we’re expanding. We’ve changed so much, our branding has changed. At this point, we’ve selected a new template, we’ve gone over functionality, and we’ve talked a lot about SEO. They’re starting to build the backend for us, as we’re merging. We’re going to be Habitat for Humanity of Montgomery and Delaware Counties. NuCitrus is the manager for both the Delaware County website and ours. They’re doing all the redirects to our new site so we don’t lose ranking and they’re doing all the keyword stuff. They also purchased the domain name for us. We’re giving them content, but they’re sort of adjusting it with their expertise to know what’s going to suit best, again, so we don’t lose ranking.

We’re giving them photos, but they’re really focusing on layout. They’re also making some critical design suggestions based on three design styles that we’ve identified that we like. We’ve said we like Part A on this website, Part B on this one, and Part C on that one, and we want A, B, and C in hours. They’re going to be doing that design work to make the template fit what we’re going to need.

What is the team dynamic?

There are different folks involved along the way. For our new website, Louis, [CEO, NuCitrus Technologies] issued the contract that we had for the design. We met with a couple of their developers to get the scope really squared away. Then we had two folks that are specifically assigned to our project that will work with us and have been working with us around every detail of the new site.

How did you come to work with NuCitrus Technologies?

It was through the Habitat network for us. Louis is an alum of one of our major collegiate partners. Habitat has partners with universities and colleges around the country, and our affiliate had a connection with his university. We had actually worked with him while he was a student on some project work. Then when he started his company, we kept an eye on things. Once it was up and going, we jumped right in.

How much have you invested with them?

A couple thousand dollars on an annual basis and there was an initial startup at the frontend when they built our site of like $10,000. With the new design we are currently working on, we’re going to be investing an additional $15,000. I’d say we’re close to the $50,000 at this point.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2009 and have been working together since.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s really easy to navigate and that is probably the biggest compliment we get regarding our site. It’s also visually engaging, and we’re living in a visual world, so our homepage is a really great place to land and get a quick visual around what we do. There’s a lot of ways to engage with the content, which is really important for us too.

How did NuCitrus Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They are fantastic. I’m a question asker and they answer any and all questions that I have and they do it within 24 hours. There’s never a question that I’ve thrown out that they don’t answer.

They are willing to come out to our office. It’s not super far for them, but it’s still a trek. They’re not ones to jump in and recommend a conference call when a meeting in person to look at things, especially from a design side, would be better.

Communication has typically been through email and occasional calls. If it’s something that can’t be resolved within like three emails, we do a call. If after the call, we still have questions, then they just come out and visit. We haven’t done a lot of video conferencing or screen shares or things like that. I think that’s a product of our proximity.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They really dive deep to understand whatever brand they’re working with so that they can really capture that in whatever they’re working on. In our case, with Habitat for Humanity, it’s been about really understanding the heart of our mission and the heart of our brand so that they can make sure that everything aligns to that, rather than just doing something at a surface level.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. Honestly, for us, they have been rock stars. Anytime we have a problem or question, they resolve it quickly. Usually, it’s an issue of our training and a weakness on our side, on the technical side. They jump in and teach us what we need to know so that we don’t continue to have a problem.