Oyova

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Music Director, Conductor, and Pianist of Valerie Maze

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

I am a Music Director, Conductor, Pianist and Educator.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Complete my first website from the ground up.

SOLUTION

How did you find Oyova?

Referral

Why did you select Oyova over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fits our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

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

Oyova designed my entire Website from the ground up. After we agreed on the proposal, they met with me to discuss the layout and design of the website, and helped me narrow down what I was trying to achieve with the it. Throughout the process, they helped me set a timeline of items needed from me for the website, and asked for clarification if they needed more information. They are also hosting my website, so walked me through that process as well.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• They delivered a beautiful website that fit my needs. I was looking to rebrand myself as well, so they were consicious of that in the design of the website.
• They delivered the website in a timely manner.
• They communicated with me in a professional manner, and Beth, my amazing Account Manager, kept me up to date on the status of the project.
• They are handling the logistics as to the launch on Thursday.

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

They did deliver things on time. And, if there was a delay on something, Beth was great about communicating to me what they still might need from me, and if something was going to need to take a bit longer than expected. They were great about waiting for me to get them materials, and I never felt pressured that I was taking too long to do that. AND, while waiting for me at times, they still kept me on a timeline to help get the project completed on time! 
Along the way, I added a couple ideas that we didn't talk about initially, and they were great about implementing them and helping me understand how things worked logistically. They delivered a beautiful website to me in a timely manner.

Because this was all so new to me, and I'm a solo business owner, Beth and her team had to guide me at times about some of the more technical things. They were great about explaining terminology that was new to me, so that I understood what they were doing every step of the way!

What was your primary form of communication with Oyova?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

I loved their personal approach. This started with my first meeting with the owner, Jon. He actually met with me twice to help me understand what I would be getting in my Website design, to make sure I was fully compfortable before signing on. He was very consicious of my budget and guided me as to what the process would look like. 

Beth, my Account Manager, was fantastic. She guided me every step of the way, keeping me informed about the status of the project. I appreciated her personal touches and demeanor, which was so friendly, yet professional and super knowledgeable.

Oyova excels in the project they deliver (my website is fantastic), but they also excel on how they work with people. I cna tell this is a high priority for this company!

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

I can't think of anything at this point.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Chief Operating Officer of CLYNK

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Established in 2005 and launched with major Northeast food retailer Hannaford Supermarkets (Ahold Delhaize), CLYNK’s “Bag Drop” technology makes it easy for people, brands, and retailers to do the right thing through simplifying and streamlining the redemption requirements from bottle bills.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• To create a new website to support the launch of CLYNK's Bag Drop in the state of Connecticut

SOLUTION

How did you find Oyova?

Direct outreach from Oyova

Why did you select Oyova over others?

• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Oyova were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Oyova delivered the following to support CLYNK's new business launch in the state of Connecticut which included the development and delivery of a new website. Specifically the following was provided by Oyova: 
● Project Kickoff (Setup/Onboarding)
● Site Setup and Configuration
● Staging and Git Setup
● Plugin Updates
● Site Errors Troubleshooting & Resolution
● Header Customizations
● Home Page Build for Long Scroll
● How it Works Section
● FAQs (abbreviated on one page or home page section)
● About Us Section or Page
● Testimonials Rotator
● Contact Page
● Locations Section (blocks)
● Google Translate (option vs. Spanish Versions)
● Website Go Live

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The measurable outcomes included designing and staging the site in a timely fashion - and Oyova delivered. We had very little feedback as they truly understoond what we were trying to accomplish and crafted a site that required very few changes. 

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

We were on a tight timeframe and Oyova moved swiftly to accomodate our needs and met or exceeded every deadline.

What was your primary form of communication with Oyova?

Virtual Meeting

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

The team at Oyova was great. Their ideas were strong and the desire to exceed our expectations qas palpable. I'd do buisness with them again in a heartbeat. 

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

There is nothing constructive I can provide in terms of what Oyova could have done differently. It was a great experience working with them. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Executive Director of an education company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

The Bilingual Village is a physical and virtual network of schools and community partners that enables language learners to practice speaking their new language. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Develop a website
• Develop an app
• Develop a branded appearance for our materials shared with the public

SOLUTION

How did you find Oyova?

Online Search

Why did you select Oyova over others?

• Great culture fit
• Meeting with the team

How many teammates from Oyova were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

Oyova upgraded a simple website to a professional website and created an app to complement the website. Oyova provided the following for the website: 
● Project Kickoff (Setup/Onboarding) 
● Project Setup 
● Theme and Staging Site Setup 
● Website Buildout ○ Header and Footer Setup ○ Home Page ○ About Page ○ Contact Page ○ Donations Page ○ School Connections Landing Page ○ Parents Connections Landing Page ○ Adult Education Landing Page ○ Community Partners Landing Page* ○ Resource Center** ○ Resource Center Content Imports ○ Ongoing & Planned Initiatives ○ Events ○ Custom Map*** ○ Elite Program Password Protected Page 
● Website Go Live 
● Website Security and Feature Updates (15 hours) 
*Community Partners combines considerations for the following: 
● Businesses 
● Agencies 
● Organizations 
**Filterable Section expecting the following taxonomies: 
● Schools 
● Parents 
● Adult Education 
● Businesses 
● Agencies 
● Organizations 
● Bilingual Leaders 
***Requires Mapbox Account Client Responsibilities T
he Client is responsible for providing Oyova with application design and/or wireframes, all information or content and any assets, licenses, content, and photos or access necessary to complete the project, being available to answer any questions via email or Zoom meeting to provide clarification as needed throughout the project.

Oyova provided the following for the app: 
● Project Kickoff (Setup/Onboarding) 
● Project Setup 
● Dev Setup 
● CMS Setup 
● Application Development ○ App Navigation ○ App Slapsh Screen + Login ○ User Registration ○ Google Analytics Setup for Pageviews ○ Locations Data Model ○ Application Map View* ○ List View with Zip Code Search ○ Locations Details View ○ Location Filtering for Map and List Views ○ Coupon Listed on Location Detail Page + $ Icon on Map Detail ○ Challenges Data Model ○ Registering Challenge Data to Users ○ In App Popup for Partners to Input Codes ○ Resources Section 
■ Resources Content Type + Taxonomy 
■ Resources Section Filtering UI 
■ Single Entity Views with simple content, button links to videos, web pages or PDF Documents, and possible support for embedded Audio/Video 
■ Basic Sentence Frame Considerations ○ Passport View 
■ Passport Data 2x, 5x 
■ Passport Data Connection to CMS 
■ Add Superscript to Logos/Badges ○ Contact View ○ Account View ○ Donation Page 
■ Content + Button to Open PayPal in Browser ○ Events 
■ Content Type in CMS 
■ List Page 
■ Single Page Template 
■ Treatment On Business Pages ○ About BV/Connect Page 
● Email Deliverability Setup + Branding for CMS Email Notifications 
● App Store Submittal - Android 
● App Store Submittal - Apple 
● Buffer for Handoff, Meetings, and Collaboration 
● CMS User Export Feature for Email Marketing (New Locations or Events) 
● Design Consulting 
● Miscellaneous Design 
● Application Updates/Upgrades

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Website completed

App nearly completed

Marketing graphics templates completed

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

Beth Rener was our project manager, and her responsiveness and professionalism was stellar. The team delivered items on time and addressed our questions and needs in a prompt manner.

What was your primary form of communication with Oyova?

Virtual Meeting

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

Our interactions with Beth Rener were productive and pleasant. She kept track of all the details and explained everything in terms our non-technical team could understand. The Oyova tech team was able to realize our deliverables and requests along the way. We are very happy with the results!

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

We had a complicated contract because of unexpected additional funding that became available to our organization, so we were able to add features to the website and app that weren't in the original contract. At times the Oyova tech personnel seemed to forget about the expanded contract, and we had to remind them that we had paid for the additional work we were requesting (not a problem, but awkward at times). It all worked out, but I would suggest that whenever any new tech members join an Oyova project, Oyova can bring them up to speed on the possibly changing scope of work.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP Marketing of Heartland Credit Union

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Help people get the most from their money, we are a credit union.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Transition our current website to a new provider
• Hire a development team that is responsive and supportive to our needs
• Hire a development team with the expertise and drive to help us grow our web presence

SOLUTION

How did you find Oyova?

Referral

Why did you select Oyova over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing fits our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from Oyova were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

When our current web developer notified us that they would no longer support our site and that we'd have to find another team, Oyova stepped up and helped save me from a very stressful and difficult efficient.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The smooth transition of our current site to them. They were able to take over our site within a matter of weeks - which not only saved stress, but also saved money as we were able to end our contract quickly with our current provider.

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

Excellent! My account manager Beth was amazing! She answered all of my questions, assisted in communication with our IT partner during the transition and was always available and responsive.

What was your primary form of communication with Oyova?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

The responsiveness, true compassion, and willingness to help are second to none.

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

Nope!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Owner of Everything Ants

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Everything Ants design and manufacture ant keeping equipment.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Help design and then implement a browser-based app to log locations where queen ants are found.

SOLUTION

How did you find Oyova?

Referral

Why did you select Oyova over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Good value for cost
• Referred to me

How many teammates from Oyova were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

I provided a functional specification describing the functionality I wanted in the application. We reviewed it and decided which pieces we would use to create an MVP. We moved the other items into future enhancement releases. As of this writing, we are still working on version 2 items. Deliverables included a functioning MVP, hosting services, and payment/subscription services.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Primarily the functioning MVP and payment systems.

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

Beth has done, and continues to do, a fantastic job as my project manager! Usually same-day or next-day responses to my concerns/questions. Turn-around time on bug fixes is a day or two, and enhancements are very timely as well.

What was your primary form of communication with Oyova?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

In our initial exploratory virtual meetings, I was impressed with the professionalism of the staff, as well as the breadth and depth of technical knowledge that was available among them. None of the functionality I asked for was confusing or something new to them. They had experience with everything I needed, including payment systems, hosting, and mapping software.

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

Nope. I've been very pleased with Oyova's work so far.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the COO of Franciscan Media

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Franciscan Media is a publisher of resources designed to share the Gospel in the spirit of St. Francis.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Improve SEO
• Improve UI/UX of our website
• Ensure the proper function and success of our entire digital presence

SOLUTION

How did you find Oyova?

Direct Email Solicitation

Why did you select Oyova over others?

• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost

How many teammates from Oyova were assigned to this project?

6-10 Employees

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

• Help us adapt to our new WordPress site and environment. 
• Optimize our SEO. 
• Clean up errors in the back end. 
• Help us find and migrate to a new website hosting partner. 
• Review and help optimize our eCommerce pages. 
• Act as support partner as the team learns best practices in WordPress.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Improvement in site traffic. Other intangible benefits such as reduction on lists of errors and problems on back end, better peace of mind among employees that work in WordPress.

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

They are incredibly responsive to our requests. They are very diligent in scheduling meetings when needed. They have excellent tools for keeping notes and action items, and are always more on top of things than we are!

What was your primary form of communication with Oyova?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They seem to have an amazing culture full of smart, experienced people who seem to like working together! They are dedicated and focused. They make us feel like we are their only client!

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

So far, nothing to suggest!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the CEO of Cafe Tables

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Cafe Tables fabricates tabletops made of wood, metal and stone and provides a variety of table bases and other furnishings for restaurants, hospitality groups, hotels, homes and more.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

• Streamline our website
• Help with SEO

SOLUTION

How did you find Oyova?

Referral

Why did you select Oyova over others?

• High ratings
• Pricing first our budget
• Referred to me
• Company values aligned

What was the size of Oyova’s team?

6-10 Employees

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

We needed our website to be streamlined. We had a foundation created, but it wasn't exactly what we were after. Oyova came in and helped us get everything functioning properly and efficiently. They helped create special programs for our backend so that we could provide our customers with the proper discounts and helped ensure our freight API was correct.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

• Increase in sales online
• Increased online traffic to certain pages

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

Oyova's project management team is wonderful. They are very responsive and get the work done promptly. They are always reaching out to make sure we are up to date and to see how things are running for us. And our account manager, Beth, is the best!

What was your primary form of communication with Oyova?

Virtual Meeting

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

Oyova is very responsive, which is something we really are thankful for.

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

None that we can think of!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Director for an Archival Management and Marketing Services company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

We had a custom software developed by a previous company that exceeded budgetary costs that they had estimated and set and kept delivering fixes to the application’s bugs in an inconsistent timeline.

We needed to switch vendors to a software development shop in the US, were experts in the platform our software was developed on (Laravel) and could stick to budgetary requirements. Oyova was the company we went with, and we've been much more excited to work with them throughout the development process than the previous vendor.

SOLUTION

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

We found them through a referral and down-selected them based on their experience with the platform, methodical software development process, willingness to communicate budgetary constraints well ahead of time, and practice of keeping software development on-shore.

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

They took over developing our existing software stack, Laravel, with Nova and Vapor. They spent the first three weeks understanding the code base from the previous development partner and made suggestions on bug fixes/software changes that needed to occur based on their findings. They helped us develop a method to report bugs within the software and prioritize the bugs and feature requests.

One of the biggest challenges with our project is the ability to integrate into other systems that our customers interface with- Oyova was able to resolve some of the sync challenges we had with the integration and provided security recommendations that our other vendor was unable to offer or did not share.

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

There were three people within the core team- an account manager, Oyova's lead software developer/manager, and our dedicated developer that worked directly on the project (and is currently working with our project). Ryan, the dedicated developer, has been a rockstar for our project. His personality and willingness to help are what we appreciate the most.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Oyova was able to help resolve a data export challenge that our team has had, providing a means for exporting the data much more quickly. Oyova was able to resolve a key integration issue where our integration provider was rate-limiting us due to inconsistent code from our previous developer, which Oyova was able to determine very quickly. They've exceeded our expectation time and time again with the quality of their deliverables in resolving bugs and issues.

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

The project management was phenomenal. They've always met deadlines that we needed for specific bugs and features within our application and communicated budgetary thresholds being crossed much earlier than the previous vendor (and I should mention, they barely ever cross budget thresholds that are set). They communicate rapidly over Slack, as well as email, as well as their project management tool, TeamWork.

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

Ryan was able to step in, know precisely what Laravel can and can't do, and provide recommendations and fixes to challenges that took weeks with our previous development company.

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

We wish there were more than one resource working on the project, but otherwise, Ryan has been solid with the work that he’s delivered.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the marketing director at Hueman People Solutions, a recruitment services company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenges were you trying to address with Oyova?

Our website was outdated, and we wanted to create a new mobile-friendly platform to represent our value proposition better. Our team was looking for a specific site for our needs in the CMS platform we were using.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Oyova did web development for us from scratch based on the designs we provided to them. Regarding technologies, they built the site on HubSpot because that’s where we had our CRM, and we wanted to integrate it into the new website.

They started by doing discovery calls with us to establish the scope of work and details within the contract. After that, they started coding the platform based on our requirements, which was something unique, so they didn’t use any templates. Oyova’s team designed a mega menu for us to make the site very intuitive and user-friendly.

In terms of features, they set up the backend in a way that we could easily scale and configure the platform depending on our needs. Aside from that, everything was straightforward because the platform integrates with our CRM. In addition, the website has automated data updates.

What was the team composition? 

We worked with Beth (Director of Accounts), Ryan (Director of Operations), Angela (Marketing Strategist), Eric (Programmer), and multiple developers from their team.

How did you come to work with Oyova?

Oyova was a professional referral from someone who previously worked with them. We chose them for this project because they had previous experience with the CMS we were using.

How much have you invested in them?

We invested around $40,000 with them on this project.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from August–December 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They adhered to our internal team's designs and tried to make everything work. If they had some challenges, they were open about responding and making suggestions to improve the product.

How did Oyova perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management was great; they delivered on time and within budget, and their team was responsive, lovely, and professional. Regarding tools and communication, we used phone calls, emails, and a shared Google Docs file.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Our leadership team loved their work.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could streamline communication — sometimes, we lose things if we have 50 daily emails.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

To keep an organized process, plan and schedule everything upfront. Moreover, establish a dedicated project manager from your team that can work directly with them. In addition, they’re a responsive team, so ask questions to them and reciprocate with constant communication.