Saritasa

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

We started the website last October, making a few tweaks before launching May. After that, we kicked off the portal in June, wrapping it up this October. For the website, we were on a budget, and then for the portal, we were under budget because we didn’t have an API for connectivity.

There aren’t tangible metrics at this time, but since we’re in a tight and older industry, it’s nice to see how everything has been received. Feedback has been overwhelmingly positive on the website’s look, feel, and function. It was for the brand reinforcement of information, where we’ve hit all of our goals.

The portal is getting kicked off now, so it’s early to say any feedback. We’re in the process of assigning passwords and last-minute introductions to the system.

How did Saritasa perform from a project management standpoint?

We primarily communicated using phone calls and emails. Because of how close we were located, they would visit our office, and we would visit them. We had at least six meetings together.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The team at Saritasa has so many positive attributes. They’re responsive, cordial, and easygoing. It’s easy to work with their team.

Are there any areas they could improve?

When their team delivered the portal, I would’ve liked a more formalized presentation of the finished product with a set of instructions. We have a lot of smart people that wear different hats on their team, but no IT department. A little more attention would’ve helped us understand the product quicker.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Keep your engagement level high. Ask a lot of questions. They’re always extremely willing to help and respond. They could be more proactive on the finetuning side of things.

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

The app is very fast and stable and we’ve been getting over 100 downloads a day, which tells us that there is a desire for the service that our app offers. It’s a free app for now, with the goal of eventually establishing a subscriber base. We’re still working through iterations to improve UX.

How did Saritasa perform from a project management standpoint?

They prepared mockups of the app and shared them with us through InVision. We then added notes so we could collaborate on the same tool.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They listen well and offer good ideas and insights of their own. We sometimes come to them with half-baked ideas about how things should work and they suggest other things we should think about with regard to UI/UX.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The project is taking a lot longer than I anticipated, but a lot of that is because we’ve added different things to it as we’ve gone along.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Come in with a pretty good idea of what you're going to do before you get started because you can get sidetracked in a heartbeat. A general idea isn't going to cut it. You need a well-thought-out idea and you need to understand the customer and the market. Then you can give Saritasa better instructions from the start.

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

The performance of the site ramped up quickly through various social feeds and both inbound and outbound social connections. Ideally, we wanted the site to help people at different parts of their job search journies. We wanted to aid them in getting as close to employment as possible.

Through Google Analytics, we’ve noticed that we have a very good rate of taking people as far as they want in their journies. Our users are not dropping out at critical stages because the site is informative and intuitive enough to guide them. We get 30,000–40,000 page views, which is great for our industry.

Notably, we just sold our business last week. In my discussions with the new CEO, he praised our site for looking more advanced and credible than expected for such a small company. Our partners were able to show us in the optimal light needed so sell at a fairly early stage in the market. 

How did Saritasa perform from a project management standpoint?

Both of our teams used different software and project management systems. But, it actually escapes me on what we settled to use because they were located so close to our team. We had such regular contact, either in person or over the phone, that I wasn’t relying on a project plan or software to manage our project for us. 

Each week, we’d have a handoff that would help us determine what we would focus on before the next meeting. Everything was well communicated if problems arose in between milestones and deliverables. I really appreciated the project manager for their accessibility and responsiveness.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They had the competence to get the job done. In other words, they were willing and able to work through the challenges that popped up during the development. That quickly put my mind at ease, so I could refocus my attention on other aspects of the business. They made me feel like I had a true partner. 

The team constantly displayed a great balance of warmth and competence. What I needed was an empathetic partner that could listen to our needs and help me translate them into code, and they were able to deliver in a way that worked for our intended audience.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve reached out to me with the same question, and I can’t think of anything big.