SearchMantra

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the managing director of Indigo New Media. We’re a media consultant in the digital space.

What challenge were you trying to address with SearchMantra?

We were looking to augment our team with a group that could manage web development and animation services for the end clients we work with.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’ve worked together with a variety of end clients; a recent project involved working with one in the academic space. They were looking to migrate their website off of an outdated platform that became inefficient in housing the amount of content they had. The website appealed to a huge portion of anglophone Africa, so there was quite a lot to consider, in that a lot of different people would have access to that academic information. It was a complex process, SearchMantra was key in taking on the challenge.

I started with a very basic wireframe, and they quickly came on to contribute their expertise and ensure the site map addressed every requirement. They started with fairly intense wireframing, which led into establishing the custom architecture for the site on WordPress. We provided the design and content strategy, and they implemented them accordingly.

What is the team composition?

We worked primarily with a business development manager on their end.

How did you come to work with SearchMantra?

A sales representative from their team reached out to me on LinkedIn. I usually tend to ignore these types of inquiries, but something about their message caught my attention. I ended up setting up a call, and the conversation we had gave me great confidence in their potential as a development partner.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent roughly $30,000 on the engagement thus far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in April 2017, and the collaboration is ongoing.

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

Everything comes down to our end clients’ opinions on the final product in terms of usability. The work that we did with our client in the academic space resulted in a higher volume of uploaded content on their end, which indicates a level of comfort with the new platform. This was a very positive outcome for us. The site architecture was designed with the client’s preferences in mind, and the result is a user-friendly platform that’s met their every requirement.

How did SearchMantra perform from a project management standpoint?

Their approach to project management was exceptionally thorough. They made sure to completely understand our requests by confirming them with us in very clear and plain language.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We appreciated their expertise in WordPress. They also offer the professionalism of a larger agency, which is very impressive. They have exceptional institutional knowledge and emphasize attention to detail in everything they do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

We would love to have more insight into their scheduling process, and a bit more emphasis on the testing phase could be helpful. However, they’ve performed very well considering the severe time constraints we’ve had to work within for a number of projects.

Any advice for potential customers?

The SearchMantra team works very well with frequent conversations. It’s been very helpful to have regular status calls and ample opportunities to verify the requirements. It’s rare that an agency wants to confirm specifics as intensively as they do, so take advantage of this to achieve the best results. I would also suggest that if customers are doing a project for an end client like we were, make sure to create a price quote together to ensure accuracy.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the Chairman and Managing Director of Solvo Elevators. We’re an original equipment manufacturer (OEM) that specializes in elevators.

For what projects/services did your company hire SearchMantra?

We needed help to develop CRM software.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted an active CRM that could engage our customers in a dynamic way.

How did you select this vendor?

They were referred to us.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

They designed and developed the software according to our requirements and tested it for nearly 90 days in our workplace before delivering. They also provide after sales services if anything is needed. They’ve also done some web development and digital marketing for us.

What was the team composition?

There were as many as four people working on our project depending on the skills required. We also had a project manager we were in direct contact with.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Our customer handling is twice as good as it was and we can now keep track work happening on individual sites. The increased organization has led to 45% more sales and reduced the time we spend on bookkeeping and reporting.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

They delivered ahead of time and incorporated our feedback into their schematics. They understood our needs and really knew what they were doing.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They did an amazing job with the software and really understood our requirements. They also showed very strong micro and macro project planning skills.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

There’s always room for improvement, but I’ll refrain from commenting as this is not my subject.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the cofounder of Kenzona.com. We specialize providing safe and effective skincare products in the Gulf region. Kenzona is the one stop shop where one can find effective, healthy, natural products high in quality and tried and tested by the founders themselves.

For what projects/services did your company hire SearchMantra?

We hired SearchMantra for custom development for our healthcare products based website.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to build custom eCommerce functionality utilizing the latest technology that can help us maximize our probability and streamline our business.

How did you select this vendor?

I got the recommendation of SearchMantra from my professional network and after seeing some of their web development projects that they successfully completed as per the requirement I decided to move ahead with them and, I am happy I did.

Describe the project and the services they provided in detail.

We hired them for custom web development services for our product based website. They provided solutions for our custom needs.

What was the team composition?

SearchMantra has very intelligent and experienced web development team. They assigned me dedicated team of the developers including manager for the project who was always willing to help and paitiently listen to our problems and provide the best solutions to them.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

They delivered everything we agreed on a timely manner and our internal team is very happy with the website. SearchMantra was not only engaged in the development part, but they also wanted to understand our business perspective, adjusting their solutions based on our business needs.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Their whole team was responsive and easy to work with. There were some delays on our part, but they were understanding and flexible.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They were very invested in the project and became part of our team.

Are there any areas for improvement?

I can't think of anything.