SJ Innovation LLC

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the founder of a lifecycle marketing consulting agency

For what projects/services did your company hire SJ Innovation LLC, and what were your goals?

We hired SJI as a design and development agency to fully support our agency with the lifecycle marketing communications we're tasked with building for our clients. We needed an design and development agency that could do great work, with quick turnarounds, at a cost that worked with the margins that we operate in.

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

We chose SJI because they could fulfill the tasks that we had with quick turnarounds at a great price.

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

The scope of work is project management and designing of email modules for our clients and then the mobile responsive HTML to go with them.

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

on any given project, there is a team of 3-5 SJI team members working on each project for us.

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

After working with SJI we are able to deliver design and development for our clients on time and with great work. Feedback has been great from our clients and we have not missed any deadlines on our deliverables.

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

The SJI project managers lean on the side of overcommunciation which has been fantastic for us. We are always in the loop in the loop on the status of our projects with the correct estimations of scope and cost. We never have any surprises. We know what we are getting and when.

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

The turnaround times of deliverables have been the most impressive area they excel in. Work that would ahve normally taken 1-2 weeks to get completed with previous contractors we've worked with now only take a number of days to get completed.

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

I do not currently have any areas of opportunity for the team. They do great work and we look forward to continue working with them as we have new tasks for the clients we work with.

Please describe your company and your position there.

We provide Technology solutions to our clients across various industries. As a COO, my objective is to work with clients to understand and analyze their business process and customer needs in order to provide solutions to improve their business.

For what projects/services did your company hire SJ Innovation LLC, and what were your goals?

One of our clients website was over 15 years old, and it became very costly to maintain the website and keep it operational. The project goal was to re-engineer the website using the latest Drupal platform.

How did you select SJ Innovation LLC and what were the deciding factors?

We shortlisted our vendor based on experience, skillsets, and budget. We wanted to work with someone who would understand our needs and prioritize on customer collaboration.

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

Our scope of work included requirement gathering, mock up, interactive design, development, testing and providing production support. We used Jira, Slack, Confluence, Excel and outlook to facilitate our progress, blockers and releases.

How many people from the SJ Innovation LLC team worked with you, and what were their positions?

A Project manager was placed to help organize and facilitate time, resource and budget. A Business Analyst was placed to help gather requirements and work with Tech team for implementation. Developers and QA helps with code and testing before client releases.

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

Our clients were very happy with the work. We completed the work with in budget with 2 weeks remaining on schedule.

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

We followed an agile development methodology with two weeks sprint. It allowed for client to be involved in the entire SDLC and provide feedback as needed to assure all of their requirements were met

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

They are very professional and easy-going, and it is easy to communicate with their team. We changed plans and requirements several time and SJI was able to adapt and adjust quickly.

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

N/A at this time.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an executive at a website design company.

What challenge were you trying to address with SJ Innovation LLC?

We needed developers to build a website development team.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They’re helping us build a custom registration website for a conference company.

What is the team composition?

We work with around four people, but we mainly work with a project manager.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent around $75,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in January 2013, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

The coding overall is good, and the website works at 100%.

How did SJ Innovation LLC perform from a project management standpoint?

We don’t set specific deadlines for the project, so this project is a big undertaking. Overall, everything goes smoothly with the handling of the project.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We have good communication, and they’re easy to work with as a team. Additionally, they deal with issues quickly in terms of bugs and glitches — that’s the biggest thing for me.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don’t have major complaints; I’m happy with how everything goes.

Any advice for potential customers?

The time difference might be the challenging part of working with them. Understand that you’ll deal with an overseas team, and things can happen on a different schedule 10–12 hours ahead of you.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Large Healthcare Company. Digital Campaigns Manager

For what projects/services did your company hire SJ Innovation LLC?

We hired SJ Innovation to create numerous assets such as emails and website updates based on briefs provided by the market.

What were your goals for this project?

Our goals for the project were have numerous different potential touch points for each customer segment, to contribute to our predefined metrics.

How did you select SJ Innovation LLC?

We selected SJI based on referrals, and examples of previous work for other markets.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

Their responsibilities are to Create html emails, Create landing pages on CMS, Advise on best practice and tracking capabilities, and Quality assurance

What was the team composition?

As this was a large project the size of the team changed regularly based on need. The local team was in constant communication with 4 Project Managers. Developers were pulled in as necessary ensuring all timelines were met.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We managed to surpass all of our predefined goals thanks to the help of SJI. Some of the KPIs we worked to are listed below. Email Click-Through Rate, Website Google Events A/B testing was also a regular occurrence, allowing us to continue improving performance over time.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Excellent, SJ Innovation catered to every need of the market and always ensured that projects ran smoothly.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their Attention to Detail, Turnaround Time, Cost-Effectiveness, Communication, Quality output.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There are no areas where I can identify SJI need to improve.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Campaign Manager

For what projects/services did your company hire SJ Innovation LLC?

Email Development UX Web Development Graphic Design Quality Control

What were your goals for this project?

Create front to end customer journeys with numerous touch points to leave lasting impressions with customers and align with customer goals.

How did you select SJ Innovation LLC?

We selected SJI via the Upworks platform due to their wide range of services, and eyes for quality.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

There were numerous moving parts to the defined project, including over 50 different customer Journeys and 150 different emails for various customer segments. SJI not only handled each request in a time friendly manner, but also actively went above and beyond advising us of best practice, and suggesting improvements.

What was the team composition?

We actively worked with a number of project managers, email and web developers, and designers to ensure each element of each campaign was handled efficiently.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We detailed specific targets and metrics we wanted to hit via this project before we commenced work. Due to SJIs attention to detail, and design recommendations we hit each of these metrics. A few are listed below. Email - Open Rate Click through Rate Web - Google Events Conversions.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Workflow was extremely effective. The SJI team got back to numerous queries and last minute change requests from the market in a time efficient way. The team always managed to go above and beyond what we requested.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

There attention to detail, and problem solving ability. Very easy to communicate with, and grasp difficult concepts in a challenging industry very quickly. The work they provide back has never not being exceptional.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the founder of POWERLEAN personal training, a company that builds science-based training programs and meal plans to help people achieve their fitness and health goals.

For what projects/services did your company hire SJ Innovation LLC, and what were your goals?

Website creation and design, to gather more clients and build up the company.

How did you select SJ Innovation LLC and what were the deciding factors?

Through a mutual connection, and I was happy with their founders and team after speaking to them.

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

I spoke with the manager and developer of the team, we settled on using Wordpress. We had a few meetings on how the site should look and feel, and they built a plan for the coming weeks for production.

Every so often the team would ask me question about certain aspects of the site, and how things should be added/reviewed.

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

4 people: manager, PM, developer, tech lead

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

It looks sleek and brings out the vibe I am trying to give to potential clients.

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

They are very communicative and timely, and always open to suggestions and feedback.

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

I think the versatility was the best aspect - I didn’t start out with all the details of my site, it was just an idea. After each week as the site grew in development, I wanted to add more aspects to it, which they happily obliged and discussed with me, and made it happen.

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

None.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Motivational speaker for schools, author and public speaking coach.

For what projects/services did your company hire SJ Innovation LLC, and what were your goals?

SJ Innovation redesigned and developed my personal website. They explored every idea I had imagined and took it multiple steps further by reimagining a concept that has a pulling power to meet the needs of my target audience. Their ongoing support is invaluable.

How did you select SJ Innovation LLC and what were the deciding factors?

Whenever I select a company to work on my projects, I always look at the people. The spark in which they carry and their approach. Likeability sells for me...and their staff carry the likeability charm. They are probably the finest and nicest people to work with who all excel in what they do. Great team, great company and super outcome for carrying out the work.

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

I worked with SJ Innovation with an initial idea of just a redesign of my original website which was traditional HTML. They introduced me to wordpress for the first time. Very easy to use, easy to learn and they guided me through the whole process, with video tutorials too. The work might seem simple, but when you are someone who has a lot of ideas, What SJ innovation did really well was to take each and every thought and idea and package that into the design concept, making the website easy to understand for visitors.

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

Such to the likeability of SJ Innovation, I've actually got to work with many of their staff from their multiple offices around the world.

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

Yes, enquries to deliver talks and host workshops grew substantially. I increased revenue by more than 40% simply from the redesign of the website.

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

I had a team dedicated to the project. I was engaging with them almost every day throughout the duration of the project. They kept me in the loop with every action they took and required my approval before moving on the next. The efficiency in which this was carried out was remarkable.

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

As mentioned, I always look for likeability in people. Their work speaks for itself, but knowing you have such a friendly team to work with is an extra reward when it comes to working on a project. You not only see positive outcome on the objective set, but the you build a strong relationship which sets the foundation for further work and collaboration.

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

No. They are exceptional and I would highly recommend them.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Operations Manager and a Web Project Manager at Tendenci - the Open Source AMS. We are an open-source SaaS company that helps nonprofits and associations launch and manage their websites and member management.

For what projects/services did your company hire SJ Innovation LLC, and what were your goals?

We hired SJ Innovation to bring an additional third party mockup/design for our clients to compare and select from. We also hired them to do a mockup for our own site redesign, as it is hugely beneficial to have a fresh, outside perspective on this.

How did you select SJ Innovation LLC and what were the deciding factors?

We found them on Upwork several months ago and were so impressed by their professionalism and fast turnaround that we continued to collaborate with them on other projects, and will continue to do so in the future.

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

Key deliverables most frequently involved a Q&A session, starting with a wireframe to lay out the information architecture, then delivering a homepage mockup for the websites we collaborated on.

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

We worked with approximately 3-4 people, I believe - where at least one was a graphic designer, one was the project organizer.

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

The mockups were very well received by our clients, and SJ Innovations was very easy and smooth to work with throughout the projects we collaborated on. Any issue of timeliness was always on the client side (many volunteers manage these nonprofits and associations), and never theirs.

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

We communicated via UpWork. We always set up milestones and goals there, and occasionally had a video conference call where it was more efficient to communicate this way. They communicated throughout the project if they had questions or needed approval of a milestone to proceed. Work was very timely and professional.

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

I found their communication and attitude impressive! They also have a dedicated team working on each project, so the turnaround time was also very quick, even though the work was high-quality.

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

Not to my knowledge!

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company is an agency that helps our clients with all facets of their web presence. Our in-house team mostly handles their ad needs and overall PM needs. I oversee all client operations.

For what projects/services did your company hire SJ Innovation LLC, and what were your goals?

Some of our clients have extremely robust sites and web applications. One, in particular, uses Drupal, which is a beast in itself. Pair that with integrations to third-party software and some custom development and it becomes a behemoth to maintain. When their dev agency wasn't being responsive, the client asked us to help get the project on track. We took it over and partnered with SJI for the execution.

How did you select SJ Innovation LLC and what were the deciding factors?

I love the intimate communication we have with SJI through every step of the process. We work hand in hand with them, from getting the client RFP, through the final delivery. Someone is always available to help. They take my client's needs seriously and are super patient when we aren't armed with all the answers. It is really a wonderful experience. Obviously, they're fully capable of doing what we need, but the strong communication sets them leaps and bounds ahead of the competition.

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

It always starts with us getting a request from a client. We do our best to get as much info as possible but we don't know to ask for things well outside the realm of our expertise. We present what we have to the team. They ask additional questions for us to bring back to the client. Once we're armed with all the info they need, they present a transparent price, scope, and timing. We re-brand and share this with our client who approves it. We work hand in hand with the team on ensuring the deliverables are hit and they have what they need. To communicate, we mostly use email and Slack.

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

We deal with multiple project managers (Saidul and Merlyn most of the time - they're both fantastic at their jobs and all-around great people.) The CEO Shahid is a message away. He's super helpful and always reachable. We have worked with countless developers and QA resources there but our main points of contact are the PMs.

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

Our client is a fast-growing company that quickly and abruptly outgrows their technology. If they don't improve it, there will be a serious negative consequence on their business. Being able to work with SJI and get these things turned around quickly and correctly is imperative for their growth. There is no one else we trust with high-value clients.

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

Most of our communication goes through the PMs via email and slack. I love that they will sometimes involve a developer in the conversation to cut down on the game of telephone.

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

Of course they're skilled and pricing is fair. What impresses me the most is their strong communication and fast turnaround.

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

Very infrequently we get bids from them that are substantially higher than from other partners. At that point, we have to weigh if we can bring them the business. Looking back at the few times we opted to go with the cheaper partner, we likely didn't have as smooth an experience.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the President of Kaizen Solutions Group, LLC, a Cybersecurity consulting services firm, specializing in Federal, State, and Commercial Cybersecurity services and solutions. We provide support to our clients in both advisory and engineering solution implementation.

For what projects/services did your company hire SJ Innovation LLC?

We have leveraged SJI and their cutting edge solutions in multiple projects ranging from 5K to 25K. Some of the projects involved obtaining SJI's services in web design, web development and maintenance, and mobile app development.

We were extremely pleased with the optimum level of customer support and technical solutions provided by SJI in all of our engagements with them.

What were your goals for this project?

The primary goal of the aforementioned projects were to obtain cutting edge solutions in a very short window. SJI did not disappoint at all! Their service delivery was on point and always on time. We gained a lot of efficiencies in our own business based on the services and solutions offered to us by SJI.

How did you select SJ Innovation LLC?

We interviewed and researched multiple companies in the web design and management space, and SJI came up at the top of our list based on the solutions they were offering at a very competitive rate and the quality of customer service and results were top notch.

Describe the project in detail.

Once we selected SJI, their team of professional consultants and developers instantly setup a project plan after the kickoff meeting where they obtained all our business requirements. The first meeting was enough for them to guage what we exactly needed and they got to work right away.

We were always kept in the loop of the progress being made and would provide us an update each day. They were always proactive and driving the project forward to ensure all milestones were met on time if nota couple of days early.

What was the team composition?

The team comprised of a project manager, who functioned as the POC. The PM was always available to respond to our questions or integrate any real-time feedback we had to offer. If we changed our requirements, the team of developers were very quick to respond and adapt in order to accommodate our needs.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Within 2 weeks our website was launched and was fully functional with strong security measures built in from ground up.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

To put it very simply - the correspondence and workflow worked like clock-work. Very impressed.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The knowledge, skills, customer support, professional interactions, and laser focus of the team are excellent.