Solar Digital

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Marketing Specialist of an advertising & marketing company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a Ukrainian digital marketing agency that takes businesses to a new level. A premium partner of Google and Meta.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Solar Digital to accomplish?

• Our company sought to develop a closed portal for an affiliate program, which required robust functionality and seamless integration with our existing systems. We needed a reliable partner with expertise in web development and a proven track record of delivering complex projects on time and within budget.

SOLUTION

How did you find Solar Digital?

Referral

Why did you select Solar Digital over others?

• High ratings
• Other

How many teammates from Solar Digital were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The project kicked off with a series of discovery meetings where we outlined our requirements, discussed the desired features, and established timelines. Solar Digital's team meticulously mapped out the project stages, from design to development to testing, ensuring clear communication and alignment every step of the way.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The closed portal for our affiliate program was delivered on schedule and exceeded our expectations in terms of functionality and design. Solar Digital's solution seamlessly integrated with our existing systems, providing a smooth user experience for both our team and affiliates.

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

The workflow between our teams was highly effective, thanks to Solar Digital's proactive communication and transparent project management approach. They consistently kept us updated on progress, promptly addressed any issues that arose, and welcomed our feedback at every stage of the project.

What was your primary form of communication with Solar Digital?

Virtual Meeting

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

What impressed us most about Solar Digital was their commitment to delivering a high-quality solution that precisely met our needs. Their team demonstrated technical expertise, creativity, and a dedication to customer satisfaction throughout the project.

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

While the overall experience was positive, there were occasional delays in project timelines. But this nuance outweighs the excellent result we got.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the owner, director of Torch 42 LLC

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Accounting, tax consulting and legal services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire Solar Digital to accomplish?

• To build a brand new presentational website for my company.

SOLUTION

How did you find Solar Digital?

• Referral
• met them during their work for my client

Why did you select Solar Digital over others?

• Company values aligned
• recommendation with highlights of particular skills in marketing and general way of doing things

How many teammates from Solar Digital were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

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

The goal of our project was: building the website for my small company. I am well pleased with the end result. We went thru the set of interviews with graphical designers, engineers and marketing, during which we developed the structure and the appearance of the web site. Then, it took couple of iterations to fine tune interface elements and context.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The measurable outcome is a proper website, with nice look and good download speeds and functional mobile version (in order to please the users in their behaviour as well as "the algorithm").

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

Project management was generally good and efficient. Truly listened to what I've had to say (which is an act of valor by itself) and, moreover - did put their efforts to actually implement my needs and vision, while, simultaneously, managing to advise me on their professional level. The project went smoothly and was delivered on time.

What was your primary form of communication with Solar Digital?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

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

They are quite mature as a business, with their standards and approach, with well worked team. Such was my impression at least. It was pleasant to work within a good, well established processes. The speed (relatively low number of iterations), with which they came up with the final design, which I liked - I do find impressive.

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

Seems I don't have any particular suggestions or advices on the regard of possible improvement.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

We are local media company from Kharkiv, Ukraine. We produce local reporting, documentary stories, fact-chec,k and investigations.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

Our website was created in 2019 and got a bit outdated. In 2022 to respond to the war in Ukraine, we needed the development of a news section on the website and general upgrades to correspond to our business needs.

SOLUTION

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

We were looking for a company skilled in tech, creativity, and understanding of specific media niches. We are responsible media and need transparent tactics but filled with some innovative and tech approaches, so for us was difficult to find a required vendor.

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

We got a kick-off meeting and then came to the approach. We had the following steps:

Phase 1:

1. analysis
2. redesign (together with our team)
3. programming

Phase 2:

1. bugfix, support, and ongoing small tasks development
2. change infrastructure from default hosting to Azure to have some scalability

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

Initially, we communicated with manager Pavel and then with two programmers and designers. Currently, we have a general "DEPLOY" chat, where we share in case of urgent need.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

All was fine, new changes were adopted and news started to work well. Our traffic increased x2 after 6 months, but it also our team efforts.

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

We communicate in Telegram and have feature reporting in Google Docs. I like how we communicate effectively in chat or have short calls to fix these issues.

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

They were service oriented and tried to make our spending efficient. Sometimes manager Pavel proposes an approach that will economize our hours and gives advice. I like that guy cares about us as we are local media, and it's hard for us to manage costly techy things - for us, cost-effectiveness is very important

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

We know that they have much bigger clients and I consider us as a small client. But we appreciate their approach as brutal for us to find a vendor who knows how media design and specific works. Only one improvement: if a team of Solar is overloaded with their operations, we need more clear communication about where we are in the queue and when our non-urgent tasks will be done. If to talk about critical issues - the reaction is almost immediate.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the owner of an agricultural company. We are engaged in the production of seedlings of the plant Miscanthus x Giganteus; arrangement of biomass plantations(by Miscanthus).

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Solar Digital?

Our idea was to create a digital platform (site), and complete digitalization of our products using the blockchain. We needed to do everything from scratch including the website, design, brand, personal account of the investor and that's what Solar Digital was doing. Our goal was to enable the average person to invest in green energy "by the touch of a button."

SOLUTION

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

We selected the best possible suppliers, interviewed them and studied their offers. Initially, Solar Digital "hooked" us with its website and portfolio, and an interview with them only confirmed our interest in working with them.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

After our first meeting, Solar Digital immediately began to engage in branding, just a couple of days after we filled out the additional questionnaire, we were already provided with more than 5 initial variations of our future logo. After a couple of online meetings and edits, we got what we wanted. The second stage was to create a design for our website. The primary version appeared 3 weeks after the start of work, during which time we only had to fill out a questionnaire and choose the desired option from the already created ones. We really liked that Solar Digital offered a huge number of different design variations for our tasks and because of this they always hit the point, we didn't really make any edits. Even the smallest idea has been implemented and submitted to us in Figma. After finalizing the work on the site, we received animations that would be used on it. Step 3 was to create a design for our digital platform. At this point, Solar Digital conducted a UX/UI study and got to work. Every week we held online meetings at which there was a reconciliation of works and discussion of new ideas. It was the most time-consuming process, but since the Solar Digital team "completely got into our kitchen," everything was done perfectly.

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

In total, we worked with 6 people including project manager, 2 designers, 3 web-designers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

At the moment, our project is frozen, due to global changes in the world. We haven't gotten the result yet.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We kept in touch through the project manager, mostly we communicated via telegram and phone. All important information was duplicated. In general, I can note that the communication was at the level, and it was very comfortable to work.

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

What really surprised me was how Solar Digital delved into the inner kitchen of our business. It was amazing to see people get interested in your idea, study it, and work with "burning eyes." They were real professionals who knew what they were doing.

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

I guess no.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president of a consultancy company that works with the government on research and design projects.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Solar Digital?

We were looking for a complete website redesign to tell the story of our work, so we needed a partner that could help us with a combination of storytelling and web design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Solar Digital helped us redesign our website on Readymag. Initially, we reached out to them to inquire about their services and provided them with some web copy and a few sites we liked as inspiration. In a matter of just 4–5 days, they delivered a redesign proposal — it was a quick start. From there on, they dove into the redesign process, which included creating some animations for the site.

What is the team composition?

I worked directly with Solar Digital’s owner.

How did you come to work with Solar Digital?

I don’t remember how we found Solar Digital, but we came across their portfolio online. They showed great previous work for others, and we saw that they had experience working on Readymag, the platform we were hoping to utilize. Additionally, they were very willing to meet our tight deadline, which was great.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from December 2021–February 2022.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

People reacted very positively to our new site, and its design was very meaningful to our staff.

How did Solar Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

Solar Digital performed very well, and they were on top of the project’s management. They worked very fast for us, which was very appreciated. After every iteration, it took them only 2–3 days to provide us with the next version of the design with the changes requested. We communicated via email and video conferences.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Solar Digital had many different skill sets, allowing them to work very quickly and collaboratively on our iterations. They were also very flexible, which can be challenging.

Additionally, Solar Digital was a trustworthy partner, which was reflected in a trusted relationship. We worked on an hourly basis, so they just tracked their hours. On occasions, it was clear that they could’ve done more for us during those hours, but they billed us for less when that happened.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would have been helpful to have a more exploratory conversation upfront around different design directions. Their initial proposal was very strong, so we iterated on the design based on it. However, I would have liked to see other options as well.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear about your brand and take the time to share brand assets and guidelines with them so that you can provide them with a clear perspective of what you want.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a managing partner in a Company, which provides bespoke shipping solutions to corporate clients: audit, chartering, maritime supply chain systems analysis.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Solar Digital?

Our website was ok, but I have used to follow SOLAR Digital projects, and was wondering how they may develop idea, considering our very specific business. So I applied to SOLAR to develop a web-site.

SOLUTION

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

As far as I mention above, I have been following all projects of SOLAR Digital on the web and always want to try to work with them. After discussing the vibe

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

We did not have an urgent need to change the site, but I really wanted to work with SOLAR, so I completely trusted the team. We received about 3-5 different versions.

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

It was very easy, cause all communication was through one person. There was no any mess, everything was strict and useful for our side.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our business is very conservative, and the main issue for SOLAR Digital was to combine conservative shipping vibe with modern solutions. We got the great result.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Communication channels were established excellent.

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

SOLAR Digital is oriented not on working hours, but ON RESULT. First time I met such attitude. When the last version of the sweb-site was provided, and was confirmed by me, SOLAR Digital mentioned that I was not fully satisfied. Project was excellent stylish, confirmed by me... but I wanted more uniqueness. So SOLAR asked more time and in a couple of weeks a got a fully new design. It was amazing. They spent much time to make sure I was fully satisfied. Respect from my heart!

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

Excellent. My respect to the team. I will promote them personally.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Company is a specialized professional local media with focus on maritime industry, port, terminals exports, designated to the local news and own professional articles. I am the founder of the company and director.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Solar Digital?

We hire Solar Digital for branding and quick and smooth web-site development

What were your goals for this project?

We needed in one month to have an identity of the company and clean and smooth working news website which we could load with our articles.

SOLUTION

How did you select Solar Digital?

Solar Digital is well known locally as branding/design company, able to solve different tasks and expand the team according to the tasks.

We had previous experience working on other projects/brandings/designs and we knew they shall be able to perform.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

We have spoken and exchanged messages with project manager of Solar, who asked many questions to know the tasks, what impression we want to make to public coming to us, whether we shall use web-site or social networks also.

After we have decided all what was required i have passed the execution to my editor-in-chief to communicate to project manager of the Solar to make it work. So the work on the web-site and branding was done in parallel.

When we have obtained options of the branding and made our final choice the web-site was already done.

What was the team composition?

We have communicated with project manager of the team, and i also worked with Kyrill Soliar, CEO/owner, discussing the branding ideas.

For us was not that important how many people and who exactly were working on that until they performed.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We have received positive feedback from our friends and readers, who found it clean and professional, exactly what we needed for a professional media.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We usually had a weekly updates on the progress, and also we had telegram groups, where we could have an immediate response on any questions or enquiry. Email exchange is not that helpful for us, comparing to the groups.

You have a feeling that you receive immediate attention to the project when you need it.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Being creative and professional at the same time. They generated bright ideas and kept their commitment in terms of quality.

To keep and increase the team of professionals altogether. Visiting office of the company always leaves a feeling that you just visited your friends.

Are there any areas for improvement?

There is always room for improvement or increase in the scale of the projects to be done.

Currently we are happy enough with what Solar Digital is doing to recommend others to work with them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work as an online media publisher. We write about culture, urbanism, social issues and science.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

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

About a year ago, our media has grown and transformed greatly - we began to work for a wider audience and write on broader and more complex topics. After transforming the content, we also needed to change its visual presentation - branding and website. We asked Solar to bring our content to visual harmony across our platforms.

SOLUTION

How did you select Solar Digital and what were the deciding factors?

We have seen lots of complex projects the team has implemented before us.

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

We started by developing a new branding. The team offered us four pretty good options, of which we chose one. He, already finalized, was sent to us in the shortest possible time. Then we moved on to developing the site design.

The team immediately managed to find the right direction for our site. In total, we made about 20 edits - communication was very simple. After that, the team moved on to the layout and then to the implementation of the project.

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

We communicated with the manager and the designer. There must have been more people working on the project, but we had easy communication with these two people.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our engagement rates have increased due to the fact that the site has become faster and visually better organized.

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

Their maximum polite and quick responses, attentiveness in relation to the client's requirements.

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

We were impressed with their polite and quick responses. They were attentive to the client's requirements.

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

No

BACKGROUND

I’m a manager of NGDS Design https://ngds.design/.

We provide key account management services for corporate industrial clients.

Our main expertise is analysis of a client's business to develop the right business solutions, including technical ones. 

We have our own production team specializing in photo - video and augmented reality production.

To bring higher value to our customers we involve partners with high expertise in a specific type of software development. In this case, Solar Digital was involved in solving specific problems.

Solar Digital performed two unrelated outsource projects for us. In both cases, our customers have successfully updated their corporate sites.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Solar Digital?

It was needed to deliver high quality work to our clients in a relatively tight time frame. 

It is important for us to avoid the main problems and risks of working outside the profile in order to deliver all the scope in time with high quality.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our customers needed modern websites to inform their customers about services they provide. 

We had a clear vision of what it should look like. The job was to integrate it with well-used CMS and make it responsive for mobiles & SEO friendly.

What is the team composition?

I communicate with a project manager who runs the team for several people from Solar Digital including Developer, QA and Content Manager.

How did you come to work with Solar Digital?

We were referred to Solar Digital by the marketing team that we have hired in the past.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent around $10,000 on their services totally.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our collaboration in October 2019, and both projects are finished. We will be happy to work with this supplier again.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s a good product that works well for us and our partners, it is done fast and with high quality. Our team is able to edit all the content for both websites.

How did Solar Digital perform from a project management standpoint?

Solar Digital’s professional, showing up to our calls on time and prepared. Their team’s processes information, so we don’t need to repeat feedback again.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’m satisfied. I don’t know where our engagement could improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Generally speaking, make sure to define your scope clearly and make sure that you don’t leave any details out that makes development fast and reliable.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company is one of the leaders in food retail in Ukraine. We have been operating on the market for over 25 years, and our first B2B & B2C online store appeared in 2002. At the time of the project, I was the head of the R&D department.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Solar Digital?

Our online store has been working on the current version of the site for 4 years, and the custom CMS manufacturer has stopped supporting it. We made a decision to develop a new website in a short time. But our team didn't have the right level of designers. And we needed help developing the concept.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to get a modern and convenient website for an online store, devoid of all UI \ UX inconveniences for customers, which were identified and were not corrected in the previous version of the site. Our main goal was the convenience of our customers.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We held a tender among web studios in our city, which had excellent work in their portfolio.

Describe the project in detail.

Development of design for an online store for a well-known and popular chain of stores in the field of FMCG RETAIL. The work included the development of the concept of the site, integration of the online store and the loyalty program, along with the buyer's personal account.

What was the team composition?

SOLAR assigned Lead PM and Art directors to work on projects, who managed the internal team of designers and communicated with the client

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Upon completion of the transition to the new site, we got rid of the risk of working with a software product that was no longer developed and supported by the manufacturer. New functionality was implemented on the site, which increased the convenience of customers.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The PM team came every day to communicate with the stakeholders of the project in our company. 2 times a week they demonstrated the progress of the project, carried out defense and demonstration.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

High level of competence and expertise of the company's employees. High expertise in UI \ UX design, e-commerce processes. Focus on achieving customer goals.

Are there any areas for improvement?

We received a lot of help in making decisions, which was useful and important for us at that time. The high level of expertise of the studio staff was very useful for our project.