SPARK Business Works

Introduce your business and what you do there.

My organization is TeleReach Corporate. We’re a virtual call center that does B2B lead generation and outbound calls. We’ve been in business for 26 years.

What challenge were you trying to address with SPARK Business Works?

We were working with another website company. They didn’t meet any deadlines or get things done. We needed a new partner.

What was the scope of their involvement?

SPARK Business Works has helped us automate and improve our website, particularly the career and recruiting sections. They’ve built forms and added and changed things to automate our recruitment and hiring process. For example, they’ve added a calendar so people can schedule their interviews. Also, they can upload their documents and verbal resume straight into one place in our CRM. Furthermore, individual job applicants can schedule themselves to attend one of our video conferences. On the sales side, there’s a calendar for prospective clients.

Additionally, we do maintenance and hosting through them.

What is the team composition?

We work with one primary person, who is our main point of contact. Sometimes they bring in other people, so others are behind the scenes.

How did you come to work with SPARK Business Works?

I got a referral through word of mouth.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $25,000–$50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in August 2021, and our relationship is ongoing.

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

Our current projects have saved us a lot of labor costs. We were doing a manual process before, and our automation now saves us money. Moreover, the site has improved and is more user-friendly.

How did SPARK Business Works perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is perfect — they nail it every single time. They're very orderly and organized. We talk about what we’ll do, and they write it down in a list and do it exactly the way it’s planned, so we’re always on the same page. We don’t have to stress over anything.

Also, they always keep it within the budget and are excellent communicators. If something isn’t going well, they tell us and give us an updated schedule so we know what’s going on at all times. We enjoy working with them; we’ve had a great experience with SPARK Business Work.

We have standing Zoom meetings with them to keep us on track. In between, we use emails and phone calls as needed. Also, we look at things on screen share to see whatever project piece we’re working on at the moment.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re extremely smart and organized. They think things through and anticipate problems. Moreover, they’re proactive and excellent communicators.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they’re hardworking and conscientious. It’s hard to find people like that.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a systems and capacity enhancement analyst for a location-based scholarship company. We provide full tuition and fees between 65%–100% for students. I set up systems and utilize our database to support our staff while they support students. 

What challenge were you trying to address with SPARK Business Works?

SPARK is working with us on a new database project that I manage. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

SPARK built a custom portal for us to access pieces of information such as students’ general information, billing details for schools, and enrollment records from K-12 to college. We initially did a discovery process. Since the COVID-19 pandemic started around the time we began the project, our teams had to decide which things were more important than others. 

Our engagement then ended up growing a bit more than we planned. First, we put our scholarship forms online using a WordPress site. Then, the SPARK team developed the portal for our staff and students. We were able to put the scholarship forms there. 

At present, we’re still working with the team on developing the platform. We’ve been improving our staff’s ability to access student information by exporting student data. Our staff can also filter and search student data based on various demographics and scholarship statuses. The portal also allows us to add schools and users, providing dashboards for each of our partner schools.

Moreover, the platform’s features allow us to attach PDFs to our contacts, view logs and invoice records, and get error reports. It also has automation features in terms of monitoring students’ academic progress. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with a lot of people from the SPARK team. We work with a project manager, a business analyst, and developers; the project manager and the business analysts are our primary points of contact.

How did you come to work with SPARK Business Works?

Our executive director was looking for local development companies when we met SPARK. We then decided that the team would be a good fit for the project. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We connected with SPARK in March 2020, and the engagement is ongoing. 

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

Our staff can now pull data easier through the portal; we weren’t able to do that in the previous portal. Students can now also submit their applications and acceptance forms online, which is crucial during the COVID-19 pandemic. 

Moreover, our staff can now tag and monitor students better without using separate Excel spreadsheets. This has improved our coordination since we do things directly on the database. We also now have a two-step approval process, so we’ve got two sets of eyes on every form. 

How did SPARK Business Works perform from a project management standpoint?

For project management, SPARK uses Miro for planning. They also use GitLab and Slack, which are great tools for reviewing and monitoring tasks. Our teams also use them to communicate and ask questions and clarifications as we test things. The SPARK team also uses Google Spreadsheets heavily. Apart from these, we also have weekly Zoom and in-person meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

SPARK is willing to go the extra mile for their clients. They’re also invested in building relationships with customers. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

The engagement would have been smoother if we had a little more clarity in terms of scope. For context, we missed some discovery and scope definitions because of the COVID-19 pandemic. SPARK intended to go to our office and work with some of our team members to see how we interacted with our old system. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do that. As a result, we had a ton of scope creep during the project. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be sure about what you want. SPARK is creative and knows how to make things happen. Given that, if you know your business and product needs, then the team can do a great job for you. 

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the COO of a software company, SalesPage Technologies. We provide a distribution platform for Asset Managers and are located throughout the US.

For what projects/services did your company hire SPARK Business Works, and what were your goals?

We hired Spark to help us with our internal project time tracking. All of our project initiatives needed to be tracked daily as well as our non-project initiatives like administrative tasks. Spark provided the software to use as a baseline and then customized it to meet our needs.

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

We knew Spark from some other small IT project interactions through our physical office environment and felt comfortable with their leadership and management approach to projects.

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

Spark started from an existing product and where we wanted to make our own customizations wrote up business requirements to align our teams on what development work needed to be done. From there they implemented the tasks and we participated in the user acceptance testing phase. I'm not sure what underlying technologies where used.

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

As the project sponsor I delegated the day-to-day tasks to our Project Manager and she worked with the direct team. I stayed in contact with Bob Armbrister (CEO) from the executive sponsor level.

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

The software was launched on time and our users especially appreciated the integration with our existing workflow tool, JIRA. In general, the roll out went smoothly and our team was able to begin using the new software seamlessly.

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

As the sponsor I received weekly email status updates, which was perfect for my involvement.

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

They seem to continue to attract talented team members. We've had good interactions with anyone who's worked with our team.

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

I can't think of anything.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the founder of Dome IQ, Inc., a virtual platform designed to instantly connect elected officials with the information they require to optimize public policy outcomes.

For what projects/services did your company hire SPARK Business Works, and what were your goals?

I entrusted SPARK Business Works to develop the back end of our platform. The goal is a simple one: Build seamless operation to ensure clear, intuitive, one-click navigation for all users, from signup to sign-in, then from one feature to the next.

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

SPARK came highly recommended based upon the following:

1. A proven track record of success
2. Demonstrated depth and breadth of expertise
3. "Been there, done that" experience of the CEO and staff SPARK has proven to be all of the above, as well as interested, flexible and responsive to preferences based upon "feel" and "nuance." A (very) rare mix...

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

SPARK successfully developed from limited, base "wireframes" of another company to the lush, finished product our investors and (initial) users rave about today. SPARK's process involves personal interviews to determine desired outcomes, routine check-ins to update and verify "fit" w/ vision, testing, then launch.

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

SPARK is careful to align tasks w/ talent so as to meet project budget and timeline.

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

To date I've found SPARK wholly receptive to feedback and proactive in identifying, then pursuing, any adjustments needed to align work product w/ vision. "Timeline" is a relative term in this space, but SPARK has met and/or exceeded our goals w/ rare exception. I can honestly state that most if not all "surprises" re: Timeline (and/or invoices) have been due to an oversight or flat out misunderstanding on my part.

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

SPARK Business Works--in the image of the founder--can best be described as "flexible." They just..."get it." There isn't much that they've not seen, and should that situation arise, they gain traction quickly and efficiently, then simply pivot. Our public policy platform is proof positive that SPARK is not just an "off the shelf" shop; they actually enjoy--and excel--at "custom" work!

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

In a phrase: "Buy-in." SPARK Business Works partners very closely with our chosen Design company to minimize time and, therefore, cost. This is not a firm that automatically defaults to "black letter" contract language should "outcome" not align w/ "vision." SPARK patiently seeks out options to achieve your preferences...not just minimums.

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

Other than provide yours truly w/ a crash course in all-things "startup?" No. This has been "learn as I go." I've managed to find every sharp edge along the way to MVP, and the quality of SPARK's work shows in every way: Investment, user experience and, ultimately, acceptance. Ours is a partnership that will only continue to grow as we continue to build our firm.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the interim COO, and I oversee design and development of a mobile/web app for the company, among other duties.

For what projects/services did your company hire SPARK Business Works, and what were your goals?

Our goal was to have a working mobile and web application, which they were able to expertly deliver for Dome IQ, Inc. The precision, professionalism, and pure ability they brought to the project helped us - ones who don't know much about software development - stay in the loop, and so they could always meet our needs and expectations.

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

I was not on the selection team.

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

They developed a flexible application that could be used on all devices, across multiple platforms, mobile and web, with the knowledge and with the foresight of our quick expansion into more markets in the coming years. They developed the application in a way that would allow for the product to be built upon, and grown with new features - not started over from scratch every time something new was brought in.

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

Personally I worked with the Project Manager, and a lead developer. They were both stellar. They really helped us understand HOW software worked.

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

The product runs very smoothly. The team moved very efficiently and very quickly on our deliverables - delivering an MVP in record time, and a fuller app in even less time. I would recommend SPARK to anyone.

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

The development team would host standup meetings every few days to track progress, and larger review days to track major milestones and to see the app function. We communicated mostly through email, but they were readily available from text, call and slack.

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

How fast the team worked was the most impressive item to me. The way in which they developed the mobile app, web app, etc certainly helped us to reach MVP quicker than expected, with much more of an MVP than what was originally expected, as well. They had plenty of late nights working on the app, though they didn't have to, in order to meet their goals. That was impressive to me - they had, and still have, a vested interest in the success of the product and it made it seem more of a cooperative effort than of a strictly hired one.

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

From my perspective, in project management, there is nothing I would recommend them doing differently.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the owner of Epic Property Management, which services residential, multi-family, and commercial real estate in southeast Michigan and northern Ohio. 

What challenge were you trying to address with SPARK Business Works?

We wanted to combine our calendar and list systems into one company-wide system. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

SPARK developed a software product that organizes my company's calendar and listings into one system. At the beginning of the partnership, we had a sit-down meeting with the SPARK team to develop our vision for the software. From there, SPARK created an initial structure with designs and functionalities that we tested over the course of a year before the rollout.  

What is the team composition?

I've worked with several project managers from SPARK who manage their development teams. 

How did you come to work with SPARK Business Works?

We found SPARK via a referral through a business network called Entrepreneur Organization. I interviewed 2–3 companies, but I liked SPARK because they had the most professional approach and had a good portfolio. 

How much have you invested with them?

We invested $200,000–$250,000 with SPARK. 

What is the status of this engagement?

Our partnership with SPARK began in April 2019, and it's ongoing. 

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

The software SPARK developed has brought our operations together — the software is now a part of our day-to-day functionality and every employee uses it daily. I'd estimate that the software improved our efficiency by 10%–15% at minimum. 

How did SPARK Business Works perform from a project management standpoint?

We've worked with a lot of good project managers from SPARK. They communicate well and stick to timelines as best they can, regardless of unexpected delays. The current project manager is excellent to work with.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Overall, SPARK's overall professionalism and high-quality work have exceeded my initial expectations. My company's future is very bright because of where we can take the system SPARK built us. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

My only issue has been around project cost estimates. SPARK doesn't have a great system to ensure our projects come in on budget.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Customers need to know what they want from a software system before starting a partnership with SPARK. Giving SPARK a clear, detailed description of the project is the best way to save a lot of time and money. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I'm one of the owners of Prestige Distribution, a distribution and contracting company. We sell commercial specialty products and install them all over the country.

What challenge were you trying to address with SPARK Business Works?

We wanted to put all of the different softwares that we use to do different tasks into one suite, so we hired SPARK.

What was the scope of their involvement?

SPARK initially came in and learned about our business. They tried to understand all of the things that we do as well as all of the tools that we were using. They then provided us with several sample software that we could test, and we underwent a sort of trial-and-error experience to find what solution would best address our needs and what could be improved about it. We also deployed certain test software to our project managers to capture their feedback, such as which features they liked and found useful for their day-to-day work. 

After that phase, the SPARK team went on to develop a custom software with all of the needed features. The software operates on AWS. 

What is the team composition?

We probably worked with 7–8 people from their team. 

How did you come to work with SPARK Business Works?

They were recommended to us by a consultant.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested around $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with SPARK around April 2017, and we are still engaged with them.

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

It’s difficult to quantify how successful the program has been because it touches so many parts of our business, but we’ve measured its usability and we’ve seen that it has definitely reduced our internal errors and mistakes. Tracking and the execution of warehouse functions have also become a lot easier. 

SPARK has done a good job of understanding our business and all of its little nuances. This has ultimately enabled them to get us going in the right direction. 

How did SPARK Business Works perform from a project management standpoint?

There was definitely a learning curve in the beginning as it took a while for the SPARK team to easily exchange updates and requirements with us. However, big changes finally took place after they started using Basecamp, which has been helpful for our communications and progress tracking. 

Our workflow also got smoother when we started working more closely with Amanda (Product Manager). She understands exactly what we need when we explain it, and she provides estimates as well as results. Getting the right project manager has definitely benefitted our process. 

Apart from Basecamp, we also communicate over Zoom, email, text messages, and phone calls. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

One truly remarkable quality of SPARK is how they care about their customer and how they care about the quality of their work. They’re also just very nice people who are easy to work with. It’s always a pleasure to speak with them on the phone or over Zoom, and this is helped along by the fact that they’re very technically knowledgeable and are good at managing their developers. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I’ve mentioned this to them before, but it’s a bit frustrating how they charge us to fix bugs on the program, especially given that these were not borne of our mistakes. They worked with us on that, though, and they've given us discounted rates. It has been a much smoother experience since.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be open and tell them everything that you want. I would advise you to include as much detail as you can at the very beginning so that SPARK has the best chance of succeeding.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Project Manager for a software company that provides software as a service to asset management companies.

For what projects/services did your company hire SPARK Business Works, and what were your goals?

We hired SPARK to help us build out a time entry system that would suit our unique needs as a company. The system SPARK built for us was to replace our legacy time entry system that was becoming outdated.

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

We selected to work with SPARK because they have the capabilities to customize their software to suit our business needs.

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

The scope of work was to customize SPARK's existing base software program for our company's needs. The project included kick-off and requirements in partnership with the SPARK team, before moving forward with development of our time entry system and UAT testing. The primary deliverable of the project was the time entry system, including a number of customizations. The project required extensive coordination with the SPARK team to ensure the application met our business needs, and was setup properly in our Production environment.

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

I primarily worked with 3 people from SPARK's team, including a Project Manager, Software Developer, and their VP.

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

The project provided us with a replacement time entry system and we were able to successfully retire our existing time system. SPARK delivered a quality product that we continue to use for our time tracking needs.

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

Email was the primary communication tool, and they used Slack for some project tracking/updates. While we tried to use our Jira instance for tracking, it ended up working better with their Project Management style to use a shared Excel document to track progress on the project.

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

I had consistent lines of communication with their Project Manager, and their team was always very friendly and eager to help. There wasn't a single thing we threw their way that they couldn't provide a solution for. I appreciate that they are a solution-oriented company and work closely with their clients to meet their needs.

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

SPARK is a great partner to work with and provided us with a solid solution to our time tracking needs. While we were able to find a way to effectively track items for the project, I think an area for improvement would be understanding and adopting their client's project management tools as needed to facilitate project work. There could also be better communication as sometimes it takes more than a couple days for them to respond to emails.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the President of CSM Group, which is a national construction management and professional services firm.

For what projects/services did your company hire SPARK Business Works, and what were your goals?

We were developing a new process across the business and needed a tool to manage the data and create workflows to drive efficiencies and effectiveness. The process needed to be simple for all users.

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

The team at spark is business minded and ensured that the tool would not only fit the need but they brought ideas and solutions to the problems we were trying to solve.

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

See above. Developed a system that includes a database for key project information as well as a workflow tool to manage the process. We were able to go from a simple excel spreadsheet to a robust management system that interfaces with key aspects of the business.

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

The key members varied based on the stage of the project.

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

This system has allowed us not only to drive efficiencies in the business, but also manage risk.

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

The team listens to the clients needs and comes to the table with solutions. As a client, you are always informed on progress and appreciated the weekly updates. It was a great communication tool. We felt like my project was important to the team.

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

Fun to work with.

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

No

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CFO of a insurance services company.

For what projects/services did your company hire SPARK Business Works, and what were your goals?

To migrate our website to a new hosting platform. Clean up code for security.

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

Introduced through our IT partner.

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

Analyze website code, "fix" security issues, migrate to new hosting.

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

President of Convergent 1. Director at web development level. Staff at web development level.

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

Achieved desired outcome.

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

Very professional, forthright, responsive and completed timely.

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

We were impressed with their timely delivery.

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

No.