What evidence can you share that demonstrates the impact of the engagement?
We anticipated we would have to triage a lot of calls after the change, and did a lot of preparation with our customer service team. We thought there would be an issue with passwords as we transitioned to the new site, but the only complaints we received involved a history service that we deliberately didn’t develop, because it already exists on our Board of Accountancy’s site. We added information and links to the existing list and that problem resolved itself.
Users praise the design and functionality, and we’ve received constructive criticism about some small improvements. Most of those include small typos, colors, or minor integration points. We went in understanding that the first version would be a minimum viable product that wouldn’t be completely perfect. Unleashed Technologies pinpointed all the critical points we needed to launch, and we operated with agile methodology in mind.
How did Unleashed Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?
Hands down, they’re the best vendor I’ve ever worked with. I appreciate their planning, rigor, and transparency. We use a few platforms to manage everything, including Teamwork and GitLab. These were new platforms for me, but they did a great job explaining how they worked. They share information with us and we have a very malleable process. We needed to deploy a lot of functionality, and juggled various projects and tasks with them. We had great discussions, and they addressed all of my questions up front. I was pleased with their accessibility and responsiveness.
What did you find most impressive about them?
They absorbed information about our business and the features on our legacy site to deliver the best value possible. Any vendor will say they want the best for their clients, but it’s another thing to demonstrate that desire. We spent upwards of 100 hours in the discovery phase going over every integration between our database, the functionality, email confirmations, and design elements of the site. They recorded every meeting and invested a huge amount of time and resources from the beginning.
They were committed to finding solutions, and their dedication helped mitigate any misunderstandings we had. Our previous vendor was nowhere near as pleasant to work with. Unleashed Technologies pays attention to every detail, responds quickly, and is highly professional at all times.
Are there any areas they could improve?
We ran into a bit of a snag in the information architecture phase. Most of that was due to a change in personnel after the discovery phase. Any confusion or continuity issues would have been eliminated if our main project manager was present at our discovery meetings. I understand the logic behind not including them until later, as the discovery phase took up a lot of time.
Do you have any advice for potential customers?
I’m very pleased with their involvement, and I look forward to years of collaboration with them. Our market is shifting and consolidating, which comes with a lot of anxiety. Unleashed Technologies is positioned as a vendor who has done a complete integration with our particular AMS, which gives them a competitive advantage. Other states should take advantage of their knowledge and experience to help in situations similar to ours.
Despite a laborious discovery process, the Unleashed Technologies team delivered a visually beautiful product while retaining desired content. The new site boasts a modernized architecture and unprecedented organization. The team excelled at navigating scope and budget to the client’s best interest.