Unleashed Technologies

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Our association's primary goal is to advance the professional development of active-duty military and to connect with veterans. We make sure that those active duty continue to advance their education, as this is a professional requirement. The foundation portion of our activity allows us to raise money in order to support programs and help members advance their education. We have an e-commerce store which was started eight years ago, as well as a brick-and-mortar location.

What is your position?

I am the web manager in charge of all the sites for our various departments. We currently have five websites which help us communicate the specific services which we offer to people.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Unleashed?

Before working with Unleashed, we developed our own sites in an archaic way, using HTML and Dreamweaver. We didn't have a content management system.

We had many legacy systems at our company. None of them had ever talked to each other, so our information collecting was very disjointed. We couldn't use a lot of intel in order to make good strategic choices online.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

They had a plan for integrating all of our legacy systems, which was a holy grail for us. We always saw this as a goal for the distant future because there hadn't been a company that could do this for us. After a year of working with them, we were able to deploy our unified sign-on. Our members can log in and go from one site to another, being logged-on automatically. It sounds simple in the frontend, but it was a complete nightmare in the backend.

Their team created an identity provider which received the information and distributed it to all of our systems. We worked with a great project manager who not only understood the technology, but was able to translate it into layman's terms. Our company is small, so our team is involved in everything. As such, when we ask a question, we want to know the full answer. He was able to do that and was very patient with us. There are a lot of competing interests within our company, so working with someone like that was important.

How did you come to work with Unleashed?

We had a different web manager working for us. Unleashed was the current developer for a similar institute. We had a close relationship with that association because of their similarity to our operations. We underwent a brainstorming meeting with their institution, by which they shared some of the solutions that they'd employed in the online area. One of the companies that had done work for their websites was Unleashed. We had interviews with around five or six Virginia-based companies.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

We work within what they call a growth package. We currently have 80 hours per month with them, which come up to around $10,000. We used to have a 40-hour package, which came to $5,800 per month, but because we launched an e-commerce store last year, there were a lot of issues which needed to be fixed.

We needed to add extra functionality every month, while still being strategic and pushing the envelope. We were trying to address immediate issues that came up with Magento going down and so on. We realized that 40 hours per month would not be enough.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with Unleashed since 2012. The relationship is ongoing, which is important for us as a company. We're small, but we do a lot. People are always surprised by how many people are actually on staff, based on the extent of what we do. We have few resources, let alone ongoing support for web development. It's not an area which always shows a return-on-investment, so it can be hard to justify, especially in a company where everyone is trying to save.

There was a big effort made on my part to convince the leadership that this is an area in which we need to continue to invest. Unleashed has had to step up to the plate and convince us that they have our best interests at heart. The relationship has evolved over time and we've come to realize that we need to be told when we're wrong at times. We're not the experts in certain fields, so when a red flag is detected, we need to be told about it. We've had some rocky times because of loose communication about our goals to them. In the last two or three years, the account has been handled differently.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The initial measure for success was enabling all of our systems to talk to each other. This is unique in itself. As with other non-profits, we adopted technology over time which is now non-existent or doesn't work well with current systems. Having a company that understands legacy systems was very important.

We use Authorize.Net for our e-commerce solution. There was a bug within the system with which Unleashed were able to help us right away. Not having this kind of responsiveness would have simply added to the nightmare of dealing with members.

How did Unleashed perform from a project management standpoint?

We have an assigned project manager on our account to which we have immediate access. They're always responsive to our requests, which is essential.

We have a meeting every week during which we explain our current needs and what we want their focus to be. We triage our issues for every month and receive a report every Friday in terms of what they accomplished, how many hours were spent, and what items are currently in the queue. I'm held accountable by my boss, but Unleashed makes sure that I always have a status report for our situation.

What distinguishes Unleashed from other providers?

Unleashed helped us communicate who we are and what we do in a streamlined way to our existing and prospective members. The other companies we talked to were familiar with only one or two of our systems. Unleashed actually had people onboard who understood Impact, our member database.

Is there anything Unleashed could have improved or done differently?

The biggest issue we've had was to do with not always giving their client what they want. Sometimes we don't know what we're asking and we need to know what the industry standard or best-practice solution is. Unleashed gave in to our requests a lot in terms of best-practices in the past. Our relationship became better when they were able to tell us their reasons of advising against a certain choice. It came to be good for us and we've learned through that process.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a manufacturers' representative organization within the commercial HVAC industry.

What is your position?

I am the vice president of sales.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Unleashed Technologies?

We needed development work for an internal quotation system.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

Unleashed Technologies has developed our website and handles our web hosting, as well as all other offsite storage and backup for our company. In addition to this, they helped develop a web platform that generates quotations and serves as our daily project tracking system.

How did you come to work with Unleashed Technologies?

They were referenced to us. We interviewed three or four companies, out of which Unleashed Technologies seemed to be the best choice.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

Our annual budget for their services is between $10,000-50,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Unleashed Technologies continues to develop some of the programs that we're working with and have been a good and responsive partner throughout the process. We've been working with them for around five years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Unleashed Technologies was responsive in developing our website and quotation platform. They've continued to be readily available whenever we needed modifications to any of our websites.

Our website acts more like a billboard for our business, so we don't keep track of metrics for it.

What distinguishes Unleashed Technologies from other providers?

They're a medium-sized company that treats its customers as if they were unique and individually important.

Is there anything Unleashed Technologies could have improved or done differently?

No. We're overall very happy with them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We're a mid-sized non-profit organization based in New York City. Our goal is to expand the reach and increase the impact of Jewish education.

What is your position?

I am the Director of Analytics and Digital Engagement.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Unleashed Technologies?

As a non-profit organization, most of our resources go to the staff that works directly on mission-related programs. Infrastructure was not prioritized as highly. There had been neglect of a number of our websites. No one was responsible for security updates or server monitoring, and the sites were hosted in different locations, running on various platforms.

My job was related to digital strategy, which gave me insight into the fact that our basic infrastructure wasn't up to par, and would need to be improved before I could focus on my work.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

Unleashed Technologies has worked for us in organizing, streamlining and rationalizing the way in which our websites are set up. Over the course of our work, we've moved all of our sites into one server, instead of having them in disparate locations. They made a GitHub setup in order to push modifications out quickly, instead of resorting to manual updating.

How did you come to work with Unleashed Technologies?

They were recommended by a colleague who also uses them. We also launched a request for proposal [RFP]. Unleashed Technologies' response to it, combined with the recommendation, lead us to hiring them.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The numbers are confidential, but we pay an hourly rate.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together approximately nine months ago. The work is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The work Unleashed Technologies does for us is excellent. My only complaint is that the twenty hours per month we retain their services with isn’t enough. This is a limitation of our budget, though.

They've streamlined the management of updates. Something that would have taken me a few hours, now takes Unleashed Technologies ten minutes to do. This gives us the opportunity to use their hours for making small modifications on the functionality of a website, changing style sheets, fixing broken buttons, and so on.

How did Unleashed Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They're very good at tracking the allocated hours and keeping me informed on how many I've spent. We’re always up to twenty hours, as agreed, and they work on prioritizing which tasks are addressed within a given month. Unleashed's communication is good and they're very efficient.

What distinguishes Unleashed Technologies from other providers?

Their bid stood out in terms of structuring. The other companies seemed to solely want future development business from us. Unleashed Technologies was also interested in that, but seemed equally eager to have an ongoing support contract. I find their willingness to offer support and maintenance work for sites they didn't originally build to be a unique aspect of their company. We have actually been declined by vendors because of a reluctance to do this.

Is there anything Unleashed Technologies could have improved or done differently?

Another project that I'm currently embarking on is rebuilding our websites from the ground up in order to combine all of the content and functionality we have into one website. I sent out an RFP to Unleashed Technologies because of our past positive experience. They were finalists, but we ultimately decided to use a group which possessed stronger design abilities. Unleashed Technologies' design potential is not as creative, modern and clean as it could be. They're working on improving it, but the simple sites they gave us were not up to the standards that we were looking for.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

Electrical Contractor magazine is the industry-leading publication for the electrical contracting industry. Serving more than 80,000 subscribers, the magazine reaches more than 90 percent of the dollar volume in the market. ECmag.com is the magazine's website, and it offers all of the print content, archives dating back to 2000, and a host of web exclusive content.

What is your position?

I am ECmag.com's editor, and I oversee all project management, advertising, and updates.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Unleashed Technologies?

When we started working with Unleashed, our website was established, but archaic. We wanted to modernize it both functionally and stylistically. We also wanted to grow our audience and user base and offer more standardized advertising opportunities for our marketing partners.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

The overall scope was a complete redesign and hosting services. Unleashed managed every part and walked us through every step of the process.

How did you come to work with Unleashed Technologies?

Unleashed came to us as highly recommended by a design partner of ours. What set them apart to us was we found their personnel to be extremely friendly and receptive to our questions and concerns. We liked that their plan employed open-sourced solutions that would be user-friendly for our administrative needs and offer the most depth in capability without locking functionality behind hard HTML coding that only they would be able to access – a dire situation we found ourselves in with our previous developer, and it ended up costing us extra money and time to finagle half-functional solutions.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The project size was between $50,000 and $199,999.

What is the status of this engagement?

From proposal to launch, it took about nine months. It launched at the end of 2012, and we've continued to work with them since. After launch, we continued with them on their "growth package," which we pay them monthly for a certain amount of hours, which we can use for ongoing projects, tidying things up, and new projects.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

To illustrate the success of our product with Unleashed, our total page views have doubled since launching three years ago. We maintain a growth initiative with Unleashed, and we are currently working with them to enact initiatives that will grow our views further. We also have seen a vast reduction in labor associated with updating and managing the site.

How did Unleashed Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

I'd say they've hit about 95 percent of the deadlines. We've had some delays during the three years, but that understandable. They've never dropped ball – sometimes I have. Generally speaking, they're great at meeting deadlines.

What distinguishes Unleashed Technologies from other providers?

What sets Unleashed apart is their personable staff. Having worked with other web developers, I know Unleashed possesses an exceptional quality in that your website is their website. They take just as much pride in it as you do. Other web developers do what you ask them to do and no more. Unleashed has always made me feel like I was in good hands because they wanted to see our website succeed just as much as we did.

Is there anything Unleashed Technologies could have improved or done differently?

I really have no complaints. We've addressed issues that did come up along the way, and they've always been responsive to that.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are called Maryland China Company. We are an importer of porcelain and ceramic items, and we distribute throughout the United States, mainly wholesale. We have a retail presence through our website, and offer decorating and fulfillment for other companies.

What is your position?

I'm one of the owners.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Unleashed Technologies?

We wanted to redesign our website.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Unleashed helped us initially by rebuilding our Magento website and integrating it with Microsoft GreatPlains, which is our ERP [enterprise resource planning] platform. Through this, we are able to update prices and inventory and import sales for the website constantly. They redesigned the look and feel of the site and helped us with integration projects for our decorating customers.

The integration between Magento and GreatPlains can be difficult. This was the main challenge, and they handled it very well.

How did you come to work with Unleashed Technologies?

They were recommended by our accounting firm, who is also in charge of our internal IT [information technology].

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The total cost is confidential.

What is the status of this engagement?

We've been working with Unleashed Technologies for two years. We're currently working on an SEO [search engine optimization] project with them, involving redirect marketing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The average order size has gone up. The load time for reaching checkout has improved also. In the past, it could take up to a minute. The site had been built clumsily in regards to the Magento programming. They brought in a Magento-certified programmer who did everything correctly. Our old site was more or less pasted together.

How did Unleashed Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They stayed on budget and within the deadlines. Unleashed was good at communication, having calls each week for discussing where we were and the progress made. There were additional features that we requested along the way, including information that we wanted to pull from our accounting software, and customizations for calculating shipping. They were always responsive to changes and let us know exactly what each element would cost. There were no surprises.

What distinguishes Unleashed Technologies from other providers?

They're very well rounded in regard to project managers, programmers, and marketing capabilities. We've used them for other projects, unrelated to Magento, and we know that they're capable of many different things. Unleashed Technologies is a one-stop tech shop.

Is there anything Unleashed Technologies could have improved or done differently?

Having become more familiar with our business, they could have anticipated what we would need next. Another project we gave them was making our site mobile-friendly. That included redesign to the site, so that it would display differently depending on the device it was loaded on. It would have been nice to do this in one go, with the initial project, but we couldn't foresee it. 

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We're the National Apartment Association. We're a federated association that represents multi-family homeowners and managers in the industry.

What is your position?

I am the Chief Information Officer in the Association.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Unleashed?

Our current provider and manager for the website wasn't performing up to our standards. I was worried that their development practices were not resulting in the best website for us.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

At the beginning, we had them do an audit of the website. We're on a Drupal platform, and wanted to make sure that best practices were used, and if there was anything we could do to speed up our website or increase its reliability.

How did you come to work with Unleashed?

We found them through Google and some references. 

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

The financial size of the project was about $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project began in early 2015 and it’s ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

They came back with a number of recommendations about conflicting modules that had been installed, a number of errors, and service patches that had not been installed.

How did Unleashed perform from a project management standpoint?

They were absolutely spot-on. There were never problems with the project management.

What distinguishes Unleashed from other providers?

The ease in working with Unleashed Technologies was unique. It's not an easy thing to have a company audit someone else's work on a website. They were more than willing to apply their expertise to our problem.

Is there anything Unleashed could have improved or done differently?

We've engaged them for support and maintenance since then; every once in a while, their response time will be lacking. We do most things electronically, through their work system. Sometimes, a request will be answered only a day later. Usually it's not a problem. When it is, we will pick up the phone and call them.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are a pharmaceutical company involved in drug development. We have two products on the market.

What is your position?

I'm the Associate Director of the IT department. I report to the Chief Financial Officer.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Unleashed Technologies?

There were two goals. One was revamping the corporate website. The other was to design an internal website. The corporate website is basically the face of the company. It was outdated, and didn't use anything near current technology. Responsiveness is a prerequisite nowadays.

The internal website was a way to renew the way people access information and make the resources that one department is working on, available to other departments. This would mean more productivity, less time looking for things and ease of access to systems off-site. This plays into another project: business continuity in the case of emergencies.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

It was a complete overhaul: new technology, more responsiveness, use of Drupal, content management, etc.

We're going with a multitude of display tactics on the corporate site, based on the likelihood of users to go to a specific page or area. Drupal is the base platform. Parallax is one of the technologies for the web pages, used for scrolling up and down.

The site's fully responsive on any kind of tablet, phone, or PC. We've looked at each device type closely, and the website is customized for each of them. The whole process is very intuitive and quite creative.

How did you come to work with Unleashed Technologies?

I'd worked with Unleashed briefly, eight or ten years ago, when I moved from our previous web hosting solution to the current one. They host our websites, and refreshed the old content to some extent. If there's someone new on the board of directors, for instance, they will update the information.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

We have a monthly contract. I don't know the exact amounts.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started talking about this project 18 months ago, and worked on it consistently for the better part of 12 months. We're now looking to release the internal site in 13 days, and the corporate one, we hope to push on March 1st [2016].

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

The executive team is made up of really smart people as far as chemistry, but they don’t focus much on technology. As a result, I get second-guessed on every upgrade I want to make. I've learned that you have to have a very good reason for spending money on anything.

We had a meeting presenting the site. At the end, I had no push-back at all. I had never seen a more accepting group of people, comparing the old to the new. I thought the world was going to end. I'm trying to get it done before someone changes their mind.

How did Unleashed Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They're really good at project management. They don't surprise you with extra hours or requirements.

What distinguishes Unleashed Technologies from other providers?

Unleashed seems to understand not only the backend things, but also how to take what people need, and turn it into a story, in a way that normal, non-tech people will understand. I've taught computer classes, but that's still different than talking to lay people. They take your needs and turn them into usable language. Our chemists and executives can tell them what they want, and Unleashed will act as a filter and at the end of the day, they will turn out a usable product.

Is there anything Unleashed Technologies could have improved or done differently?

There’s nothing I’d change with the project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

I work for a nursing society. The society is aimed at the education of nurses who specialize in cancer care, so those who work with patients at the bedside, as well as inpatient and outpatient settings. There's also a large cohort of nurse researchers, too, who are looking to advance the science of nursing.

What is your position?

I'm the managing editor for the journals. There are two scholar and peer-reviewed publications, and so, I first engaged with Unleashed for the website development for the journal websites.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Unleashed Technologies?

It's kind of interesting how I came into contact with Unleashed because one of the groups I contacted through the RFP [request for proposal] process for the website development was Bates Creative Group. I had met Debbie Bates through some industry events and through the process of the RFP, they brought in Unleashed to do the website development for the project, so Bates maintained the creative aspect and Unleashed did the website. Unleashed, ultimately, became the primary lead on the project because assist us with the discovery process for the website and determining how we wanted the site to function and all that.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

Bates did the design work. I feel like our project was pretty expansive. We not only had them do the website development, but we have a member/non-member access portion of it, so Unleashed worked strongly with our systems development team to ensure that that portion was enabled. In addition, they also created a pay-per-view platform because a lot of our articles for nonmembers are offered for an individual price, so they were collaborating with our systems development team as well.

How did you come to work with Unleashed Technologies?

Bates Creative brought them in for the website development.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It kind of expanded beyond the initial scope. For both Bates and Unleashed, I think altogether it was more than $100,000, but I can't recall the exact amount.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the RFP, I think, in January 2014, and we did all the contract work. I think we probably, signed with them in about May of last year [2014]. We were working with them all throughout 2014 with the website launching in January of this year. We're still working with them. They provide growth and support, and I think, probably through about mid-2016, we're signed to work with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

As far as success goes, I would say that we were kind of nervous about how it's going to be received or whether members are going to be able to access it appropriately. I think one of the great metrics that we experienced when it was released was that we got no feedback from our membership as far as, you know, "I can't access this site." "How do I navigate things?" It was very seamless, and you know that everyone or somebody who doesn't have access because their membership expired or something like that. Those are the things that certainly are not within Unleashed's purview, but as far as metrics go, unfortunately, our previous website did not accurately provide metrics. I can't say whether it's gone up or not because it's not really an apples-to-apples comparison. I will say that the member feedback has been very strong. Beforehand, members needed a second unique log in for the old site, and they're delighted that they only need one now. From that perspective, it's been very positive.

How did Unleashed Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

I would say that we were very pleased with them, which led us to sign an additional growth and support package with them. They've been really continuing to assist us, and there are always kind of tweaks, I think, that you can look for as you move forward with a project. Their responsiveness has been "night and day" from our previous provider. They were always very responsive. We'll come to Unleashed with a potential challenge, and they'll provide us with a couple of different opportunities for revision. It's more collaborative, which is absolutely appreciated when compared to our previous experience.

What distinguishes Unleashed Technologies from other providers?

I would say that they're special by having the same person on the account. It seems that it's an obvious thing, but it was not the situation in the past experience. They have a very strong knowledge of our project. They're very strong in Drupal, which was when we approached them about the development, we said our assistant development team said we need Drupal. With that in mind then, they were strong and have won many awards in their development for that. That was important for us as well, but also they have a strong knowledge of associations, and for us, that's critical as well.

Is there anything Unleashed Technologies could have improved or done differently?

Nothing is coming to mind. They've been a great collaborator and partner.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We are Turnaround Management Association, an international association of over 9,000 members and 50+ chapters around the globe. Our membership is a professional community dedicated to turnaround management and corporate renewal. We like to say that our members save companies. We have a diverse membership committed to a common goal: to stabilize and revitalize corporate value.

What is your position?

I'm the Director of Chapters and Infrastructure.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What business challenge were you trying to address with Unleashed Technologies?

We had a legacy website for about eight years. It was integrated with our membership database, event registration, and other systems. We needed a new site developed that would be easier to manage, optimized for mobile, and that would give our chapters greater freedom to manage their own content.

SOLUTION

Please describe the scope of their involvement in detail.

They used web services to establish communications and integrate with our database vendor. We’re a small staff association. As a service to our chapters, we provided segmented customer information. Each chapter can see and manage their own customers – people who have joined via membership, registered for events, or purchased educational products - whether they're a chapter of 20 people or, in larger cases, more than a thousand. We provide technology and services to the chapters and process their dues. Each chapter has their own website with their own ability to create and manage content and events. On the customer side, through single sign in, people can manage their membership and professional profile for display in an online membership directory. They can register for events at member pricing regardless of the chapter host or location.

Unleashed was able to provide a design and templates that suit the needs of our chapters - whether large or small- and the Global organization too as we also market products, services, and events on behalf of the organization as a whole.

How did you come to work with Unleashed Technologies?

We learned of Unleashed through a company that we already had some familiarity with inside the association community. They are well known for their design work in print, media, and publishing. They had partnered with Unleashed as their technology arm for projects like ours. We went through the RFP [request for proposal] process looking for firms that specialize in association websites. Particularly, we looked at firms that had done complex integrations. We selected them and Unleashed for the project.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

Our end cost was very close to the original estimate. I'm happy to report that they adhered to the estimate, which we think is pretty admirable, considering the project duration and scope. The estimate was given almost two years prior to the conclusion of the project. There were some change orders, but the amount of those change orders was nominal and mainly for additional new programming and features.

What is the status of this engagement?

It was about two and a half years in terms of the timeline from when started the RFP process until we went live on the project, which was in August 2015. They are our ongoing vendor for hosting and maintenance of the site and they will be for the foreseeable future.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

We haven't had a chance to delve into very deeply into the numbers in terms of traffic and analytics at this point because we just went live at the very tail end of August. But, the project is working very well, and we are not encountering any difficulties.

One of the goals of the project was to utilize a suite of tools that was going to be more contemporary and provide more options for content and information for ourselves (Global office) and for our chapters. We're empowering the chapters to design their own pages, menus and content - the things you expect to do with your own managed website. This required support from the vendor before or our global staff. Now with the new tools suite, we can go in an entirely different direction. Chapters can recap events, photos and media and better tell the story of their local chapter. We have pretty robust plans for doing more, not only for the chapters, but for our member and site visitor constituents as well by helping to match businesses and business owners who are struggling and seeking assistance with the people in our association that they can engage with to hire and do turnaround/restructuring work.

The feedback thus far has been very good from the chapter administrator users and their volunteer member boards of directors. They’ve been waiting for this project to finish for quite some time. The next phase will include making some improvements on the back-end side empowering customers to transact within the site as quickly and as easily as possible. One of the most important elements of the design was to make sure that it was a responsive design. All content and images resize and render well on whatever device or browser the visitor may be using whether it’s a PC, tablet, or mobile phone.

How did Unleashed Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They did a good job of communicating where they were most of the time. The initial design phase took longer than we expected, leaving us short of enough time to do the diligence and testing we needed before going live. Fortunately we did not have to adhere to a hard go live date. We took our time and did it right. It took a little bit longer than we would have hoped to go through testing of everything but that was also our job to fulfill. They were responsive to our needs, concerns and paid attention to the priorities and weights we assigned to various tasks for completion along the way.

What distinguishes Unleashed Technologies from other providers?

Their professionalism was top notch. As a staff member of the association, we don’t embark on huge capital projects like this very often. It can be very stressful. When things don’t work initially as expected, it can be frustrating. Unleashed Technologies prided themselves on being very responsive to us. They showed the ability to understand the technology involved and designed a solution that serves many needs, audiences and wants - global entity, chapters, members and other customer visitors.

Is there anything Unleashed Technologies could have improved or done differently

Sometimes the initial documentation and training received is not as complete as you would like. It can be difficult for the vendor to provide personalized documentation that will tell you and your end users (our chapter staff) how to administer the site. It tends to come along later than you really need it. 

We also experienced some added back and forth with regard to testing and delivery. They might report a particular task is completed, telling us through the tracking system that they fixed something, and then we go back and actually find that it's not working to our satisfaction. We had to ping them and have the task reopened and revisited. This is probably a normal part of these types of projects. Maybe it was the tracking tool. Ultimately we got where we wanted to go and there was no task or challenge they could not fix.