Vardot

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for a non-governmental organization responsible for assisting people who have been displaced from their native homes, primarily refugees. I specifically work on a one-off project this organization administers on behalf of the state of California. Within this program, I’m the IT manager, so I’m responsible for delivering the portal interface for those who apply for the benefits of this program.

What challenge were you trying to address with Vardot?

The program I work for is an emergency program, so everything related to it has been assembled very quickly. Originally, we had created a portal interface to accept applications and educate users, but that platform was very disjointed.

Therefore, our goal was to create a website that served as a one-stop shop, not only for organizations that help refugees but also for refugees themselves. With this project and Vardot’s help, we were hoping to consolidate all of our functional information and create an analytic reporting capability to see who was interacting with our portal in order to understand and address potential gaps.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Vardot has helped us design and develop the portal we needed. We decided to break the project into two different design and implementation phases so that we could achieve an incremental deployment of the site rather than a singular deployment later down the road. They’ve used Drupal 9 as the site’s CMS and hosted it on Platform.sh. The site also has ancillary services that use AWS, SendGrid, and other standard technologies.

Vardot has great experience in Drupal, so they leveraged the modules and templates they had already developed, as well as the standard Drupal library, to create our site. They’ve also made some custom modifications to meet our needs.

This website has informational sections, such as FAQ, instructions on how to apply, and contact information. Still, the core feature of our website is the application functionality. To apply for our program, a user would create an account and complete an application form. The application form is rather lengthy, so users can return to complete it at a different time, thanks to the login feature. This site also supports information tracking, and internal users and administrators can use it to communicate with each other.

What is the team composition?

I’ve interacted with 5–6 individuals from Vardot, including project managers, architects, DevOps engineers, QAs, and designers.

How did you come to work with Vardot?

I started working on this project after Vardot had been selected as a vendor. Although I wasn’t part of the process, the organization launched an RFP and followed the standard evaluation process.

How much have you invested with them?

I can’t disclose the total amount, but it will be under six figures.

What is the status of this engagement?

We signed the contract in March 2022, but the official design and development process started in May 2022, and our engagement is ongoing. Our contract stipulates a year of hosting through Platform.sh, which will end in March 2023, pending potential extension.

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

We implemented within the website the capability for applicants to provide optional feedback. More than 75% of users have rated their experience with four and five stars, and over 80% have found our site to be helpful for understanding our program.

How did Vardot perform from a project management standpoint?

Vardot’s performance has been overwhelmingly positive, and they’ve been very responsive. Their team is based in Jordan, so we have a time difference. Still, if I send them a message in my afternoon, I’m almost guaranteed to receive a response or get a change done by the time I get to my office the next morning.

Initially, we had planned to manage this project using the waterfall model, but my stakeholders later encouraged me to move the project much faster. Thus, we pivoted to an agile development cycle, breaking the project into various phases. I really appreciated Vardot’s flexibility in changing their standard development process to meet our needs, which saved us financial and time-based burdens.

Vardot uses Jira to manage their development process internally, and we collaborate via Basecamp. We also communicate via email and share documents via Google Drive and MS Office 365.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Communication and project management is what Vardot does best. They’ve been very flexible in adjusting some of their core operating models to meet our needs, and we’ve been able to achieve much more than the contract stipulated.

Are there any areas they could improve?

To my understanding, there are more holidays in Jordan than in the US, so we’ve had a couple of challenges during those periods. Still, it hasn’t been detrimental to our project by any means; it has only made our communication planning a bit more interesting.

In addition to that, it would be great if Vardot focused more on the security aspects of projects to meet modern standard operating procedures that are now considered industry defaults. Moreover, I would like it if they were more flexible on quotes.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Define your success criteria, feature requirements, user stories, and other details before signing the contract. Vardot will pretty much implement what you ask them for, but it will be helpful to have detailed requirements upfront.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the project manager at Ramworld Tech Solution, an IT services and consultancy company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Vardot?

We needed someone to develop our website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Vardot has developed our website in Drupal from scratch. The site was launched two weeks ago, so they now provide support and maintenance on an ongoing basis. 

What is the team composition?

I’ve worked directly with an account manager and a project manager. Throughout the development process, we also worked with two designers and 3–4 developers.

How did you come to work with Vardot?

A friend recommended them to us, and we chose them because they’re professionals in enterprise Drupal web development.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent over $200,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in November 2021, and our engagement is ongoing. We also plan to work on more projects with them.

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

Vardot delivered our website successfully, and our collaboration has been great. They’re proactive and constantly provide more services just to keep us satisfied.

How did Vardot perform from a project management standpoint?

Vardot sticks to the project’s scope, but they’re flexible when needed. Additionally, they’re very collaborative and available, and the project manager responds quickly. Although we faced some delays, those were on our side. Still, they understood those delays and kept working. We use Basecamp, Slack, email, phone calls, and Webex to manage the project and communicate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Vardot has very professional resources. Their team is very committed and timely, and they always know what they’re doing.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It would be great if Vardot were more flexible in their communication. They’re strict in using their own templates, so I’ve had to convert those templates into the ones our end client uses to keep them satisfied. Still, it hasn’t been an important issue.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I recommend working with Vardot; if they’re not qualified to do something, they’ll let you know.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am a Project Leader at the Boston Consulting Group.

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

We undertake large digital transformation projects for prominent organizations and government entities throughout the Middle East and the Gulf region. We were looking for a long-term partner to help us with the digital experience part of the transformation, from beginning to finish, taking care of the whole project lifecycle.

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

We’ve conducted comprehensive research on the best technologies when it comes to enterprise digital experience, websites, and portals. We’ve selected Drupal. And then we conducted comprehensive research on leading Drupal agencies and this is when we knew about Vardot, as it ranks among the top Drupal solutions providers on the Drupal marketplace.

We’ve started the communication with Vardot and they demonstrated a thorough understanding of our needs and possessed the industry and technology knowledge. Not to mention the recommendations and positive feedback we received from their references.

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

The project was a breeze from start to finish. Vardot delivery team follows a very well-structured, yet agile project delivery process. At the beginning of the project, a Project Manager was assigned to the project, who walked us through the project delivery lifecycle and was the focal point of contact. The project has gone into the phases of Discovery Analysis, Design, Development, Training, Content Entry, and Launch.

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

The team assigned for this project from Vardot consisted of a Project Manager, UI/UX Designer, Technical Lead, Developers, Quality Assurance Engineer, and a DevOps Engineer.

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

Vardot provided neat and organized deliverables from project plans to documentation. They have presented multiple design options and the client has selected one of them. The design phase was collaborative and the outcome was according to best practices and an optimized user journey. The website was done professionally, is fast, and is search engine optimized.

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

Vardot adopts the Scrum project management framework. The project communication was transparent and the channel was wide open using Vardot’s different online tools like Basecamp and InVision. The Vardot team was punctual and detail-oriented. We felt we were working with a true partner rather than a vendor and that they had a stake in the project’s success as much as we did.

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

Their deep knowledge of the best practices in enterprise-level web solutions to different industries, namely the News and Media and the Government sectors. Also the systematic and organized, yet agile approach to managing projects, and the transparency, attention to detail, and commitment to meeting timeline.

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

Nothing to say. Worked with them twice in 2 different projects; and this is by far the most professional & flexible dev company I worked with

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm the COO of a digital resource offering non-partisan political analysis for US campaigns & elections.

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

Our website was overdue for a CMS update (from Drupal 7 to 9) and needed other updates to better serve our clients and showcase our content. Tasks included integration a third party service for subscription management. We also needed a knowledgeable team to offer us ongoing maintenance and support to further our growth.

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

We researched firms specializing in Drupal and knowledgeable about the needs of a news-related platform. We were impressed with Vardot's online reputation, particularly in their contributions to Drupal as an open source contributor, as well as their online reviews. We also communicated with them via email and virtually to assess the fit of our needs and standards. We were assured by their marketing and brand presence, but further impressed by their communication skills and proposal. They understood our project, communicated expectations clearly, are well organized and had the exact solution for our needs.

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

Our work included a discovery process, several team meeting where we discussed priorities and plans and we began work quickly to build out the updates needed, while also implementing their "SMG" plan to support our regular maintenance needs. We have had clear documentation and defined work projects in phased releases. We have used Google Meet for meetings, Google Docs & Sheets for shared documents and view only progress reports, and we have signed contracts and paid bills electronically.

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

We have worked most closely with our project manager, Israa, who has been fantastic. We've also consulted regularly with Razem, the founder of Vardot, who is knowledgeable, invested in us, and available to answer specific and strategic questions. We also have a team of technicians available to us via our maintenance plan. Israa (the PM) coordinates the assignments of their team to our tickets.

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

We have seen immediate results from our earliest implementation. We improved the layouts of some pages, which as resulted in an improvement in our sharing on social media for paywall content; our site is fully secure with the Drupal 9 upgrades; everything has been delivered as promised. We are currently still working on one of our biggest updates to improve the UX, which we expect will have a direct impact on revenue increases and reduction in staff time needed to resolve subscription changes.

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

Excellent communicators -- written and verbal. Always reliable and responsible. Deliverables are clear and on time. Everyone is also incredibly kind and approachable. We are huge fans.

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

They have a wonderful combination of personal touch and pride in their work and customer service, but also a capacity to deliver the work of a huge agency. Their understanding of Drupal (both its strengths and weaknesses) has been essential and exceptional. Drupal teams can be tough to find, and they have exceeded our already high expectations at every turn.

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

No.

Please describe your company and your position there.

Our company, Gowan Company LLC, is a global, agricultural solutions business with its headquarters located in Yuma, Arizona. We specialize in crop protection. My position had started as an international registration specialist and now I have transitioned as Gowan's database manager.

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

As were growing more and more our current knowledge and skills lacked at expanding and growing our database. With an ever expanding need of acquiring data and need for a linked system, we found and contacted Vardot in hopes that they could help us and assist in developing our drupal based database site. Our goals down the line are to have our company's regulatory team fully rely on our database and expand its potential.

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

I searched online and saw, through filtering on durpal's own site, the recommended resources for professional services. We looked through support that had bases here in the United for easy to accommodate meeting times and a sector in Agriculture.

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

We had kick-off meetings and in-depth discussions of what were the key features we wanted to implement onto our site. We then worked through our contracts and begun quickly onto the project. The project had deliverables that were first tested on a testing site, where my team and I could provide feedback and test the new features we requested. The new features included; reducing duplicates that populate, adding filters to capture certain fields our content contained, and rearranging our site for cosmetic details. Drupal, Basecamp, email communications and Teams/Google meetings were used throughout this project.

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

Our organizer, Mohammad Razeem the CEO was always available for us. Israa Ahmad, our project manager worked primarily with me, keeping in daily contact through emails and through Basecamp. Tareq Elayyan, the Software Development Manager, and Faeq Anabtawi, works with Israa as part of the support team for our projects.

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

We were able to launch our first major update to our site and have gotten great positive reviews. The list of feedbacks we had were delivered and updated on the testing site before launching to our live site.

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

We had daily communications with Israa, and as the Engagement Manager, it was always a blessing to have her background knowledge for her to help her team in assisting us to our feedback.

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

They gave fast results and have delivered on all of their promises. They accommodated to our questions and are really willing to help and support us in the best way as they can, keeping in communication with our IT team and being able to answer their questions on a high tech level really put my team and I at ease.

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

As suspected, some minor issues in our first update launch, but it has been always easy to communicate and provide information and support in quick time.

Please describe your company and your position there.

int@j is the Information and Communications Technology Association of Jordan. We are a non-profit member based association representing hte ICT sector. Head of Business Development at int@j

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

As an ICT association representign the sector we wanted to develop a business listing portal that will allow us to promote service based companies to potential clients regionally and beyond. We wanted compnaies to have the flexibility to list and update their own content and information.

Another part of this project was to develop an SSO (Single Sign On) to connect the various existing & future portals that are managed by int@j.

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

int@j issued an RFP and vendors were evaluated by a committee on set criteria including experience, similar projects, timeframe, hosting and roadmap input. Vardot came out on top across both technical & financial evaluation

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

We had a Scope of Work as part of an RFP which was discussed and finalized with Vardot. A project plan was set and agreed upon including confirmation on Drupal 9 and the use of KeyCloak for SSO. Basecamp was used for project management and communication with weekly project calls on updates.

Product Features included

• Responsive Portal
• Business Profile
• SSO Login
• Chatbot
• Email & newsletter engine
• Rating & Reviews

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

A project manager was leading from Vardot as our main contact. He had a comprehensive team that worked with him including designers, user experience, developers, hosting team and others.

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

Portal has just been launched and initial feedback has been very postive with ICT companies signing up and including their profiles.

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

Agile Project Management with Basecamp as a communication tool. Meetings were held periodically with updates and information on updates to timeline and launch dates

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

Adherence to project timeframe and QA process was impressive. Alpha version was bugfree and minimum activities and testing needed to launch. Training on use of portal was of highest quality including documentation

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

Vardot is very professional in listening to our comments and coming up with solutions.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a Director in a company that provides consulting and advisory services to various client in the public and private sectors.

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

Our website was created since company establishment back in 2014. We have approached VARDOT to re-design and develop a state-of-art website to reflect our new brand and re-position ourselves as a leading consulting firm in the region.

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

We have shortlisted VARDOT due to their extensive past experience in the areas of Website design and development, and due to their team capabilities in managing and delivery successful projects relevant to our industry within the region.

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

We had initiated the project with VARDOT project manager, attended by the technical team and discussed the project plan, due dates and major project milestones. We had successfully clarified our expectations and ensure commitment from VARDOT to deliver the expected results within the agreed scope and schedule.

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

A project manager was our main point of contact, supported by two main technical team members. All reported to a project director who was supervising the overall project progress.

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

After the official launch of the website, we have received positive feedback from some of our clients regarding the website and the newly introduced features. In addition, the website became our main channel for recruitment, due to the streamlined career and job applications process embedded in the Careers Section in the Website.

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

We had a weekly status update meeting done online, with a daily status reports via Google Sheets, with automated notifications received via emails.

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

They have managed to meet our expectations to have a dynamic , modern and revamped website. Along with online features such as Careers, Website administration tool without the need for technical experience, and a lot more related to the look and feel and images database.

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

No major issues faced during the project.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital director at States Newsroom, a national nonprofit that supports local newsrooms in state capitals across the country. I largely maintain and manage our web presence, audience outreach, design work, and technical tools.

What challenge were you trying to address with Vardot?

We were creating a new national website that aggregated content from all of our individual outlets into one central hub. Our team also wanted this hub to be publicly available to readers for them to read all stories in one place.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Vardot built the entire website in Drupal. Our first steps focused on digging into the goals of the website. It also involved determining how much curation we wanted to do and how much automation we needed. In that regard, we already had an idea in mind. For one, we wanted users to be able to manage and curate content, so the website should give them the option to search rising trends among the content. From there, we moved into the design process, which clarified the website’s user flow, aesthetics, and overall UX design. The Vardot team turned around designs. Then, we did tweaks and iterations over the course of six weeks.

Afterward, we started the development process. We were hands-off for a while; Vardot worked on plenty of things behind the scenes before they sent us something to review. While we met weekly in the beginning, we only met every two weeks during the development process. Finally, the last phase of the project was a QA process. Then, we realized we wanted to add some features to the website after it went live, and Vardot helped us organize those features for a later release. 

At present, we have an ongoing maintenance contract with Vardot. Their team handles server hosting and administration tasks for the website. Meanwhile, our company doesn’t plan to take on the maintenance of the website since we have a small team. We don’t have the capacity to take on another big national website. If we want to add other features to the mix, we’ll do additional contracts with Vardot. 

What is the team composition?

We work with a project manager that meets with us regularly every week. She’s also the co-owner of the company. Another person assists her during our meetings and particularly during the second half of the project. We’ve also met with their CEO, who has helped us determine the basic structure of the website. 

How did you come to work with Vardot?

We wanted a team that had done similar projects to ours. Specifically, we wanted a team that had worked in the news space before. Meanwhile, Vardot had worked for Al-Jazeera and other news companies. On top of that, they’d also done similar projects where they aggregated content from different places into one platform.

Moreover, we found good reviews of Vardot’s projects. We also liked that there was a large number of people of color in their committee, plus they were led by a woman who shared the values we had. Ultimately, Vardot understood our project much quicker than other vendors we interviewed. Their bid was also within our budget, and the timeline they laid out met our needs. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested nearly $100,000. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in May 2021, and the engagement is ongoing. 

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

We haven’t had a public launch yet, so we don’t have quantitative success metrics. However, we’ve received positive feedback internally. The website is designed well and functions the way we want. Vardot has also provided helpful ideas that are not in our original scope. 

How did Vardot perform from a project management standpoint?

The Vardot team has been great at communicating timelines; there’s great clarity in terms of the options and time we have. They tell us how our choices affect or push back the entire process. Simply put, it’s always helpful for us to not only be held to a deadline but also understand why such a thing is necessary. 

Moreover, we use Basecamp and Google Documents and Spreadsheets to manage the project. If we have a concern, we write it on Basecamp, and then we receive quick feedback from Vardot resources. We use Spreadsheets when we find bugs, which we tell the Vardot team through Basecamp messages. 

Further, everyone in our team has access to Basecamp, but I’m usually the main point person for that. This has been the way we communicate especially during the active development phase. Since we’ve moved into the maintenance phase, our communication has understandably been less direct and immediate.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have organized communication processes.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only tricky part has been when we transferred content from WordPress to Drupal. They suggested we do that through RSS feeds. Our internal engineer thought that that wouldn’t require too much time, but it turned out that he needed to be more hands-on for it. The RSS tasks took half of his time, which luckily worked out well with our schedule. Our team thought that there was a lot of back and forth in this aspect, and it was confusing. Moreover, if we didn’t have an internal engineer who could handle RSS-related work, it would’ve been frustrating for us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

As much as possible, have a clear vision of what you want in the beginning because iteration is going to take more time than you expect. Moreover, if you’re going to use WordPress RSS feeds, you should have a clear understanding of your team’s technical needs. 

Please describe your company and your position there.

I work for UNHCR, the United Nations Refugee Agency, which is a complex, global organization with 17,000 employees around the world. I advise on digital tracking and analytics for web/app projects across the organization.

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

We hired Vardot to migrate and re-work a custom tool we are using to generate UTM codes, into the Drupal framework (for tracking the impact of communication initiatives. The tool needed to be updated to cater for a growing number and type of users.

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

The vendor won an open, competitive bid (technical, financial) with UNHCR to move our global website and the UTM tool to the Drupal framework.

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

We started our project with a kick-off meeting where the developers working on the project were introduced. We showcased the existing UTM tool, and the business needs the tool addresses. Vardot quickly grasped the buisness needs and helped us translate these into possible Drupal based solutions.

At each iteration of the development work, we had the chance to do extensive testing on a staging site, and make comments and changes. Before launch of the new tool, we agreed on a launch timeframe, and post launch support model.

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

We worked with a team of 4-5 drupal developers, including the project lead. The project lead would oversee the progression of the project, make sure the solutions being developed addressed the business needs/requirements, and facilitated contact with the relevant developers.

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

With the new tool launched we have been able to integrate several new key audiences onto our tool, including email marketers, and the Goodwill Ambassador team. The new tool has significantly reduced the time I spend on admin tasks, as it includes automated features for user registration and password reset.

Furthermore Vardot created the new tool inline with our corporate branding which creates a more coherent experience for our users.

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

We worked using Basecamp where developers, projects leads and UNHCR could communicate freely throughout the project. Vardot was highly responsive, both over email/basecamp, and to schedule calls when necessary. This was a key aspect that ensured the a timely completion of the project, and much appreciated.

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

Vardot had a highly professional approach to asking about our business needs in detail, and then translating those into viable solutions using Drupal. This not only enabled us to create a solution that catered to our stated requirements, but also helped us spot opportunities we had not though of ourselves.

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

I'm highly satisfied with Vardot, during the project work, the final product, and post-launch support and follow up.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director for learning innovation for American Community School, an international school.

What challenge were you trying to address with Vardot?

We needed someone to revamp our website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Vardot redesigned our site. We had a framework that we built with the intent of customizing our page around the content. It’s a Drupal site that they customize to suit our needs. They’ve done frontend development and templating of 50 pages and also the backend development.

In addition to that, they also do AWS hosting for us, using Cloudflare for our CDN. Their team is also helping with maintenance in the hosting and the site.

What is the team composition?

We work with around 6–8 people, including a project manager, several designers, and someone for wireframing.

How did you come to work with Vardot?

They responded to an RFP that we put out. We had several vendors that we had shortlisted, but we chose Vardot based on the American School of Dubai (ASB) recommendations. 

How much have you invested with them?

We've spent $20,000 with them so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in December 2020, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

There’s been a substantial change in the interface — we feel that this project is prosperous. From an educational perspective, they work well with us to ensure that we have a product that communicates our targets and ensures they are successful.

How did Vardot perform from a project management standpoint?

They keep all the timelines, and in terms of communication, we use Basecamp and email.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their managers have developed a good relationship — they’re reliable, meet deadlines, and communicate clearly. They hold expectations with their staff and us to help set reasonable deadlines for our internal needs to ensure that the project is successful.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I don't think there's anything they can improve on.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I’d encourage you to engage with them, have an initial conversation, and see if they’re the correct fit. They’re very approachable as an organization, and engaging with their services was very easy.