Visual Logic

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the director of business development for a nonprofit defense research and development organization.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Visual Logic?

We are trying to address human-centered design and UX in our products and services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

In the project they are currently working on for us, their team is developing a roadmap for our company to follow over the next four years to embed UX as a discipline within our design and development functions.

I’m not sure of the specific technologies they are using in support of that work, but the final deliverables include everything from training doctrine and procedures to a complete turnkey guide for approaching any of the development taking place at our company

What is the team composition?

We currently work with about five members of their team, including three main contacts: Andy (Partner), Kurt (Founding Partner), and Nick (Director of UX Design).

How did you come to work with Visual Logic?

Back in 2018, we conducted an internet search for vendors who had experience in the type of work that we were doing as well as experience with the Department of Defense.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in August 2019 and plan to continue the engagement for about the next five years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

For the first year of the project, we had several milestones that included defining our internal maturity level in terms of UX, holding internal trainings to help people understand what human-centered design is all about, and conducting an awareness campaign that featured a newsletter and an ‘ask me anything’ town hall to help raise awareness among our employees.

Their team was able to deliver on all of those elements perfectly, so we have been extremely satisfied with the level of work they have delivered so far. They have hit all of our deadlines and helped us to stay on track for each milestone, and we expect to complete the final piece of this stage on time at the end of September.

How did Visual Logic perform from a project management standpoint?

What I consider to be the cornerstone of good project management are timely updates on the status of progress toward each deliverable, as well as the use of the budget to that point. They were able to embed those in the flow of our day-to-day activities to the point where it felt like we were working on one team together. Besides email, they made use of SharePoint and Teams to maintain constant communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

For us, what stood out the most was their willingness to really find a roadmap that fit our company. They didn’t come in with a one-size-fits-all approach that they tried to shoehorn our company into. Instead, they took the time to understand both what we wanted and how our culture and processes would play into that process.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I honestly do not have anything negative to say about the experience. I’ve worked with a lot of consultants and vendors over my years in the industry, and they are one of the most intelligent and understanding companies I’ve ever seen.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Really listen to their advice, because they are the experts when it comes to what they do. Oftentimes it can be hard to have somebody come in from the outside and tell you what you’re doing wrong, but they will really put your best interests at heart and recommend what they honestly believe is the best course of action for you.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Cashe Software is a SaaS platform for home care agencies to run their businesses. We sell the product that also has mobile apps that go along with it.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Visual Logic?

We had a version of our mobile app that wasn’t being adopted fast enough. We needed help in reviewing the current application and coming up with a more intuitive design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

The engagement began with Visual Logic talking to us about the purpose of the app and how we thought our customers were using it.  After that, they reviewed the application and asked questions. Next, their team met with our customers, gathering a series of interviews to get information about how they use the app.

The team offered to come up and meet with our customers, but since it wasn’t convenient, most of that process was done online. The next step involved them coming back to us with information about the customers and any gaps they saw in the current platform. They wanted us to validate if that understanding was correct.

Visual Logic then came back with wireframes for the redesigned application. They also went into how it should work. After reviewing it with our customers and us, they made some tweaks based on feedback. The team delivered a complete set of wireframes with a new design.

What is the team composition?

I mainly worked with Sarah (Senior UX Practitioner) and Andy (UX Interaction Designer) every week. There was a third person involved at times.

How did you come to work with Visual Logic?

Through various points in my career, I’ve used Visual Logic. I had known the owner, Andy (Partner), and knew of his UX experience.

How much have you invested with them?

I believe between $15,000–$25,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from June–August 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

When we initially launched, we had a handful of customers that struggled with using the product. We had complaints, and people were essentially refusing to use the product.

After the redesign, we coded everything and deployed it towards the end of last year. It’s been in production now for over eight months, and we have 50 customers using it. They’re all adopting it and are happy with the product.

The design was instrumental in getting the adoption engine cranking. If they didn’t use it, the other functionalities wouldn’t be used. It was a great success for us, and the investment paid off.

How did Visual Logic perform from a project management standpoint?

The team was on the ball. They pushed us because of our tight timeline. We said that we needed a tight deadline, but then we weren’t available to give them what they needed. They kept driving us.

They set up meetings with our customers, letting us know that we could join, but either way, they were going to move ahead. Our team was focused on the development issues, and not the design. Visual Logic drove the app to completion.

What did you find most impressive about them?

I was impressed with how quickly they were able to embrace and understand our industry. They got to the human factors of the application, which is something we initially didn’t understand and appreciate. The team understood our users’ needs well enough to translate it to a UX.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’re very passionate about their work and ideas – almost to the point where they were insistent we should take a particular path. But sometimes what makes sense from a UX perspective doesn’t from a business perspective. I had to push back quite a bit, but it is a good trait for them to have. For them to see it from my perspective, there needed to be a few conversations.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Give them access to the product in use. That’s the most valuable input we could give them to come up with the right designs.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a senior program manager for SRC Inc. We’re a technology company that works in the defense sector. We work on a lot of radar systems and RF systems.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Visual Logic?

A lot of our systems are in the hands of users, so if the perception of them is difficult, it can hinder their effectiveness. We turned to Visual Logic for their UX expertise.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We’re focusing on two areas with Visual Logic. We’re working on the overall initiative of updating our internal processes. We’ve been working with them to incorporate the user designs from early on in the process so that new programs and new initiatives across the company will have that focus.

Earlier on, we ran a pilot program for one of our systems. The team became familiar with the process behind it, and are able to work with us to understand our problems and find solutions. Through that, we’ve made a lot of updates that are currently being deployed. 

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with seven or eight total people. There are about three people from Visual Logic who are focused on the organizational change component of the project. We’ve also worked with about three or four designers that have helped us on our pilot program.

How did you come to work with Visual Logic?

We looked at several companies and chose Visual Logic for their experience. They came across as a leader in our industry, so we felt confident that they understood our mission and what we really needed.

How much have you invested with them?

So far we’ve spent about $600,000. I’m not sure what the total number will be after the five years, but it will probably be several million.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since October 2019. We’re engaged in a five year initiative.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Visual Logic has demonstrated a great ability to quickly turn products. We gave them the pilot program in January of 2020, and within four months we’d moved through quite a bit of the system and received mockups from Visual Logic. Since speed was a priority, we were really impressed.

Throughout, the level of effort they put in was quite deep. They put a lot of time into understanding the product. Their use of resources was very efficient and effective, which is how they were to deliver such high-quality work in a good timeframe.

How did Visual Logic perform from a project management standpoint?

They do well with project management. Visual Logic is doing a good job at working with us, keeping us moving, and staying consistent. 

We use a few products to share information back and forth and keep track of storyboards and processes. For the most part, we keep in touch over Zoom, MS Team, and email.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Visual Logic’s ability to understand our mission and products is impressive. It’s not often we find someone who can take such a complex idea and break it down to identify gaps. They came up to speed quickly, which really helped the product. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

They’ve done a good job executing; there’s nothing we would’ve done differently.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you’re focusing on the right problem so that Visual Logic can help dig in and solve them with the big picture in mind.

UPDATED REVIEW

This review was updated by the client on August 20, 2020. New content is below.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of business development for SRC.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Visual Logic?

We’re trying to address human-centered design, explicitly UX, for our products and services.

SOLUTION 

What was the scope of their involvement?

Currently, they’re developing a roadmap for our company to embed the core discipline of UX within our design and development functions. The deliverable will be a roadmap for us to follow over the next four years.

What they’re doing expands beyond technology. It’s everything from training, doctrine, and procedures. It’s basically a whole turnkey approach to UX within our company.

What is the team composition?

We’re working with about five people. There are three main people we work with: Andy (Partner), Kurt (Founding Partner), and Nick (Director of UX Design). 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

In the past year, we’ve completed several milestones. These include defining our internal maturity level in UX. In addition, we did internal trainings to bring people up to speed on usability, UX, and human-centered design. We also conducted an internal awareness campaign that included articles in our company newsletter and developing an Internet page for our employees. 

All of those items have been completed, and our final piece for the UX Center of Excellence is developing the roadmap, which will be completed by the end of September.

How did Visual Logic perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve been outstanding. What I consider the cornerstone of good project management includes timely updates and status, achieving milestones on time and on budget, and being embedded in the flow of our day-to-day activities so it feels like we’re on team. Visual Logic has achieved all of that. 

Besides email, we use SharePoint and Teams. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Visual Logic truly wants to deliver something that fits our company’s needs. They didn’t come in with a one-size-fits-all roadmap and try to shoehorn our company into some preconceived notion of what we should be. 

They’ve taken the time to understand not just what we want, but also our culture. I find them extremely concerned that we’re moving at a pace that allows our company to be successful, rather than just trying to rush our project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing that I can think of. Right from the beginning, we struck an incredible partnership where I feel that not only do they have the experience and depth of knowledge we need, they also have the emotional intelligence to work with a company like ours, where culture is such an important part of being successful. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Really listen to what Andy, Nick, and Kurt provide as advice. They’re truly the experts when it comes to human-centered design and user experience. Also, try to build a relationship with them, so they’ll be better able to understand the culture piece.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of The KA Network. I do consulting.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Visual Logic?

We needed to do a user experience rework of a client’s product. The final deliverables were a new website and an application interface that was seamless across the board.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Visual Logic started with a series of phone interviews with 50–75 users that were customers or potential customers. They then compiled the qualitative and quantitative data into an easy-to-read format. After that, we made assumptions about what the UI should look like and designed it. Then we interviewed 50–100 people to get feedback, leading to a second revision. Finally, we released the new interface to the public.

What is the team composition?

We worked with 6–10 people at any given time. Kayla (Director) was our point of contact.

How did you come to work with Visual Logic?

I had worked with Visual Logic when I was in a different job. When we needed a user experience firm, we put them in the bucket along with nine other vendors to solicit proposals. After an evaluation process, we narrowed those 10 firms down to three, and from there, Visual Logic won the bid. They understood our business and presented what we felt was the best solution to our problem.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from November 2018 to March 2019.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We used quantitative and qualitative data to validate the new interface and compare it against the current website and application. We tracked site conversion metrics, bounce rate, and usability, which was a big part of the project.

We needed to streamline the onboarding process for our users, and we were able to test that at the beginning to see multiple users having the same challenges. We applied UX to solve the problem and then released it to the public to watch it get solved via screensharing and quantitative analysis. After we released it, three months later, we did the same process of interviewing people to make sure we were standing in the same place.

How did Visual Logic perform from a project management standpoint?

They did pretty well. Visual Logic gave us access to their Jira instance and Slack. We exceeded all deadlines as well. What took the longest was our initial need to interview non-customers, who were harder to find. Beyond that, we nailed the timeline.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Visual Logic had no knowledge of our industry at first, so they spent time studying it before we did business together. That was a unique angle. They also were really specific in describing the problems we were facing.

In addition, I was impressed with their interview process in which they go out, talk to customers, and pull information out of them. That was super good to have in a research project.

Are there any areas they could improve?

It was a perfect project across the board. We could always move faster, but we wanted to do it right. We were happy with the quality and delivery of it.

Any advice for potential customers?

Know what problems you’re trying to solve.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the CEO of a company that provides outsourced business services to customers throughout the United States. We have employees in about 25 states. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Visual Logic?

We have a call center business and wanted our software platform to make the job as easy as possible for our employees. Ideally, the new platform would help new employees come up to speed faster while being able to closely follow customer rules.  

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They started by interviewing current employees to understand user barriers. From there, they began to map out a new UX for the platform. They redesigned the interface so the job could be learned faster and the platform would be easier to maneuver. We had the resources to develop the software improvements, but they brought the UX experience.  

What is the team composition?

There were 5–6 people assigned to the project. We worked with Andy (Partner).

How did you come to work with Visual Logic?

We live in the same community. They cold-called us looking for a new project. When we realized we needed their help for our internal system, we reached back out.  

How much have you invested with them?

We spent about $150,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

This project spanned from July 2018–2019. We’ve done a few other projects with them since.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

There’s a decent bit of turnover in the call center business, so we’re tasked with training about 100 new employees each year. Their work significantly improved that process. They’re skilled at interviewing people and getting to the root of problems. Sometimes, our team is too close to the fire. We don’t always know how to adjust our process to make it better. They clearly laid out actionable steps for improvement after identifying the deficiencies.  

How did Visual Logic perform from a project management standpoint?

They were excellent communicators, so we always understood exactly what stage of the project they were working on. Any deadlines that were missed were due more to delays on our end rather than theirs. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They asked the right questions to learn things about our business that even we didn’t know. The team was great at getting that insight. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be clear about what you want them to achieve for you. From there, let them do the project their way.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of operational development for a company that provides ancillary services throughout the United States. We process about 2,000 referrals each day for medical equipment, nursing services, home modifications, and more. 

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Visual Logic?

Our platform was getting pretty old, and we wanted to transition to a web-based platform that would allow us to more easily transition our employees to a work from home environment A web-based platform would provide that flexibility. This was our chance to design our platform with the users in mind.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We explained that we wanted to completely revamp the platform and get their input on ideas. They came up with a phased approach, knowing that the project would take a while to complete. The first phase was designed for quick wins. Essentially, it encompassed giving the platform a facelift to make it feel popular modern sites that our users have grown accustomed to. That would reduce the cognitive load and the number of clicks needed to locate information. While the deliverables here were beautiful, we got the cart ahead of the horse a bit.

Together, we decided that it would be beneficial to dive straight into the rest of the project after discovering that quick wins may be more difficult to achieve than we planned. There are nine phases to the project, and we just released the fourth phase. The first four phases involved most users are were the most complex. We’re expecting the final phases to roll out very quickly. Right now, they’re working on user acceptance testing. 

What is the team composition?

We were assigned a project owner as well as a designer. Occasionally we’d work with the co-owner and an additional resource. 

How did you come to work with Visual Logic?

We heard of them through word of mouth and reached out based on that. Their place of business is just a few miles away from us, so it was logically pretty easy for us to given them tours of our facilities and acquaint them with our business services. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $625,000 on the project. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We started with them in October 2017, and our relationship is ongoing.  

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Because our services are unique, our platform had to be equally unique. Everything we do is customized for our users. The platform manages orders from start to finish.

It was impressive to have an external company take on this project and learn about everything that our organization does. Their diligence in interviewing our staff for ideas was very helpful. The platform looks significantly better and makes more logistical sense than what we had before.  

How did Visual Logic perform from a project management standpoint?

They attend our bi-monthly sprint review meetings where we review our development work. In those meetings, they participate to ensure that the integrity and intent of the design are continuing to be met throughout the lifespan of the project.

They were also willing to readjust and reallocate resources as requested. In the end, they were able to be accommodating without putting the core integrity of the project in harm’s way.  

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their lead project manager was able to change a complicated process and system into something digestible for users. She grasped all of our processes within weeks.

When we didn’t agree on an aspect of the development, they professionally explained their reasoning to help us come to a better understanding of each other. That helped us come to a consensus on what is best for our platform. Their professional experience was essential because they were willing to push back when we were headed in the wrong direction. That helped create a long-lasting project. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

Our developers would’ve liked more descriptive how-to information during the transition from their designs to development.  

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t hold back on anything you may think is too complicated. They’re capable of impressive things with their smart team.  

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I was the senior manager at Accenture, and we worked with Visual Logic to perform services for our client, who was a betting company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Visual Logic?

We needed someone to help with design.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Initially, Visual Logic helped us with our competitive bid. They developed some visual options for the business team to show what the betting interface could look like. Once we won the business, they were involved in designing the visual interface for us.

What is the team composition?

Our main contact was Andy (Partner). He had a team under him.

How did you come to work with Visual Logic?

I was casually looking for graphic designers who could create a few graphics for me as part of the proposal. Andy’s name came up on Google.

How much have you invested with them?

We invested between $300,000–$400,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together from December 2009–January 2011.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We won the business only because of the Visual Logic team’s visual skills. They’re so good at what they do. The client asked for an online betting experience, and we ended up building a gaming experience. What Visual Logic built was insightful.

How did Visual Logic perform from a project management standpoint?

Andy acted as the project manager, ensuring the scope of work was delivered on time. They flew down to us, and Andy was with us for almost a month during the process.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Andy has become a friend of mine, and we’ve stayed in touch for over ten years. When an opportunity comes around, I wouldn’t hesitate to work with Visual Logic.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The scope of work is the visual part only. If they’re able to expand their business to the development side, that could help a lot.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t hesitate to engage with this innovative firm.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a product marketing manager for a machinery company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Visual Logic?

We had multiple systems that we were developing across the business. There were interactions between all of them, but they lacked a common user interface. We wanted to use Visual Logic’s expertise to create parity between applications.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Visual Logic first created different personas for us to help us better understand the key customers we were going after with each application. After we chose key personas, we collectively interviewed customers that aligned with our personas. 

As a part of the interview, Visual Logic would conduct a usability study. They would aggregate the results of the usability studies, implement lessons learned into their mock-ups, and propose to our development team for implementation.

What is the team composition?

We usually worked with 3–4 people. Each brought something different, but they always had expertise around design and UI/UX.

How did you come to work with Visual Logic?

Visual Logic had experience working with another division of our business and had a strong reputation among colleagues.

What is the status of this engagement?

We worked together for about three years.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We had internal objectives — usability scores, net promoter scores, and the number of engaged users — and Visual Logic helped us meet every single one.

At a high level, they helped pull together a complex set of tools into an easy-to-use application for our customers. The product grew from having no userbase to being the dominant application in our industry in just a few years.

How did Visual Logic perform from a project management standpoint?

They did exceptionally well. A key to our collective success was that Visual Logic would participate in our Wednesday weekly meetings. Over 2–3 hours, Visual Logic would act as thought leaders alongside us, review the work we’re doing, bring in their models and mock-ups, and help us solve our UI problems, which was the biggest challenge in developing this very large application. Aside from our meetings, we communicated over phone calls and emails. They were on-site frequently, though, and always made time for an impromptu discussion.

What did you find most impressive about them?

First, their ability to simplify the complex stood out. Visual Logic helped us understand how we could eliminate steps, streamline designs, and maintain consistency across the ecosystem.

Second, Visual Logic challenged the status quo. They worked hard to understand our business and our customers' business, but when they sat down with us in meetings, they often challenged what we thought by bringing their own fresh perspective. It grew into a fond relationship where we could openly ask each other hard questions and come to a mutual understanding. At the end of the day, we both aligned around a common objective: benefit the customer.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Demonstrate your value to leadership teams on a regular basis. As a company, Visual Logic helped us realize the importance of end-to-end UI/UX expertise, but that led to bringing UI/UX development in-house. In hindsight, I wish I helped Visual Logic connect more directly with leadership to help showcase the value and efficiency they were delivering.

Any advice for potential customers?

Negotiate regular meetings as a team to review progress and the roadmap. In-person meetings, when possible, are critical to success.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the CEO of a insurance brokerage that employees 65 professionals in the midwest.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Visual Logic?

Our company has a division which sells insurance products directly to consumers. We knew our team needed to understand our overall customer experience and how it "felt" to do business with our firm. We also knew we needed to better segment our client base using data to tie to client needs.

What were your goals for this project?

1. Understand our cradle to grave customer experience
2. Define the experience we want to overcommunicate
3. Tie that experience to a customer persona to simply what customer segments may actually want

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We researched the landscape and were impressed with Visual Logic's hands on approach and commitment to make the project understandable for our team. Their reputation for delivering a quality project on time was important.

Describe the project in detail.

1. Overall analysis of customer experience including several "secret shopper" stop ins
2. Interviews with clients following experiences
3. Aggregated our customer data into personas
4. Helped developed packages and offerings for those personas
5. Helped define key areas that needed to be reinforced in our customer experience (educating not selling)

What was the team composition?

We worked with three members of the team, including the managing principle. He was hands on and coordinated with other members of the team who carried out the research and analytics.

Andrew VanFleet could decipher what we were saying our business problem was and then build the solution to learn more. He was our sherpa up the project mountain.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

First of all, this project allowed us to "know what we didn't know" about how our customer service was perceived. Secondly, we invested in the educational aspects of our team delivering services.

All of this intel allowed that group to operate more efficiently and more profitably with rounding out new offerings to existing clients based on their personas.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Seamless communication with regular updates on project milestones. In some areas, they had to prompt our team to keep pace with their time commitment to us. They kept the project moving toward deliverables.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Creativity around problem solving.

Are there any areas for improvement?

None, great leadership and teamwork.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the technical product manager for Jack Henry. We’re one of the largest providers of banking services for banks and credit unions.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Visual Logic?

We’ve had a lengthy relationship dating back to 2017, but I’ve only been working directly with them for one year when I switched to a different internal group. They work on automating our internal marketing division. We’re a fast-moving, iterative group that’s run like a startup, so we needed a team that could keep up with us. Because we’re a big company, we’re not used to the quick pace, but the marketing group does.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Specifically, they’ve helped with continually updating sales materials including our group’s unique website, sales presentation, incredibly technical documentation for auditors. They’ve worked on a full breadth of things.

During the first couple of years — when I wasn’t working with them — I believe they were doing UI and UX work on some early products. Once those were going, they shifted into a sales and marketing services provider. This speaks to their range of capabilities. They’ve not only built some of our software but helped empower our sales team to have the information necessary to sell it. They’ve also helped us prepare our customers to position the software for resale to their customers.

What is the team composition?

We work with three individuals consistently, and I think they have one or two people behind the scenes as well.

How did you come to work with Visual Logic?

We had a prior relationship with one of the owners that was beneficial. They’re also a local business, so we had knowledge of them coming from the community. I’m not sure what the impetus was to engage them in 2017, but we’ve stuck with them for almost three years now.

How much have you invested with them?

We spend $350,000–$400,000 per year with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since July 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

One example is the due diligence documentation I talked about. Banks are under lots of pressure to show that they’ve done everything possible to be secure and that they’ve dotted all their “I”s and “T”s crossed. This means they get audited often and have to pull together information on all the services they use, including the 3rd-party services like ours. Visual Logic helped us put together a pre-canned package of all the things a bank or credit union would need to answer an auditor’s questions.

It’s a complex, complicated thing that Visual Logic made very visually appealing. We’ve gotten great feedback from financial institutions that have seen it or use it. I’ve personally been in pitch meetings where we’ve shown companies a documentation package we created just for them and they’ve taken huge sighs of relief. It’s a huge win for our customers.

Another example is the sales material they’ve helped us refine and better. We had old, terrible stuff on our sales team, but in the last six months alone we’ve generated dozens of new presentations specific to our products that have helped us sell like never before.

How did Visual Logic perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve done incredibly well. They have a Slack channel within our company and we speak 3–4 times a week depending on what’s going on; sometimes we speak every day. Sarah (Senior UX Designer), who manages the projects predominately, is phenomenal, which takes a lot of my worries away. She does a great job of understanding what our business is. We treat them like part of our internal team.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their level of involvement has made them part of our team. They took the time to understand what we were doing and that allows us to talk and communicate with them like a team member. We don’t have to re-explain things to them; it’s a seamless transition of knowledge that gets tasks done. They’re also great at taking what are sometimes very technical or complex ideas and turning them into stories anyone can understand, usually through written or visual representations.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of any.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Treat them like a part of your team. Get them involved and knock down the walls between you. Don’t treat them like a 3rd party, because then the magic won’t happen.