Vsourz

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder and director of a digital marketing agency. We work with companies that are small-to-medium-sized enterprises. Currently, we’re working mainly with B2B companies, but in the past, we have worked with B2C companies too. There are three full-time employees, and we use a lot of agencies and freelancers to patch up areas where we don’t have resources.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vsourz?

We bring Vsourz into our projects because they offer a level of technical SEO understanding that we and our clients don’t have within our organizations. Their main value comes from web development, both from front and backend perspectives.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

When we start a project with them, we usually have a call with their CEO and tell him the client’s needs. After their team has talked and made sure the requirements are all possible, we move on to a client’s kickstart call, where we’ll go over the entire strategy. They come back to us promptly with a PDF proposal, in which they break down the timeline and the budget we specified. If that looks good, we’ll have another call. If everything gets approved, we’ll kick off the project, usually within the same week.
 
We recently did an SEO migration project with a car parts marketplace; they work with some of Europe’s biggest car manufacturers to sell genuine original equipment manufacturer (OEM) parts directly to consumers. Their website was rebranded, but there were issues with the migration process. Since the website was offline for a while, we lost search equity and Google started unindexing pages. Vsourz first alerted us of the situation, telling us what was going wrong, and then recommended us a plan to gain back some of the equity by building around 50,000–60,000 backlinks from old pages on the domain to pages on the new website. It was quite an extensive job.
 
They've also provided a lot of recommendations to us on how we should structure the pages, label the images, and some other things that have given us pretty great results. 
 
What is the team composition?

We've mainly worked with the web development team, the web design team, and the SEO team. We usually collaborate with the same three people, and one of them is our team leader. However, sometimes Tarang (CEO) gets involved to ensure the quality of the work. 
 
The only time we worked with a different team was when we did a website design project. We were referred by them to an agency in Barcelona. They had their own team, and we were in contact with their leader and her design assistant. The whole way, they communicate across different organizations and parts of the company seems pretty consistent.
 
How did you come to work with Vsourz?

We first met Vsourz in January 2018. I was brought into a project to help with marketing, and at the same time, another firm was brought in to develop and rebrand the website. I wanted to make sure that, from a marketing perspective, our efforts and contributions weren’t working against each other. That’s when I met Vsourz and started to work closely with them. When I assumed more responsibility within the business, we had to decide whether we were going to keep them on. We really liked what they did, so we kept them on a support retainer. 
 
When I eventually moved on from that business, I was really impressed with how they always delivered on time and within a great budget. Since then, I’ve brought them on for 2–3 other projects.
 
How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent at least £30,000 (approximately $41,000 USD) in the last year, but the client always pays through me.
 
What is the status of this engagement?

We met in January 2018, but we didn’t actually hire them until March 2019. We’re still working together.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

For the migration project I mentioned, we essentially created a brand new website with zero equity and zero domain ranking. Within three months, we had recovered most of the SEO loss, and they had increased organic traffic by 45%, making it a revenue-generating business entirely from direct search. That was a pretty big win. 
 
Additionally, speed of results is one of their main values. They were able to develop a brand new multi-page, completely customized WordPress website within two weeks. One time, they actually had to develop a website in about 72 hours, working over the weekend to meet our deadline. That was much appreciated. 
 
How did Vsourz perform from a project management standpoint?

They manage well enough, but I’ve never really tested them in terms of project management — that’s an extra add-on to a typical project. 
 
As the intermediary between the client and Vsourz, I would be the acting project manager. In that manner, they’ve always been helpful to me.
 
What did you find most impressive about them?

I've been in the industry for a while, about five years, and I've spoken to a lot of different agencies, especially those based in London They're one of the most affordable agencies that you can get. More cost-effective partnerships sometimes lack quality, but Vsourz has found a way to offer high-end code at a fraction of the price of other high-quality agencies. That's where they really shine and why I use them as an agency.
 
They’re also a very tight, neat team. They're quite good at listening to what we need and our concerns and objectives. They’re very happy to work above-average hours, even if you're not paying them for those extra hours. They answer any questions, and they’re there when you need them. They don’t cut you off if you’re not still engaging and paying them on a regular basis. 
 
Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes there's a bit of a language barrier. Since they outsource a lot of work to India, sometimes they have trouble communicating things in a way that's simple and understandable to English speakers. It’s the way they're able to make their work affordable, so it's not really something that they can improve on. However, some clients may prefer an agency that works within the same cultural and colloquial terms.
 
Any advice for potential customers?

Make sure that when you hire them, you have a direction. I wouldn't expect them to solve your problem completely for you. If you give them the direction, they will offer their expertise and collaborate with you to achieve that. They're like a partner to your vision, rather than someone that sets the vision for you. Some people look for agencies that are just going to do everything for them. Maybe Vsourz can, but I haven’t had that experience with them and wouldn't expect them to do that.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the owner and CEO of my own marketing and communication agency. We work in several fields including sports, cosmetics, and real estate which are our primary clients. We also run traditional campaigns, but for the last 10 years, we have been focused on all things digital.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vsourz?

We have been gaining a lot of clients over the last few years so we needed programming and web design support.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Vsourz handles our project management, programming, and web design, depending on the project. They use many technologies and platforms. Many of the systems they use have been developed by them. Most of the time, they do programming and project management. At other times, they handle the whole project.

They have their own team and I talk directly to them. I find the clients and then put the projects in the pipeline for them to work on. They give me a lot of flexibility in terms of day-to-day working, and the day-to-day needs of my clients.  

What is the team composition?

I work directly with 20–30 people from their team. They have a huge team of people. For every project, there is a different project manager depending on the technology that is used, whether it is WordPress, Joomla, Magento, or others.

I am also in contact with the owner of the company so if something urgent happens, I can contact him directly which for me, is very important.

How did you come to work with Vsourz?

I was trying to find a project manager. I found Vsourz because they started working in Barcelona, and I decided to try them.

How much have you invested in them?

We have invested €500,000 euros (approximately $600,000 USD).

What is the status of this engagement?

We started in maybe January 2012, and the work is still ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It’s very easy to work with them. You can call them at any time. They have an emergency telephone and if something happens you can call them.

One of the projects they worked on was for a corporation that is dealing with more than $100,000 per year, and they are doing quite well. The project we are working on now is for quite a big real estate client that has 2,500 flats in Barcelona. The rental process is done online, and as of today, they have a monthly income of €300,000, which will be growing.

How did Vsourz perform from a project management standpoint?

Our project manager works with their project manager. We get the client's request, start building the phases of the project, and then we have a meeting with their project manager. We explain the processes that we want to follow and how the client needs to perform, and then we start the weekly meetings until the project is done.

They have their own creative system for project management. They are perfect in time management, and they deliver the work on time. We are very satisfied with that.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their capacity to understanding what the client needs is impressive. They are based all over the world, so there is a mix of cultures. Many times, when you are working on a big project, there are cultural differences, and they are open-minded enough to see and hear what the client is demanding.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their services are not cheap, but I understand that good things are often costly. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Talk to the owner and the team. Many times, the owner might not have the knowledge that the developers have. They might have something in mind, that is possible to do, but it could be more costly.

When we talk directly to the technical team, things can be smoother because they know personally what is possible and what isn’t. Many times owners request something that is impossible, or possible but very costly, and Vsourz put all the possibilities we have on the table.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the CEO of Refteck Solutions Limited. We are an oil and gas service company based out of the UK. We started in 2007, and then we set up our operation in the United States where we are based in Illinois. In 2018, we set up our German operations. We basically have three operations, but we are one group and brand.

When we started it was oil and gas only, but over the last five to seven years, we have diversified into mining energy, the rubber industry which is mostly tires, aviation, general manufacturing, and the appliance industry.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Vsourz?

Our biggest problem is that we are working in multiple time zones, and we wanted to be able to work with our teams in a cohesive manner. If team A is doing some work, we needed to figure out how team B will know what team A is doing. We needed better workflow management and an SAP ERP.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Planning and management were a challenge for us, and we went to Vsourz and asked them to build a small workflow management prototype just to see how it would work. They completed a very small pilot for us.

We rolled it out internally to test it out and it worked vert welll, so we decided to keep on adding to it. We have had 22 rollouts since then, adding additional features and functionalities, whether it was the calibration of an offer to uploading a purchase order, loading a passcode, or running a purchase order system, then finally billing, shipping, logistics, as well as payment management.

I call it an SCM, which is supply chain management. They created the entire thing for us on .NET. The whole system is built around the business, and it was built from the ground up. It is exclusive to us.

Additionally, they also built our website which is on WordPress. They also work on SEO, and we are number one worldwide for oil and gas equipment suppliers. They help us with the content, landing pages, the depth of research, and mapping the competition against our pages was key. Then they looked at all the gaps that we could use to optimize our pages in favor of better ranking. It was all very above the board.

Right now, they are creating a big blog about oil and gas, and they are doing a lot of research. Their researchers bring me all the keywords that we are missing and all of the things that we can use to bring our blog up. The blog may be used on LinkedIn or all of the social media profiles. They are doing work for us all the time, and they are very integrated within our business.

What is the team composition?

The .NET team has 4–5 people, and there were 2–3 people that were involved in creating our site. That same team is creating the blog. There is another team of four that is working on the SEO on an ongoing basis.

How much have you invested in them?

We have invested close to $50,000 USD so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them around December 2017 and it's ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Oil and gas equipment supplier is one key phrase and all the key phrases around that particular group of key phrases have had a 180% growth year on year for SEO. Our SCM tool is being used by 50 people daily, every day.

How did Vsourz perform from a project management standpoint?

They were amazing. They are really very hard-working people. We had used Basecamp, and everything was done through that. They recently migrated to their own project management system, and I have full access to it.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their commitment to the deliverables was everything to us. We are a small company, and we don’t have millions of dollars sitting in the bank that can be invested, so for every dollar that we invested, there had to be some value associated with it.

I had to show that I am improving productivity somewhere or doing something that is improving the quality of work of my team members, and they delivered spot on, all the time.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I would never want to change the team I have because they know the product, and you fall into that comfort zone. We are very comfortable working with them, so I wouldn’t want to change anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You will see 100% energy and full commitment from them which is very hard to find when you don’t know someone.