The Websuasion Group

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the Director of Operations at BCK Consulting. We're a management consulting firm, and our partners are psychologists. We work with organizations on personnel and management problems, pre-hire assessment, executive coaching and training, and board of directors evaluation. It’s pretty much anything you would hire an external consultant to do at the upper echelons of an organization.

What challenge were you trying to address with Websuasion?

We initially reached out because we were looking for website development.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They developed the website from scratch and come out to our office to help with content. Both their expertise and their copywriter helped us pare down and focus on what we wanted. That was our first engagement with them.

Additionally, we have a sister company that’s product is an online portal where our clients have a custom link they can use to order testing for their candidates and internal people. They also built that from scratch for us. Essentially, our clients go and log in, and they manage their people through the site. They coded both websites with HTML; it wasn’t Wordpress or another CMS.

What is the team dynamic?

Our project manager is Ryan Williams. We've met with Andy and a couple of other people as well, but they’re all in communication.

How did you come to work with Websuasion?

I found them through Thumbtack. We interviewed a number of website development groups, and they were by far our favorite. They have experience with data analytics and building client facing interfaces, which is something we were looking to do in a beta version not in that initial engagement, but in a future iteration. We wanted to create a relationship with a company who could do that.

How much have you invested with them?

About $15,000-$20,000 so far, but we're about to start a big project which will be fairly expensive.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in May 2015, and the engagement is ongoing. They were actually in our office last week.

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

We’ve saved hundreds of hours over the course of our relationship, with the creation of the portal they built for us.

How did Websuasion perform from a project management standpoint?

They’ve come into the office and we’ve met in person, however we primarily communicate through email and phone. I prefer to keep things as easy as possible. They’re really response with that stuff, and it’s helpful.

Overall, it’s gotten better over the course of the past couple years. Initially, they might have thought that it was a one-and-done deal with the website. We’re not a huge company, so it was more difficult in that first round and things took a little bit longer than we anticipated, but that’s also probably because I kept changing things. The communication is great now.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their depth of expertise is really good. They're very confident that they can execute against any kind of demands. They're also very realistic and upfront about what is needed to get something done, and what things might be impossible.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could be a little more responsive on certain things like quotes, and things like that which take longer than anticipated.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Sionic Mobile is a mobile commerce and loyalty company that facilitates companies gaining access to mobile customers through various mobile applications as well as through our loyalty marketplace. My name is Bob Burroughs, and I am in charge of product development, operations, and customer care. Also with us is Vice President of Marketing, Cedric Brown, whose team does UI/UX, PR, and social media for all our websites and applications.

What challenge were you trying to address with Websuasion?

As the company grew we wanted to take our websites to the next level, above what we could produce in-house.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Starting from a creative vision, Websuasion used a flexible web development toolkit to build out various website designs. They also collaborated with our in-house development team to create a 'merchant portal' that supports the loyalty marketplace with multiple API's.

What is the team dynamic?

Our primary contact has been the founder and owner, Ryan. He allocates their resources to meet our needs, but I don't know how many developers they have on staff.

How did you come to work with Websuasion?

After researching and interviewing various web-development companies, we interviewed Websuasion. They stood out because of their expertise and understanding of our needs and really seemed like a good fit. After they had been doing website design for a year or two, we tapped their resources for the development of the merchant portal, because it was easier than introducing a whole new partner to our business model.

How much have you invested with them?

In total, we have invested in the range of $200,000 to $1,000,000 with Websuasion since 2014.

What is the status of this engagement?

The relationship began in October 2014, expanded into the portal development about a year after, and is ongoing.

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

From a marketing standpoint, their work has been hugely beneficial to our public image and has expanded our reach for potential partnerships and future business. On the development of the merchant portal, their work this year eliminated several thousand lines of code, which will enable new features and functionality to be added much more efficiently.

How did Websuasion perform from a project management standpoint?

Websuasion is very responsive, easy to work with, and is typically on top of any tasks we need within the timelines we provide. We use Jira for project management and Zoom and GoToMeeting for communication. We are also comfortable using email because they know our product so well that there isn't a lot of back and forth. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

We see Websuasion more as a partner than a vendor because they consistently provide ideas and suggestions to improve our processes and products, rather than simply taking our specifications verbatim and churning out code.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Understand that with any development partner it will take some time for them to understand your business and learn your needs, although Websuasion got through that phase fairly easily.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a 20-25-person start-up in Irvin, CA, that recently finished a large FDA clinical trial for a new glaucoma device.

What challenge were you trying to address with Websuasion?

We needed a website portal built for the device. The portal needed to comply with HIPPA regulations in the United States and laws governing the 50 international sites where medical practices use our product. Specifically, we had to collect data from these sites in a method that did not violate any policies. We also wanted to query this data in multiple ways to track: different types of glaucoma, medication classifications, and surgeries performed.

Given the international scope of our operations, the portal had to be user-friendly to all users. We intended this portal as a tool for doctors to publish reports more effectively. The particular details involved required a vendor that understood nuances in the ophthalmology field. We were looking for a team that could make the portal’s output logical from a medical perspective.

What was the scope of their involvement?

The team built the website portal after completing brainstorming sessions with our office. It’s difficult to explain the details involved because they were massive, complex and particular. In short, they developed the portal to process data from all applicable cases while our device was still pending FDA approval.

They also provided us with resources and support as we coordinated with different stakeholders in our organization and associates across the 50 sites. Currently, they use the portal to generate medical reports whenever a doctor we work with requests one.

What is the team dynamic?

Ryan took the lead on the project as our main point of contact. He had a three-person-team that supported him. The team presented to different stakeholders including clinical groups, marketing teams and corporate officers using accessible language.

How did you come to work with Websuasion?

They had previously worked on the website for my children’s nonprofit organization. I complimented Ryan on his performance and asked him if he and his team were the right people for the project I needed. He said they were and we got started.

How much have you invested with them?

We have spent approximately $70,000. The initial budget stood at $40,000 - $50,000, however we added components to the project as it progressed. We found the total cost very reasonable for what we received.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project started in April 2016 with an August 1 deadline. They delivered the portal on deadline, but it continues to be a work in progress. We still do improvements.

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

Approximately 70% of the 50 sites actively input data into the portal. That is a huge success because the number includes some sites that have not been formally introduced to it yet. For doctors, the portal is a success because it creates the charts, graphs and tables they need for publication; it reduces grunt work drastically.

How did Websuasion perform from a project management standpoint?

The team completed all their work either on time or early. They customized their communications to each person they worked with in our office by providing unique reporting for each of us that reflected our level and function at the company. They also structured their approach to think like a medical practice in creating an intuitive product, which made the project a fluid experience.

The project was a multi-level operation and they hit every deliverable we asked of them. I think that’s very unique.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were able to provide everything to everyone. Incredibly, they started out knowing nothing about ophthalmology and learned the field quickly in order to discuss it with us intelligently. As a result, they created a beautiful and dynamic website. Initially, I was ambivalent if they were the right people for the project, but they turned out to be right team for the job.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The only issue involved communication when I was on the other side of the world. Sometimes I couldn’t reach anyone because they were asleep. However, that is how time difference and operating hours work; it wasn’t their fault.

Advice for potential customers?

I do not because I don’t believe they would treat anybody else the way they treated me. I don’t know how I could improve upon that.