Wide Open Technologies

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the franchise support coordinator of a children’s fitness program organization.

What challenge were you trying to address with Wide Open Technologies?

We needed a platform where all of our franchisees could manage their businesses in the same place.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Wide Open Technologies is developing a web application for us. We started by having initial meetings with them to discuss our needs and the project’s scope, including the timelines for the various pieces we would develop. After a couple of months, they created the product, and we moved onto a troubleshooting phase to work through different enhancements and bugs that we needed to fix.

Currently, we have weekly meetings to tweak and improve the system as more and more locations are beginning to use the platform — the app will continue to expand its usability as our company grows.

What is the team composition?

We’ve been mainly working with three members of their team, including Mel (Director of Sales and Marketing) and Grant (Software Developer).

How did you come to work with Wide Open Technologies?

They were already working with our company when I took my current position.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in September 2021, and the engagement is ongoing.

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

Before building this software, we had no insight into the operations of our locations. Now, thanks to their work, we can have a complete view of our franchises in one place — not only can we see all of their business activities, but we can also see their entire staffing, their working hours, and collect royalties, among other reports. Additionally, we can now streamline our booking and communication processes to cut out all of our paperwork. Overall, they met our initial deliverables, which was great, and continue to add ongoing enhancements successfully — the system is a direct value add to our company, especially at the executive HQ level.

How did Wide Open Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Their project management is great; they respond in a timely manner, and we also have weekly check-in calls to align our priorities. In addition to that, we use an Assembler platform and Asana to submit tickets for any marketing, technology, software, and web-related issues that arise. For communication tools, we also have a Slack channel.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Their understanding of our business is outstanding; it feels like they have a genuine desire to see us succeed and grow as a company. Their willingness to contribute to the project sets them apart from their competitors.

Are there any areas they could improve?

At first, we had miscommunication issues where we didn’t give them that much space to speak into our ideas, so they were developing something that wasn't what we needed. Fortunately, we could adapt to a better groove collaboratively to ensure that we’re all operating in our roles adequately.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Take advantage of the upfront work to talk about the needs and details of the project at length — it’s important to provide them a voice when it comes to developing things because that’s what they’re good at.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m an administrative associate at Bearman CPA, a North Carolina-based CPA firm for nonprofit organizations and charter schools.

What challenge were you trying to address with Wide Open Technologies?

We needed their team to refurbish our website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our existing website was already outdated as it was established way back in 2007. Wide Open Technologies helped us address this challenge through their development and design expertise. 

We kicked off our engagement with a brainstorming session —  we communicated our company’s needs and showed them our existing logo and site content. They then provided some suggestions on how we could improve our platform, and they proceeded with drafting the initial design of our new website.

Once they got out team’s approval, Wide Open Technologies developed our website and customized its functionalities based on our feedback and preferences. We then asked them to manage our SEO and PPC efforts to drive organic site traffic and heighten our marketing efforts.

What is the team composition?

We worked with Kristin (Former Account Executive) and Mel (Creative Director), our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Wide Open Technologies?

We considered other teams, but Wide Open Technologies’ team had a thorough understanding of our needs and the concrete solutions to address those.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent $3,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project ran from March–August 2021.

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

Wide Open Technologies implemented customizations and design adjustments that truly improved our platform. We valued their professional and thorough process because it rewarded us with the exact solutions we needed.

How did Wide Open Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

We communicated via email and Zoom meetings, and we also had a couple of in-person meetings. They were inquisitive and detail-oriented — their team explored the ins and outs of our project and remained receptive to our feedback throughout the engagement.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We were most impressed with their communication skills. Mel was especially accommodating of our needs and edit requests even after the development phase. They were always flexible and open to communicate with us.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I didn’t think there were areas that needed improvement — everything was as easy as it could be on our end. Wide Open Technologies took their time in delivering results that met our expectations.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

They’re a very communicative team, so just make sure that you relay all your needs with transparency — Wide Open Technologies will take it from there and make your goals happen.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP and CFO of Carolina Mailboxes, Inc. We manufacture mailboxes, street signs, cluster boxes, and other outdoor amenities for the home. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Wide Open Technologies?

We took our previous website down, and Wide Open helped rebuild it from scratch.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Many years ago, Wide Open created our website. Recently, they redeveloped that site to make it much more user-friendly and switched it over to Shopify to help us cut down our costs. To kick off the project, I sent them photographs and information about the business and website. Mel (Creative Director) sent me emails and asked several questions. We worked with him to personalize the website a bit more; the content and visuals came organically from them, but I did the proofing. 

Moreover, they had to make the website more informational. We serviced large builders and development companies in North and South Carolina, homeowners’ associations, and B2C clients. As a result, the website needed separate pages for our business partners and customers. 

At present, they handle our SEO and Facebook ads. They make sure that we’re on the top search results, and the team also rotates reviews on our website. Further, our customers order some things based on their neighborhood. As a result, we’ll develop a mapping system where people can look at their neighborhood and find out what product is best for them. 

What is the team composition?

We work with three people from their team, and Mel is our main point of contact.

How did you come to work with Wide Open Technologies?

I found them online. Then, one of our business partners recommended them, too.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested between $50,000–75,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them in February 2011, and the partnership is ongoing. 

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

The website works well, and it has given us cost savings in terms of our bottom line. We’ve seen an increase in our sales year-over-year and month-over-month since switching to the new website. Traffic has been redirected to our website, which is so user-friendly that someone can easily look up what they need and order it. 

Anecdotally, we’ve received plenty of positive responses to the website. Our families and friends have been excited about it, and they’ve been impressed with the outcome. The same goes for our builders and land developers — the ones missing from the previous website — who work in the area of business where we generate the most income. End users can easily go to the website and get what they need any time of the day or night without worrying about phone calls or emails. 

How did Wide Open Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Mel is great at managing the project. He’s highly responsive and comes up with ideas that can help us grow and build the site. As a result, I’ve been pleased working with him. To communicate, we use Zoom meetings. We also talk over the phone and email; we have in-person meetings, too. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They take the time to understand our product, processes, and business. Previously, we had a process but lacked the understanding of what we do. Now, I don’t feel that way anymore. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there aren’t any. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Working with Open Wide is a business partnership. If you’re not willing to put in the energy to it and respond quickly to the team, then the project won’t work. Be prepared to invest your own time; don’t walk into the partnership thinking they’ll put everything together for you without your participation. If you do that, the website you’ll produce won’t be as successful as we have accomplished.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the VP of CR Lutzke; we’re also known as CR Lutzke Golf. We're a golf course design and construction company. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Wide Open Technologies?

Businesses have to have a website to be considered legit nowadays so we needed to create a presence on the worldwide web.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Open Wide’s first task was to ask us a lot of questions, and we had to think about those questions and what the answers were, including what image we were trying to portray. 

We fed them as much information as we could — some of which we already possessed and another portion that we had to collect: who we were, how we had arrived at where we were, where we wanted to go, and how we wanted to present ourselves. Because the golf industry is so focused on photos, we provided images. 

The partnership is still ongoing in the sense that Open Wide is providing ongoing support for the finished site. They're hosting it for us and helping with newsroom tasks and press releases as needed.

What is the team composition?

We worked with three people: John (Founder & CEO), Mel (Creative Director), and Kristen (Lead Account Executive), who isn’t there anymore but was very much a part of the work. This trio took care of all our needs. Kristen was more of the project manager, organizing meetings and information. Mel was the web designer, and John communicated with us at the beginning. 

How did you come to work with Wide Open Technologies?

We found them through a mutual friend.

How much have you invested with them?

We spent somewhere around $10,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in early fall, around September 2020, and we went live in February 2021. 

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

We’ve definitely received some feedback, mostly short comments about how nice the website is. People ask us who created the site because they feel that it’s well put together. They also praise its informative content. 

We weren’t looking to build a website where people can purchase items. Rather, it’s for people to reference when they’re considering utilizing our services. Wide Open Technologies accomplished this goal.

How did Wide Open Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication typically happens through email, but we certainly got on several Zoom meetings while developing the website. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

Well, in my short history of dealing with technology vendors, I know development takes a long time — often longer than it should. I appreciated Wide Open's sense of urgency. 

I wanted to avoid this becoming a six-month or year-long project that was full of regrets, dragging from day one to the end. Wide Open was spot on with their work pace. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

I knew going into the project that the people at Wide Open wouldn’t necessarily be connected to the golf world, and getting them to understand our field was the largest challenge. In a perfect world, we would have connected with a web design firm that possessed knowledge of golf course architecture, design, and construction. 

Any advice for potential customers?

Do your due diligence on the frontend before you hire them, collect as much information and as many images as you want to display on the site. Having all that together before you come to the table will help the process. Additionally, possess at least a 50% idea of what you want your website to look like, but don’t come in completely committed to any idea. Leave the door open to their suggestions; they’re good. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the software product manager for a franchise company that sells, installs, and services mobility and accessibility equipment. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Wide Open Technologies?

We outgrew the original developers of our custom software.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We offer custom software to our franchisees that allows them to manage leads and existing customers, quote, invoice, and manage inventory. As a franchisor, we use the platform to track their payments and collect royalties.

When we brought Wide Open Technologies onboard, they had to learn how to use our original custom code generator. The team had to maintain and make improvements on the software while also migrating the system from the code generator to a standard platform.

What is the team composition?

We work with three people: two developers and a project manager.

How did you come to work with Wide Open Technologies?

We searched online for local developers. I visited their location to chat with one of their project managers, and it seemed like a great fit. 

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent a little over $500,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together in January 2016 and the project is ongoing.

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

We onboarded them with a system full of bugs and inefficient processes. Within a year, the inquiries we received from our franchise owners and their teams dropped significantly. We saw a reduction of support requests by about 90% after Wide Open Technologies worked to make the system more intuitive and accessible. The amount of time, money, and effort we spend supporting software is down significantly as well. In general, they’ve done a great job of making upgrades to help support our growing business.

The team has completely rebuilt the UI/UX components of the solution so our web app is mobile-friendly and responsive. It’s been a great sales tool, and we’ve been able to increase sales and revenue and close more leads.

How did Wide Open Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Wide Open Technologies is great at project management. I work very closely with their developer, and I feel comfortable reaching out with questions or to schedule a meeting at any time. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re extremely easy to work with. I trust that Wide Open Technologies has our best interests in mind and that they care about our success. They take a lot of pride in their work, and it feels like we’re one team working together.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. They’re a small company with limited resources and they’ve always done a great job. If we need to increase the budget or increase hours, they always find a way to make it happen.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Do what you can to work with them. Provide the information they need so they can come up with a complete solution. Also, have someone in place who can work closely with them to really maximize the project’s success.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a department within our greater sales organization which manages a network of licensed mattress stores across the country. I am the senior manager of operations.

What challenge were you trying to address with Wide Open Technologies?

We had been using another company for web development, but they were more of a design shop, and we needed some extensive custom work, including shopping cart design, and the ability for our various licensees to customize their portions of the website.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Wide Open Technologies took our existing platform and rewrote elements in order to make it more usable by our 100+ dealers across the country, enabling them to manage product catalogs and so on. Our site was developed using the Magento platform. Wide Open Technologies is also providing ongoing support for the site.

We're now working with Wide Open Technologies in order to create a learning management system for dealers, allowing them to log in, take courses, have access to information about the business, take tests, and communicate with us.

How did you come to work with Wide Open Technologies?

Our previous developer referred us to Wide Open Technologies.

How much have you invested with Wide Open Technologies?

The total cost of our website development with Wide Open Technologies was around $50,000 and we have a monthly retainer set up with them to address new projects and needs.

What is the status of this engagement?

We have been working with Wide Open Technologies since 2013. We have an ongoing relationship. Since our original mattress website project, we've had Wide Open Technologies put together an informational website for a convention, as well as a business opportunities page.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

I don't have hard stats, but Wide Open Technologies has been great to work with. Our needs fluctuate; there may be a week in which I don't have any ongoing requests for Wide Open Technologies, after which I'll pepper them with a number of requests for changes, questions on the backend, and so on.

How did Wide Open Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

They do a very good job of managing tasks in order to use up our allotted time efficiently, making sure that we don't overspend. For the most part, Wide Open Technologies is good and quick on requests. If I need to approach Wide Open Technologies for an update, they'll tackle it right away.

What did you find most impressive about Wide Open Technologies?

One thing that I like about Wide Open Technologies is that they are flexible and good at problem solving. There have been times when we approached Wide Open Technologies with something that we needed to accomplish, and they came up with a couple of different ways of doing it. Wide Open Technologies understands the programming and logic behind our site, so they can come up with ways of making our goals happen.

Are there any areas Wide Open Technologies could improve?

They are doing well as a company, and have a number of customers. Occasionally, we would have wanted to have more resources on Wide Open Technologies' team.  At one time, Wide Open Technologies was relaunching a big website, which was taking their focus away from other projects.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work for Broadfield Distributing and VideoGuys.com. I am the Marketing Director of the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Wide Open Technologies?

We needed to find a Magento developer who could take the existing data from our previous custom-designed PHP website and integrate it with the new one.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Wide Open Technologies designed our Magento e-commerce websites, including initial designs, templates, and the entire check-out process.

We've also integrated a WordPress CMS [content management system} engine with Wide Open Tech's help, and we are using them for SEO services.

How did you come to work with Wide Open Technologies?

We were referred to Wide Open Tech by a vendor partner at the NAB Show.

How much have you invested with Wide Open Technologies?

The price is confidential.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with Wide Open Tech 4 years ago, and have an ongoing relationship.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

The feedback from the industry has been great. Our catalog has grown to over 2,000 products, and we've had a huge success in reaching out to new vendors and product lines. We offer 1,000 downloadable software products, which we didn't have the capability for previously. Our business has grown by 30%.

How did Wide Open Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

Unfortunately, nothing was delivered on time, given that challenges popped up left and right. Wide Open Tech's team did their best to work with us every step of the way. The largest challenge was integrating our previous website's data, without losing anything.

What did you find most impressive about Wide Open Technologies?

As challenges came up, Wide Open Tech brought additional people into the mix, helping us address them and adding further expertise, beyond the initial team.

Are there any areas Wide Open Technologies could improve?

No.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Connected Investors is a social network for real estate professionals. I am the Chief Technology Officer of the company.

What challenge were you trying to address with Wide Open Technologies?

We have the largest online network of real estate investors. We had a system that had been put in place years ago. It was a challenge for many reasons. From a technical point of view, it wasn't very sound, and it was missing many of the elements which are necessary within an enterprise software, in terms of maintaining engagement, built-in metrics, and general architecture. We wanted to gut what we had, and rebuild the platform using the right framework, with the right architecture and vision in mind.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Wide Open Technologies offered us some guidance initially. Our CEO [Chief Executive Officer] had an idea in his head, but he needed a group that could turn that idea into reality. As we continued, we came to the design of a social network and online marketplace, featuring integration with all kinds of third-party apps and tools, from CRM [customer relationship management] billing systems, analytics tracking, and other backend functionalities.

We also wanted to create a fully-functional mobile application. Especially within real estate, people will be on the move, so half of our engagements are from mobile devices.

How did you come to work with Wide Open Technologies?

They're local to our company. Our CEO called a few people, and Wide Open Technologies came highly recommended.

How much have you invested with Wide Open Technologies?

We haven't had a conventional project with Wide Open Technologies. Usually, when engaging a developer, the client will bring them fully-baked specifications, and ask for a budget. In our scenario, Wide Open Technologies didn't have this luxury, given that my company was unable to provide full requirements. Our CEO is a dreamer, and he saw different elements in his mind. We came up with our concept as we went, so we managed the work as more of a continuous evolution, than a traditional project.

Our project with Wide Open Technologies has involved the creation of our entire platform, along with its integrations.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started our project with Wide Open Technologies 3 years ago. We continue to work together every day, all day.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Two years ago, when we brought our new site live, it replaced the old system overnight. In doing so, given that everything was new, I expected the house to be on fire for weeks. Everyone was on-deck, ready to jump in at any moment. When the site went live, everything worked. We did find a couple of bugs, but everything was fully-functional to the point of making me think that it was offline, given the lack of issues.

I've done this for a long time, but our site was the biggest turn-up that I've been a part of.

Another factor of success is that, with Wide Open Technologies' help, we have implemented some world-class metrics and analytics through which we run the business on a day-to-day basis. Because of the way in which we architected the site, we can see every detail of our business, and take action on it. I am willing to put our analytics against anybody else's, including much larger companies. This is in great part because of Wide Open Technologies and their efforts in helping us get the work right.

How did Wide Open Technologies perform from a project management standpoint?

We have implemented some processes in working with Wide Open Technologies, which have been helpful. We have an Agile scrum methodology, tracking and iterating tasks together with Wide Open Technologies. This enables us not only to make things happen, but also to manage the project. I have weekly calls with our project manager from Wide Open Technologies, during which we review the week and talk about the priorities for the following one. From a project management point of view, we've been very pleased.

What did you find most impressive about Wide Open Technologies?

Our CEO is the person who engaged Wide Open Technologies. He's somewhat of a dreamer, so as I said, we didn't work off of specs, but rather had many discussions and made multiple changes. Wide Open Technologies' ability to listen and help us create a product has been notable. Any development company can take up a task when they're told what to do. With Wide Open Technologies, the differentiator was that they understood our business to a level at which they could offer both taking a hill, if that's what we wanted, but also going around it, if that was the easier option. Because they understand our business, Wide Open Technologies can think of the right answer, instead of just listening to what we want them to do. We can be wrong, but Wide Open Technologies is very consultative in helping us at those times.

Are there any areas Wide Open Technologies could improve?

Anything that I could say about Wide Open Technologies, I could say about anyone else.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with Wide Open Technologies?

Whenever a client works with a third party which is outside of their company, there will be specific issues. The vendor's team will not be 100% dedicated to our needs, so we have to be sensitive to the fact that we can have our heads deep into a problem which needs solving, but our partner may need to jump off and solve other people's problems for a while.