Rave Digital

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the lead commercial photographer for one of the top product photography agencies based out of Kolkata, India. We’ve carried out over 1,000 campaigns and are an authorized vendor for online shopping websites like Amazon, Flipkart, and Snapdeal.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Rave Infosys?

We approached Rave Infosys for web design and development.

What were your goals for this project?

Our aim was to appeal to other e-commerce businesses as their product photography partners.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I had worked with them before at other companies, so I knew them and their work process very well. Because of their experience with multiple e-commerce projects, our board members selected them to handle our digital marketing as well.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

We provide high-quality and design-driven product photography and have a complete service offering which includes creating a strategic process, suggesting the style of photography, and producing highly-crafted photographs. We wanted to design our business concept from scratch, so Rave Infosys helped take our business idea from a concept phase all the way to branding and launch.

What was the team composition?

We worked with five members of their team—a WordPress developer, two frontend developers, a QA specialist, and a project manager.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

I approached Rave Infosys knowing they had great strategic thinking coupled with an understanding of the e-commerce market. What they brought to the project went above and beyond our expectations. Their process helped us achieved the right website design. Our collaboration continues for our digital marketing efforts.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

They’re proactive and provide regular reports. We use Teamwork for task assignment and management.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their project management is very well organized and they provided great suggestions. They weren’t the cheapest option, but they’re definitely the best.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was the Key Account Manager at Atlantic Patio, and I was responsible for developing operating and capital budgets and managing external financial and legal relationships on behalf of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Rave Infosys?

We wanted to upgrade our existing website to the Magento Enterprise platform because we are expanding to the European region and the pricing and taxes for our products are different for the U.S. and European markets. We also sought recommendations for a multi-location inventory system that can be integrated with Magento. We wanted to hire an agency that could help us with the rebuild and provide valuable insight.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to rebuild our website on the Magento platform and incorporate multilingual and multi-currency capabilities.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

Rave Infosys responded to our initial RFP, and we selected them based on their ability to meet our requirements. Their side proved to be agreeable during the drafting of a contract.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

We were upgrading our website for merchants and dealers, and it became a more complicated process due to larger bulk orders, countless product customization options, and extra negotiations around pricing and terms. The primary task was adding B2B quote functionality for the website. For multilingual functionality, we wanted different translations based on the marketplace instead of relying on Google translations. For the U.S. site., we provided English and Spanish capabilities and U.S. dollars as the currency option. For Europe, we included French, English, German, and Spanish options, with the euro and pounds for currency.

What was the team composition?

We interacted regularly with a team of developers, an account/project manager, and several developmental leads.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

Before the upgrade, we were receiving 20 B2C transactions per day. After the upgrade and launch of B2B, we saw a notable increase in B2B and POS locations. The average order value has increased from $24 to $32.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Rave performed exceptionally well during our project. Our project was very challenging, both in scope and timeline, but we are satisfied with Rave’s time and budget management.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

I was impressed with the attention to detail the team had throughout the upgrade. As challenges arose, their team provided troubleshooting options and remained on schedule.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

No, each issue was addressed quickly, professionally, and competently. I have no problem recommending Rave to anyone looking for e-commerce consultation.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m director of IT operations at a jewelry store, which sells men’s wallets, clips, and gifts.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Rave Infosys?

We needed a vendor to migrate our existing WooCommerce website to Magento. We also wanted to integrate third-party email and marketing tools in the new site.

What were your goals for this project?

We aimed to stay competitive in the e-commerce space by offering a better end-customer experience. We expected the new Magento features to transform our business model to that end.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

I met the CEO and lead engineer at an industry conference.

Describe the scope of their work in detail.

They completed the migration and third-party integrations. The team did testing on a staging server before launching the site.

What was the team composition?

The team included one team lead and four senior developers.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Sales, organic traffic, and conversion rates all increased on Magento. The marketing integrations, which departed from the old site’s paid channels, aided these results.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

We appreciated their service and support; they responded efficiently to our queries. The team was highly-skilled.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

We enjoyed the partnership, particularly their expertise. Although this project ended, we look forward to an ongoing relationship. They were worth the investment.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, I can’t think of anything. They delivered everything on time, which is rare for development agencies. Overall, they couldn’t have better.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Rave Infosys?

We needed to develop a CRM.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to establish a CRM system that would support our leads and customers from first their first contact with us to their entire life cycle with our company. Additionally, we needed the CRM to actively track our sales team, provide more insight for upper management, and improve the overall operations at our call centers.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We hired Rave after doing extensive research and evaluating some of their case studies. They made sure to fully understand our business, sales process, customer service needs, and how our organization operated in order to build a fully-customized CRM that worked for us.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

Rave customized and built the CRM from beginning to end while giving us great suggestions.

What was the team composition?

We had a full team of developers, an account manager, and a CRM expert to help guide this project.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

I'm embarrassed to admit how much money we were wasting in not capitalizing on marketing, burning through leads, missing opportunities and follow-ups, etc. Rave changed all that for us and it’s as if we're running a completely different business.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

They were highly effective in this regard. Their communication was great throughout the entirety of the project, and everything was done on time as promised.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their commitment to understanding every aspect of our business was outstanding. Most people just want the bare minimum of specs in order to quote the job, however, Rave took their time to fully understand our business process inside and out.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the lead project manager for a software company that uses technology and unique selling points to assist people all over the world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Rave Infosys?

One of our business associates wanted to develop a Magento e-commerce website for natural beauty products and cosmetics. We have no experience with the Magento platform, so we engaged Rave.

What were your goals for this project?

The goal was end-to-end design and development with a payment gateway, integrated shopping cart, and built-in custom extensions to enhance functionality.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We found them through an online search for Magento-certified developers. We interviewed a few vendors, but Rave’s professionalism and technical skills were unmatched, so we started working with them.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

We wanted to build a core website from scratch with features like product filers, product reviews, product listings in grid or list format, breadcrumbs, inventory and content management, and related products. We wanted a very clean display and interface. They incorporated several best features from reference websites we provided them.

What was the team composition?

There was one developer, one designer, and one quality analyst.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

The website was highly intuitive with a clean layout and robust functionality.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

The team was really good to work with. Their organized project cycle was the most streamlined approach I’ve ever seen, and I was exceptionally impressed by their start-to-finish design experience. Rather than automatically agree to customizations or suggestions, they talked through different scenarios and discussed them with me before we came to a decisions together.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

The entire team was very easy to communicate with. I appreciated my three in-person visits, which were useful in allowing me to put names with faces and see how their workspace operates.. With phenomenal coding skills and a good understanding of the core technology, they are able to build custom, scalable solutions that can grow with the client.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

They are talented Magento developers who can easily create custom site features. There was nothing they couldn’t do and they delivered everything we asked for. I’ve had a good relationship with them, and we’ve done a lot of business together.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I’m the director of IT for a company in the automotive paint body and equipment segment. We are a B2B supplier for jobbers, who offer all of our products to body shops. We supply anything needed to fix a dented car, including paint, Bondo, and sandpaper.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Rave Infosys?

When I started working for the company 3 ½ years ago, we had a proprietary B2B system. We didn't own any of the product content or programs. The system was eight years old, and no further development was being done. We wanted to move away from this limited system and start our own system from scratch.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed to update our e-commerce sites and processes in order to improve business efficiency and increase our growth past the stagnation we had been experiencing the last few years.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

During our vendor-review process, Rave Infosys really stood out from the other firms we evaluated. I liked their experience and the way that they communicated with us. I felt that we were getting a partner, not just another technology vendor.

Describe the project in detail.

This was a major project, including software development and the creation of all product content like descriptions and photos for 30,000 items. Once we chose the Magento platform, Rave Infosys basically provided all of our client customizations.

In addition to design and development, Rave Infosys offered suggestions about areas we needed to change. They integrated our backend database with the Magento system. Since we’re a B2B company, each of our customers can have a different pricing tier for every product. So, a lot of integration needs to happen in order to allow live information about our different inventories across multiple warehouses. This is accomplished through live calls to our backend, which are fed into the Magento platform.

Substantial logic determines which items customers should get and when, as well as what they'll have to pay. We have 15 warehouse locations but don't stock all our products in each one. Because of this, we needed an additional layer between the shopping cart and the actual checkout, which we called the "decision page." This section allows us to determine the best way to ship a product to a customer who is expecting next-day delivery, based on product availability and customer location. The system now tells customers which items will come from the primary location and which items will ship from the next closest one. The client then can choose to place items on back order until the primary warehouse can ship them.

What was the team composition?

We worked with a project manager from Rave Infosys, and their owner was also involved. I don't know how many programmers were assigned, but I only cared about the work getting done. Rave Infosys now provides ongoing support.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

With our old site, our company's growth was nearly stagnant, sitting at around 3%. That is basically our cost-of-living, based on inflation. In our first full year using the new system developed by Rave Infosys, our growth went up to 17%. After a couple of weeks, everyone was using our site. The change may have happened more slowly because our previous page hadn’t been updated in over eight years, so our clients had to adjust their expectations.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The communication was more than adequate, and they handled every stage of the project well.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Rave Infosys is a partner, not just a vendor; I think that says it all.

Are there any areas for improvement?

Rave Infosys delivered our system on time and within budget. I can't complain.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the head of the IT department of Envisia Group, an e-commerce company. My job is to ensure all online systems are running smoothly and new projects are progressing according to plan. We invest heavily in technology to maintain our customer relationship management (CRM) platform.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Rave Infosys?

We wanted to build our own shopping cart system as well as a CRM platform to provide customer support.

What were your goals for this project?

We needed the ability to manage products, marketing campaigns, payment gateways, and merchant accounts. Our main goal was to provide smooth and error-free checkout for customers. The platform had to support different checkout types so that we could experiment with different styles of selling various products. In order to monitor the system and sales activities, we needed different reports from the platform. We also wanted to provide call center support, including telephone calls and emails. Lastly, we needed to track affiliate sales and commissions.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

They were chosen after we worked briefly with the CEO of the company, Ravi Mittal, on a smaller project. We were so impressed by his team's work on that project that we decided to hire them to build our shopping cart. Ravi's ideas and his team's technical skills helped us immensely over the course next few years.

Describe the project in detail.

Initially, we had meetings to discuss the requirements for the project. We used to meet thrice a week —Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. After Rave Infosys provided us with wireframes and mockups, we worked closely on the database architecture and his team started work on the code development.

Over the course of a year, we completed 6–7 modules, which were enough for our first launch in July 2008. Once the base system was live, Rave started working on adding and enhancing modules in the system, based on our needs. His team also kept the system up and running.

What was the team composition?

We worked with one project manager, two team leads, five developers, and one quality assurance tester.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What outcomes or results can you share that demonstrate progress and/or success?

Our initial subscription launch went smoothly and helped us generate revenue right away. We could also manage gateways and merchant accounts using the admin section, allowing us to monitor all transactions.

How effective was the project management?

Ravi was the project manager, and he ensured that all modules and features were completed on time. Delays were rare, and they let us know why they occurred.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They understood our business process and provided ideas during discovery meetings and problem-solving sessions. They were an awesome team.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm Co-founder of Kloud 9 Vapes, an online store for vaporizer products. We sell e-Cigarettes, e-Hookahs, e-Shisha Sticks & Cartomizers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what reason(s) did your company hire Rave Infosys?

We had just purchased a Salesforce License and needed help implementing it.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to maximize our use of Salesforce.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor?

We had worked with Rave previously on our Magento store and they did a great job, so we decided to use them for our Salesforce needs as well. We had a  discovery call where we discussed our company's needs and they came up with a plan of exactly we needed and a time frame.

Describe the project in detail.

We had a few things we wanted help within SalesForce. We needed help with general customization; creating views, customizing reports and fields, and setting up automated campaigns. We also needed it to integrate with our phone service,  e-mail, and e-commerce site.

What was the team composition?

We were assigned a Salesforce certified engineer to work with us, who was available on email or calls on my time zone schedule, which was important.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Our internal team can now easily track our company's sales, marketing efforts, and overall progress of the company. Our entire office loves it. There is no information that goes missing and we have a clear view of our sales funnel.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The workflow was super effective. They gave us a clear deadline and worked tirelessly to meet the deadline. At the same time, they gave us updates and were available to schedule calls when needed.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They are not just an IT solution company. They don't limit themselves to just what you ask them to accomplish. They really understand Salesforce and made many useful recommendations that helped us to get the most value out of this powerful tool. They brainstormed with us and came up with great ways to use Salesforce in our industry, improving our marketing efforts.

Are there any areas for improvement?

From what I saw, everything was handled very well by them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Medcare is a national DME (durable medical equipment) company which enrolls patients across the country and ships medical supplies to their homes. One of the most important aspects of the business is the data management, making sure we don’t lose data or let it drop off.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Rave Infosys?

At the time, I was a new customer of Salesforce, and I was using a third-party vendor to build it out. They were very corporate, and I don’t like dealing with corporate. I prefer to deal with a business that provides a more personal touch. I needed assistance across multiple aspects of Salesforce, but data management was the most important part. Medcare has a large call center, so we needed a system that could integrate all the different campaigns.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Rave Infosys enabled integration within a new system, building out workflow. We never had anything on paper, as we’d just done it for a long time. This required us to put it all on paper. The system was integrated with Five9, which is a call center software. Rave helped us implement dozens of workflows.

Getting the whole process on paper, and carefully vetting through it, really opened our eyes to how proper communication really goes a long way. It helped us simplify things, to say the least.

How did you come to work with Rave Infosys?

I found them on LinkedIn. I chose Rave specifically because they seemed to fit all the criteria we had at the time. When I spoke to them about Five9 and Salesforce, they just had so much experience. They even had experience in the space.

How much have you invested with Rave Infosys?

We invested $70,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together around May of 2015, and the project was completed about six months later.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It helped our business processes and made the workflows more efficient. We were going through a whole company revamp at the time, so it’s tough to give an accurate perception. We ended up not even moving forward with Salesforce after everything.

The quality of the work provided by Rave was great. If we had stayed on the same business course, we would have been great. We just had to go a different road.

How did Rave Infosys perform from a project management standpoint?

The communication and timelines were great. [Respondent has Monica, who was the project manager, provide the following.] They were giving us weekly updates, as well as biweekly face-to-face meetings. They set up a dashboard to update us on any changes or roadblocks.

What did you find most impressive about Rave Infosys?

It’s probably their overall knowledge on all the systems. It’s rare that you get a company that has experience with a call center environment, technology, and CRM’s. They understood our business and not just the technology that supports it.

Are there any areas Rave Infosys could improve?

No. I’ve never thought of anything they could do better.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the digital marketing manager for a health supplement company called Nutri-Health. We have a parent company called Wellnext, which currently has 12 or 13 different brands under its belt. We both manufacture and sell a wide variety of health supplements, vitamins, and related products.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Rave Infosys?

We needed a development company that could assist us with both frontend and backend development. Our team had been basically broken apart, and we needed an expert in Magento, as we had recently migrated over to that platform. 

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

At first, it was maintenance and fixing bugs the previous developers had left on the site. At that time, we weren’t looking for anything major because we had just gone through a major migration from a different cart system onto Magento. We didn’t have an in-house expert to handle all the things that were needed. There were some pretty deep development needs, which Rave was able to take over and assist us with right away. Throughout the two years that we were with them, they were always able to take on any challenge we had and deliver.

We had an auto-ship system in place that worked on a totally different CRM [customer relationship management] system. One of our biggest challenges was that when we did our migration, that part was never fully completed and was not operational. Rave basically helped us to get the two systems talking. Our CRM was separate from Magento, and the majority of our orders were offline. Rave created that connection and made sure all the auto-ships were properly processing online and then feeding into the other system. They got that system up and running so we didn’t have customer service or call center-related issues. They helped us save one of the biggest parts of our business, which is our continuing or auto-ship customer base. They also helped us optimize our website for speed, navigation, and mobile-friendliness.

How did you come to work with Rave Infosys?

I was looking for Magento experts, hoping to find a local firm with whom I could meet and build a relationship. I did a search and found Rave, as well as several other companies. We interviewed three companies, and when I met with the Rave team, they came across as very knowledgeable, confident, and willing to work with us. After reviewing the various companies, I personally felt most comfortable with Rave because of the way they approached everything and the way they saw things. Our president met with them as well, and we agreed they were the best fit for our company and our needs.

How much have you invested with Rave Infosys?

We’ve invested around $60,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We first started working with Rave in May of 2015, and our collaboration ended in April of 2017. After they got going and we saw what they were able to deliver, we kept them onboard instead of hiring internal resources. They were basically our developers for almost two years. We recently ended our relationship with them only because we’ve moved off the Magento platform. We’ve migrated to a different company who has their own team of developers. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We haven’t tracked any statistics or metrics, as their work didn’t involve anything that needed to be measured. If I were to dig into it, I’m sure I could pull up statistics in terms of our site speed and optimization work they did. Other than that, I can’t think of anything where we tracked the work they did, as it was ongoing development work and improvements.

I would say their work had a positive impact. Anytime we saw issues with our site, whether it was site load or completes coming from customers, Rave was always very willing, able, and quick to find the problem, get a resolution, test it, and make it live. They fixed the problems and improved things on an ongoing basis. They were always on top of their game and knew what they were doing. We always saw the results that you would expect. They always got to our requests in a timely manner. Ultimately, they were always diligent with their work.

How did Rave Infosys perform from a project management standpoint?

I thought their project management was great for our needs. We were a small team, and a lot of the work fell on me. We didn’t necessarily have all the pieces in place that some companies may have in terms of reporting and project management tools. We had monthly catch-up calls, and Rave provided a monthly report of the work done. Anytime we had projects, we would open a ticket with them, and it was perfectly managed. We never had any issues. If we did have minor hiccups or things that were overlooked, they took care of it immediately.

They were always very good with project management. We used Basecamp for a little bit, then switched to Google Docs. I really liked that I could just pick up the phone and talk to one of the developers about what was going on. It would take maybe another phone call or an email to get it done, so we didn’t necessarily even need to track these things. Rave always had it all tracked with their monthly reports, and that was all we needed. It was almost like they were in the building with me, as if they were a part of the team.

What did you find most impressive about Rave Infosys?

They care. If we have a need, they take care of that need. They’re not just there to collect money from us like a lot of other development companies. When they say they’re going to do something, they do it. Other developers I’ve worked with in the past haven’t lived up to those standards. I ultimately think they’re very good at what they do, and they follow through. They care about the fact that they’re working on a business that faces our customers online, which obviously can affect our sales on a daily basis. They put in the time to care and be there for us, as if they were our employees.

Are there any areas Rave Infosys could improve?

They could be more proactive in suggesting things we could do to improve our business.