Spry Digital

BACKGROUND

Please describe your organization.

We're a nonprofit organization located in St. Louis, Missouri. We do an afterschool program for girls in third through eighth grades. The program incorporates running and uses that plus a curriculum to teach self-esteem and confidence, making good choices, and standing up for yourself. We're part of a national organization, but we are our own entity here in St. Louis.

What are your role and responsibilities?

I'm the operations director, so I do the accounting, database, website, IT [information technology] and HR [human resources].

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal in working with Spry Digital?

The first project that they did for us was moving our website hosting onto their host server and switching our email server to Google business apps. Then, we worked with them to build a new database in CiviCRM, so we could switch over from our old database. The most recent project was that they rebuilt our whole website.

Please describe the scope of their work.

The scope was mainly website design and development services. They also provide support for the website and for our database.

SOLUTION

What was your process in selecting Spry Digital?

They were actually recommended by someone else that we had worked with earlier. We got other recommendations and picked out a few companies to get quotes from. What we liked about Spry was that they could handle the database component because that was the first thing that we were really looking for. Our previous donor database had been getting really expensive, so we were looking for a new product. I think Spry is the only company in St. Louis that works on CiviCRM, so that's the reason we ultimately selected them. Also, it's a woman-owned business, and our nonprofit is all about empowering women, so that was also a factor.

Can you give a sense of the cost of the initiative?

The website redesign cost about $25,000.

What was the timeframe of their work for you?

We started working with them in the beginning of 2013, probably February or March. We are still currently working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics on the project?

Their work on the database has been great. The product that they work with is free for nonprofits, and Spry has a lot of knowledge about how it works. So far, any time I've asked them if we can do a specific thing with CiviCRM, they've said that they could figure something out. That's been really great. Also, it's great that they're located here in St. Louis and that we can meet with them and talk with them in person.

In terms of the website, that whole process was great. Actually, it was kind of amazing. They really understood what we were saying about our users and the way that people use our site, and then they put together this design that was perfect. We hardly tweaked the design after they first presented it to us. It was just refreshing that they really understood what we wanted to do, because we don't know anything about website design. They were able to turn their understanding into something useful that looked great.

Is there anything unique or special about Spry Digital that really makes them stand out as compared with other companies?

I think the thing that stood out the most to me as compared with other companies we were working with before, is that their support is so great. First of all, because the website is hosted by them, they're watching on their end for problems and sometimes catch things in terms of the hosting before we even know about them. Anything else that has come up either with the database or the website, we just send their support an email. They either tell me how to fix it or, if it's something they have to fix on their end, they just do it. It's just been really nice to have real people on the other end watching out for what's happening with our website.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or something that you might do differently?

No, there really isn't. Any issues or delays were mostly due to things on our end, where we didn't give them enough information or didn't give it to them in a timely manner. The biggest projects were the database and the website, and both of those things, from the beginning to the end, were really well executed.

What advice would you give a future client of theirs?

Probably to be reasonable in their expectations of when things will get done, to be realistic as to what they as the client will be able to fit in with the other things they're doing. When we were going into the website design, we wanted it done in a short period of time, and Spry, of course, said they could do it. But, then, we here in our office were so busy that it was difficult for us to actually get our parts done in a timely manner. I think just be reasonable about what they as the client can handle.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company.

We are the Metropolitan St. Louis Sewer District, and we provide sewer and storm water utility services for the St. Louis region.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What was your goal in working with Spry Digital?

We were on a very old, very unstable platform. We knew we needed to get off this old platform before we lost our entire site. Spry Digital helped us revamp our old website by importing it onto a Drupal platform. Along the way, we were also making several enhancements. We were taking advantage of moving platforms to update things as well.

Please describe the scope of their work.

Another vendor handled the architecture of the site, and Spry did the more technical work, importing the site, making sure that all the files were moved, creating all of the pages and making sure things were running smoothly. So, I don't know if they were involved as much in the design, since their work was more on the back-end after the design. They're currently responsible for hosting the site, and they provide monthly maintenance and technical support on an ongoing basis. They were just awarded the contract for another year with two more additional option years for the hosting, maintenance, and support. 

SOLUTION

What was your process for selecting Spry Digital?

That happened just before I arrived, so I am not sure of the process. I wasn't involved at that level.

Do you remember when your relationship with Spry Digital started?

The relationship started in early 2013.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Do you have any statistics or metrics on the project?

We're very happy with the work they have done. In addition to their technical work, they also do the Drupal training for our employees. As a matter of fact, they were here just yesterday doing a training for a new employee. They are only about five minutes away from us, so that's definitely a convenience.

Looking back on the work so far, is there any area that you think they could improve upon or something that you might do differently?

I would like to see Spry step out from underneath the vendor that they're currently working with. Particularly in this latest RFP [request for proposal], they continue to partner with that vendor. There may have been a need for that when we were redeveloping the site, but reading the RFP as it stands now, it's primarily website hosting, maintenance, and support, which is what Spry does 100 percent of the time right now. Yet, they still partnered with this other vendor. We wanted to have a more direct relationship with them, and we didn't get that. I feel like that could have been handled better.

The other concern I have is that sometimes when I call their tech support to get an issue fixed, I get the issue fixed, but I don't really get an explanation as to why the problem happened in the first place. I always ask for that information in hopes that we can do something to prevent the problem in the future, but they aren't always as good about explaining why something happened as they are in fixing it. I want to know why this problem happened.

What advice would you give a future client of theirs?

Make sure that you're very clear about the duties in the RFP, what is expected of them, and who is responsible for doing what. I would say just make sure you're very clear on who's sitting at the table.