PINT, Inc.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a B2B company which designs, manufactures, and sells medical dispensing equipment, among other healthcare products. I am the senior manager of digital marketing for the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with PINT?

We needed help for the redesign and support of our primary website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have been working with PINT for developing and maintaining our existing site. PINT manages our hosting relationships, making sure that we remain online. Anytime the site is down is addressed by PINT, making sure that the site is restored. 

In terms of development, any major changes are handled by PINT, including building new widgets, repairing or overhauling certain sections, and so on. We provide specifications for what we need, receive some options from PINT, and decide whether or not to move ahead. PINT also provides QA and submits the work for our approval. We go back-and-forth until it's satisfactory.

How did you come to work with PINT?

PINT was working with my company before I came onboard. I don't have that background.

How much have you invested with PINT?

The cost of PINT's work is below $20,000 per year at the moment. I'm sure that the cost was higher while we were building our website.

What is the status of this engagement?

We are currently working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

It's hard to attribute any specific feedback we've received to PINT's work. 

How did PINT perform from a project management standpoint?

A huge improvement in our work with PINT has been the hiring of our project owner. He is very responsive, helpful in providing clear communication and making sure that our expectations are met. If there's a problem, he will make sure that we're getting quick responses. His involvement has also helped PINT's development team; we're all clicking a lot better.

What did you find most impressive about PINT?

Previously, it felt that the communication with PINT's team was a little challenging. We were submitting tickets directly into their system, and even though we made an effort to be clear, the responses weren't consistently fast. Having a layer of project management inserted into PINT's team has made for a much better experience for us. In the last year, I've been happier with the results.

Are there any areas PINT could improve?

When I first started in my role, there were cases of expiring certificates of which we weren't made aware. PINT is much more proactive in letting us know of these issues, which has been an improvement.

Also, the website is a little glitchy, but I don't know how much of this is related to using Sitecore. Graphics can load slowly, there is flashing, and caching can be an issue. PINT isn't always able to replicate the issue with the QA team, even though we can do so on our end.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a pharmaceutical healthcare company. I’m the VP of strategic marketing.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with PINT?

We needed to do a complete overhaul of our website.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created an entirely brand new site. They helped us with all parts of the website. I don’t know what platform it is on but it was a collaborative effort. We needed a clean look so we showed them examples of sites we liked. They brought some designs and we all agreed on one we liked.

How did you come to work with PINT?

We found them through one of our company contacts who recommended we speak to PINT.

How much have you invested with PINT?

The project cost under $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We continue working with them on updates.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They helped us set up Google Analytics on the site. When we did the launch, we were able to see a massive spike in traffic, particularly in the first month. The time spent on the site has increased as well. We’ve gotten positive feedback about the look and feel and ease of use of the site. I’ve had various partners ask who created the site so that they could contact them as well.

How did PINT perform from a project management standpoint?

We had a really great experience with them. During the development, we had weekly calls. Even now when I have questions, I can email them and get a response quickly. Once we were able to come up with the content, everything went smoothly. They were timely with their work.

What did you find most impressive about PINT?

Everybody we worked with was really great at explaining the overall process. They made the process as seamless as possible. We’ve had a good rapport with everyone there, even when new people came on the team.

Are there any areas PINT could improve?

We’re really happy with them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Kyocera International, Inc. is the North American group for our parent company, Kyocera Corporation. I am the Assistant Manager of Marketing Communications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with PINT, Inc.?

We have been a long-time client of PINT, and when I joined the company, PINT was providing maintenance for our websites.  We wanted to upgrade our website to make a clear distinction between our branded or B2C products and our B2B businesses.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

PINT helped us launch our Kyocera.com website initially. We had an arm of that site which was for the Americas, and they helped with all the web development and worked on the design. Three years ago, they suggested a CMS, so we could make our own edits. They host our site.

Our company has a very strict web guidelines and PINT went through the guidelines to ensure that any design changes along with back-end work were incorporated into the quote. I proposed a loose mock-up and PINT did the rest. I was amazed at how they took our vision and improved on it. In addition, they helped us convert all of our sites to Linux and now use the Powell Web Platform (PWP) CME to make the majority of edits.

How much have you invested with PINT, Inc.?

The past year we’ve spent under $10,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

The relationship started in 1998 and is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’ve helped us a lot with SEO, and we’ve increased our visits. There were no measurements before I started and after the upgrade, we saw a lot of change. PINT alerts us of changes to the metrics and makes suggestions and alerts for upcoming trends and virus or threats. When a web project comes up, we always use PINT because they know us so well. Thomas is an expert on web development and recommends solutions for us and lets us decide what we want. We have a lot of trust in them.

One high point that really set the stage was when one Kyocera divisions’ domain expired. One of Pint’s team members jumped on the phone to alert me about this. I was so impressed that they would have let us know about this, given they were under no contract with this division – it really showed that they are our partners. 

How did PINT perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re very timely and organized. We have a kickoff meeting for any new project. They put together a proposal and make suggestions to improve on our ideas. They were either on time or ahead of schedule. They helped us refining and interpreting our Google analytics and setting up searches for monthly tracking. They’re very responsive when we need something.

What did you find most impressive about PINT, Inc.?

Something I love about them is they not only understand our business but how we work and how much we want to spend. They provide us information on upcoming trends and how we may adopt it for our sites and or tell us the impact of doing something or not – it’s very helpful. We’ve always been pleased with our relationship. They’ve never misled us and always provided great solutions - their work is fantastic.

Are there any areas PINT, Inc. could improve?

I don’t have any complaints. I’m very pleased with their service. They help me calculate billing every month. It’s one-on-one customer service. They’ve added a chat feature on their website which is a great way to communicate too.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

Jackson Square Aviation is an aircraft leasing company. I am head of IT and control all of IT in North America.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with PINT, Inc.?

We wanted to revamp our website which was a bit dated. We wanted to upgrade the site to look more professional.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They interviewed our senior management to discover what they wanted and then created the website. The project was broken up into two phases the first of which was the interview with the executive staff. The gentleman that came was very professional and thorough. We started with a WordPress site. We didn’t want any of our employees to be able to edit the site due to security reasons so they provided a fully hosted solution where we can enter tickets. The code for that is HTML5, and it’s really clear. In regards to the backend, we don’t use any databases. We convert our flash type graphics into more static GIFs and images. 

How did you come to work with PINT, Inc.?

I worked with them at my previous company and found them by looking at different websites that the subsidiaries and affiliates had. We noticed the website they built was the most professional and well-thought.

How much have you invested with PINT, Inc.?

Right now, we’re spending $10,000 to $150,00 per year with them. The initial website build was $45,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’re still working with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They host our Google statistics and analytics, and we’ve seen a 35% increase in our site visits. I’ve had a lot of comments from my admin team that the PINT maintenance team has been very responsive which is very important to us. 

How did PINT, Inc. perform from a project management standpoint?

I’ve worked with several project managers, and they’ve all been very responsive. They’ve been very understanding when working with our executives who took 8 months. They’re very patient and understood the requirements easily even from different dialects. There’s clear communication on the statement of work and project plans. They’ve hit all the goals.

What did you find most impressive about PINT, Inc.?

They had a customer appreciation event recently, and that says a lot about their shop. They won’t push you off to a help desk but have a personal touch when they respond to our requests. Their senior developers join calls when needed.

Are there any areas PINT, Inc. could improve?

They had some turnover at one point where it was confusing to know everyone that was working on the project. Overall, it’s been a good experience.