Reaktiv

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I was the Director of Web Strategy at Purdue University. I was the project lead in the relationship with Reaktiv

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Reaktiv, and what were your goals?

We were regrouping on a failed launch with another dev partner. We were building a content hub to share the Stories of Purdue. Our goals were to increase engagement and create an interface that drove increased content consumption.

SOLUTION

How did you select this vendor and what were the deciding factors?

We had conversations with three vendors. We knew we needed a tier 1 WordPress vendor partner that would help us deliver this project successfully. More than anything it was finding a partner who got us and what we were trying to accomplish

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

We did strategy and design in house and started with Reaktiv vetting our design and strategy. Working to craft technical specs and Reaktiv lead all development and QA work in partnership with out in-house staff.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We had a team of around 5 people. This included

• biz dev
• project manager
• principal dev
• senior devs
• QA testers

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

Our internal timeline were a bit challenging and not the most realistic, Reaktiv did a great job working with us to get a more viable timeline. They drove us through the project with grace and care. Their development was steller and they squashed bugs at a rate I have never seen.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timeliness.

They always kept us in the loop, they always demonstrated progress from sprints. They used both checkins and asana to keep us in the loop. Because of their orderly delivery we always felt in the loop

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Typically I would avoid dev work when ever possible. It is traditionally always the part where projects so sideways. We had some lay staff on our team and they handled all questions and added request in wonderful fashion. They made me have faith there there are in fact dev partners who can keep on spec and on timeline without costly overages.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

Really not much to add here. They did a great job!

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I'm a director of engineering at a media company that specializes in service journalism.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Reaktiv?

Reaktiv was hired by my company early on — maybe 2012 or so? — to develop the initial version of its CMS. My direct experience with Reaktiv started in 2017 when they began providing staff augmentation services for one of our engineering teams. In addition to that arrangement, we have also hired them on a per-project basis for a few smaller projects with engineering needs beyond our then current staffing.

SOLUTION

How did you select this agency and what were the deciding factors?

This predates my time with my company, but I believe it was because of their experience with WordPress, and my company needed a WordPress CMS.

Describe the project in detail and walk through the stages of the project.

For almost five years, Reaktiv has provided a full-time senior software engineer for one of our engineering teams. That engineer has written code in various applications, including our custom WordPress CMS, a node.js data layer application, and a React front-end. The engineer was treated as a full member of the team, joining team ceremonies and contributing to project scoping as well as hands-on coding.

Describe the recruitment process in detail.

We've been working with Reaktiv since before I joined the company, so I can't speak to this.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The engineer we hired was a key contributor to multiple, business-critical projects during their time with our team, including the launch of subscription functionality. The engineer also wrote custom parts of our WordPress CMS that we still use heavily to this day.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Our engineering team has always been fully distributed, so it was easy for the Reaktiv engineer and our full-time staff to work closely together.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

In my experience, both working in agencies and on the client side, the biggest thing that makes an agency successful is its leadership. Josh, Reaktiv's owner, is a both a fantastic partner and human. Reaktiv has grown as my company has grown as well, and he's always been available, flexible, and willing to find ways to support our business, be it through staff augmentation (which isn't generally how they prefer to work) or on a per-project basis. I've loved working with Reaktiv and would recommend them to anyone looking for a solid agency partner.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

No

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior program manager for a travel program run by a large media company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Reaktiv?

We’re working with Reaktiv to manage our travel website, improve our online digital products, improve our online customer experience, and solve challenging tracking issues tied to Google Ads and Google Analytics.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Reaktiv manages the technical needs for our WordPress VIP website. They’re very proactive in communicating with us. Depending on our needs, we have weekly or biweekly check-in calls with them to track the project status.

We go with them to do the fixes we need for our website or address any challenges that we’re facing, and they always come up with solutions that meet our needs and solve our issues in a timely manner.

We had a challenging cross-domain tracking issue where we needed to track traffic and bookings that originated from our website and marketing channels and were transferred to a third-party website to take the actual bookings. We had worked with another website development agency on this challenge, and they couldn’t solve it. However, Reaktiv could do it quickly.

What is the team composition?

Our main point of contact is Jay (Principal Developer).

How did you come to work with Reaktiv?

We put out an RFP and interviewed multiple development agencies. We ended up working with Reaktiv because they understood our business. They were flexible and met our needs.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $52,000 a year on a retainer contract.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in August 2018, and they’re still our website development agency.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

The biggest problem that Reaktiv has solved for us was the cross-domain traffic issue. Before they helped us with that, we were completely unable to measure the ROI of any of our digital marketing channels, but they solved that for us. They were easy to communicate with, and they were instrumental in us being able to start tracking and attributing sources to our digital marketing efforts.

Reaktiv strengths are their proactive communication and their ability to provide quick and thorough solutions to any challenges that we face. They’re able to communicate clearly to those of us in our team who have technical knowledge of websites and coding, as well as with those of us who are very limited about it — it's very easy to communicate with them.

How did Reaktiv perform from a project management standpoint?

Reaktiv is willing to communicate with us using our company’s internal platforms to help us keep track of our projects, and they’ve demonstrated success managing the type of website and the WordPress version that we use.

They’re very transparent in estimating the number of hours that projects would take and sticking to those estimates. Overall, they’ve done a good job solving the issues that arise.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Other developers in the past didn’t follow through, but Reaktiv was able to fix our issues. They've been able to find the technical solutions and meet our needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There’s nothing Reaktiv could improve on. Every time we’ve needed to change something, they’ve been very open to feedback, and they’ve listened to us. We’ve been able to work through any challenges that have arisen.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Reaktiv delivers on what they promise, so you can expect your work to be completed on time. You can also expect them to tell you if there will be challenges, so don’t be afraid to ask them for what you need; they’ll meet you where you are.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the associate director of an entrepreneurship center for a university.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Reaktiv?

We needed to build a standalone website to serve as an entrepreneurship guide for students and alumni.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Reaktiv developed a WordPress website. The website had a large asset collection, and their team had to merge two external websites into one. They helped combine and import the content as well as improved the filter and search functionalities.

What is the team composition?

I primarily worked with three people from Reaktiv, including Tina (Project Manager).

How did you come to work with Reaktiv?

We found Reaktiv through a referral. That’s effectively why I decided to work with them because they were familiar with our university and systems.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent less than $10,000 on their services.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started the project in February 2021. This project will close in March but we’re starting another project with them.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

As far as success, the website met the specifications and scope as outlined initially. We’re happy with the end product.

How did Reaktiv perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team is attentive. We didn’t have formal deadlines for this particular project, but Reaktiv was responsive throughout the development and delivery.

What did you find most impressive about them?

One of their most impressive characteristics is their responsiveness.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have any feedback on how Reaktiv could improve.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

A detailed set of specifications and scope will help optimize the engagement.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the content production manager for a podcast and content creation company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Reaktiv?

They developed a WordPress website for us.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

They did everything from start to finish, including design and development. Now they continue to provide ongoing support. So far, they’ve added new features, installed plug-ins for image optimization, and created a new page where users can subscribe to receive perks, bonuses, and exclusive content.

On top of that, they’ve optimized the platform and improved the speed of the site. They’ve even worked on our Google Analytics account and have resolved any issues that Google has flagged.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with four people, including Josh (CEO) and our project manager.

How did you come to work with Reaktiv?

They were already working with the company when I joined.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent $20,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working together around May 2018 and our partnership is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

They’re reliable and responsive. They fix issues immediately.

How did Reaktiv perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re a very friendly team, so it’s really easy to work with them. I like that I work with our project manager directly, who then assigns tasks to individual developers. It really simplifies the process for me. We use Asana to assign tasks and monitor their progress.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a lot of experience with WordPress, which helps them understand our needs. They’re very competent.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They could be more proactive with suggestions.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you understand their core competencies, and therefore, what to expect from them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I manage the engineering team for a computer software company that’s responsible for the company’s buyer experience.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Reaktiv?

We use several different CMS tools to manage our websites but use WordPress for our blogs, which is a departure from our other systems. Our development team didn’t have the skill set necessary to manage our blogs as we received more requests for features.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our relationship has evolved over the years. Initially, we had a few tasks for Reaktiv. Their team focused on bugs and specific features, specifically a sign-up form for an email newsletter. They installed the newsletter sign-up logic. As we enjoyed working with them, we transitioned into a retainer model of 80 hours a month.

We completely redesigned the blog, and Reaktiv handled all of the development. Their team worked with our design team and then they built out the look, feel, and functionality of the blog. We actually have more than one blog, and Reaktiv helped us create a system to make it easier for us to spin up new blogs using templates.

Basically, Reaktiv handles everything related to our blogs. Their team provides us with the WordPress expertise to handle them. They manage the backend software that runs our blogs.

What is the team composition?

I personally work with Josh (President) but there are other people in our company who work more closely with other Reaktiv team members. They provide us with a project manager who handles all of the tickets and the intakes.

How did you come to work with Reaktiv?

I asked a developer on our team if they knew any WordPress development firms. They recommended Reaktiv and then I gave them a call.

How much have you invested with them?

We currently spend $15,000 per month on their services but used to spend less.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been with Reaktiv since June 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Reaktiv takes accountability and responsibility for their work. Their team has all the power to build and deploy from scratch, and they haven’t let us down. We trust them. Their team is conscientious about their work, so they do an amazing job. Any bugs that we release, Reaktiv fixes them very quickly. They’re a great, long-term partner.

How did Reaktiv perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re a professional and friendly team. Their project manager works with our project manager. They’re proactive and follow up on tasks. If necessary, they’ll bring me into a project, and I have access to their system. Their team’s communicative and straightforward.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re definitely deep experts in their field. Reaktiv’s deeply knowledgeable about WordPress, setting them apart from their competition. Although they’re not just a WordPress team, they’re great at it. Their personalities set them apart too. They’re really nice people, and it’s easy to communicate with them, which is part of the reason we stay with them.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I don’t have much critical feedback for them.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Have your work ready because Reaktiv will be ready to work. It’s important to have your own designs because Reaktiv focuses on development. It’ll be helpful if you’re comfortable giving them the keys too. Let them have the power to work.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am an Associate Director of Technology at Harvard Business School Digital Initiative. The Digital Initiative brings together perspectives across disciplines to help people understand how technology is transforming organizations and the greater world.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

For what projects/services did your company hire Reaktiv, and what were your goals?

We hired Reaktiv to build a prototype of a student blogging classroom tool https://digital.hbs.edu/platform/. The idea proved to be successful and now is a big part of our content strategy and drives substantial traffic to the site. Currently, Reaktiv develops new features and maintains all parts of the site. We've seen success metrics directly linked to the great work Reaktiv does.

SOLUTION

How did you select Reaktiv and what were the deciding factors?

We've gathered a list of potential web developers by reaching out to teams around Harvard. Reaktiv proved to be the most aligned with the product vision, had the right expertise in WordPress development, and was an excellent fit for our smaller team. The team at Reaktiv is very well organized, uses best practices, and always helpful.

Describe the scope of work in detail, including the project steps, key deliverables, and technologies used.

The Digital Initiative team established goals for the project: create a more flexible content model, present curated perspectives in a more findable way, grow a diverse community. We engaged Reaktiv and a designer to rebuild our core content model. We worked in sprints and iterated through designs as well as technical specs.

Reaktiv was excellent at establishing clear communication channels. Their project manager did a magnificent job of pulling everyone together to work as one team and, most importantly, have fun. Once we got to more technical details of the build, Reaktiv developers laid out all available options, including a solution they built for Microsoft XBOX that could work for us.

Our site runs on WordPress, and Reaktiv knows WordPress in and out. We agreed on shadow taxonomy implementation on one key piece of functionality, which worked well to fuel what we now call "Collections." And it is the homepage of our site.

How many people from the vendor's team worked with you, and what were their positions?

We worked with two excellent full-stack developers: Mary Cadwell and Jay Hoffman. And a super organized and friendly project manager: Tina Berens.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

Can you share any measurable outcomes of the project or general feedback about the deliverables?

The Digital Initiative can now take on meaningful projects and innovate because of the flexibility our site provides. We're building out different collections, currently working on a project that explores tech and inequality, and we were able to put together a Just Digital Future collection.

That beautifully showcases content, engagement opportunities for our community and features people who contribute. We're seeing more newsletter sign-ups and people exploring more content.

We've previously worked on a project that merged two WordPress instances. There were many technical details to think through, and Reaktiv delivered the site that now reaches over 2 million users annually.

Describe their project management style, including communication tools and timelines.

We use Slack for stand-ups, immediate communications, and some updates. There are weekly sync meetings that Tina schedules and leads. We use Asana to keep track of all tasks that Reaktiv keeps clean and organized.

Anything that we ever need can be put in Slack, and we get a resolution or response in a matter of minutes. Or can be created as a a task in Asana. We keep a backlog of user stories in Trello that Reaktiv helps us prioritize.

We execute an SOW before every project that describes the timelines and scope of work. Reaktiv has been great at communicating ahead of time changes or discoveries that can alter the project's scope, timeline or budget.

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The amount of immediate support from the team is impressive. I can fully trust that in case of any emergency, bugs, or site issues. Reaktiv will be able to immediately start resolving and get to the bottom of the problem.

Are there any areas for improvement or something they could have done differently?

We were always able to talk to Reaktiv about anything that may not work as well and resolve it. At the end of projects, we schedule retrospectives that help identify issues early and fix them.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the director of web solutions and user experience at Cornell University.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Reaktiv?

We hired a design agency to redesign both the alumni and giving websites for the university. We worked on research and strategy with them then started talking about implementation.  Our team decided to use WordPress but then we needed to find a technical partner to help with this. That’s where Reaktiv comes into play.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

At the very beginning of our engagement, they were able to code the templates and scenes for the website we were redesigning. Based on the developers’ recommendations from the design agency, Reaktiv went ahead and started producing and building in WordPress.

They also worked on integration. We have a third-party system that we use for events. The Reaktiv team did integration with this system that’d pull events into WordPress and display them through a plugin. They also migrated content. We had about 250 pages of content that were hosted with another third-party system we use.

Reaktiv worked on plugging into their API and pulling the content page-per-page into the website. By the time we started doing QA on the website before launch, the scenes and templates were ready and the content had been pulled. We just had to do some finishing touches and testing and we were ready to launch pretty fast.

When the design partner left the scene, we kept Reaktiv on a retainer. They help with maintenance and patches. WordPress websites require a lot of maintenance to be safe and efficient. Reaktiv also does new features and improvements. When we launched the two websites, the sites were fully functional but they were kind of an experiment. We wanted to see what worked with our audiences, what was needed, what was missing, and what could be done differently.

For the past few years, we’ve been working with Reaktiv on trying new things, implementing new features, testing, etc. We just finished a major feature on our alumni website that we’d been working on for a year with them.

What is the team composition?

We work with Nick (Senior Developer), Jay (Lead Developer), Chris (Project Manager), and Tina (Project Manager).

How did you come to work with Reaktiv?

The design agency we were working with recommended Reaktiv. We worked with Reaktiv through the design agency. We reviewed their credentials and approved them as technical partners.

How much have you invested with them?

We invest $20,000–$25,000 a year for retainer services.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in May 2017.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

Reaktiv works with big, well-known accounts. We’re a small account and feel very lucky to be working with them. We have a great relationship and are thankful for them. They really bring their expertise to the table. I love the collaboration with them. The work is much higher quality, enjoyable, and rewarding to have this kind of relationship with a technical partner.

On the alumni website, we publish news and all sorts of things. They’re like blog posts. We decided to come up with another form of content that would be more bite-size and easy to consume. We labeled it the “snack bar”. People can come and consume a couple of snacks. That’s a feature we’ve been working on for about one and a half years. They’ve been a great partner that helps us think through it.

They don’t simply execute what we bring to them. We enter into conversation and collaboration. Even though we hired them for web development services, they also have some design knowledge. The web developer assigned to us is really competent and is also certified in web accessibility.

This means when there are any doubts about certain contrasts, interactions, or things that could be done better, I know that I can have a conversation with the developer and that he has this expertise. That’s an added value for us instead of trying to contract with an accessibility expert.

How did Reaktiv perform from a project management standpoint?

Project management is going well and is very helpful. Reaktiv really takes care of everything in terms of breaking down tasks, establishing a deadline, managing hours, helping us with billing and invoicing, and consistently being on top of things. We get email notifications when something happens on Asana.

We really try to keep everything in Asana so that we don’t fragment the conversation. We keep everything centralized there. There’s an element of communication on GitHub sometimes when we need to discuss some things specifically about the code.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The number one thing for me is their level of expertise. They’re all seasoned WordPress professionals. Nick was a core contributor to the WordPress release which is a big deal. He’s of that caliber. He’s able to contribute to the core. They’re super professional and know WordPress inside out.

I simply want to be working with the best, and I’m lucky to be working with Reaktiv. I don’t want to work with anyone else. I have confidence and trust in them. They’re wonderful and really embedded—and respected—in the industry.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I can’t think of anything.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

You can drive a Toyota Corolla or you can drive a Ferrari. You don’t drive those cars the same way. If you’re going with the Ferrari, which would be Reaktiv in this example, you have to be ready to operate at their level and be considerate of their time. Don’t waste the time of highly skilled professionals with silly stuff.

Be very clear about what your requirements are, how you’re going to be testing, and what kind of workflow you’re interested in. Reaktiv is really professional and not going to charge you for stuff that they don’t do; they’re super honest.

They’re also not cheap. They charge what they should be charging for their time. Make sure you have a strong game when you go and work with them because you’re going to be faced with people who are super professional and super good at what they’re doing.