Folio3

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the co-founder and president of PureLife. We’re a healthcare distribution and manufacturing company serving dental and medical customers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with Folio3?

The major challenge we were trying to overcome was to create a state-of-the-art website that’d integrate with all of our systems. Having that integration was a very key component.

The other large challenge is that we have a highly customized promotions and business rules engine. It’s quite complex and was developed over many, many years using proprietary technology. We wanted to put that on the website and enhance it.

The third part of the engagement was to develop additional custom features and functionalities on our website that integrated with our ERP.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

Folio3 built the website from scratch and handled everything including the design and UI. The Magento team was responsible for building the frontend functionality, and the NetSuite team was responsible for building the integration.

What is the team composition?

I interfaced with five people including UI designers and a project manager. I’m sure there were others in the background.

How did you come to work with Folio3?

I received some recommendations for trusted partners from NetSuite and Magento. From that list, I interviewed four companies. I did my own research as well and shortlisted a few companies referred by other people. Overall, I reviewed at least eight companies, both onshore and offshore. Ultimately, I went with Folio3.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started in August 2019. We just launched the website. Now, we have a pipeline of additional features and functionalities we want to deploy throughout this upcoming year.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

We just launched so we have limited metrics. However, we’ve already seen that the website speed is 3–6 times faster than our prior website; it’s lightning speed. We also have more functions that weren’t previously available. Our team did some preliminary surveys for customers who have tried it. Customers have expressed they love the functionality and will definitely be doing more business with us. Additionally, we’ve received 5-star reviews.

Internally, all of our salespeople are loving the results and are very proud of the site. One of the most important things to note is that Folio3 successfully tackled all of our challenges. They’re very tech-savvy and were flexible in understanding the requirements. Folio3 is proactive in fixing their solutions.

How did Folio3 perform from a project management standpoint?

Communication is good and frequent. Folio3 provides the right level of management layers. they weren’t trying to funnel everything through one person. We always had our project manager and the individuals doing the work available to us. Different people have different interactions with various members of our team. We’re very pleased with the communication and transparency of the Folio3 team. I’ve worked with other agencies, and this has been a great working experience.

What did you find most impressive about them?

The biggest thing that stood out to me is their integrity. Sometimes we uncovered issues that weren’t in the scope, and they were very reasonable to accommodate us. Their team is not petty. If something was a bit out of the scope, they’d do it. If it was very out of scope, they respectfully approached it and expressed it wasn’t something we talked about.

We’ve never had an argument on any of these issues. I’ve always had arguments with any developer about what’s in and not within the scope. That was very important to me.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Initially, — and this was from a cost standpoint — they didn’t assign a project manager to liaise between the Magento and integration teams. I felt that was challenging initially but once the project manager came on board, it helped a lot. My recommendation is to propose upfront project management for very complex projects, even if it increases the cost for the client a bit. It has proven to be useful for us.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you have a project manager on onboard. Communicate often with the Folio3 team. Allow their team to propose solutions. Give them the intent of what you’re trying to achieve and allow them to come up with options for you.