The challenge

We were approached by a growing IT Consultancy to get their newly designed website delivered on time. Whilst a technology had already been chosen for the build, we worked with them to propose an alternative, and managed to deliver well under their originally expected timescales (40 days down to 5) and budget.

As the consultancy was about to enter a new chapter in their journey, they had already designed a new website which would fit their refreshed branding. As is often the internal struggle with consultancies, the development team was very busy serving their clients, and deadlines for the new website were approaching. We were approached because of our track record of finding pragmatic ways of dealing with challenges.

Weighing up options

With the designs in hand, we had to look at what options were available to build the website in. Their team had already made a start on creating the new site with Umbraco, a .NET web framework. We've had experience with Umbraco before, and whilst it's a very powerful foundation, there are many other options for marketing websites.

Their team had estimated 40 man-days of work to complete the Umbraco site (after having already spent 20 on it so far). Umbraco requires a lot of "wiring up" to get even the most basic website created, and whilst this is great for complex websites, it's often overkill for smaller ones.

We suggested Webflow as a potential alternative, which would allow the marketing team to be much more hands-on with the future site edits given that their development team was often at capacity. This also brought the build time down to 5 days, which we were also able to reflect against the budget.

Sometimes, it takes some stepping back, even from work that's in progress, to see the alternatives. We also like to keep a pulse on a breadth of technologies to help our clients make informed choices.

Working with their team

Speed of delivery was going to be key to getting the website built in our ambitious timeline. We had to pull on our project management skills and get things set up to run smoothly.

We find that integrating closely with our clients is important to reduce delays, and create a collaborative environment. We set up as a partner to their instant messaging platform, and had regular catch ups.

Working directly with their design team was especially key with this project. Even the best thought out designs often have strange behaviours when being ported into a real-life website. We knew that we would have to ask questions throughout the project, and have timely answers. We also provided design suggestions for the more challenging aspects of the build.

Results

We were all very pleased to have delivered the site so quickly, especially compared to their original assumptions. The technical platform that we chose also left them with a much more appropriate platform which has plenty of room to grow with the company. It has put the power into the hands of the marketing team, and leaves the developers with room to focus on their clients.

Towards the end of the project, we spent time with their developers to give them some high-level training on the Webflow platform, and the specifics of their website. This has enabled them to continue to build on the website framework that we set up for them.

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