«« Case Studies
When we started BPM we had the clean slate to decide on our IT strategy and we decided that we would only ever have one software application for our entire business, that it would integrate everything in one place, and that we would outsource its creation, development and maintenance. This turned out to be one of the best decisions we ever made, but would perhaps not have been possible without the unique approach of Magic Web Solutions.
At the time (2003) Magic Web Solutions had very little track record, but I was persuaded by Vlad to give a brief and give him 48 hours to show what they were capable of.
It is no exaggeration to say that I was taken aback with the speed with which MWS produced a basic, working, proof of concept of what we needed, without even a written brief. This gave me the confidence to commit a little further, but it was a huge decision for us, so we trod very carefully to begin with.
With each passing day of communications with the Magic Web Solutions team our confidence grew, as the developers we were working with and communicating with directly demonstrated ability and a passion I had not encountered anywhere else, before or indeed since. They understood concepts quickly, offered advice when asked, but not when it wasn’t requested, and asked intelligent questions about considerations we had not always thought about. All of this contributed to a far higher quality end result, purely as a result of the real “buy-in” to our project from the Magic Web Solutions team who each took great personal pride in what they did.
What were the challenges?
Without any technical know-how, we wanted a system which would do all the following for us:
- A sales and marketing database which tracked all communications
- An email marketing solution
- An online order form with online order tracking for our clients
- Automated billing for literally dozens of different very complicated billing structures
- Hi-res image storage, management, transfer and dissemination
- Real-time staff activity tracking and ranking
- A property database
- A property website powering system
- The ability for our staff in 5 different countries to all access the same functionality, but have billing in local currencies
- I highly complex process and logistics system which tracked and recorded the actions of up to 15 different individuals involved in every order we have ever had (over 40,000 now)
- Handling uploads and downloads of many Gigabytes of data 24 hours a day
- Business critical uptime requirements
- Constant updating and new features being added.
The reasons we have stayed with Magic Web Solutions for 5 years and chosen them to build our new flagship product The Bu2iness.
Above all, we have come to completely trust the staff and owners of MWS. We place enormous faith in their integrity and commitment to us as clients and have never been let down on either point. It is difficult to put a value on having a relationship with a supplier who is so critical to our business where we feel total trust. It saves enormous time and brings real peace of mind where our competitors have great concerns, even those with in-house developers.
Before we embarked on our latest product, we considered all our options as if starting from scratch again. We compared MWS against every other conceivable alternative we had, and no matter which way we looked at it, they were the best option. It is worth pointing out, though, that without the trust we have in MWS’s integrity we may not have chosen to go with them, even though they are without doubt the most cost and time effective option.
We believe that it is because of the unique working setup, internal culture and size that exists at MWS that our new product was delivered in a fraction of the time and the cost that our competitors were faced with, and we already have a market beating product in a crowded marketplace.
In addition, they have been fantastic at tackling new technical challenges of which there is no previous experience, being totally honest about it up front, but demonstrating a willingness to cautiously try new things as they become available, and responding brilliantly whenever hurdles are encountered.
Provided as a client you are clear on exactly what you want, and are willing to work with the Magic Web Solutions developers as partners, I am not aware of any better alternative for anyone looking for a development partner to provide class-leading web-based technology solutions.
Charles Wright
Chief Executive
BPM Media Group