Urban Insight

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the communications manager of Legal Services of North Florida We’re a private nonprofit law firm that serves clients across 16 counties in North Florida with free civil legal help.

In my role, I run all communications, external relationships, as well as anything that comes with design, marketing, and PR. Specifically, I work on SEO and developing our website so it’s more accessible to clients.

What challenge were you trying to address with Urban Insight?

Urban Insight is a part of a larger technology grant that I’m the project manager for. It’s a collaboration between several legal service organizations. We’re working together to build out a model for schema specifically so legal aid organizations have better success on Google searches and voice search. We’re working directly with Google to identify ways to reduce fraud and fraudulent searches as well as to increase the credibility of legal aid organizations and searches.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We have three websites that we’re implementing different stages of the schema code. Urban Insight is utilizing one of the legal aid websites they operate and are applying that markup. Their team is a part of the evaluative process. Chris (CEO) and the team have been doing evaluations of the code itself.

Every time we’ve created a new markup, they’ve provided a full-on write-up and memo on the success and efficacy. They’ve also suggested changes on any of the codes that we’ve written on each markup. Their team provides that to the person who’s generating it and has participated in ongoing discussions.

What is the team composition?

We’ve worked with 2–3 people, and my main point of contact is Chris.

How did you come to work with Urban Insight?

Urban Insight had situated themselves well within the legal aid community by supporting statewide legal service sites. Their credibility precedes them and is well-known within the legal aid community. That was one of the reasons why we selected them.

Additionally, they’ve participated in other projects with other legal aid organizations and the granting agency. Urban Insight was a credible source we knew could provide not only support but also has access to a website that we could implement these changes to and evaluate the industry.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested about $15,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our ongoing engagement started around June 2019.

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

Urban Insight has provided evaluative memos, which is the documentation of the very detailed analysis of suggested changes, concerns, and other parts of the work we’ve been doing. Their team has provided concrete documents, which is something we haven’t necessarily gotten from everyone. It’s been super helpful and will be part of the final report.

We’ve done one iteration of the schema markup and have seen really interesting results. Chris’s ability to think critically through these evaluation meetings has been very helpful. On the first markup, we realized that traffic was down but the longevity of that traffic on our website was longer. The right people were on our site, we weren’t getting superfluous traffic. We had longer clickthroughs and visitation time.

How did Urban Insight perform from a project management standpoint?

Communicating with Urban Insight has been very easy. They’re responsive, and we utilize email and Slack. I organize all of the documentation on the backend, write all the reports, and manage all the meetings. I have my own management system. Urban Insight is very collaborative. If there’s an ongoing conversation on Slack, they pipe in and are supportive. I’ve never had to follow up.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They always go above and beyond. Urban Insight sets achievable expectations that I’m excited about. They often tell us what they’re going to do, which is exactly what we’re looking for. They go above and beyond each time. Not only do they propose really great engagement to the project, but they also provide even more. Their team is organized and keeps track of their hours. Our project manager makes our life a lot easier.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, I’ve had a great experience. If I ever need something or there’s an issue, I’ve always been able to ask and it’s taken care of.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be transparent about your needs and upfront with your contracts. Urban Insight will go above and beyond for you. If you’re honest about your capacity and budget, they’ll be honest with what they can provide you. Lay everything out on the table. Their team is fair, organized, and very respectful. They’re not the kind of organization that’ll undermine you or tries to nickel and dime you.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work at The Broad Museum, a contemporary art museum in Los Angeles. I’m the head of marketing and communications and I oversee the website and digital platform.

What challenge were you trying to address with Urban Insight?

When we originally worked with them, it was to design our website, which was in dire need of an overhaul. From there, Urban Insight worked on creating a mobile web app for us.

What was the scope of their involvement?

 The website redesign included everything on the backend that to help us from Drupal 7 to Drupal 8. Then they worked with us on the UI/UX. In the discovery phrase, we shared what we wanted to do, how we wanted to optimize the website, and identified a few functionalities we wanted to include.

Their team went back and worked on wireframes and design comps that addressed our needs. They offered different options and spent a lot of time refining the. We have very high standards for visual presentation as an art museum and they did all of that to meet our requirements.

We have them on retainer now to help us maintain the website and mobile app. They also develop new functionalities and things like that.

What is the team composition?

My day to day contact is Mark (Director of Technology). He’s our account lead and primary contact. I also work with Jose (Creative Director) directly to explain how I want the UX to look. I appreciate that I just need to talk to them rather than the entire team because it streamlines communication.

How did you come to work with Urban Insight?

Our former director of IT found them through a referral. She had interviewed a few different companies and she felt like they were the best for this project and could meet our needs.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested $230,000 with them.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted from September 2018–March 2019.

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

I get lots of compliments and positive feedback from other folks in the industry. They comment on how the site looks and how easy it is to use and find information. We’ve been looking for a new director of IT, and some of the candidates I’ve interviewed praise it for those same things.

Of course, we approached them about an app. We were founded only a few years ago, so social media is really important to us. Now that we’ve been locked down because of COVID-19, that has become even more important, but we didn’t have the budget to create a standalone app.

Working with Urban Insight, we’ve been able to stay ahead in terms of tech. It put us in good stead to have invested in this, especially as we look to reopen and are looking to share information with visitors on their own devices, rather than picking up a brochure.

They’re also able to do anything we’ve asked for. For example, my colleague showed me a 3D tour of another museum, and when I shared it with Urban Insight, they said they were able to build a more robust version for our museum. Every time I’ve thrown them a challenge, they were more than able to meet the challenge.  

How did Urban Insight perform from a project management standpoint?

They’re amazing; Mark is amazing. The communication with them is clear and clean. When I ask for a project estimate, they’re very accurate. I’ve never had a problem with them completing projects on time either. I’ve been really impressed by their organization. We go through several rounds of revisions, and they track every single detail.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re really great at design. They can blend form and functionality really well, so it looks good and works well. They’re also super easy to work with.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No. I’ve loved working with them. They’re so helpful.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

I set up calls with Urban Insight and other stakeholders outside of my team so they’re able to hear what other features our stakeholders want. For example, last week we had a call with a colleague in public programs because they had ideas for a page we created. Originally, we threw up a page really fast and it was very text-heavy, so we’re designing it to be more visual and easier to use. So getting that insight from stakeholders and opening communication has really helped that process.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I work at a medical research institution. We run research studies for Alzheimer’s disease, and I recruit participants for those studies.

What challenge were you trying to address with Urban Insight?

Urban Insight was brought on to help us develop two nice-looking websites for two of our studies that participants could visit to get more information.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Urban Insight helped us from the beginning to the end of the launch, and everything in between. The team built the websites from the ground up and worked with our IT team to make sure that we were on track to get institutional review board (IRB) approval. 

They provided a lot of support so that we could get the websites launched. They also interfaced with our communications firm, which helped us develop messaging for the website.

What is the team composition?

We talk with Ben (Technical Project Manager) the most, and we’ve also interacted with Jose (Creative Director) and Chris (CEO).

How did you come to work with Urban Insight?

The helped us develop another website in 2019, which I wasn’t a part of. Due to that experience, we decided to bring them on for these two others. I had heard good things about them, and we wanted to keep the relationship going. We also wanted websites that were somewhat similar looking. 

What is the status of this engagement?

We began working with them in March 2020, and we’re still working with them. One of the websites has launched as a full website, and we’re just working on the second version of it to better optimize the content. For the second one, we put up an interim site, and Jose is working on putting up a full website.

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

Their work is very professional. The websites are high-quality. 

How did Urban Insight perform from a project management standpoint?

Ben has really good communication. He’s great at stating deadlines, goals, and everything he needs for the project. We’ve stayed on time with a lot of the work. We’re in a special situation because of the IRB, which has been a different situation for Ben.

At first, it took a little time for each side to figure out how the other worked, but since then, everything has gone smoothly. Overall, their project management has been really good. We used Basecamp for communication between us, our communications firm, and Urban Insight. We also have weekly Zoom meetings.

What did you find most impressive about them?

Urban Insight has shown professionalism.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, not that I can think of. It’s going really well, and we’ve enjoyed working with them. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Don’t be afraid to ask the project manager to explain something if you don’t understand it. Not everyone knows website development and technology, so don’t be afraid to ask questions. Ben and his team are very patient, and they will answer anything. Be open and keep the communication flowing. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the COO of a bar review course that helps law students who are about to take the bar exam understand what the test and the materials are about and tutors them for the exam itself.

What challenge were you trying to address with Urban Insight?

There were two major challenges. Firstly, our current website and student portals weren’t functioning well. They had too many plug-ins, so they were too slow and had constant errors. When I first started, there was no real direction as far as marketing, which is why there were so many plug-ins. We wanted to upgrade the portal and resolve those issues on the marketing sites. 

Secondly, there were a lot of manual processes, so we wanted to eliminate the amount of time that we were spending on those administrative problems and issues. We wanted everything to be automated.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Before we started, Urban Insight provided insight into the best tech and methods to carry out and maximize our longterm marketing plan. They focused on SEO and analytics. 

They provided consultation, and then designed and developed the portals using Angular on Drupal. The team mimicked the marketing websites that we already had but did everything from scratch using Drupal as well. They changed the direction of how we were going to market the course. Currently, Urban Insight is working with us to create apps for the website. 

What is the team composition?

I work closely with 3–4 people, including Ben (Technical Project Manager) who is my main point of contact. There are also developers, engineers, and designers who have helped us with the project.

How did you come to work with Urban Insight?

I did research and ended up reaching out to about 15 companies, some of which were referrals. I decided to work with Urban Insight because they checked all the boxes better than anybody else. From the beginning, it was very clear that they had a good sense of direction.

They spent a lot of time understanding the project before we committed to them. It was a complex project and there was so much going on, and, unlike other companies, Urban Insight took the time to ask great questions. That, coupled with the fact that they were local and their pricing was reasonable, led to our decision to work with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $150,000–$300,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in March 2019. We just launched the website, but we’re still working with them on other projects.

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

As I mentioned, we just launched the website a week ago. A handful of our students have told us that the website is amazing, looks beautiful, and works faster. The quality of their work at the price we paid is remarkable!

How did Urban Insight perform from a project management standpoint?

We were always on or under budget and the team was really good at showing our progress at each stage of the project. They also stuck within the timeline and their communication was phenomenal. The team has always been straightforward and doesn't try to sugarcoat anything; they tell us exactly what we’re going to do and communicate every variable.

Anytime I send an email or call, Ben always responds almost immediately, and we also have weekly meetings to go over everything. Urban Insight used Basecamp to manage the project, and it was a great tool. It was my first time using it, but the team was great at explaining how to use it and why we were using it. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

From the beginning, I was impressed with the number of questions they asked and their desire to understand our project and business. Urban Insight took time to understand our product, our students, and how we got to where we are.

The team went above and beyond to make sure that I understood Drupal, SEO, and how the project was going to be executed. Throughout the project, they’ve always thought ahead, continually providing valuable information and insights. 

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, there’s nothing I can think of. It would’ve been ideal to get the same products for a fraction of the price, but we still got incredible value. I don’t have any legitimate complaints.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Shop around for vendors and speak to as many companies as possible so that, when you get on board with Urban Insight, you can really see how different they are. If they had been the first company I had spoken to, I still would’ve chosen them, but I might not have appreciated how amazing they are. 

Having gone through a similar project with other companies and having been diligent about shopping around, I truly appreciate how Urban Insight has been able to handle this project with professionalism.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We are a small technology company that works in the financial real estate space. I’m the head of the marketing team.

What challenge were you trying to address with Urban Insight?

We were looking to move off of our “home-brewed” CMS onto a WordPress CMS that would make things a bit more scalable. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

They performed website development, migrating our old website onto a WordPress platform. The scope included making sure certain pages were editable and ensuring we could add new pages. They also migrated over a blog and helped us build a resource library. In the resource library, we can track version control of all the assets. 

How did you come to work with Urban Insight?

When we decided to move the site to WordPress, I searched for developers who specialized in that. My first choice didn’t have time, so they referred me to Urban Insight. I followed up with Chris (CEO, Urban Insight). It seemed like they did solid work, so I followed up with them.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve invested roughly between $30,000 and $40,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working together in October of 2019, and we’re wrapping everything up today in January of 2020.

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

Their timeframe fit within the timeframe I expected. The cost fit within the cost I had anticipated. They were a delight to work with every step of the way.

How did Urban Insight perform from a project management standpoint?

We’ve had regular contact with the team. While they were doing initial developments, we had weekly check-ins. For the past month, we’ve been doing QA and standard clean up. We keep in touch regularly in Basecamp and have calls whenever we need it.

They’ve performed fantastically well at project management. Vasty (Digital Producer & Project Manager, Urban Insight) was our account representative, and she kept us on top of everything that was going on. She was very responsive and easy to get along with. 

They were always very clear about what was going on. No deadlines slipped. There were a few plugins that ended up being trickier to implement than we intended, but our account representative was very good at keeping us updated on when we could expect to see changes.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They were incredibly easy to work with. They would repeat back to us, “Is this what you want?” They talked us through the trade-offs for each decision.

They delivered exactly what they said they were going to deliver at exactly the time they said they were going to deliver it.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Nothing comes to mind. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure you understand what you want upfront. If you have scope creep or are unclear about what you’re trying to accomplish from the beginning, it’s going to be very difficult to work with an outside vendor. If you know exactly what you want, you’ll be happy with what you get.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m one of the co-founders and leading members of Hype; we do PR, marketing, and social media.

What challenge were you trying to address with Urban Insight?

We've started to focus more and more on the social media space, and a lot of our clients are asking for more production and visual effects. There’s a ton of different assets that we’re trying to review and make decisions about, and, especially with remote team members, it’s difficult to handle at times. We went to Urban Insights, asking for a more efficient way to do that—a way to figure out and solve that problem.

The traditional approval process involves email, but much of that information can get lost in translation, and most email platforms don’t handle big files well. The threads become confusing, especially if you have people working all over the place in different time zones, and it becomes a huge barrier to productivity and delivering for clients.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They proposed an intranet system to help manage our social media content and assets. It allows us to look at different items and work collaboratively, even with individuals working remote. It’s an online system that lets various users work on projects simultaneously.

We’re able to easily put in different files—visual, motion, whatever it may be—and put notes attached to them for other team members to see. You can also edit and review items in the system—it’s like a more sophisticated or robust version of Google Docs. Using the platform, we can quickly get approval from all of our team members on specific deliverables.

What is the team composition?

Their team is larger than ours, but I only speak with a few key contacts about the project. I think we had 3–4 people from Urban Insights working on our system. 

How did you come to work with Urban Insight?

We were referred to them. We knew that they did a number of things in the digital space—I had already seen some websites of theirs—but we didn’t know if they would be capable of building custom solutions. We reached out to them to see if they had any ideas for how to address our problem.

I liked that, even though they’re a boutique agency, they have a pretty robust offering of services. I feel like our company is the same. That’s part of why we decided to work with them, because of their size. 

How much have you invested with them?

Everything included, it was $28,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We launched the product in August, and I think the first conversation was six months before that. The work itself only lasted for a couple of months.

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

We ended up adding more social media people right around the time they were wrapping up the project. They hit our deadline, which made for a great onboarding process for those individuals. They’ve helped us become much more efficient.

How did Urban Insight perform from a project management standpoint?

They were on time, they were efficient, and they walked us through every phase of the project. They were also super organized and understood all of our needs. The detailed tracking and frequent updates also made our lives easier.

Whenever we had a question, they would take the time to answer it. We tried to structure the partnership around regular meetings, and they never felt like a burden. I always felt excited going into those conversations because I knew how well everything was moving along.

When we started working with them, we had a few people on our end who would weigh in with their opinions, and I handled most of the overarching management tasks. At one point, they brought in my team to talk through the nuts and bolts that they felt were needed in the new system. That approach helped because those team members are the doers; I’m more of a manager that focuses on reviewing items.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They did an excellent job of keeping us in the loop and letting us know what the benchmarks were while also making us feel heard. They were always friendly and warm; we could tell that they were used to dealing with people from different industries on similar projects. We were worried they wouldn’t know how to deal with our needs, but they’ve been tracking with us all the way.

That human touch, mixed with their genuine capability, continues to be a huge selling point for us. Urban Insights is creative but also confident in their decision making. They would come back to us with ideas and give a solid rationale for them. Even when you’re offering a technology solution, the people aspect is key.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Their bid was more expensive than some of the other quotes we got, but I think it’s justified. They were always transparent about that, and we can’t fault them for being worth the money. As a small business, we’re often worried about finding out which firms will be the right fit in terms of budget, but it feels like it was worth it. 

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Talk with your team about the problem that you’re facing, and find out what you need, from every level. Identify your primary goal before meeting with Urban Insights and be honest during those internal discussions. That way, when you come to them, they’ll be able to focus on listening to what you have to say rather than selling you on different solutions. 

Also, make sure to think ahead about the impact of your investment will be. You want to make sure that whatever Urban Insights is building fits with your long-term vision.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the Associate Director of Computer Science Student Affairs at the University of Southern California’s Viterbi School of Engineering. We oversee a population of about 4,000 computer science students. I also work on various projects for the school, including the student engagement app we created with Urban Insight.

What challenge were you trying to address with Urban Insight?

Our goal was to encourage active participation and engagement among engineering students by designing an interactive tool that focuses on student development, events and activities, and services and resources. We modeled the app after another app Urban Insight had designed for the residential education department.

What was the scope of their involvement?

We identified four dimensions in the student experience that we wanted to unite in a central place for them: academics, career, social, and wellness. They built the app with various learning pathways that students can complete in these areas. Students are able to earn points, win prizes, and compete with each other within their academic units.

They also developed a centralized calendar within the app, so all school-sponsored events and student organization events are listed there. Students can attend to earn points. It’s created a whole new student experience.

The original scope of the mission was to build an iOS and web version that could support Android users. At this point, we have a native iOS version and a web app. After the launch in fall 2018, student feedback demanded an Android version. We looked into that with their team, and they provided an alternative solution.

They suggested a progressive web app that could more effectively support Android phones and other devices. We decided to convert our current web app into a progressive web app instead of creating an Android app from the beginning. Everything successfully launched in time for the fall 2019 student orientation, and we are continuing to work with Urban Insight on a support contract.

What is the team composition?

We have worked with Chris (CEO Urban Insight), Paris, Olga, and Vasty (Digital Project Managers, Urban Insight), a programmer, and a designer over the course of the project. So, there were at least four team members at any given time.

How did you come to work with Urban Insight?

Our university has been working with them for over a decade now. They built an undergraduate advising database over a decade ago that we use extensively. We had an ongoing relationship with them.

Before this project, they worked with the school of engineering on other efforts, including a custom website for the computer science department in 2016. I was familiar with them already when this project came around.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with them on this project in December 2017. Initial launch of the iOS app and web app was in October 2018 and the progressive web app launched in July 2019, but we still have their ongoing support for the app.

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

We’ve conducted several focus groups to get feedback on the app. We’ve received pretty positive reactions and have more usage than initially expected. We found that students prefer the web version to iOS, likely because they’re on their laptops while on campus. Because of that feedback, we’re looking at moving away from mobile and sticking with a web platform that can be accessed on any device.

We really appreciate the centralized calendar that Urban Insight created. The university is pretty decentralized in terms of systems, calendars, and events. Having one place for all events has been very helpful for the school. We’re also working on a feature to add job and internship postings to the app. The students seem very excited about seeing those implemented.   

How did Urban Insight perform from a project management standpoint?

We had weekly calls from the project manager, but Chris would occasionally jump on them, too. Usually, the project manager would liaise with the designers and programmers for us. Over the course of the project, we’ve had three project managers.

Before our first project manager left, she trained a new one on our project before handing it off. At that time, it was like we had two project managers, which really streamlined our work. Having collaborated with all three of them, I think they’ve all been fantastic. For communication with Urban Insight, we use Basecamp. Internally, though, our team uses Trello.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They have a great team. Chris had been involved from beginning to end, regularly checking in to make sure everything progresses smoothly. They’re consistently willing to consult us on major technical decisions. The CEO’s leadership and ability to be a part of each project is really special.

Are there any areas they could improve?

Sometimes there’s back-and-forth when we’re trying to get information on the technical feasibility of features. It might be helpful to further integrate the programmers, but I also know that they’re very busy. That’s the only thing I could recommend.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Be prepared to put the effort in on your end. You can’t expect Urban Insight to handle everything. It’s important that you help them make your project a success.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I am the principal city planner and manager at the Los Angeles Department of City Planning. I head the office of resources.

What challenge were you trying to address with Urban Insight?

We created a new office in 2006 and created the first full-service historic preservation office for the city of Los Angeles. At the same time, we were launching a major project called Survey L.A., a citywide survey of historic resources. We needed a web presence for both the office and the survey.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Urban Insight designed and developed both websites for us. Their team used a Drupal CMS for both websites. We worked very closely with them on the overall structure of the site and provided some text content. They took the lead on the visual design of the sites. Our teams worked together on creating an outline and overall navigation structure and they built that out for us. 

Urban Insight also made sure that we were in compliance with the accessibility standards so that users of differing abilities could access the site’s information. This project was done in conjunction with the Getty Conservation Institute. They also provide periodic updates and upgrades. We did one significant upgrade back in 2012 as well as a redesign of the site.

What is the team composition?

We work with 3–4 members of the Urban Insight team, including Chris (CEO, Urban Insight), who was involved throughout. 

How did you come to work with Urban Insight?

I knew Chris professionally through some of his work with other urban planning organizations. Urban Insight had done some sites relating to urban planning and development work in Los Angeles so it seemed like they were the best fit for the substantive information that we were conveying. 

How much have you invested with them?

We have invested between $100,000–$250,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

Our engagement with Urban Insight ran from March 2007–September 2019.

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

Urban Insight has the unique ability to help organizations distill complex information in a way that’s compelling and digestible to the general public. They have a strong knowledge of the field and are up to date on current techniques and web design. 

We consistently got very positive feedback on our website, from its design to its navigability. We also got an award early on from the American Planning Association for innovative use of technology. Survey L.A. got a national planning award for our overall public outreach program. The public feedback has also been positive. 

How did Urban Insight perform from a project management standpoint?

Their team is easy to work with, accessible, and responsive. Whenever we had challenges, perhaps something not working properly on the site, we found them to be consistently responsive to our needs. 

I certainly didn’t know about what it takes to deliver a large and complex website for an organization such as ours. They laid out a project management approach and schedule for the development of the site. They delivered it on time and on budget and then provided ongoing maintenance. 

What did you find most impressive about them?

They not only created a visually compelling website, but they understood the context of our work. Urban Insight could make suggestions in the development of the sites that strengthened our web presence. They had a deeper understanding of the role of our organization in shaping a city, especially one as complex as Los Angeles.

Chris brings not only knowledge and expertise on how to design a website, but also how the content we’re trying to deliver is impacting the life of our city. That gives their worth a depth and sophistication that just the general web developer would not have been able to bring.

Are there any areas they could improve?

No, they did a great job.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m a client engagement manager for Affirma Consulting, a full-service digital agency that specializes in .NET dev. I manage and facilitate relationships that already exist within our company and pursue those businesses. 

What challenge were you trying to address with Urban Insight?

One of our clients wanted a new web implementation on Drupal, so we began looking for a partner with experience in that CMS.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Our end client was redesigning a government website that contained publicly available records about a nuclear site cleanup. Urban Insight mainly replicated the same functionality and design from the old CRM onto Drupal. They implemented new features, such as a complex search function that utilized Alfresco and Solr. They also do some creative design and changes to graphics to get better usage, but the bulk of the project is Drupal implementation. 

What is the team composition? 

They provide a team of four people.

How did you come to work with Urban Insight?

I asked numerous colleagues for references, and our COO knew someone who worked at Urban Insight. I contacted about four different firms, and we chose Urban Insight because of our connection to them and also because they seemed to be the most capable resource.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent between $90,000–$100,000.

What is the status of this engagement?

We partnered in September 2018, and the work is ongoing. 

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

They’re incredibly capable and easily adapt to different environments. Our project involved a complex security system and numerous roadblocks, but they worked hard to find solutions and deliver what the client was expecting. The final product should go live within the month.

How did Urban Insight perform from a project management standpoint?

We mainly communicate via web conference, but they did come on site for a kickoff at our client’s request. I never had a question about what was happening because they always had a clear outline and consistent communication.

What did you find most impressive about them?

We heavily prioritize client satisfaction, and Urban Insight holds the same standards, embracing the client’s needs. Instead of providing a prepackaged approach, they took time to understand the problem and deliver a tailored solution.

Are there any areas they could improve?

The initial collaboration was a bit difficult, but that was more because of the project constraints and not because of Urban Insight.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Be transparent about what you want because they’ll commit to delivering meaningful results.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the senior vice-president of Miracle Mile Residential Association, a nonprofit that represents homeowners and renters in the Miracle Mile Community in Los Angeles.

What challenge were you trying to address with Urban Insight?

About five years ago, we realized we were woefully behind the times. We were still distributing paper flyers door-to-door and we couldn’t stay ahead of the issues we need to inform people about. We brought Urban Insight on to bring us into the 21st century digitally and hold our hand through the process.

What was the scope of their involvement?

They created a digital identity that consists of a WordPress site, an email system, and integrated social media accounts. Residents can reach out to us with urgent issues like a pothole or a broken street sign without using our personal emails. They can also contact a local politician, agency, or commission with the click of a button. Internally, Urban Insight implemented a MailChimp system that lets us send out our newsletter.

They’ve also encouraged us to take advantage of social media by creating a Facebook page, a Twitter account, and a YouTube channel. These systems are fully integrated so users can see YouTube videos on our website, and if we post something there, it also shows up on Facebook and Twitter.

What is the team composition?

I work with Chris (CEO, Urban Insight) and 4–5 other people.

How did you come to work with Urban Insight?

They were connected with another nonprofit organization. We looked at work they’d done for other nonprofits and knew they were the right partner.

What is the status of this engagement?

We’ve been working together since April 2014.

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

They’ve helped us become very effective advocates. Phone calls are starting to be returned, and when we go downtown to City Hall, they know who we are from our newsletter. Other community nonprofit organizations in LA reach out to us for advice because they see what we’ve done and think we’re experts. We’re even receiving interest from young people through our social media accounts who we wouldn’t have been able to reach before.

MailChimp has incredible at keeping our residents informed, and it even helped us create a historic district to protect our neighborhood. That was a long, arduous battle we would have lost without Urban Insight. Our email list has grown from 176 to over 2,700 people, and our open rate is 45%, whereas the average nonprofit sees only 20%.  

How did Urban Insight perform from a project management standpoint?

I communicate with Chris through email, and if something is particularly complicated, I’ll talk to him in person. They’re great project managers, but they’re tactful about it and never overbearing. They understood our unfamiliarity with technology so they set up the website and made sure we were comfortable with it before adding bells and whistles. I've never felt overwhelmed.

What did you find most impressive about them?

They’re very thorough and they do a wonderful job of bridging the generational divide. We barrage them with many questions and they’re nothing but patient. Now that the site is up and running, we understand its value and are proud of what it enables us to do.