Smart Group are lost in the code.
This is your business. Take back control.
"Remember... all I'm offering is the truth, nothing more"
- Morpheus
Journey out of the matrix
The Problem with
Kerve
Kerve
While Kerve Creative are a well respected and skilled agency, their model and pricing aren't compatible with Smart Group's needs.
Smart Group are at the forefront of the events industry, acquiring new businesses and launching new initiatives year after year.
For thousands of people, Smart's websites serve as the first step in their customer journey. These sites are constantly updated with new functionalities and designs.
The issues with Kerve stem from their gatekeeper business model, exorbitant fees, and the excessively long time—ranging from weeks to months—it takes them to build something as simple as a contact form.
Smart Group are at the forefront of the events industry, acquiring new businesses and launching new initiatives year after year.
For thousands of people, Smart's websites serve as the first step in their customer journey. These sites are constantly updated with new functionalities and designs.
The issues with Kerve stem from their gatekeeper business model, exorbitant fees, and the excessively long time—ranging from weeks to months—it takes them to build something as simple as a contact form.
1. Hard-Coded Modules
The modules that Kerve have built for Smart are all hard coded. Throughout my year employed here, I've seen these modules break repeatedly, whilst also offering limited design freedom for the creative minds of the marketing team.
Kerve have locked plugins, themes and staging sites; therefore the Smart marketing team is unable to rapidly test new functionality, layouts, and modules.
Kerve have locked plugins, themes and staging sites; therefore the Smart marketing team is unable to rapidly test new functionality, layouts, and modules.
This gatekeeping means Smart is forced to pay enormous maintenance fees, and marketing operations lag behind Kerve's overworked and slow dev team.
2. Obscene Fees & Turnaround Time
Smart Group are paying Kerve a minimum of £85 and a week of time for basic updates. If Smart Group really owned and managed their websites these updates would take minutes and cost nothing.
A few examples from hundreds of tickets:
March 14th
Changing a single button link address:
£85 & 1 week of development
April 25th
Adding 2 contact forms to a website:
£1360 & 2 months of development
May 14th
Horizontal scroll (took me 1 hour to mock up):
£4,140 + VAT - Dev to commence (see you next year?)
May 15th
Fixing a broken page caused by a Wordpress update:
£340 - Unresolved
In the 6 years Smart Group has been with Kerve, updates, customisations and maintenance fees have totalled:
£205,353.60
A few examples from hundreds of tickets:
March 14th
Changing a single button link address:
£85 & 1 week of development
April 25th
Adding 2 contact forms to a website:
£1360 & 2 months of development
May 14th
Horizontal scroll (took me 1 hour to mock up):
£4,140 + VAT - Dev to commence (see you next year?)
May 15th
Fixing a broken page caused by a Wordpress update:
£340 - Unresolved
In the 6 years Smart Group has been with Kerve, updates, customisations and maintenance fees have totalled:
£205,353.60
What can Smart do?
"Follow the White Rabbit."
- Trinity
- Trinity
The Solution
This is a proposal from me, Joseph, to build all 12 Smart websites in Bricks Builder, a lightweight and intuitive page builder for Wordpress.
Abby, by now I'll have shown you around Bricks a little. The Smart Supper Club and Smart Friends Portal sites are built in Bricks Builder, so this is already a tool that Smart is using.
It may seem a little complex to begin with, but as you will soon realise with these two websites, it is a powerful visual tool that will let you build robust websites in a fraction of the time of Kerve's hard-coded modules.
Abby, by now I'll have shown you around Bricks a little. The Smart Supper Club and Smart Friends Portal sites are built in Bricks Builder, so this is already a tool that Smart is using.
It may seem a little complex to begin with, but as you will soon realise with these two websites, it is a powerful visual tool that will let you build robust websites in a fraction of the time of Kerve's hard-coded modules.
Bricks Builder
An overview of the benefits of Bricks Builder:
- Faster turnaround - changes can be made in a day, not 2 months.
- Build the sites visually - build web pages on the screen in front of you and preview quickly with one click - no more inputting text and images and checking on the front-end.
- Increased site speed - Bricks code is extremely clean and ideal for SEO.
- Templates can be set up in Bricks, allowing you to re-use modules, sections and entire pages. These can be used across all the sites and can be copied and pasted in seconds.
- More flexibility with modules - change colours, fonts, sizes etc easily without putting a ticket in, paying hundreds of pounds and waiting at least a week for the site to go live.
- Lifetime updates: Smart already have a lifetime unlimited license for Bricks. That means the site can be updated with every new version of Bricks and build unlimited sites, forever. The websites will never go down, and the modules will never break because of a Wordpress update.
My Offer
Deliverables
1.
All of the existing Smart websites, replicated in Bricks Builder, with any additional changes the marketing team wish to make (within fair reason). This means all existing modules will be replicated in Bricks as templates.
All of the existing Smart websites, replicated in Bricks Builder, with any additional changes the marketing team wish to make (within fair reason). This means all existing modules will be replicated in Bricks as templates.
2.
A staging site for every Smart site. This is how web development is meant to be done, with every site having its own staging site. Kerve have just one, and instead add a new page every time they develop a new feature. This is bad practice and is one of the reasons it takes so long to push changes live currently.
A staging site for every Smart site. This is how web development is meant to be done, with every site having its own staging site. Kerve have just one, and instead add a new page every time they develop a new feature. This is bad practice and is one of the reasons it takes so long to push changes live currently.
3.
In-depth training from me on updating modules, adding content, and safely building new modules.
In-depth training from me on updating modules, adding content, and safely building new modules.
Timeframe
2 - 3 months.
Commencing in late August.
Launch in January, when business is quieter.
Cost
£21,000 (£1,750 for each of 12 sites)
As the design of Smart sites has been done, and all sites are similar in content and structure this seems a fair number. For a single new site with a design stage and development stage I have charged between £4,000 and £6,500.
As the design of Smart sites has been done, and all sites are similar in content and structure this seems a fair number. For a single new site with a design stage and development stage I have charged between £4,000 and £6,500.
£800 PCM maintenance fee for all Smart sites. This includes the building or editing of new modules (templates in Bricks), building new websites (only if they are duplicates of existing ones) and updating content if needed.
On average Smart has spent £25,666 per year on maintenance, not including 2019 when Smart spent £92,580 for the initial development and maintenance of the websites.
On average Smart has spent £25,666 per year on maintenance, not including 2019 when Smart spent £92,580 for the initial development and maintenance of the websites.
"I can only show you the door, you're the one that has to walk through it" - Morpheus
If this doesn't sound like a reasonable offer, please counter.
Or of course, there is always the warm embrace of the Matrix. The blue pill is still on the table, but you might not view reality the same...