DOOR3

Please describe your organization and your role there. 

I am the co-founder and CEO of eHire Talent, an online platform which recruits and places tier-one freelancers for experiential events.  We are a start-up still in the development and creation of our online platform. Our goal is to have the platform up and running by Spring 2017.

What challenge were you trying to address with DOOR3?

So we are a startup business, and we are building an online platform to place top level freelancers in the event world. So whether you’re an agency or corporation who’s looking to put on a live event, you would come to our online platform, become a client of ours, and then be able to utilize our database to find appropriate staffing. So right now, our idea is just that—it’s an idea. So we have been working with DOOR3 to bring the idea to life, defining all the functionalities, and what the platform should be. That was phase 1. And now we’re going into phase 2 which is actually the designing and building of that platform.

We hired DOOR3 to assist us in the development and prioritization of the functional requirements for our platform. DOOR3 also developed the platform roadmap and developed the roll-out strategy for platform's services and function.

What was the scope of their involvement?

I would say not much conceptually because we already had the idea. But what they helped us with was framing out how that idea would work and really give the best online product to our audience. They were extremely helpful in that. At this point in time, we’re using something called an Agile format in how we’re building the entire platform. We haven’t gotten into actually building yet and coding it and language. But in the discovery stage, it was all this Agile thinking and format that we were following.

What is the status of this engagement?

The project lasted approximately 2.5 months. At this point in time, DOOR3 will definitely be a part of phase 2, which is the coding, and we’re kind of determining exactly how that’s going to work.

How did you come to work with DOOR3? 

We are members of a professional organization, Vistage, and Alex Asianov, CEO of DOOR3 is also a member.  As a result, we have spent time with Alex and had the opportunity to learn about his organization and its capabilities.  We were very impressed not only with Alex's business savvy and insights but also with his team at DOOR3. 

DOOR3 was the driver and curator of our development processes.  We had several in-depth sessions to define the purpose of eHire Talent, the market is serving as well as the products and services it will provide.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate the productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

Unfortunately, it is very early on so there is no ROI or any kind of specific benchmarks that promote either a qualitative or even quantitative standpoint that I can share. It’s too early on in the project. But everything so far has been done on time and within the budget that we discussed.

How did DOOR3 perform from a project management standpoint?

They appointed a project manager to our business who was our main liaison who orchestrated the timeline and the planning with both our team and their team.

They are an extremely professional and knowledgeable company.  Not only did they guide us in structuring the development process of our platform they also provided savvy advice on the strategic direction of our company, which included helping us define our niche in the marketplace.

DOOR3 delivered the agreed to scope of work on time and on budget.

What did you most impressive about DOOR3?

I think the thing I most appreciated about them was that we were dealing with experienced senior-level talent on their side, so it was people who had done this on other occasions and were familiar with startup businesses. So they really helped advise us, not only from building a digital platform but also understanding the pitfalls and the challenges that a startup can face.

Are there any areas DOOR3 could improve?

I don’t think so at this point of time. We are very pleased with their service.

This review was updated on February 27, 2019 by the client. New content is below.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

We changed our company name since my last review. I am the co-founder of the company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with DOOR3?

We originally hired them in 2016 to help us ideate and plan out the design of our platform. We used an offshore resource for development but ran into a series of problems. They’ve come to our rescue multiple times to help us work through bugs and strategic gaps.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

We initially used them on a project basis, but they are becoming a more dependable long-term resource. They’re currently doing an analysis of the platform to help us move to the next building phase. The platform is .NET and runs on Azor. They are helping us expand our road map and feature set for future updates. They give us ideas to make sure the platform stays flexible and cost-effective, while keeping up with all the changes within the technology world.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent in the low six figures for their work.

What is the status of this engagement?

We officially started this new engagement in early 2019, but have called on them every quarter since 2016. Going forward, we plan to engage in a more permanent long-term relationship.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What did you find most impressive about DOOR3?

They’re a very smart group of individuals. They’re collaborative, strategic, and intelligent. As a startup, those qualities are very important.

Are there any areas they could improve?

There is always room for improvement in any relationship, but I don’t have any specific areas of deficiency to point out.

I am a partner at Dunnington, Bartholow & Miller LLP, a law firm located in midtown New York.  We are a general service firm in our 96th year of service. 

What challenge were you trying to address with DOOR3?

My firm was looking for an upgrade in case management software, document management software, and time and billing software which ideally should be interlinked on our law firm’s backend. Our overall system network was not enabling the firm to maximize its potential. 

What was the scope of their involvement?

DOOR3 did an analysis of what we would need to do with our existing systems in our existing network. They gave suggestions with respect to third-party legal vendors that provide these management platforms and ways we could implement them. Their analysis also included some troubleshooting issues we were having in our system. They looked into our website as well. We have certain wants and desires for our website after we deal with the backend system. They discussed with us the architecture that we need on the backend for what we want to do with our website as far as publishing articles and things of that nature. We retained DOOR3 given their experience in the legal field, including their build of an award-winning intranet for a prior law firm client.

How did you come to work with DOOR3?

I knew them through past relationships.

Could you share any evidence that would demonstrate productivity, quality of work, or the impact of the engagement?

They product they gave us was a proper research report analysis on a holistic level with respect to our system. It put everything in perspective. We’re looking to upgrade certain systems now, others later and some don’t need to be upgraded. They gave us a map and understanding of what it takes to get where we need to go.

How did DOOR3 perform from a project management standpoint?

They were great. They were responsive and they provided a high-level team. If they needed people to come in to do more ground work, those people are there. If they need people to do more high-level discussions, those folks would come in.

What did you find most impressive about DOOR3?

They were very accessible and willing to spend extra time with me. They gave me personal attention that everyone wants in a service relationship.

DOOR3 leveled a holistic analysis of our systems and met with our professionals and staff to gain a deeper understanding of the issues, desired changes and goals.  I was particularly impressed with the amount of time DOOR3 spent one-on-one with firm personnel.  I believe this is what lead to a keen understanding of what was best suited for the firm.  Overall, DOOR3 was very responsive and worked quickly to provide the analysis, which clearly laid out the strategy, options and steps required in order to obtain the end-goal.  Their knowledge of the legal industry was very helpful.       

Are there any areas DOOR3 could improve?

No.

What tips or recommendations could you share that might increase the likelihood of success with DOOR3?

I would recommend them. We were pleased with the engagement.

Introduce your business and what you do there.

When I worked with DOOR3, I was at a medical devices company. I was the Manager for E-Marketing Strategy and Analytics.

What challenge were you trying to address with DOOR3?

We were actually doing a complete overhaul of our US-facing customer websites. At the time, we had three different sites. One was for one part of our surgical business, one was for another part of our surgical business, and one for our gastroenterology and respiratory business. The intent was to work with them from the customer experience perspective to have a single facing site for the medical group in the US.

What was the scope of their involvement?

Predominantly, we had DOOR3 get up to speed on our business and our customers. We developed about a 50-page discovery document with an executive overview single page. From that, we then got internal approvals that this is what executive management was looking for, and then worked with them to determine the site navigation as well as the wireframes for the site itself. Ultimately, the site was built using Drupal, but DOOR3 was not a part of that. It was all a discovery and defining phase.

How did you come to work with DOOR3?

It was probably in November of 2010. When we had gotten approval for the website, we looked at a variety of different companies. Some were proprietary, some were open-source. DOOR3 had done a project that somebody within our team had been aware of, so we reached out to them and invited them in for the initial round of vendor review. They had a very strong user experience side, so we decided to split the project into user experience and then development under a separate contract. We wound up using the Drupal web content management system and wanted to go with a company that specialized in Drupal, so that was the only reason why we used them for one part, but not the whole because they worked in a variety of platforms.

How much have you invested with DOOR3?

It was around $30,000 to $40,000 for the discovery work.

What is the status of this engagement?

The work is completed. It lasted about 4 months.

Could you share any results of the engagement?

We had a junk web presence with multiple sites. These don’t sound huge for consumer side numbers, but from a B2B [business-to-business] perspective, we went from about 1,000 marketing leads a month to a little bit over 4,000. quIt was a little bit over a 250% increase in leads as a result of the way the site was structured by DOOR3.

One of the important aspects of it for us was that our customers were very aware of our imaging platform, but they didn’t always realize we had a lot of accessory products. The site was built in a way that we focused on our nine major medical specialty areas, and then within each of those areas, we highlighted the procedures, and for each procedure, the product suite that we offered in addition to what everybody knew we offered.

We really wanted to upsell through the site and remind people that we offered all these different medical devices and different products as opposed to just the imaging platform. That was a really big part of it. For the people that were aware of our products, we wanted to make sure that it was easily accessible to get directly to the product they were looking for. We wanted to balance growing awareness and specifically being able to get to the product that you were looking for.

How did DOOR3 perform from a project management standpoint?

DOOR3 was very good. We actually did a lot of onsite work at their office. So instead of having their team travel out, I went to them and did a lot of onboarding to get them up to speed before they came onsite to meet with the rest of our marketing team. There was definitely a learning curve there. They picked that up pretty quickly, so that was good.

We actually had a situation where our surgical business was in Boston, our ENT [ear, nose, & throat] business was in Tennessee, and our respiratory and gastroenterology business was in Pennsylvania. The kickoff meeting that we had for the website that DOOR3 conducted was actually the first time those parties all sat in the same room at the same time, which is hard to believe, but they did a really good job of helping facilitate the process of getting everybody on the same page. The concern was that our GI [gastrointestinal] business was so big that it would have different needs than some of our other businesses that maybe didn’t have a massive market share. What we decided to do, which DOOR3 facilitated, was to split the groups up, have them go through what their priorities were for the site, and then brought everybody back together, talked through, and reconciled the priorities. They found that they were actually pretty well aligned, even though they all thought they were going to be very different.

That had a huge impact on the project simply because the groups realized that their goals were actually very equal, and it wasn’t one part of the business getting something that the other part wasn’t. That was a big early hurdle to get over. The company actually implemented an annual joint marketing meeting, so every year now they all get together and talk about what they’re doing. The very first time they did was for the web project that DOOR3 helped us lead for the discovery and defining phase.

What did you find most impressive about DOOR3?

We selected them because we felt, during the presentation, that they had a really strong user experience approach, and I think the output that we had on the site definitely validated that. From that perspective, I can definitely speak. Again, we didn’t use them on the technical side, so I can’t talk to that aspect of it.

Are there any areas DOOR3 could improve?

From the actual work perspective, I thought they did an excellent job. They did bring one of the team members on a few weeks into the project, and they missed a lot of the onboarding. As a result, I had to talk through a lot of what we had already talked through, so there was a bit of repetition due to that. The business development person at the time had their take on why they did that, but from my perspective in managing the vendor, I don’t want to have to do that twice and spend the hours to have to repeat what we had already gone over at the start. That was definitely something that I think could’ve been handled better. Maybe they just didn’t have the person in place. I know they did hire him for that project; I don’t know if he stayed on after that or not.

The other area was in the defining of what was going to be delivered. There was a lot of back and forth in the sense that there were some things written within the contract that should be delivered, that they felt were not deliverables. Ultimately we got everything we needed, but if there are areas of constructive criticism, that would be it. I don’t know if it was a case where they ran out of hours, which I’m theorizing that they may have invested more hours than they thought they were going to, so as a result, they tried to talk themselves out of some of the things. It was not a big deal. We got what we needed, so from that perspective, it’s not a problem. The budget was the budget. We didn’t get into having to pay more for things or anything like that.

I’d say those were the two biggest areas where I thought there was a little frustration. Otherwise, the output and the product was fantastic, and it was split groups, so it wasn’t like we were negotiating with the user experience designer or anything. It was two different conversations; I just happened to be in both of them.

Please describe your organization.

The company was a not-for-profit affordable housing company.

What is your position?

I was the CIO.

What business challenge were you trying to address with DOOR3?

This was before the housing market crashed, and we were experiencing a real spike in mortgages and applications and things like that. We just couldn’t keep up with the paper-based system, so we were looking to automate that whole thing and get better reporting out of it, better statistics, data, that kind of thing.

Please describe the scope of their involvement in greater detail.

They did the whole thing soup to nuts. DOOR3 came in; they did the requirements gathering, the design, they built it and they did the testing. They really did the entire scope of the project. It was a long project. Like most things, you built it and then you realize you want something more. We worked them for probably about three years and really what stopped it was the market turning around. We built a system for a business that was going up, and then all of a sudden, the business went down, and we had this really big system for something that we could actually handle on paper again. That’s what stopped the engagement.

I believe it was written in .NET, so in C#. It used pretty much the whole Microsoft stack: SSRS, SSIS, all that kind of stuff for reporting. It integrated with our existing mortgage management system. It really did a lot of things. It was really like a full ERP system almost by the time we ended because we built it for one specific area of the business and then other areas wanted it too.

The most useful feature, though, was definitely the closing board. It tracked mortgage applications and seeing which applications were coming in from which mortgage officer and for how much so we could see if they were meeting their goals and things like that. We could see what was in the pipeline coming along so we could tell what we were going to have in three months, six months, or nine months. The system that we had handled permanent loans very well, but it didn’t handle construction loans very well. That was one of the key things that we used it for, being able to see exactly how much an advance should be and to whom and when and being able to report on that. All of this was done on paper and Excel previously. To figure out how much money you actually dispersed and to whom and for what and for which loans and things like that were really difficult prior to this. It’s pretty hard to run a mortgage company when you don’t know who you’re giving your money to.

It was really revolutionary. Especially in our company, we were a small not-for-profit community-based lender, and we got pretty big pretty fast.

How did you come to work with DOOR3?

They were referred to us. It was our first big development project, so we definitely made some mistakes along the way, but they were there the whole time. They really helped us in every aspect of the development.

Could you provide a sense of the size of this initiative in financial terms?

It was several million. Basically, we outsourced our development to them. It was multiple smaller projects, but over the course of three to even four, five years, it was many millions.

What is the status of this engagement?

It’s completed. 

Could you share any statistics or metrics from this engagement?

Nothing specific just because it was a while ago and I don’t remember. This was five to eight years ago.

How did DOOR3 perform from a project management standpoint?

Good. I was very happy with DOOR3. That was a project in and of itself, getting the right project management reports. We ended up building a project management tool just so we could see things in the way that my boss wanted to see them exactly.

What distinguishes DOOR3 from other providers?

One thing that many of my end-users and my subject matter experts commented on was just how quickly they picked up the business side of things, which is really important. DOOR3 were really good at the business requirements. I would say that’s probably their strongest suit. Multiple senior vice presidents came to me and said they were really impressed.

The first project that we did before we wrote any code is we did a bunch of dataflow diagrams and things like that just to really map out how the business works, and we used those things even outside of the software development project. That was a really useful tool. One of the things we discovered was one department would print out a form and walk it over to another department and hand it to them, and then they would scan it and save it in another directory. It was just ridiculous, unnecessary work that was going on that was uncovered by these guys. They didn’t have to do anything to fix it; we just told them look, just save a copy in this other folder. DOOR3's understanding of the business and the speed at which they understood the business was really impressive. I would say that was their number one quality for me.

Is there anything DOOR3 could have improved or done differently?

We took a while to get up to speed I would say, and I don’t think it was really their fault; it was really we had never done a development project before. Looking back on that whole project, if I were to do anything differently, it would be just to know what I was getting into before I got into it.

Again, that wasn’t really a knock on them. They would give their advice and then just the customer is always right kind of thing. 

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the founder of Appsetters. We use a mobile platform to sell guaranteed sales appointments.

What challenge were you trying to address with DOOR3?

We needed their team to develop our platform strategy.

What was the scope of their involvement?

DOOR3 helps us develop a public forum platform. They’re in charge of creating an outline and defining the processes and technologies needed to create our platform.

What is the team composition?

I’m in contact with Alex (Founder & President) and Brandon (Practice Lead QA), while DOOR3 has a designated support team that tackles our project.

How did you come to work with DOOR3?

They were referred to us by a mutual friend.

How much have you invested with them?

I’ve spent $150,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We kicked off the engagement in January 2021, and it’s ongoing.

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

DOOR3 has done a professional job in developing our platform strategy. They deliver what we need when we need it.

How did DOOR3 perform from a project management standpoint?

DOOR3 is a reliable team. They’re keen on meeting our timelines and making sure that all our goals are achieved through their deliverables.

What did you find most impressive about them?

DOOR3 is a collaborative group that works with my team and not for my team. It makes a lot of difference knowing that they care about our project and are willing to cooperate with us to help meet our needs.

Are there any areas they could improve?

They can definitely benefit from a more structured workflow. There’ve been instances wherein their team’s spontaneity has led us to implement last-minute changes, some of which we’ve failed to salvage for not having enough manpower.

Do you have any advice for potential customers?

Make sure to remain available. If you devote enough time and establish your presence, DOOR3 will deliver your needs quickly and effectively.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I lead digital strategy and initiatives for a major museum in New York City.

For what projects/services did your company hire DOOR3?

We needed DOOR3 to redesign our mobile-responsive website and develop an app with a digital ticketing function.

What were your goals for this project?

We wanted to outsource web and mobile development.

How did you select this vendor?

We evaluated their proposals against comparable firms. For their proposals, they went above and beyond to understand our organization.

Can you go into detail about the services they provided and the scope of the project?

DOOR3 offered end-to-end software development services include design, development, and testing.

What was the team composition?

We worked with a project manager, account manager, designers, developer and testers.

Can you share any information that demonstrates the impact that this project has had on your business?

DOOR3's development work provided a modern digital experience for our audience.

How was project management arranged and how effective was it?

Their account manager and project manager achieved what I was looking for in administration, escalation, and problem-solving.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

They resolved issues as they arose.

Are there any areas where they can improve?

There are things to improve in every organization. I would suggest a focus on scaling as they continue to grow.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the director of IT of TEI Group. We are an elevator construction, modernization, repair, and service company.

For what projects/services did your company hire DOOR3?

We were deciding between two ERP products. We brought in DOOR3 to determine which would be a better fit for our company.

What were your goals for this project?

We engaged DOOR3 to provide a vendor and product comparison of ERP providers.

How did you select this vendor?

I learned about the team through a mutual colleague in the industry.

Describe the project in detail.

DOOR3 held briefings with each vendor and then wrote summaries weighing the pros and cons of each product.

What was the team composition?

We worked with one person.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

DOOR3 brought much-needed clarity to our decision-making process.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

The partnership was excellent.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their ERP expertise was very thorough.

Are there any areas for improvement?

No, we were very happy with their work.

Please describe your company and your position there.

I am the Head of Solution Delivery & Transformation Programme Director at an art auctioneer.

For what projects/services did your company hire DOOR3?

We wanted them to perform a complete digital transformation for us.

What were your goals for this project?

We hoped the work would transform our interactions with customers, prospects, and agents to provide a world-class user experience across all channels and geographies.

How did you select this vendor?

They were recommended by a partner.

Describe the project in detail.

It was a multi-million-pound project that took place over 5 years and transformed all aspects of the business. Our aim was to retain our unique and historical reputation while moving towards more modern ways of interaction that was being demanded by customers. The overall program delivered online marketing and customer interaction tools as well as enterprise HCM, CRM, auction management, finance, treasury, and ERP solutions. All of these were rolled out globally.

What was the team composition?

The team had 40 to 50 team members in total, which included 5 from Door3. The team included consultants from one of the big 4 consultancies, a couple of system integrators and solution vendor staff, in addition to as my company's staff.

Can you share any outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

The project was delivered successfully.

How effective was the workflow between your team and theirs?

Their team maintained excellent communication and interaction throughout the project.

What did you find most impressive about this company?

Their expertise, creativity, and collaborative approach were all impressive.