Not only do we enjoy guiding our clients in expanding and developing their web strategy and presence, we also like to recognize the work that they do as well.

The Foundation for Educational Choice is a not-for-profit founded on the ideals of famed economist Milton Freidman that promotes educational choice to any and all who seek it. By acting as a sort of repository for nationwide news relative to the subject, Ed. Choice has the ability to keep students, parents, teachers, legislatures, and everyone in between informed of new scholarship opportunities, legislation passed, or bills created that help students seek the schooling they desire.

While they are not solely web-based, a lot of their information is passed along via the web, and their current website was hindering them from effectively managing all the information that they had. In order to help them better educate the masses on educational choice, we here at BitWise Solutions developed a means to easily deliver research, news, legislation, and other documents that directly affect each state. Their content management system wasn’t ideal and made it difficult for the Foundation to easily edit content on their site, as well as provide organized content for their audiences. With a brand new content management system and research and legislation modules, they will now have complete control over what content is displayed on their site, and that will allow them to keep it up to date in the manner they need.

Now that the new site has launched, the efficiency and ease with which they can reach their audience will increase greatly, allowing them to more effectively serve the students and parents that subscribe to educational choice.  

 

The term Project Management has come a long way since the days of Henry Gantt, who is considered the forefather of modern project management. In his time it was fair to say that all projects had an end, one was geared with a task and upon its completion the contract was fulfilled. Now it is fair to say that over the hundred plus years the concept of what business is has changed quite drastically. With modern technology leading the way, business has become more of an evolving relationship instead of the original one-and-done contractual-type work.

The business that we, BitWise Solutions, Inc. are in is one that cannot be clearly defined by having a means to an end. Since Web Development, Analytics, and SEO is a constantly evolving group of technologies, is it fair to say that a project really can ever just end? We are in the business of continuous innovation which stretches much further and broader than the word “project” can project. We’re not looking for an exit strategy; we are looking for engagements that give us the opportunity to continually improve the ROI on whatever services a client needs.

If you, the potential customer, were looking to do business with us, would it make sense to have us build out a website, application, or develop a web strategy, and not have us continue to work with it as technology advances or becomes more efficient? The whole purpose of what we do here is to help make your business better, and that simple concept never stops. We aim to grow our business relationships to be as beneficial for everyone as possible and putting a set end time to that hinders the ability to succeed to the highest level. So please, next time you stop in for an appointment, please leave that outdated word at the door; we’re in the business of Continuous Innovation.

For those of you who may be unfamiliar with BitWise Solutions, we are an Indianapolis based Web development firm specializing in complex Web solutions, specifically Websites and software applications that are meant to run on the Web.  What Ron has been blogging about the past few weeks sparked me to want to add a little about the strategy that is necessary for a good Website solution.

First, developing a new Website requires an investment; typically, it’s both a time and monetary investment.  A good investment should anticipate a return on that investment; without a return then it’s not an investment it’s a donation.  Assuming that you would like a return on your investment, then it is imperative to start with the overall goals and objectives you have for your business or organization.  If you are a for-profit business, then you are (or should be) looking at ways to grow top-line revenue and decrease costs; your goals and objectives are ways to accomplish either or both.  Some examples of objectives for growing revenue to name a few might include:

• Increase customer retention;
• Increase average order sizes;
• Increase the number of customers;
• Increase repeat sales;

Now we’ll dig a little deeper and work on some strategies for how your Website may be able to help achieve your goals and objectives.  Taking the previous examples we might come up with the following ways a Website might help accomplish the business objectives:

A good Web developer should help you work through specific strategies on how to introduce your products and services via the Web.  Many Web companies focus on the designs and user-interfaces which, don’t get me wrong, play a big part in the overall success of your Website, but the biggest thing to focus on is your business drivers and objectives and ensure that your Website and other online strategies are in line with accomplishing those things.  If it doesn’t help you achieve a goal or objective, then throw it out; it doesn’t need to be there and will only cost you more money in the long run.

Notice that I haven’t talked about your Website goals (yet), but your business goals.  Your business goals should always be the driving force behind what you do on your Website.  Once you have that figured out, then you can move on to your Website goals which should focus on helping you achieve your business goals.

That’s all I have for now, but if any of what I just said in the above paragraphs scares you, don’t worry!  We just happen to specialize in helping people determine their business and Web goals and strategies and then we can help implement those strategies so that you can begin raking in the dough in no time!  Remember, it’s all about the return on investment - make sure you’re getting yours!