Why work with SMILE?
For…
IT Departments
There aren’t many agencies that are as good at both technical and creative services. SMILE bucks that trend.
We don’t outsource our technical output to freelancers or offshore teams. There’s no “B-team”. When you work with SMILE, you’ll know the engineers working on your project by name.
Our passion for all things technical is infectious. We nerd out about accessibility, performance, new dev-ops technologies. We love applying this passion to the enterprise-scale challenges that are common in the Higher Ed space. Best of all, we’re able to talk about all this in two modes: detailed technical lingo, or breaking things down into non-technical language (something that’s proven useful for getting buy-in from stakeholders). We’ve applied this by creating a series of webinars that tackle Higher Ed challenges, that are inclusive to all audiences.
WordPress
React & Javascript
API Integrations
CMS Migration
Accessibility
Hosting & Infrastructure
Whilst we have an optimistic outlook, we’re cautious about new technologies too. Work in web development for long enough and you’ll have been burned in adopting a new technology too soon. Been there, done that. Not gonna repeat it. Working with SMILE means working with modern, but established technologies with a proven track record.
Strategy and Planning
Our team has experience in a broad range of disciplines. SMILE has a proven track record in using technology to help organisations solve problems – not just push pretty pixels. Working together and alongside your team, we get under the skin of your project and technology stack to develop solutions that fit you like a glove.
Drawing on our previous experiences we’re able to advise you on the pitfalls of API integrations, CMS migrations or even just traversing the politics of high-profile projects. We’ll proactively make suggestions based on our knowledge of the sector. Our clients get the most out of us when they work with us at an early stage, and utilise our consultative skills.
Technical Implementation and Integrations
Our team is home to experts in the niche of WordPress and Higher Ed, keeping up-to-date by being active in WordPress and HE communities. Our code is validated and tested on a regular basis. We strive to make our work transportable and we believe in the power of open-source.
We’ve integrated all manner of systems into our work. With SMILE, you’ve found a partner that’s dealt with the education-specific systems – SITS, Unit-E, ProSolution, Tribal EBS – the list goes on and on.
When we’ve come across recurring challenges, we’ve been able to develop tools for the sector.
Creative and Research
Our creative team works collaboratively with our engineers and architects to ensure feasibility. Their handoffs are flawless, with detailed documentation. Developers are handed high-fidelity prototypes with interactions and states, that are inspectable, just like the DOM.
Projects at SMILE are founded on both quantitative and qualitative data. Where you have gaps we can fill them. We’re HotJar and Siteimprove partners, we regularly run card sorts, surveys and remote user studies – in person, or remote.
Infrastructure
The overhead for website maintenance and security grows with the number of sites you manage. If your team is stretched, let us take care of the headaches for you.
We have a track record in managing high profile websites. Our HappyPress infrastructure is a managed WordPress platform, with superb customer support across a ticketed email service desk (with an SLA), live chat, telephone and SMS. A website is never complete so working with us on an ongoing basis is a great way to protect your investment and ensure it always performs at its best.