Cascade Web Portfolio

AKT Services LLP

Summary

AKT Services LLP is a financial services and consulting firm with a core business unit focus on CPA & Consulting, Wealth Management, Retirement Plan Services, and Benefit Advisement. A series of growth opportunities in 2006 expanded AKT's global offerings to six offices from Alaska to San Diego and Mumbai, India. AKT has been voted one of Oregon's most admired and fastest growing companies by the Portland Business Journal.

By early 2007 AKT was faced with a number of challenges. Their website was a mess and they had no content management system for making changes. Their logo and brand felt old and irrelevant. They wanted to be seen as a global company, not a small Salem Oregon tax office. Finally, many employees had complained of a lack of communication and collaboration between offices and within business units.

Specific objectives were identified through a series of brand meetings and web strategy sessions:

1. Create six websites that all function separately, but leverage the services depth of AKT.
   
2. Content management was absolutely critical.
3. Implement knowledge management tools for the Intranet.
4. Add a Staff Directory with easy search and expanded profiles to include personal information, such as mobile phone numbers, interests and hobbies.
5. Incorporate Web 2.0 Community building tools to help AKT employees communicate with and understand their co-workers in other offices.

Implementation

A coordinated strategy was paramount, with two agencies, a corporate committee and end deliverables that would change the face and culture of AKT.

The core web strategy deliverable is wireframes and screen mock-ups. Cascade's unique process combines the findings of discovery meetings to create key screen wireframes and diagrams. This is especially important for intranet applications and complex website information architecture. The results are delivered to the client in screencast video format. The client greatly appreciated this delivery mechanism to facilitate communication between members of their marketing committee.

“The [cascade] video prototypes helped us understand what we were getting. It brought the project to life at a very early stage. This helped lower the cost of change as we understood the application.” Julie Vadnais AKT Director of Operations

After three months of production, AKT Inside the AKT intranet, was ready for roll out. Key features addressed the project objectives above. The Niche Link Resource allows AKT employees to add web resources in a del.icio.us type bookmarking tool, which allows them to easily share resources. The AKT Knowledge Bank is a simple form where employees can add text, images and documents. Typical submissions include PPT slides from industry or client presentations, photos from AKT awards ceremonies, and culture announcements such as weddings and new hires. The submissions are stored in a web database powered by cascade's evergreen Content Management System. Other features include AKT happenings/news listing, which greatly cuts down corporate mass e-mail, IT Updates, New Employee Training, AKT Outside, a “craigslist” type listing interests outside of work, Newsletter Archive, and individual employee profile management.

Results

AKT now has a true integrated marketing thread between brand, print, web and culture. Probably the most important and immediate ROI from their efforts has been the internal integration of offices in California and Alaska. Mergers, which are never easy, can be integrated into the AKT culture through AKT Inside with quick and easy introduction to their fellow employees, company training, HR Resources, and outside hobbies and interests.