Recent Oxford Technology Ventures, LLC clients include:
Brightmap | 2012
Oxford Technology Ventures, LLC is assisting Brightmap, a lead-generation and management platform for event hosts and professional service providers, with optimizing the usability, navigation and feature set of their product.
Eviv.io | 2012
Oxford Technology Ventures, LLC is assisting Eviv.io, a young social media campaign management service akin to Hootsuite, but for agencies and small-medium sized businesses, with optimizing the usability, navigation and feature set of their product.
“Beverly is a very insightful and thorough user experience analyst. She has helped me improve both information architecture for marketing sites and user interactions in web apps. She gets the “big picture” quickly, and uses this understanding to spot weaknesses effectively and provide great ideas for improvements. She also brings an understanding of project management, to which end she will prioritize problems to fix and areas to split-test, and help her clients create a road-map toward a more effective user experience. She communicates effectively and is easy to work with. Unconditionally recommended.”
– Arthur Dobelis, CEO, Eviv.IO on on LinkedIn
Pitney Bowes | 2011
Oxford Technology Ventures, LLC is assisting Pitney Bowes, a 90-year old, $5+Billion company with over 30,000 employees, on Volly, a major digital product initiative that has the potential to revolutionize corporate and consumer billing and communications. OTV is providing Pitney Bowes with product strategy, research and analysis, user experience and requirements definition services.
RealAge | 2010-2011
Oxford Technology Ventures, LLC has worked repeatedly with RealAge. In 2011, Oxford Technology Ventures, LLC provided company and product Strategy, extensive Product Research and Competitive Analysis, and full Information Architecture and User Experience services for the relaunch of this flagship online health brand and its innovative health diagnostics assessments. In 2010, OTV assisted RealAge with a major overhaul of the site’s user registration system and platform migration, as well as conceptualizing and providing user experience and information architecture services for a new mobile application and a personalized website experience.
“We engaged Oxford Technology Ventures at RealAge repeatedly in 2010 and 2011 for a wholesale overhaul of the RealAge product strategy, competitive positioning and site and test experience. Each time, Beverly worked intimately with the RealAge and Hearst teams to lead toward consensus around a final product direction via multiple rounds of review and discussion.
RealAge began working with Beverly in 2010 with technical work on registration migration and single sign-on that involved consolidating over a dozen different registration flows onto the Hearst platform. OTV conceptualized RealAge’s first iPhone application and site personalization around the user’s RealAge Test results.
In 2011, we re- engaged Beverly’s team for a much larger site and product overhaul. From strategic review, including a comprehensive and very detailed review of the competitive landscape and positioning, UX, and business model, and demographic, social and traffic metrics. Along with a detailed review of over 100 internal documents and the current site, this led to comprehensive strategic recommendations for brand repositioning, business strategy and product features.
We further engaged OTV for user experience deliverables that began with conceptual directions and ended with a comprehensive set of wireframes, sitemap, navigation, content mapping and user flows for a possible new vision of RealAge, including site personalization, conversion optimization and an overhauled RealAge Test UI and test results experience.
Beverly merges business acumen and KPI results-orientation with deep domain experience in consumer health, publishing, ecommerce, software and the web. She works collaboratively while leading decisively toward consensus, and her deliverables are comprehensive, detailed, clear and actionable.
I would highly recommend Beverly and her team to anyone seeking product strategy and user experience assistance.”
– Nicola Bridges, SVP, Programming & Audience Development at RealAge on LinkedIn
Consumer Reports | 2010-2011
Provided Strategy, Product Research and Competitive Analysis, Requirements Analysis, Information Architecture and User Experience services for a major web initiative at Consumer Reports Health.
The Cement Bond, New York | 2011
Oxford Technology Ventures, LLC has worked repeatedly with The Cement Bond (formerly the Cement Bloc), a boutique digital agency that specializes in pharmaceutical Industry. In 2011, OTV assisted The Cement Bond a major healthcare initiative with Johnson & Johnson. In 2010, OTV provided user experience and requirements services on two new medication websites for Novartis’s new medication product launch in 2010.
• Led Competitive Analysis, Strategy, IA & User Experience.
• Launch pending FDA drug approval for both the condition-based site and the medication site.
• Product Highlights: Crafted business case for creating an immersive, audience-based experience. Expanded target audience range to encompass many new user groups. Proposed “sticky” and “viral” tools to expand consumer awareness of the condition and medication.
Hearst Digital Media | 2010-2011
Oxford Technology Ventures, LLC has worked repeatedly with Hearst. In 2010-2011, OTV provided Strategy, Requirements Analysis, Competitive Analysis spanning 14 comparable systems and Usability analysis services on a major internal platform applications development initiative that spanned five internal applications and impacts every one of Hearst’s 30+ digital properties. Created a consolidated, prioritized feature spreadsheets and gave summaries of the findings and proposed direction to execute against with these systems.
Health Guru | 2010
Provided strategy, requirements and user experience services for the site overhaul and pending early 2011 relaunch of HealthGuru.com, the top health video site on the web that is aimed at the 18-30 year old college market. Helped conceptualize, plan and define new interactive products and features that utilize video in wholly new ways to deliver personalized, immersive, interactive experiences with CMS-delivered video content. These new features are slated to be launched in 2011.
“HealthGuru engaged Beverly’s company Oxford Technology Ventures in 2010 for a wholesale site redesign and upgrade. Beverly’s company is not like a traditional agency- she and her team worked intimately with us to achieve consensus through an iterative and collaborative approach. As well, her proposals were not simply about usability – throughout the process, Beverly always focused on achieving business goals and obtaining superior site metrics.
The new site’s performance has already been stellar; we are now the #1 health video site on the web.
I would highly recommend Beverly’s company for innovative product strategy as well as superior user experience and requirements documentation. We hope to continue to work with her in the future!”
– Josh Silberstein, CEO, HealthGuru, 2011 on LinkedIn
dLife | 2010
Provided strategy, requirements, competitive analysis, vendor procurement, visual design and user experience consulting services on a number of initiatives for the top Diabetes health site on the web. Projects included: improving the navigation structure of the pending relaunch of dLife.com, a major site personalization and community initiative, vendor RFPs and selection on a major online health management initiative; and user experience design of a unique Diabetes health management application.
• Led technology evaluations, Product Strategy, IA & all Requirements & Analysis, as well as provided visual design approaches for new site initiatives.
• Helped research and evaluate over a dozen vendors in a build-or-buy analysis and then led detailed wireframes, specifications and visual designs for a new Diabetes health-management tracking service on the site.
• Advised on improving the registration conversion funnel and on site personalization through “My dLife.”
• Front & Back End Project included evaluating content structure, navigation, registration and vendor integrations.
“I hired Beverly and her company Oxford Technology Ventures to lead a complicated web product development project for dLife and she simply hit it out of the park. She identified, vetted and managed external vendor relationships; provided key strategic advice and recommendations on the product, features set, technology, integration and design; created detailed wire frames and functional specs and reviewed/provided usability advice for our new content and navigation strategy. I highly recommend Beverly and Oxford Technology Ventures.” – Gregg Zegras, COO, dLife, 2011 on LinkedIn
Oxford University Careers Service | 2010
Provided an information portal for Oxford University students who considering an international internship. Research and wrote all the content and created the website for the University.
“I worked with Beverly’s company in 2010 to establish an international visas information portal for Oxford University students who are seeking international internships. Beverly was a pleasure to work with. She and her team worked closely with the University through many rounds of discussion on direction and planning. The depth of content she delivered went far above and beyond the scope that had been agreed to for our first release. The website went live exactly on time, and information provided has proven very useful. I would highly recommend Beverly’s services to other companies and other institutions of higher education.”
– Fiona Whitehouse, International Projects Leader, University of Oxford, 2011 on LinkedIn
Popular Mechanics | 2010
Provided user experience services towards the development of Popular Mechanic‘s first iPad application, which received great critical reviews.
1Up | 2010
Provided strategy, user experience, product management and requirements services for the platform migration and relaunch of the new 1Up.com website. 1Up is one of the top online gaming websites on the web, with an active community and loyal user base; it is a subsidiary of UGO Entertainment.
• Led Strategy, IA & all Requirements & Analysis. Led client meetings & reviews.
• Front & Back End Project included migrating to a different content management system and integrating many new community and web 2.0 features.
MarieClaire | 2010
Provided user experience and information architecture consulting services for a new cross-brand consumer-facing fragrance analysis and recommendations application, which was first launched on MarieClaire.com.
• Data The tool pulls fragrance data and diagnostics from a licensed 3rd party database containing 10,000+ fragrances, 1000+ brands and dozens of fragrance characteristics—the same database used by Sephora.
• Launch Launched on Marie Claire at www.marieclaire.com/fragrance-finder/ with 2009 rollout planned for all major Hearst magazine brands. Integrated tool- embedded into existing Hearst magazine properties and using Hearst CMS.
• Led IA & some Business Analysis. Led meetings, reviews with Creative, Edit, Marketing, Sales, Tech, Producers.
• Product Highlights: Search in Batch 1 & 2 with multi-select menus keeps UI clean, simple but enables sophisticated queries. Ratings & Reviews in-page in a cleaner, tighter layout. Flip-Lists for flip-book or A-Z style content with left nav. “Saved Fragrances” & E-Commerce in Batch 3 with integrated login & shopping list. Timeline Flash Tool.
Golden Recruiter | 2010
Provided strategy, competitive analysis, user experience, branding and visual design, product and project management and applications development services for a new small-business recruitment management web service at GoldenRecruiter.com.
Hearst Magazines International | 2009
Provided strategy, requirements, and user experience/ information architecture consulting services on two internal Intranets that help streamline operational workflow, increase global knowledge-sharing and improve global operational efficiency.
• Internal launch in 2009. Only available to Hearst International staff. Both were built in Sharepoint.
• Led Strategy, Requirements and User Experience deliverables. Led all client meetings with varied stakeholders.
• Product Highlights: Sophisticated Search by brand, program, country, advertiser, Edition, year. Integrated video, PDF files, Calendar, slideshows, brand logos and photos, contact information. Navigation by both brand and content category.
Sabon and Ecommerce Partners | 2009
Oxford Technology Ventures, LLC has worked repeatedly with the boutique eCommerce agency Ecommerce Partners. In 2009-2010, OTV provided user experience and requirements services for the new Sabon.com website, in partnership with Ecommerce Partners. In 2009, OTV provided content strategy, taxonomy and specialized writing and editing services for the launch of the new EcommercePartners.com website.
• Led Strategy, IA & all Requirements & Analysis. Led client meetings & reviews. Launch pending in mid-late 2011.
• Front & Back End Project included evaluating new content management systems.
• Product Highlights: New Checkout enables superior ecommerce upsells and user experience. New e-commerce search, overhauled navigation, “Build your own Gift Basket” wizard, Loyalty program, “also liked” and “related products.”
“I engaged Beverly’s firm Oxford Technology Ventures in 2009 on two projects. The first was content strategy, navigation and site copy for our own website, ECommercePartners.net. Beverly’s knowledge of the ecommerce landscape and the software development life-cycle made her the perfect person to assist in content reorganization and writing, and we received many compliments and a boost in new business from the updated site post-launch.
The second project was a redesign and platform migration for the bath products company. Beverly created innovative, detailed and comprehensive annotated wireframes of the new experience, including many new feature and user interaction proposals. She also delivered major parts of a comprehensive Ecommerce Requirements Specification that included business requirements and goals, competitive landscape analysis, personas, in-depth site metrics analysis, content strategy and navigational hierarchy reorganization proposals, and prioritized features and functional requirements. She worked directly with our team and the client to understand business goals as a framework for the proposed experience. Throughout the project, Beverly focused on user experience ideas and solutions that could deliver major boosts in site traffic, consumer loyalty, and revenue.
I continue to seek other large projects in which we can work with Beverly’s company again to help ensure the best user experience and product strategy documentation for our clients. I would highly recommend Oxford Technology Ventures to anyone seeking premium product strategy, requirements analysis and user experience services.”
– Asi Erenberg, CEO at ECommerce Partners, 2011 on LinkedIn
NYC & Co., Inc. | 2009
Provided a strategic, competitive and user experience site audit as well as comprehensive recommendations on how to improve site usability, revenue and visitor metrics for NYCGo.com, a major public-private partnership web initiative that promotes tourism, trade and business on behalf of the City of New York. Delivered a 109 page report and Executive Summary identified current usability concerns with site, competitive landscape and positioning, the status of the site vs. stated business goals. Included a comprehensive list of targeted improvements to increase traffic, loyalty, usefulness & visitor satisfaction.
High Speed Rail USA | 2009
Provided business consulting services to assist this nascent US advocacy group for high-speed rail in achieving greater operational efficiency.
CoMetrica UK | 2009
Provided technology strategy consulting to help conceptualize, plan and launch the software behind CoMetrica, a UK healthcare IT company that offers services to track, analyze, and benchmark the quality of patient care to the Primary Care Trusts of the UK National Health Service.
Ultra.Travel UK | 2009
Provided technology strategy and concepting consulting to help conceive, plan, and define the requirements and functionality of the pending web launch of the UK’s largest luxury travel magazine, which is published by the Daily Telegraph.
Clients from 2008 and Earlier
Past consulting clients of the founder, Beverly May, have included the United Nations International Computing Centre, R/GA, iDeutsch, Euro RSCG, Atmosphere BBDO, Web Critica, Heartbeat Digital, Creative Time, mH20.com, Fancast.com, the internet incubator the NRG Group, Ezenet.com, and dozens more. Read more about Beverly’s past experience and consulting roles. Beverly also worked during a critical high-growth period at Wireless Generation, a New York-based educational software start-up that was recently sold to News Corp. to become the platform for the company’s new education initiative.