KDG

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the President of a construction company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Generator sales, installs, service, and rentals

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire KDG to accomplish?

• Implement Zoho CRM
• Improve CRM workflows
• Automate CRM

SOLUTION

How did you find KDG?

• Online Search
• Referral

Why did you select KDG over others?

Referred to me

How many teammates from KDG were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

Northeast Generator engaged KDG in 2025 to implement Zoho One paired with Zuper FSM, replacing QuickBooks Enterprise and Intuit Corrigo as our core business systems. The total project investment was over $50,000.

The scope included configuring Zoho CRM around our sales process from lead through project completion, integrating Zoho Books for estimates and invoicing, and building automation to generate customer quotes and installation contracts from CRM data. Contracts were meant to pull line-item descriptions (generator, electrical, and site work) directly from estimates so they could be sent without manual editing. The scope also covered automatic creation of retainer and final invoices from CRM with online payment enabled, Zoho Flow and Zoho Sign workflows connecting the applications, and integration with Zuper FSM for job scheduling and field service, including job categories and statuses. 

Key deliverables were a production-ready CRM and finance system for customer-facing use, working quote and contract automation as demonstrated in the sandbox, invoicing automation, a functioning Zuper integration, and documentation and training on the workflows built.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

There were no measurable outcomes that demonstrate success. The system KDG described as live was not ready for customer-facing use, and quotes generated in production contained blank fields and placeholder text. The contract automation demonstrated in the sandbox never functioned in production. Milestones slipped, and the project was placed on hold twice. After roughly $50,000 invested over about a year, we did not reach a stable, working system, and we have decided to abandon Zoho entirely and move to another platform.

The measurable results were negative. A fix KDG estimated at 6 to 12 billable hours took me about an hour to complete myself. One invoice had to be disputed and credited to reflect the agreed rate. Our Zoho Flow automations became unmapped when KDG's account access was removed, because they had been built under KDG's account rather than ours. 

The one deliverable that worked as intended was a smaller request late in the project to enable online payment on invoices generated from CRM, which was completed within a few days.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Project management was the weakest part of the engagement. KDG assigned a project manager with no technical background who sat in on calls, contributed little of substance, and billed us for his time, including internal discussions with the technical staff about our issues.

Communication breakdowns caused the most damage. KDG told us the system was going live when it was not ready for customer use, which KDG later acknowledged in writing. Open questions from a key demo were never clearly communicated to us as action items, so decisions needed to finish the build were missed. When the contract automation failed in production, it took weeks of back and forth to reach a single call, and that call did not resolve the issue. When an operations manager was brought in to escalate, she was catching up on months of project history and told us no concerns had previously reached her. 

Deadlines were not met. Routine requests for demo recordings, workflow files, and template access took repeated follow-ups, and delays were attributed to internal staffing. When we withheld payment pending resolution of these issues, KDG stopped all work and the completion date slipped. Later, even a simple change to the electricians listed on our contract template, along with other reported problems, was held until invoices cleared. 

Overall, KDG was slow to respond to our needs and quick to bill for the time spent responding.

What was your primary form of communication with KDG?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Very little. The individual developers we worked with were courteous, and when a request was small and clearly defined, such as enabling online payment on invoices generated from CRM, it was completed within a few days and documented with a video walkthrough. The operations manager who stepped in late in the project was candid in acknowledging KDG's communication failures and did issue a credit on one disputed invoice.

What set KDG apart, unfortunately, was its billing model. Nearly every step of the process was billable, including estimates, internal meetings, and time for a non-technical project manager to review issues. Estimates are not treated as caps. That combination made it difficult to control cost or hold the team accountable for delivering a working product.

Are there any areas for improvement or something KDG could have done differently?

KDG should define "go-live" clearly and test in production before telling a client the system is ready. Any known gap between sandbox and production should be disclosed in writing before launch, not explained after problems reach customers.

Integrations and automations should be built under the client's own accounts from the start. Building them under the vendor's account left our workflows dependent on KDG's access, and they broke when that access was removed.

Billing needs to be tied to value delivered. Clients should not pay for a non-technical project manager to sit in on calls or for internal discussions about problems KDG created. Estimates should be free or credited against the work, and they should function as caps unless the client approves a change in scope. Invoice line items should describe the actual work performed.

Action items and open decisions should be tracked and sent to the client explicitly after every demo and meeting, so nothing required to finish the build is missed.

Finally, fixing defects in delivered work should not be treated as new billable scope, and a client raising legitimate concerns should not have all work stopped as leverage over payment. A firm confident in its product would resolve the issues first.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the VP Sales of Osborn

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Osborn designs and manufactures industrial tools that help customers clean, prepare, and finish surfaces across metalworking and manufacturing applications.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire KDG to accomplish?

• Update Zoho CRM to better capture sales teams KPI's

SOLUTION

How did you find KDG?

Existing partner

Why did you select KDG over others?

Referred to me

How many teammates from KDG were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

KDG was hired to help Osborn update its Zoho CRM to better align with our sales team’s KPIs, and they were a strong partner throughout the process. The team worked closely with us to identify the right measures and system updates needed to support how our sales organization actually operates. They also participated in an onsite sales meeting to train the team, ensuring adoption and long-term success.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

 The project resulted in clearly defined and standardized KPIs embedded directly in Zoho CRM, improving data consistency and visibility across the sales funnel. Sales adoption increased following onsite training, leading to more accurate pipeline reporting, better stage discipline, and improved forecast confidence. Leadership gained real-time insight into deal progression and performance trends, enabling more focused coaching and faster decision-making.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

KDG demonstrated strong project management from start to finish, with clear timelines, defined milestones, and consistent communication. Deliverables were completed on time, and the team was responsive and flexible as our needs evolved throughout the project. They listened closely, incorporated feedback quickly, and acted as true partners rather than just an implementation vendor.

What was your primary form of communication with KDG?

Virtual Meeting

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

What stood out most was KDG’s ability to truly understand our sales organization and translate real-world selling behavior into a practical, usable CRM solution. They balanced technical expertise with a strong grasp of sales process and change management, which drove adoption beyond just “checking the box.” Their willingness to be onsite, engage directly with the team, and adjust in real time made them feel like an extension of our organization rather than an outside consultant.

Are there any areas for improvement or something KDG could have done differently?

no

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the COFO of Aidex Educational Systems

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Aidex is the Midwest’s leading source for educational and training technologies. We empower educators with innovative equipment and solutions designed to engage students and prepare them for today’s tech-driven careers.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire KDG to accomplish?

• Transition Salesforce to Zoho CRM and Quickbooks to Zoho Books
• Customization to fit our business model

SOLUTION

How did you find KDG?

Referral

Why did you select KDG over others?

• Referred to me
• They had previous experience with our particular industry

How many teammates from KDG were assigned to this project?

More than 10

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We've been operating out of multiple systems for quite a while now. The scope was to bring that all together for us in one location to help with efficiencies, mitigate mistakes, and provide more transparency within our company. The goal was to move Salesforce, Quickbooks, Sharepoint, and Excel into Zoho One CRM w/ Books. 
We operate across several states with 2 companies and only a handful operate in office. Its a big lift to customize a system to work for all of our different and unique needs. KDG, from the beginning, started having conversations with each employee to find out what they do, what they struggle with, and what they'd love to see and then started building a system to cater to us. 

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We have some tough people that can be resistant to change and all of them are excited as we're starting to walk through the different capabilities of the new system. KDG has also been Johnny-On-The-Spot with anything extra we'd like to see as we're navigating through. 

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

We started working with KDG in October based on a recommedation from a sister company that had a great experience with them. From beginning to end, they've walked us through what we could and couldn't do, answered all of our questions, provided us with real time solutions, and paused for us when we started to get nervous about moving our data. 
Lynette, Claudia, Matt, Isabel, Stephen, Chloe, Jacob are all involved on the front end. There are so  many on the back end we never see making it all happen for us. They've been a true partner. Getting emails from them at 10pm and then again at 6am as they're working on our build out and addressing questions shows how dedicated they've been to us. 
They pay such close attention to us that they knew when one of us had an anniversary and the other had a birthday and sent gifts to celebrate us. Its quite remarkable really. 

What was your primary form of communication with KDG?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their attention to detail and how they've handled the different personalities within our company has made ALL of the difference for us. 

Are there any areas for improvement or something KDG could have done differently?

I'm reluctant to say no since everything can be improved upon, BUT - I'm hard pressed to find anything right now. This is my 3rd software transition with an outside company and KDG is the best I've EVER worked with. So much so, we talk about starting a new project so we can keep them around when this project is done. (joking - kind of...)

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am an Executive of ForgeOS

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Telecom Lifecycle Management Software and Solutions

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire KDG to accomplish?

• Build a internal and customer-facing web application

SOLUTION

How did you find KDG?

Online Search

Why did you select KDG over others?

• High ratings
• Close to my geographic location
• Pricing fit our budget
• Great culture fit

How many teammates from KDG were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

We help technical advisors procure, manage, and support their mid-market and enterprise clients' telecommunications services. We tasked KDG with building a customer-facing web application which has become the backbone of our business. Deliverables included standing up the GCP infrastructure, custom software development on a module-by-module basis, application testing, and further support and maintenance to bring the application to a more enterprise-level.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Reduced manual data entry time, reduced "swivel chair" between various platforms, and increased partner and customer engagement

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

KDG has very strong project management. Their team is organized, communicative, and highly aware of all the project's moving parts. Parts of the project are occasionally underestimated, but that has improved over time. 

What was your primary form of communication with KDG?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Their desire to learn more about how our business functions to better serve us and their ability to hire strong talent

Are there any areas for improvement or something KDG could have done differently?

KDG has continually improved how they manage their team and work together. Some issues have occured as our project has scaled, but they always handle any problems in a professional and communicative way. In our 7+ year relationship working together, both of our organizations have significantly grown.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

 I am the Vice President | General Manager of a business services company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Managed services.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire KDG to accomplish?

• Custom CRM Development and Implementation

SOLUTION

How did you find KDG?

Online Search

Why did you select KDG over others?

• High ratings
• Great culture fit

How many teammates from KDG were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

KDG completed customization and automation work for Zoho CRM. This included integrations across the suite of Zoho applications that allowed them to interact and share data to facilitate a streamlined process from identifying leads to onboarding new clients.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Zoho CRM functions as we envisioned at the start of our project, enabling our company to more effecitvely pursue new business.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

KDG's transparent project management style was great. Communication was open and clear, and we had access to a Project portal that gave us insight into how work was progressing. Regular meetings, meeting notes, weekly summaries, and budget updates ensured we always knew the status of our project from all angles. KDG also met their estimated timelines, which helped us with effective planning for our business.

What was your primary form of communication with KDG?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

KDG's approach to working with clients is truly what sets them apart from their competition. They do a great job of understanding your business, your goals, and where they fit into your business' success.

You hire KDG because of their capabilities, but you continue to work with them for any new project because their approach to tailoring their work to your business is unique.

Are there any areas for improvement or something KDG could have done differently?

I can't say I would ask KDG to do anything differently. Their whole approach is designed to ensure client success and satisfaction, and it's very effective process.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Marketing & Communications Coordinator of a consulting company 

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

Provide benefits consulting to organizations of all sizes.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire KDG to accomplish?

• Aesthetic and functional upgrades to our existing website.

SOLUTION

How did you find KDG?

Client

Why did you select KDG over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Good value for cost
• Company values aligned

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• Lead Capture and Conversion
• Validation of Company and Quality
• User Flow Improvement
• Organization of Sections

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

We're seeing marked improvement in terms of traffic week to week, as well as significant content updates.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

KDG's project management has been stellar. Everything is clearly communicated at all times and all deliverables are on time. Their overall communication is outstanding, including budget updates, timing, prioritization, etc.

What was your primary form of communication with KDG?

• In-Person Meeting
• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

The most impressive aspect of KDG's work has been their ability to effectively communicate at all times and be accommodating as business needs changed on our end. No matter what curveball was thrown at them, they were agile enough to pivot and do whatever was asked in a timely and professional manner. In a day and age when communication is lacking, KDG's communication is exceptional!

Are there any areas for improvement or something KDG could have done differently?

I would not change a thing about the way KDG has gone about their business with this project.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Marketing of a basement waterproofing company.

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We specialize in basement waterproofing, crawl space repair, and foundation repair to protect homes from water damage and structural issues.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire KDG to accomplish?

• Paper to digital for data centralization
• Improve analytical capabilities
• Real-time updates and data access between remote teams and office

SOLUTION

How did you find KDG?

Online Search

Why did you select KDG over others?

• Close to my geographic location
• Great culture fit
• Company values aligned

How many teammates from KDG were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

• Create a way for a remote sales team to enter data that can be used for analytics and creating contracts through an approval process. All schedule appointments are passed to a calendar for quick reference.
• Contracts can be produced in person or later at the office. A signature can be attained in person or online.
• The same data entered by the remote sales teams can be used to create work orders for installers.
• The same data can be archived for reference when used to Recon a customer.
• Service calls can be entered into the CRM, allowing data for printing, remote tablet data form for the service tech, and scheduled services to be passed to a calendar.
• The same goes for the installers. A quick reference calendar is active. This is a work in progress.
• Currently, we are integrating an accounting and inventory module.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

• Refining workflow between the CRM and the remote tablet data entry.
  • Like many service companies, our company workflow has many moving parts. The workflow cannot remain strict, and many customers and vendors change their minds near the end of a process. We also have some inherited workflows that work well. These workflows are unattainable unless we customize them into best practices and routines.

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

Yes. The project management at KDG is very responsive and timely.

What was your primary form of communication with KDG?

• Virtual Meeting
• Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

Very forthright, truthful, and flexible. It is rare to find all three in one company.

Are there any areas for improvement or something KDG could have done differently?

In some rare instances, when part of the workflow is fixed and doesn't work later, the second attempt to fix it should not be included in the hours. Sometimes, this fix-and-break thing would occur after implementing a new process, and I understand there is a balancing act to get it right, but sometimes it was something that can't be related to anything. The repair should be on their time.

BACKGROUND

Please describe your company and position.

I am the Owner/Dentist of DICE Dental

Describe what your company does in a single sentence.

We are a dental office

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What specific goals or objectives did you hire KDG to accomplish?

• Marketing
• SEO
• Generating patients

SOLUTION

How did you find KDG?

Referral

Why did you select KDG over others?

Referred to me

How many teammates from KDG were assigned to this project?

2-5 Employees

Describe the scope of work in detail. Please include a summary of key deliverables.

KDG built my website for my dental office and it's absolutely beautiful. They then got my de novo practice ranking high on google and did a marvelous job writing blog posts, social media content, responding to reviews, and keeping me updated on their progress. They worked with our office to get new patients in the office with a nice flow and were always willing to adjust their gameplan based on live feedback.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

What were the measurable outcomes from the project that demonstrate progress or success?

Patients in the chair which is most important for us!

Describe their project management. Did they deliver items on time? How did they respond to your needs?

YES! Keri is the fastest and most thorough responder perhaps on the PLANET! I'm always amazed by her speed, thoughtfulness, and understanding of her product / creative solutions to problems I had.

What was your primary form of communication with KDG?

Email or Messaging App

What did you find most impressive or unique about this company?

They made me feel like they really cared about outcomes, and my practice wasn't just a number to them. Felt very personal which I loved.

Are there any areas for improvement or something KDG could have done differently?

I didn't always understand the monthly reporting, but Keri always offered to break them down for me on the phone - so that was more laziness on my part than KDG's problem.

BACKGROUND

Introduce your business and what you do there.

I’m the president and CEO of SAGE Program Underwriters, an insurance company.

OPPORTUNITY / CHALLENGE

What challenge were you trying to address with KDG?

We hired them for their accounting services.

SOLUTION

What was the scope of their involvement?

KDG provides us with a variety of accounting services. They help us with our cash flow statements, budget analysis, forecasting, and other financial tasks. They execute the work using QuickBooks and some of our other internal systems that are insurance-related. 

Initially, KDG spent time understanding our business before proceeding with the work.

What is the team composition?

We work with various people from their team, including a business development specialist.

How did you come to work with KDG?

My wife’s company had worked with KDG in the past, and she happily recommended them to me.

How much have you invested with them?

We’ve spent about $15,000 so far.

What is the status of this engagement?

We started working with KDG in September 2021, and our engagement is ongoing.

RESULTS & FEEDBACK

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

KDG has really helped improve our internal efficiency as a business. They’ve also built processes that have allowed us to put our financial house in order.

How did KDG perform from a project management standpoint?

They always meet our deadlines and stay within budget. They also have great communication skills and are very adaptable and responsible — when something needs to be changed, they change it. We mainly interact via email, Microsoft Teams, and phone calls.

What did you find most impressive about them?

What stands out about KDG is their ability to meet our needs; they’ve been able to handle everything we’ve asked them to do.

Are there any areas they could improve?

I can’t think of anything that KDG could improve on.

Do you have any advice for future clients of theirs?

Make sure to explain your needs clearly and be open to trying out different ways to execute your project.