Case study · Research publishing
Hardman & Co
A redesign and CMS move for a corporate research firm, built around turning complex company data into charts that clients can read at a glance.
- Client
- Hardman & Co
- Sector
- Corporate research
- Scope
- Redesign, CMS move and data visualisation
- Platform
- Drupal
The problem
Hardman & Co has published corporate research for over twenty years, alongside services such as business valuations. Its clients are business users who want answers quickly, but the research rests on dense company data: core insights plus several years of financial and share information for every company covered.
The firm wanted a complete redesign and a move to a new CMS. The brief was clear: the site had to read cleanly for business users and present that data so it could be understood without a spreadsheet open alongside.
What we had to solve
Years of figures, readable
Financial and share data over several years had to become something a client can take in at a glance.
Research for clients only
Company data pages had to be open to signed-up clients and closed to everyone else.
Managing the relationship
The team needed to see and manage its client accounts from the same system that publishes the research.
Content and data together
Analysts publish written insight next to the numbers, so the two had to sit together on one page.
What we built
Every company covered has a profile page combining Hardman & Co's written insight with its financial and share history. The data is drawn as dynamic graphs and charts using industry-standard charting, so trends are visible before anyone reads a figure.
Access works as a membership: once someone becomes a client they sign in and see the full research. The same admin lets the team manage client accounts and keep in touch, so publishing and client management are in one place.
Company profiles
Written insight and multi-year financial data on one page.
Dynamic charts
Financial and share history drawn as interactive graphs.
Client-only access
Research opens up when a client signs in.
Client management
Accounts managed from the same admin that publishes the research.
The outcome
Research that used to sit in tables now reads at a glance, and Hardman & Co decides who sees it. Having client accounts in the same system has made each relationship easier to manage.
Got a process like this?
Applications, assessments, panels and deadlines. Thirty minutes on the phone is usually enough to tell you whether it is a six month job.