I have been following this thread for the past week and have been rather
intrigued by the range of responses offered to the original post. In
fact, at first glance one would interpret the subject line: "Whipple
Hill vs FinalSite" and the content of the original post "We are looking
at Whipple Hill and Final Site. What did you use for a budget number and
did the final cost of the migration exceed your budget number" as a post
that should have solicited simple responses as "When we migrated to
(insert vendor name) they provided us with an estimate and they did not
exceed that during migration. In fact, I would say that this should be
the case for 100% of us who have either migrated to Whipple Hill or
Finalsite at any point in the last 10 years. If either of these
companies routinely came in 10%+ over quoted migration price the market
place would have bounced them long ago.
However the question of "Whipple Hill vs. FinalSite" is, in fact, not a
simple one. And since the late 1990's has elicited responses like we
have seen in this thread to date. In fact, the question of "Whipple Hill
vs. FinalSite" is much like the eternal question of "Yankees or Mets" or
"Cubs or Whitesox" or in my neck of the woods "Carolina, Duke, or
State". So you have to ask yourself, why is this the case? Clearly it is
because both of these companies are top players in the independent
school market offering services that fit a particular need to customers
who are emphatic about their choice of company's services (would anyone
really post on this thread how awful their experience had been with
either of these companies?).=20
So the real question, Jason, is not whether or not WhippleHill or
finalsite can deliver a project to St. Agnes Academy on-time and on
budget (I know they can as I have gone through migrations with both of
these firms). The real question is what is St. Agnes Academy trying to
accomplish in evaluating a new web host and at what price are they
willing to receive those services? Once you fully define that question
then you will be able to ask questions that should further define for
you which company can best meet your needs - whether it be finalsite,
WhippleHill, Magic Hour, SilverPoint, or a host of small local companies
that do fine front end design work.
I realize that my post does not answer the question of the original
poster. However I believe it does shine light on the proverbial question
of "WhippleHill vs FinalSite" as it goes much deeper than just who is
better. For better for one is not necessarily better for another.
Jason if you, or anyone else on ISED-L, would be interested in chatting
more offline in regard to independent school "web migrations: the who,
what, and why." I would be more than happy to spend time discussing the
importance of the proper steps that schools should take in this
endeavor.=20
To note, over the past 10+ years I have (and I know there are many
others here that have done something similar who might chime in as
well):
-(1996) Built a School website from scratch using FrontPage (that school
has since migrated their site first to inResonance and now to
Finalsite).
-(2000) Started a school site with the help of a local marketing firm
(that school is presently migrating to WhippleHill)
-(2003) Migrated a school site from a local marketing firm to
WhippleHill (that school recently migrated from WhippleHill to
finalsite)
Good luck with your project!
Sincerely,
--------------------------------------------
Jason T. Ramsden
Chief Technology Officer
Ravenscroft School
7409 Falls of Neuse Rd.
Raleigh, NC 27615
ph: (919) 847-0900, ext. 2214
fax: (919) 847-5583
cell: (919) 337-2244
http://www.ravenscroft.org=20
The Ravenscroft community, guided by our legacy of excellence, nurtures
individual potential and prepares students to thrive in a complex and
-interdependent world.
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