Introduction

Hanover Research (Hanover) is a leading market research firm that delivers actionable, data driven insights and strategic guidance to academic institutions and enterprise organizations. Building on its excellence in custom research, Hanover’s vision includes expanding the accessibility of market research into new organizations and departments so that decisions from the strategic to the day-to-day are rooted in research. A key element in reaching this goal is the improvement and enrichment of Hanover’s digitally based offerings for which Hanover partnered with NovusNorth Consulting, Inc. (NovusNorth) to re-platform and redesign their client portal. This technology platform is not only crucial to the delivery of custom research projects, but also creates the infrastructure for Hanover’s growing digital portfolio including proprietary data, benchmarking, and measurement tools.

NovusNorth is a leading digital experience firm that specializes in helping companies develop product strategies and rapidly design and implement them. Hanover was seeking a partner that would work alongside their team to determine the best solution to future-proof their customer experience, technology and approach. Given NovusNorth’s experience in new technologies and track record designing and implementing industry leading portals, Hanover selected NovusNorth. The firms collaborated closely on change management involving related internal platforms and processes.

Specific business objectives included:​

  • Delivering a compelling, modern client portal experience that is easy for clients to access research
  • Moving from the legacy technology stack to a next generation platform that can enable the next 5+ years of growth​
  • Enabling expansion into new digital products and new customer segments
  • Creating a seamless transition for prospective clients from the public-facing website to the private client portal experience

The first phase of the program focused on creating a vision and concept for the platforms, identifying a future state technical architecture, and laying out a roadmap for the rollout of the future state. Phase two focused on design and implementation to ensure successful platform delivery and launch.

 

 

Phase 1: Design Direction and Architecture

The first phase focused on establishing the foundational design and architecture for the new client portal. Key activities included client research across all of Hanover’s practices, stakeholder interviews, usability testing, and the development and prioritization of experience and technical requirements. NovusNorth assessed the existing platform, conducted a cost analysis, and provided technology recommendations for the future state platform. A prototype, vision, and roadmap were created to support scaling and multifaceted business needs.

 

Phase 2: Design and Implementation

Building on the groundwork laid in Phase 1, Phase 2 involved the detailed design and implementation of the client portal. This phase included the execution of the roadmap, integration of scalable and personalized features, and the creation of a single-entry point for clients. The portal was completely redesigned and re-platformed to enhance usability and support future growth.

A scalable, modern platform was built upon a Strapi content management system, React for front-end functionality, Algolia for comprehensive search, Azure B2C for authentication, as well as integration into existing CRM, analytics and research publishing platforms. The resulting platform supports WCAG accessibility standards and SOC 2 requirements.

 

 

Hanover Research Executive Quote

“Hanover’s focus is on delivering powerful custom insights to our clients, and it was great to find a technical partner that brought that same approach of customization and client focus to our new client portal. NovusNorth was a reliable guide throughout the process, providing options while being very responsive and flexible.”​

-Geoff Collins, Hanover Research Chief Product Officer

 

“We are proud to offer clients such a robust user experience – one in line with our exemplar market research capabilities. The new client portal opens up the possibilities for us to serve more enterprise organizations and academic institutions in need of research and insights – something more critical now than ever before.”​

– Wes Givens, Hanover Research Chief Executive Officer

NovusNorth Executive Quote

“Our partnership with Hanover Research demonstrates how the right combination of strategy, design, and technology can create meaningful impact across an organization. This platform doesn’t just modernize Hanover Research’s client experience—it unlocks the potential for new business models and deeper client engagement.”

-Dave Cowing, CEO, NovusNorth

 

Results and Outcomes

The Hanover client portal initiative resulted in a robust, user-friendly platform that significantly improved client engagement and satisfaction. Client usage of the new client portal has increased nearly 70% as users integrate these resources and tools into their daily workflows. The new platform included some specific innovative features:

  • Personalized client experiences and scalable architecture for future growth
  • Design of a project status tracker to enable tracking of custom research projects.
  • Use of internal AI to generate meta-data for large amounts of existing content, enabled efficient creation of summaries, and key takeaways for historical and ongoing research publication
  • Seamless transition for prospective and current clients from Hanover’s public to private sites

Feedback from Hanover Research’s Client

“Hanover Digital’s [new] personalized experience delivers resources that align strategically with our needs. The personalization and visibility of content make it a tool we want to interact with daily.”

– Dr. Michael Lubelfeld, Superintendent of Schools, North Shore School District 112

 

See press release for more.