1: The Challenge - The Karst Stage website was created in 2002 by an internal IT staff member. Over the years the site grew and was changed internally as necessary. As the site evolved, new pages were introduced without regard to ease-of-use and marketing flow. After so many additions and changes, the Karst site was difficult to navigate, hard to use, and its design didn't reflect Karst's current identity.
Karst decided it was time build a new website; one that could be used as a marketing tool rather than just a conduit for information.
At 100 years old, the history of the company is a proud part of its culture. The challenge was to build a site that honored this history, matched their current branding, showed off their extensive fleet of equipment and integrated their existing reservations system.
2: The Solution - J-Tech and Karst devoted an immense amount of time and effort planning the new site. As the project progressed this proved invaluable to keep continuity within the site and achieve Karst's goals.
To stay within budget, Karst intended to take templates created by J-Tech and write their own HTML for some of the site's pages. J-Tech would then take these pages and make sure the graphics and styles matched the rest of the site.
About half way through the process, Karst's project manager left and the new project manager was not technically savvy. In Karst's words "J-Tech very adeptly diagnosed this as a problem because the site was designed around the former manager's strengths". While it meant reinventing the process half way through, J-Tech suggested changes to better fit the strengths of the new project manager.
3: The Results - "J-Tech was invaluable in helping us link our marketing message with a fully functional website.", says Dan Martin, General Manager. "Previously, our website contained most of the information we needed, but it was just that: information. J-Tech showed us how to make it into a coherent marketing message, and made our product look more appealing - a not-so-easy feat for a transportation company."
J-Tech suggested several features to the site which weren't on Karsts list, but we felt them to be important. "They convinced us to add some features that we did not feel we needed, and I have already used them extensively. Oftentimes IT gurus are known to be narrowly focused on their craft." Dan continues, "J-Tech took the time to learn about the transportation industry in order to incorporate nuances into the website. By the end of the project, I felt like we were partners in the process changing and evolving as needed. The results were everything we asked for and more because it was a collaborative effort."
Karst's new site represents the vision the company had for its website. The fresh look that matches its branding, and the ability to dynamically change the site, successfully represents Karst and allows them to keep the site current. Take a look inside to see how J-Tech and Karst made the transportation industry more user-friendly!
See it for yourself!
www.karststage.com 
