WR Hambrecht + Company | Marker Seven

Upgrade the website to efficiently distribute information to clients and partners.

THE CLIENT'S CHALLENGE

WR Hambrecht + Company’s business model relies on openness and advanced technology to level the playing field among investors and stock-issuing companies. However, the company’s eight-year old website, with over 300 pages, had lost its edge in enabling efficient communication with customers.

“We needed to upgrade our Website so information was easily accessible to our clients and partners,” said Sharon Smith, director of corporate communications at WR Hambrecht + Co. “Although information is different for each audience, we needed a site that was cohesive and had a consistent look and highly intuitive navigation.”

WR Hambrecht + Co. selected Marker Seven to redesign the site with a new look and rich user experience and overhaul its underlying information architecture. The mission-critical nature of the company’s business also required that site visitors know where they are at all times and not get lost and that the firm’s key decision-makers in its San Francisco headquarters get real-time input from the New York, Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia offices.

MARKER SEVEN'S SOLUTION

Plan the work, then work the plan.

“Not only did Marker Seven come highly recommended, we were impressed with its comprehensive proposal and liked the fact that its development was done in-house versus outsourced,” explained Smith. “Marker Seven helped us create a design and navigation system that allowed us to present a lot of information to multiple audiences in a very accessible way.

“The review and approval process was really streamlined with Marker Seven’s client Extranet. We were able to send log-in information to our remote team members and they could view updated versions and provide feedback immediately,” Smith added.

THE RESULTS

Kudos from all sides.

Since launching its new Website, WR Hambrecht + Co has received very positive feedback and is pleased with its decision to partner with Marker Seven. “Overall, people – both internal and external – are very impressed with the amount of information that is available and how accessible it is,” said Smith. “ In fact, several reporters e-mailed to let us know how easy it was to find and obtain information on the site.”

About WR Hambrecht + Co

Founded in 1998, headquartered in San Francisco with offices in New York, Boston, Chicago and Philadelphia; WR Hambrecht + Co is an investment bank committed to using technology and auction processes to provide open and fair access to financial markets for its clients. The firm is dramatically changing the financial services landscape with its impartial Internet-based auctions that enable the market to determine stock pricing and allocation.