Jason Cafer didn’t know what he was missing until he met Joe Dames, CEO of Bright Tree, a Web site design firm. Cafer soon learned that finding someone with the right expertise would make a big difference in his business.

Cafer is CEO of Iconic Health, an early-stage company using a Web-based solution to provide mental health professionals with a user-friendly way to store, view and share patient history.

Iconic Health and Bright Tree came together after Dames read a news article about what Iconic Health is trying to do. “I reached out to Jason to see if we could help, and today we’re working together.”

“I think we seek out our clients more often than they seek us out,” Dames said.

Dames said Bright Tree is different from many Web design firms and has “stopped responding to calls from people who want online brochures.” The company is more interested in working with clients facing complicated business problems that might have a Web-based solution. A core competency for Bright Tree is creating Web-based ways to organize, manage and display large amounts of electronic data, he said.

For example, one client is a state agency, with over 40 subdivisions, that is required to report large amounts of data, which must then be organized for reports to the federal government. Before the agency hired Bright Tree, this process was handled manually, and they were facing ongoing problems, such as high error rates and missed deadlines.

“We have a three-step process,” Dames said. “The first is to define the problem; the second is to explain to the customer what the problem is; and the third is to define the scope of work-what are we going to have to do to create a real solution?”

“We went through our process and created a solution that makes a lot more sense for them,” Dames said. “Something that was cool was that, when we started, the woman who is in charge of all the data was scared that we would eliminate her job. But today, she’s still there, doing her job a lot better and providing a lot more value.”

“I think what we are good at is understanding how a business operates and finding Web-based solutions to their problems,” Dames said.

For Iconic Health, the expertise offered by Bright Tree turned out to be just what the doctor ordered. Dames, Cafer and their respective teams work together to create what they refer to as “innovative visualization techniques” that use a combination of text and graphics to represent a patient’s mental health history tied to a timeline. The object is to provide everything mental health care providers might need, including prescription details, patient notes and provider notes.

“What we are doing is creating methods that reduce errors, as well as foster more communication between patients and doctors,” Cafer said. “Today, we have the basis for a good medical health management system.”

Iconic Health’s system includes a video conferencing component for direct communication.

Today, the first release of Iconic Health’s “communications platform” is in clinical trials, and the company is seeking contracts with its first customers. “Right now we are in two clinics and in talks with others,” Cafer said. “We’re seeking contracts right now and are already moving toward completion of version two.”

Dames started Bright Tree in January 2006 with Frank Morris, owner of Walt’s Bike Shop on Rogers Street in north central Columbia. The offices are located above the store, although Morris no longer is involved in the Web design company’s operations.

Bright Tree has a wide range of clients, such as local companies L.C. Betz Jewelers and Wilson’s Total Fitness, a manufacturing company in Centralia, Hubbell Power Systems, as well as organizations in Columbia and Jefferson City and firms in the Chicago and Washington, D.C. areas.

BrightTree
2nd Floor | 1217 Rogers St.
573.499.1244 | www.gobrighttree.com

Case studies from Bright Tree

Hubbell Power Systems

BrightTree Role: Graphic design, programming, system management

Challenge: To present vast quantities of products and literature in a functional and graphically-pleasing format.

Solution: BrightTree redesigned Hubbell Power Systems site using a cascading style sheet and a templating system to simplify frequent updates and decrease page size. Online forms and PDFs were used to save money on literature distribution. Online versions of catalogs were developed to guarantee up-to-date product specifications.

Outcome: Hubbell Power Systems’ numerous distributors and sales representatives now have a comprehensive source for information on Hubbell Power System products.

Missouri Family Health Council

BrightTree Role: Web and graphic design, system development, Web and desktop programming, database design

Challenge: To design a comprehensive Web-based system to improve this agency’s online image and data collection, analysis and reporting processes.

Solution: We created an attractive Web presence and engineered numerous applications to migrate their business practices from a desktop to Web environment.

Outcome: MFHC and their affiliates enjoy a higher level of efficiency and have access to more internal and public tools to do their job.