How Northern Became an Extension of the Team at Tompkins Cortland

At DrupalCon earlier this year, we had a chance to chat with Steve Erwin, UX/UI Web Lead at Tompkins Cortland Community College, to talk about his long-standing connection with Northern. Read on as Steve shares what he looks for in an agency partner, what makes a working relationship last, and why that matters in higher education.

Q&A with Steve Erwin

Northern: When did you first start working with Northern?

Steve Erwin: I started working with Northern about eight years ago while I was at Onondaga Community College. Recently—two years ago—I transitioned over to Tompkins Cortland, and we had the opportunity to sign on with an agency, so I made sure that Northern was part of that RFP process, so that hopefully we could get the team back together.

Northern: How has Northern added the most value to you?

Steve Erwin: Working at a community college, we have very small budgets and very small teams, and I have to fill a lot of different roles. By having Northern on my team, I'm able to do much more. With Northern on board, we have developers, server admins, cyber security experts, and accessibility professionals. So, they expand our potential, and they make it so we can accomplish quite a bit more than if it was just me trying to build all of this by hand.

Northern: You mentioned that you worked with Northern before at Onondaga. Why do you still choose to work with Northern after so many years?

Steve Erwin: At Onondaga, it was me and one internal developer running the website for about six years. When that developer moved on to other projects, we shifted development work to Northern. Over the years that followed, Northern and I built a lot of trust and figured out how to work together really well. There's so much baked-in value in our relationship now that it's hard to put a number to. What we get out of that relationship goes well beyond what we pay for. At this point, they're not just a vendor, they're my team. I work remotely, they work remotely, and our relationship feels much more like coworkers collaborating than a traditional client-vendor arrangement.

Northern: If you were talking to another college or university who was looking for an agency, why would you tell them to work with Northern?

Steve Erwin: For all the same reasons. The way I treat them is the way they treat me. It's more like a partnership, a collaboration. I feel like we're just remote team members who work for the same organization.

Northern: If you had to describe Northern in a few words, what would they be?

Steve Erwin: Partners. An extension to my team. True collaborators. Innovators. Experts in their field.