The problem
Wendy's had a custom-built content management and customer system, and a vendor who was no longer meeting its needs. That is a common position for a business to be in: the site works, sort of, but nobody wants to touch it, updates take too long, and the people who built it are unavailable or unresponsive. Wendy's needed someone to get inside the existing system, stabilise it and keep it moving, without starting again from scratch.
What we built
This was a takeover, not a rebuild. Applicable got its head into Wendy's custom CMS and CRM code, moved the whole system to a new server, and made the public front end mobile responsive so the site worked properly on phones. From there Applicable handled Wendy's ongoing development needs as they came up. Taking over someone else's custom system is work Applicable is asked to do regularly: understand what is there, fix what is fragile, and only replace what needs replacing.
The result
The practical test of a content system is whether the marketing team can use it without calling a developer. Wendy's senior brand manager summed up the change the morning after a content update: quick, easy, and nothing like the process she was used to. The site moved from a liability to something the team could run themselves, with Applicable on hand for the development work that needs a developer.
Key takeaways
- Applicable took over Wendy's Hamburgers' custom CMS and CRM from a previous vendor rather than rebuilding it.
- The work covered a server migration, a mobile-responsive front end and ongoing development.
- Wendy's brand team can now update the website themselves, quickly, without the old process.
