If your web app project needs an army of overseas programmers, that's not us.
MONTE is a ‘swat’ team of highly experienced, efficient, and cross-trained engineers, designers, programmers, and writers, but without all the guns and helmets and uncomfortable Kevlar outfits. Because our organization often supports client-facing apps, we consider the big picture, the value chain, and the finest of details. If MacGyver knew what binary-coded hexadecimal was, we’d hire ‘im. Providing both form and function, our clients appreciate the loyalty that solid apps build with their clients and rapid ROI.
Modern business apps need to look good, perform well, and guide your users toward parting with their cash.
At MONTE we develop powerful web applications with intuitive user interfaces and magnetic visual appeal. We try to keep the flux lines from crossing. Our team is intentionally small and cohesive, which allows us to plan, design, and deploy complex systems for clients across the US. All of our development and design are performed in-house by native US citizens.
DRUPAL DEVELOPMENT
We provide expert development for Drupal-based websites and web applications, including custom module development and migrations. Drupal and WordPress have been our core toolsets for most websites for many years. Matt has a great analogy comparing Drupal and WordPress. But he won’t write it, so you have to call to get it. No exceptions. Limit one analogy per customer.
WORDPRESS DEVELOPMENT
We have been programming WordPress websites for many years, including custom integrations with apps, maps, and databases. We can also advise on whether WordPress or Drupal is a more advantageous approach for a given app or website. If you want something cool, Drupal is probably a better fit.
SHOPIFY PROGRAMMING
We develop and deploy e-commerce websites on the hosted Shopify platform. Hosted means we don’t have to do all the annoying security updates. This allows small businesses to get the power of our advanced graphic designs without the complex maintenance issues of the open source Magento platform. We do work on Magento, but it’s kind of like being duct-taped to an alligator. Sooner or later the fun runs out.
Document Management
Our proprietary NewView software is a powerful document management system. We have many years’ experience designing and delivering web applications for managed file transfer and collaborative data sharing. Our platforms can also be customized for specific applications, like applying bondo to a 66 Ford Cobra (12.2 seconds in a quarter mile) .
User Training
MONTE offers training for various content management and web-based workflows. We’re not huggy huggy but we won’t bite your head off, either. Our workflows for editing Drupal and WordPress websites are robust and our trainers thrive on leading users through the editing process (thrive may be a bit of a stretch but it sounded good with ‘robust’). Because we work with these technologies on a daily basis and continually provide training, we remain fluent and patient while we outline the user path through web applications. Patience is the key as our developers taught Matt how to fix his misspellings on pages assigned to him.
Custom Google Maps
Database-driven maps with advanced clustering, symbols, regions, and animations. These maps don’t look like standard Google maps and feature custom graphic designs, tagging, and filtering to manage the display for an outstanding user experience. Of course ultimately it’s all dependent on Google not pullin' the ol’ rug out from under this technology, but we keep the Google beast satiated by liberally plying it with strawberry cream puffs.
EASY-TO-EDIT WEBSITES
Back end programming for content managers has been a core focus of making web technologies useable. We have a proprietary layer of technology that we have branded QuickSite, allowing extreme ease of page setup and editing in Drupal websites. It’s so easy we even have retired sheep farmers using it. And they gave Matt a sweater, no finer gift has he ever received.
Thought that was it? We're just getting started!
PDF Document Integrations: We have delivered custom PDF document manipulators that allow, for example, the identification of part numbers in the text and hot-linking them to an e-commerce platform. This instantly raises the value of documentation (way up there) and improves sales of parts and maintenance items for OEMs (think cash flow, baby). We also have extensive background in management and delivery of product documentation, software, and general purpose files.
Software Delivery Systems: Software delivery systems require managing large files (think double-digit gigs) and tracking the user behavior throughout the process. We often integrate these systems with support tools like the venerable ZenDesk (*bow*).
Integrations: We regularly provide integrations of various tools that empower the user with greater ease and functionality. That sounded pretty good, and it wasn’t made up at all, promise! For example we have integrated collaborative web apps with sales tools like SalesForce or single-sign on-tools like Auth0.
General Data IO: We provide tools for getting data into or out of other tools. Whoa, that was meta. Stop here if recursion is unknown to thy person. For example, data migrations and support for all manner of analytical tools. In one case, we have imported many years of police records into an updated Blotter notation system (that we also developed). Kept our noses clean while working on that project, I tell ya. Nothin’ like a country sheriff packin’ heat to make you sit up straight and type quietly.
Data Mining: We typically use industry-leading R software for analysis of large data sets. Sometimes Python, depending on the application. But in any case, it’s a matter of extracting what you seek from existing datasets, often web-based. We would commonly combine web scraping programs with analysis in R. So think of harvesting information from the social media companies that harvest it from the unaware masses and then using that figure out what how people feel about a word, brand, or major societal figure. That’s kind of it. For example, is it better to make an advertising headline with the word “sarcophagus” or “coffin.” We can tell ya, 100% data-driven hands-down, no questions asked, and every other marketing company just goes by intuition. With us you got real-time reproducible processes to back up your decision. And that’s really quite unsilly, when you consider it applied to your own marketing context.
Sentiment Analysis: This involves computing scores for statements made by individuals based on the presence of “feeling” words. The statement, “this pie tastes wonderful” would get a score of +1 for “wonderful” while “this coffee is horrible” would get a -1. “My sister is the Wicked Witch of Warwick" would probably be like, -3, I would guess, depending on whether “witch” is on the naughty list. We often use this with data mining to measure social feelings around brands or ideas, or regions (see sarcophagus, above). For example, we documented that the most recent Olympics were viewed very positively in Detroit (a true sports town) whereas worldwide sentiment was neutral at best (what’s wrong with setting up loads of young people for a life of epic disappointment at failing to get a MEDAL after a life of epic misery training for it?) . This is an emerging area of technology and we are developing proprietary code in R software for brand analysis.
R Software - General statistics programming combined with analysis of text for marketing. For example, we compute sentiment analysis for brands and determine word associations that show how people connect ideas. I know we already talked about this above; see ‘sarcophagus’ again above, feel kinda bad saying that. We often combine this with web scraping to generate a database of human writing for analysis, for example, from the devil’s ultimate time sink: Twitter. That said, makes for plenty of real time harvesting.
Apache & Linux: Our web applications all run on LAMP stacks, which we manage and maintain with advanced security methods. Can’t help but wonder why it’s not a PAML stack. Pam must have been too feminine a name when those godly figures at the dawn of web civilization christened their newborn creation, “LAMP.” Happy birthday, kid – you’re forever going to be called a Lamp Stack. Hope nobody calls you a lump stack. Or a lump on a stick. Or a stump outta luck. Or an icky stamp to lick. Maybe Paml would have been ok…
Web Crawling: We develop applications to crawl sites and perform migrations of data and images. For example, one of our websites required moving 12,000 images and related tags into a fresh new Drupal site. That was done quickly with a properly designed crawler. I hate to say it, but see ‘sarcophagus’ above.
NGINX: We develop site management systems using NGINX to efficiently develop and deploy websites and web applications. Darn clever that NGINX name, now that’s a bloody BRAND. Hate to have that kid in the same classroom as Lumpy the stack-man (see above), talk about a lifetime of feeling inadequate.
Amazon Web Services: We setup and configure web servers and services for scalable websites and applications, including multi-server configurations with load balancers. AWS is like, huge, of course and don’t do everything, not even most of what is possible. But we can build a mean, scalable server that will blow the teal blue doors off most things out there.
PHP: Planning, design and development of web applications for a range of purposes – from server-based PDF document processing and delivery to web-based encryption services for international bank collateral management systems. Yup, that last bit was not a joke; sometimes reality is stranger than Matt’s imagination.
JavaScript: We focus on advanced JavaScript programming in support of web applications. Some folks build things from scratch on JavaScript, for us it is primarily one aspect of a larger system built in PHP, for example. Only thing is that stupid google won’t let us setup an AdWords entry using characters like this Java<script>. C’mon Google, show a little imagination, would ya? (Whiny voice: No special characters in our ads! You’re disapproved, go home and eat worms.)
SQL & Databases: Everything we do runs on relational databases, primarily MySQL and derivatives thereof. And what else could be better to end a technical statement with than “thereof.” Arguably the only thing better would be starting one with “Whereof” or maybe “whereas.”
Mobile: Our web apps are mobile-focused though we generally avoid standalone native mobile applications. Not sure why, maybe we will change our mind soon on that.
HTML & CSS: We employ the latest best practices for core web programming and advanced CSS post processors for faster development, such as SASS. Now don’t get me started on SASS, that is just over-ripe with opportunity to say something I will regret later. Use your own bloody imagination for once. Why should I have to point out all the ways a wayward mind could get into trouble with “SASS” as the starting point? Sheesh, right into the gutter you go. That said, you can’t appreciate gutters till you lived without them. Then you’re downright grateful for them and treat stuff in there with adequate respect.
Python: General purpose processing for a range of needs, including image processing and object detection/tracking. I used to sneer at Python, but no longer. It’s really quite amazing now and I have matured to the point where I no longer consider languages that fail to have complex arbitrary points of syntax to be toys for the unsophisticated minds roaming the landscape of America. I’ve grown, ya see. Now I write crap like this to entertain those minds who have probably all passed me up on the ladder of human development. Go figure.
Advanced Theming: We provide both graphic design and theming of websites and applications – including mobile-first approaches with optimized graphics and CSS. In short, it will look good and respond quickly. This is way frickin’ harder than it sounds. Matt tried to do CSS and would rather be pecked to death by hungry albatrosses than have to make front end graphics wiggle around the page. So if you want it to look good everywhere, get out your checkbook and we will make it happen. Till some idiot comes along with an ancient out-of-date Mac and our whole value proposition collapses like a burnt string in a tornado.
C++: Custom embedded controls, including IoT devices integrated with web-based data collection and SMS integration. For example, we developed a prototype Drupal-integrated IoT solution for monitoring the elderly and their home environments. As the data volume grows, machine learning can be added to flag outliers in behavior. It’s just funny that these little gizmos can now talk to the world of web, don’t need any snarky comments. That said, when they start to misbehave, watch out…
FORTRAN: Just kidding. We don’t really do this anymore, but we recently came across some applications using it, and we’re glad to dig into it as needed. We once built a FORTRAN app to solve partial differential equations modeling chemical reactions in groundwater, and if you are still reading this, you should probably just call us to discuss your needs, as discussions of numerical methods are not well suited for consumption by the population at large. Really, stop now, I can’t even go any further.
We serve markets across many verticals: manufacturing/OEM, robotics integrators, banks and financial institutions, new ventures, communications/custom CRMs, marketing and client management, CAD and engineering services, and nonprofit organizations.
Generally we are well behaved and can interface fluently on any topic of business, technology, and particle physics, provided cinnamon rolls are on the menu.
Our history in prototype development and programming goes back decades, when our founder was a young engineering student, wet behind the ears, tasked with building the second prototype vehicle for Saturn’s 2-Door vehicle line (vehicle code 2001, how cool is that for a prototype). What does that have to do with building web applications? In short, everything but syntax. Endeavors like this require careful project management, visualizing approaches, sequencing operations, expert technical communication, and a personal dedication to quality that yields outstanding web applications. And prototype gizmos. That signature dedication to the 'art of building it' rings true for all of us today at MONTE. And because you read this far, you win a big bear hug! Grrruh! There you go. If you skipped a section, you just get a fist bomb. (bump, wiggle wiggle).
