Background
Client: Otus
Industry: Education Technology
Company Size: ~100 Employees
Location: Chicago, IL
Otus is a Chicago based educational technology company founded in 2012 by former middle school teachers. The platform was created to unify fragmented classroom tools into a single, user-friendly system that integrates learning management, assessment, data analytics, and progress monitoring.
Serving over 1 million students across more than 200 school districts, Otus empowers educators, administrators, students, and families by centralizing academic, behavioral, and social-emotional data to support personalized learning and informed decision making.
The Challenge
Otus faced a series of interconnected challenges that hindered their digital growth and operational efficiency. As their business scaled, the limitations of their existing website infrastructure, data accuracy, and system integration became increasingly apparent. The team struggled with a lack of agility, inefficiencies in content management, and unreliable analytics.
Lack of Scalability
Otus had outgrown their existing WordPress website - a site that had already been redesigned and rebuilt twice in the previous three years. The recurring need for large-scale redevelopment indicated a fundamental issue with scalability and maintainability. Each small update often became a heavy lift, creating a resource drain on the team.
Technical Skills Required
In addition to scalability concerns, the backend interface was overly technical and limited content management to only individuals with developer-level knowledge. This bottleneck prevented the Otus team from quickly updating content, launching campaigns, or optimizing site features.
Distrust in Data
Compounding these challenges was the inaccuracy of analytics data. Years of redesigns, fragmented platforms, and inconsistent tracking had corrupted their dataset - making it hard for Otus to trust their website analytics, much less use them to inform strategic marketing or sales decisions.
Disjointed Systems
To top it off, Otus' tech stack was disjointed. They were using WordPress, Salesforce, and Pardot independently, and without strong integration, reporting and automation were compromised. In an increasingly competitive EdTech market, the lack of agility and insight placed Otus at risk of falling behind.
The Solution
To address Otus' digital infrastructure challenges and empower their team with scalable, user-friendly tools, Blue Frog proposed and delivered a fully custom website redesign and strategic platform migration - transitioning Otus from WordPress to HubSpot Content Hub.
Blue Frog's approach was guided by four key pillars, each rooted in HubSpot's powerful capabilities and tailored to the specific needs of Otus.
Scalable Architecture
Blue Frog architected the new site from the ground up using HubSpot's flexible theme structure, building a library of custom, reusable modules that enable scalability without compromising design integrity. This system ensures Otus can grow their content and features organically, avoiding costly rebuild cycles that plagued their former WordPress setup.
Empowered Backend Users
Otus and Blue Frog worked together to understand the roles, responsibilities, and comfort levels the Otus team has with digital tools. Leveraging HubSpot's intuitive drag-and-drop editor and user permissions, Blue Frog customized the backend experience to remove technical barriers. Now, non-technical users can confidently manage content, update landing pages, and launch campaigns without developer intervention - dramatically increasing their team's agility.
Reliable Data & Analytics
To combat the historical distrust of their data, Blue Frog configured a clean and reliable analytics environment using HubSpot's reporting and dashboard tools. This included aligning lifecycle stages, setting up campaign attribution, and creating dashboards that offer actionable insights. Otus now operates with full visibility into how users interact with their content, enabling smarter marketing decisions.
Integrated Tech Stack
Understanding the importance of Otus' existing CRM and automation tools, Blue Frog ensured a seamless integration between HubSpot's Content Hub with Salesforce. Through strategic configuration and field mapping, form submissions on the new website flow directly into Otus' CRM ecosystem, enabling real-time lead scoring, segmentation, and nurturing - all while maintaining a cohesive user experience from front-end to backend.
In addition to those core pillars, Blue Frog led the project through a comprehensive collaborative process from kickoff to launch, which included:
