S&W Group is a specialist professional services firm with deep roots. When the business emerged as its own independent brand, the priority was clear: a credible digital presence, launched fast, without losing the trust and authority built over years. We built it. A valuable lead came in on day one. Now, we're growing it together.
Year
2024-Present
Industry
Financial Services
Scope of Work
Technology
Almost a decade in the making
The history matters here. Cogworks first worked with Smith & Williamson in 2017: two large, unresponsive websites on a costly legacy CMS, poor information architecture, and duplicate content creating real SEO drag. We migrated 4,500 pages across both sites to Umbraco in 12 weeks, involved content editors throughout, and rebuilt the IA from the ground up. A working relationship built on that kind of delivery tends to last.
When Smith & Williamson merged with Tilney to become Evelyn Partners, Cogworks were the natural choice to build the new digital platform. And when S&W Group emerged as an independent brand in its own right, focusing on the professional services expertise that defined the original firm, the question was not who to call. It was how fast we could move.
A brand launch, not a slow build
S&W Group needed to be live with a credible, high-performing platform quickly. Starting from scratch would have taken too long and carried unnecessary risk. Instead, we built on the proven Evelyn Partners foundation: a flexible Umbraco platform we knew inside out, adapted for S&W Groups's new brand identity and migrated with thousands of articles and content pieces carried across cleanly.
The result landed on an A-rated security score and Google Lighthouse performance scores above 90 from day one. More meaningfully, a valuable inbound website lead arrived within 24 hours of launch. For a professional services firm building a new client pipeline under a new name, that is the kind of signal that matters.
Built for where S&W Group is going
Getting live fast was the right first move. The platform that launched is a solid foundation: well-built, well-performing, and genuinely representative of who S&W Group are. But a foundation is only valuable if you build on it. The next phase is about moving the platform from one that represents the brand to one that actively works for it: attracting the right clients, converting their interest, and making the team's day-to-day content work faster and easier.
That work is underway. Using Cogworks' Momentum Framework, S&W Group's Spark phase helped inform exactly where to focus, and a clear sequence of Catalyst projects has been planned and scoped together. Each one is tied to a specific commercial outcome: more qualified leads, better conversion, reduced operational overhead, and a platform ready for whatever comes next.
"Working with Cogworks, I can honestly say this has been one of the most enjoyable website projects I have worked on. We migrated two large websites to the new platform in just under 4 months from the build work commencing through to the site going live. Constant communication prevented any small challenges taking over the project." Graeme Smillie • Head of Marketing Services • S&W Group
Got questions? We’ve got answers. Here’s everything you need to know about projects like this one.
Our organisation has worked with several agencies before and found it hard to maintain momentum after launch. How is this different?
How do you prioritise what to improve after launch?
We have years of existing content. How do you handle that in a migration?
We are launching a new brand and need to move fast. Is it possible to build something robust in a short timeframe?
