Case Study: Ragan Communications achieves centralized, branded awards management with OpenWater Awards

Ragan Communications - Customer Case Study

Ragan Communications, a publisher with a combined monthly readership of 800,000 communication professionals, faced scaling and branding challenges as its awards initiative grew to 11 programs and 3,000–3,500 entries annually. After struggling with manual processes and third‑party solutions that altered branding and forced use of external payment gateways, Ragan engaged OpenWater and implemented OpenWater Awards to provide a seamless, branded online entry and evaluation experience.

OpenWater centralized submissions and judging, added robust search and reporting (by name, invoice, email), fixed invoicing errors, and preserved Ragan’s branding while offering exceptionally fast, dedicated support (responses in minutes and feature turnarounds in under a week). As a result, Ragan Communications now efficiently manages its expanded awards volume, reduced disputed charges and technical issues, and has the scalable tools to support future growth.

Ragan Communications

Tyler Landry