Franz Design

6 . A Site of Our Own

Although this small manufacturing company had successfully gained expertise in sales and marketing, they had no in-house experience in either information technology (IT) or web design. Their choice, therefore, was to either employ someone full time or outsource the development of the site. The company felt that a full time staff member would be too costly and they would feel more comfortable employing the services of an external agency. “When you are not familiar with the technology like we were, it is difficult to ensure that you are going to get the right person for the job in hand”, explained Caffrey. “We looked at different options and based our decision on having the piece of mind of using a reputable company with the right expertise. In addition, the interim costs were lower.”

Franz contacted Sentia Technologies Ltd. based in Dublin. Sentia were selected for two reasons. Firstly, their input into the list of requirements was invaluable, “upon initial contact they quickly grasped the concepts and ideas we were pushing for”, Caffrey explained. “They were positive with their approach and came up with constructive and imaginative solutions”. Secondly, Sentia quoted a very competitive price to build and maintain the ‘web store’ - IRE£10,000. As part of the deal, the site was hosted in Dublin – this made sense due to the lack of in-house IT expertise to install and maintain the system and lack of resources to purchase costly servers and network connections.

Despite the complexities of the site the development work took only two months to complete.
The site functionality featured:

• an online catalogue displaying selected products
• the choice of five different currencies
• information on individual product lines such as expected delivery time
• individual user account summaries enabling users to view previous orders and modify account details
• real-time updates indicating where in the purchasing process a user has reached during the buying process
• a database constantly recording all relevant transactions

Franz was a relative newcomer to the world of technology, but Sentia worked hand in hand with the company every step of the way. All issues were discussed and addressed until the site was completed. This partnership approach was best demonstrated during the promotion phase. Sentia ensured all Irish Start of case study interiors publications were informed about the site resulting in a number of them carrying reviews of the site including:

• Irish House and Start of case study
• Ireland’s Start of case studys and Interiors
• Irish Wedding and New Start of case study.

The site was also registered with all the major search engines and adverts were taken out in a US newsletter that circulates amongst the Irish community – The Irish Emigrant. The most successful activity was the sending of 10,000 promotional postcards to potential corporate customers as the company secured several retail outlets and corporate customers. Finally, the company gained further recognition from the CCI and was highlighted in their newsletter. Ever striving to innovate and attract new customers, in September 2001, Franz released a new range of products under the brand Z Edge Designs. These items targeted a different market segment with the range having a more minimalist design and being crafted from oak.