Engagement in all things

2011 is well and truly underway. Recent events have reminded us that Mother Nature has her own plans. We are moving from being purely a techology vendor to being much more focused on our clients' business outcomes.

Recent events have reminded us that Mother Nature has her own plans. We’ve had numerous customers and staff directly affected by the recent natural disasters in Queensland and Christchurch; the after effects are immense, and will continue to be.

We were very lucky in that none of our Christchurch staff or their families were injured in the earthquake but the disruption to people’s lives has been significant. Our staff have been fantastic throughout this period. Outwardly it is business as usual despite the difficult circumstances, both at work and at home.

You will see throughout this issue of SMARTS continuing evidence of us moving from being purely a technology vendor to being much more focused on our clients’ business outcomes. Technology is still our passion, but what really excites us is the things that it can do to help our clients reach their potential.

Our Engaged Web Report shows how, by engaging with their website visitors, organisations can greatly enhance the benefit they gain from their website. This is less about the content management solution you choose and more about how you use the tools and techniques available to deliver to your users.

We’re lucky that, as part of the 360 degree relationship we have with Microsoft, we get to do work for them that is exciting, innovative and, in many cases, high pressured and high profile. Over the past year we’ve developed a number of cool demos for keynote speeches at some of Microsoft’s biggest conferences. Working with the very early releases of products can be a minefield but the experience our developers and consultants gain is invaluable. We also develop a lot of training material and samples that are used to train developers and consultants worldwide on how to use the new systems. This, again, is very rewarding for our staff and a great educational opportunity.

2011 is well and truly underway. I hope we can put the shaky start behind us and look forward to a more stable year. We look forward to understanding your plans for the remainder of the year and helping you to help your organisation reach its potential.