Technology Changes

Look at poor old Blackberry, planning to slash their global workforce by 40% in an attempt to halt their inexorable slide into oblivion (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24182038). I don't intend to give a full analysis of their slide into decline, suffice to say I have been a Bb user for a number of years and have gone from loving my Blackberry a few years ago, to hating it now as it has a habit of crashing during calls if anything else comes in at the same time.

I've not looked at the figures for mobile purchases but do know that Google Analytics for our clients show that the vast majority of mobile and tablet visitors to the websites we are responsible for come from iPhone and iPad. How have Apple done so well? I don't believe their products are any better than others. Sorry iCult members but I strongly believe that is true, I have an iPad and absolutely love it so don't believe Android or others are better either, but I believe Apple are simply the best marketers and by a long, long way.

So that's a simple example of how technological changes affect companies but what of us somewhat smaller companies who work on the Web? Technology is constantly changing and I think there are 4 fundamental challenges for a web agency:

• The availability of "build your own website" packages that can build a serviceable website from scratch whether that be some web hosting company's very limited package through to Wordpress
• The increase in mobile usage for web browsing and the improvement in download speeds
• New versions of the core fundamentals of the web, html, css, php, mysql, accessibility standards, legal requirements, copyright, etc.
• The amount of competition as every man and his dog are now "web developers"

How do we cope with all of these? I'll start with the first and last points in combination as they are inextricably linked. There's a big difference between "knocking out a website" on an open source platform like Wordpress by fitting someone's logo into a theme and being able to develop a website by adding/editing source code. One is very limited and if you ask for something a little different some of your "developers" won't be able to do it. Build your own website packages have their place for people just starting out and Wordpress is a great open-source package we use for small business packages as it is very adaptable if you're happy adapting the php code and adding to the database.

There is an element of cost difference between build your own and using a web agency, however once you take the hosting fees into account for many of the build your own packages there's little difference after a couple of years and the major difference is your website is expandable as you grow with an expert to help you when you get a web agency to create it.

The changes to the fundamentals of web design is simply about keeping up to date via newsgroups, magazines, books, courses and the like - simply taking the time to keep up to date, so does not create any major obstacle.

The changes to mobile technology and usage really open up possibilities for companies to get ahead of their competition. We've recently surveyed the changes in mobile visitors to our clients' websites. A year ago typically 10-20% of visitors came to a site via a mobile phone or tablet. This year it is typically 20-40% and sales of tablets are increasing. It is now pointless creating a new website without a mobile version or that includes technology that iOS devices will not show. It is still the norm to design a website that is designed primarily for PC/laptop but that will also look good and function well on a mobile phone. We are close to the tipping point where we should design primarily for tablet and phone with a good version for PC/laptop. I also think it should be a decision that is specific to the client.

And that brings me to the main point which is relevant to all of the points above. A good web agency will get to know the client's business, what they do, who their customers are and what their aims are. The website created for the client is specific to them as are the associated elements such as SEO, social media strategies, advertising, etc. There is also the after sales service ensuring that you are there for advice and support for customers after you have been paid. Keeping customers happy leads to more business from them in the future and recommendations to people they know but the Web industry has earned a bad reputation in this respect.

The main point is to remember that whilst we are a technology business we are primarily a customer service business - we need to understand the technology but we need to understand and help our customers much, much more. So with our old-fashioned customer service approach we simply solve business problems for our customers using the web. Our strap-line says it all.