Kro IT Solutions have just launched a new free service for the business community in Galway. We have developed a nice little website to explain what it is all about so head on over there and take a look - http://www.gcbn.eu/
We can do a website like this for your networking group or business for about €400 ex. VAT so call us today on 091 399 939
FixIt4U is an exciting new company launching in Kildare and then nationwide over the coming weeks. Being the far sighted and quick minded business that they are they are retaining the services of Kro IT Solutions for alll their IT consulting including software selection, hardware acquisitioning, and IT strategy formulation. As part of the service we have created (using their existing logo and branding) a website to see them through the current launch period.
If you want to know more about FixIt4U call them on 1890 44 44 40 and say Ruairi sent you!
If you want a free IT consultation from Kro IT Solutions call us today on 091 399 939.
The owner of CMA needed this website up and running urgently for a conference in Spain next week. After 4 hours and a bit of back and forth I think the end result is not bad for an evenings work. It will be revisited and fine tuned but for now well wear.
If you want a website of this style and nature then you can have one. We are currently running a 50% off offer making our standard website package less than €400. To avail all you need is a voucher code and to pay a deposit online. Offer ends this Sunday 31st January 2010.
Call Ruairi on 087 296 00 66 for more information.
Valid for this week (until Sunday 31st January 2010) only.
To celebrate the launch of our online ordering system and the launch of Irish Business Talk I am offering 50% off all out standard website packages including "First Steps" which is only €49 in the first place!! This offer is only open to active members of IBT who have made at least 5 meaningful posts! You will need a voucher code and it is K0500210IBT - enter it at the appropriate stage. You can also add extra domain names as part of your order.
Packages Available
First Steps Online €49 - OFFER PRICE €24.50
Our starter package including a domain name, hosting, a blog or forum, a simple one page website, and a number of email addresses. Includes a €100 voucher off our other packages. Order Online
Silver Standard Website €749 - OFFER PRICE €374.50
When you go for the Silver Standard you get a website designed using custom colour schemes tailored to your requirements, as many pages as you wish, your own content management system, a domain name, email addresses, and an SEO and support package for 12 months. You also get a €300 voucher to use against our iCommerce, or Gold Standard package. Order Online
(and example of the above site would be the one we developed last night at http://www.gcbn.eu/)
Gold Standard Website €1749 - OFFER PRICE €874.50
The best standards of website development at half the cost of our competitors. With our Gold Standard package you get a full custom designed website unique to your company. You get social media integration and online ordering if required. You get a content management system so you can do your own updates, but you also get a full support package so you don't have to! With an SEO and support package that lasts two years this is the best high end website deal in Ireland right now. Order Online
iCommerce Online Retailing €3498 - OFFER PRICE €1749.00 (SUBJECT TO ACCEPTANCE *)
Our sister company iCommerce is about to launch a revolutionary new product on the Irish market place. This package has everything our Gold Standard Website offers but also a full e-commerce functionality for selling online and lots lots more. We are launching in April with pre orders taking place now. Prices will not stay this low for long so call us today on 091 399939 for more information. Order Online
* Our new iCommerce package is only for online retailers who are serious about selling online and who want to make a very big success of their online shop. Each application is subject to acceptance and we only accept one retailer for any one particular type of product. This half price iCommerce offer is also valid for first 5 orders maximum. The rest are valid for all orders until 31st Jan.
Glinner tends to spend most of his days conversing with others and following those conversations is time consuming, voyeuristic, some sad, and most of all a good laugh.
Wossy has a habit of “privately” revealing all sorts of stuff on Twitter. It is a great feeling to know he has been fired/suspended/expelled 4 minutes before it flashes up on Sky News.
The first “celeb” I ever followed on Twitter. His Tweets vary in content between Jesus, Hammer Pants, saying “U Can’t Touch This” and taking himself way more seriously than he ought to. This guy is like a concentrated version of the Hoff (who by the way is not worth following).
Apart from having the coolest website on the planet over at http://www.llewtube.com/ Robert Llewellyn is also probably the one celeb who truly gets Twitter. Very short and very funny and mostly random tweets that catch your attention and make you read previous tweet in the [often vain] hope that there is a further explanation. Try “She was quite scarily muscular when we met, she could do one arm chin ups too. Yes, one arm, full extension, I've never been able to” as an example.
Not the funniest Twitterer in the world if you want one liners, but interesting none the less as he genuinely Tweets about almost everything he does in the public eye.
“Sky are reporting that it's going to be cold in January - is that news? How exactly is that news? Is the weather man building his role?” The king of one liners – he was made for Twitter (or perhaps it for him!).
“I've woken up but I am confused. There is sunshine outside. No snow. No rain. And sunshine. Did I sleep for 6 months? Is it it July?”. Just one of the lads!
Probably the best new business forum we have seen in cyberspace since people stopped using the term cyberspace. http://irishbusinesstalk.com/ is one week old and already has a hundred or more posts and almost that number of members. If you are in business you should be on IBT.
If you want social media but you don’t know where to start then may I humbly recommend my friend and sometimes colleague Amanda over at http://www.spiderworking.com/. She does full social media packages starting at just €150
And lastly was Bob Dylan a John Lennon fan? You decide – in order of release date here are two classics...
Don't get too big headed Lennon fans - I can find much more examples where the "inspiration" travelled in reverse. So much so that John Lennon himself thought that Dylan was taking the piss when the above song was released.
We have been very busy at Kro IT Solutions for the last few months with two major projects. I am actually typing this post as we speak from Dun Laoghaire where I am staying this week to put live a bespoke health-care system for St. Michael's Hospital that we have been writing since last October. During this period I have only taken on two smaller projects (namely http://onemanandhisvan.com/ and an update to http://knowledgematters.ie/ that is about to go live).
Being honest as always the only downside of the big project is that I didn't have scope to start lining up more projects behind it. It is hard to balance between taking on more work than you can handle and leaving yourself short. I got it a bit wrong and unfortunately turned down a couple of projects thinking that the hospital project might over-run and leave me very tight. As it happens the project went very well and is due in ahead of time. I have a feeling the end of January could be a wee bit quiet around here!!
So for that reason I am offering a really good package for anyone who wants a website over the next few weeks. I am taking the unusual step of naming a price in advance and I will try and stick to it even if your website is a bit outside these exact requirements. Of course for a more basic website I might be able to come in lower.
The Package
1) Custom website design (see here for previous designs)
2) Full CSS website build in Microsoft ASPx to include advanced funtionality such as order forms or online payment if required
3) Social media integration such as Twitter feed or blog feed on homepage (in SEO friendly format - very unusual - ask me for more details)
4) Integration with EazyEdit, our bespoke CMS system that allows you to edit your own website (Ver. 2 due in February)
5) Picture gallery and/or YouTube integration
6) Full search engine optimisation strategy that will last 12 months
7) 2 years maintanance package included (valued at €720 ex VAT, includes monthly SEO checks)
8) One free ticket to our next "Making Money Online" day seminar in either Dublin or Galway
€700 payable in advance, €700 when the site goes live, and the remainder payable at Net 30 from go live date. I would be happy to take the €700 deposit and a monthly payment plan after that.
Conditions
Order must be placed and deposit paid before 31st January. Deposit is non refundable. This offer is not for e-commerce sites - I have an even better offer if you want to sell online, but you need to call me because I've done enough typing for one day!
Mini Case Studies
Kro IT Solutions is by choice not the cheapest provider in the market. We offer a full service that is designed to make you money online. We don't do websites - we create an online business for you. You will need to work hard yourself by marketing your company online and getting in-bound links, but we will give you the tools and show you how.
I personally think that http://onemanandhisvan.com/ is a perfect example of our full service model. Fintan is working damn hard to get his presence known on Twitter, Facebook, other websites, etc but it would all be to no end if he didn't have a strong website to back it up. His website is a good solid professional design, with good images, good content, and most of good functionality. It is not fully finished yet, but at the moment Erika my web developer is working on the final phase which includes online payment for Ikea orders and a really super snazzy quote facility that quotes Fintan's customers an exact figure for removals based on an algorithm that we came up with together. There is also going to be an e-commerce section later in the year so as Fintan can make money 24/7 (currently illegal for van drivers - they need to take a rest every now and then - no such problems online!!). I hope Fintan doesn't mind me going on about him, but I think he is an inspiration. There are a thousand man and van websites out there and Fintan dared to stick his neck out and just push the concept to the next level. I have a sneaky suspicion his return on investment will be huge.
Another example is Geri's site at http://getregistered.ie/. It is unusual and eye catching design wise, and like all good websites it has instant lead generation in the form of a proper hand written company formation form. The next step on Geri's site is a live company name check. When this happens it will be the first website in Ireland to offer this service and will in my opinion make registering a business name as easy as registering a domain name.
A website I did for a guy I know at a much lower cost than today's offer (as to be fair it is a simple site) was http://specialistcarsireland.com/. The design is not to everyone's taste but I had to stick to his logo design and corporate colours. Ken started his new business doing Porsche servicing less than a year ago and all his customers were people he already knew and who knew his work. He knew a lot of people, but not enough. He needed to get the word out to every Porsche owner in Dublin. I created a website for him and most importantly linked his blog into the homepage. I then embarked on a small tour of all the car websites and dropped a link to Ken's website into each one. Every now and then I do a Google search for Porsche Dublin or similar and when I see a conversation on Boards.ie or a car forum I drop in a link. It is a slow process but Ken has been moving up the Google ranks slowly for the last 6 months or so and is now on Page 1 for most search terms Porsche related. The last time I caled in I asked him how many customers came through his website. he didn't know so I asked him to start asking them! He answered the phone 2 minutes later, had a big chat about some guys car, booked it in, looked at me, and said to the guy on the phone "oh by the way where did you get my number"? The answer was that the guy had Google "Porsche Servicing Dublin" and had got http://specialistcarsireland.com/.
If you want to make more money than you are now then call me on 087 296 00 66, email me (ruairi at kro dot ie), or if I don't answer my mobile (I am on site this week) call the reception on 091 399 939 and leave a message for me. I'll get back to you asap.
I am also offering 10% commission to anyone who refers this offer if it results in a sale. That is €175! Just drop me an email and let me know you were responsible.
In the January/February edition of House and Home magazine there is an article entitled "Irish Hot 100" featuring "funky design start-ups, vintage furniture companies, clued in design bloggers, and new online businesses". We are happy to note that one of our own clients came "in no particular order" in 85th spot with The Constant Knitter.
The Constant Knitter is an absolute bespoke website with a design by Held and every single line of code hand written by Kro IT Solutions. It is a simple and elegant site and I'm happy to see it get some recognition. Congratulations to Rosemary who owns the site.
If you want to be funky and make lots of money then call us 091 399 939. Since it is Monday and today is Monday Madness day we will throw in 3 years free maintenance contract with any website we quote for this week.
We commissioned the ridiculously talented Helena Duggan at Held Design to create a design for a client of ours who owns a Bridal Boutique. In the end Helena designed four very distinct websites, one of which the client is very excited about. The other three are way too good to consign to the drafts folder so with Helena’s permission and my clients blessing I present them here for your enjoyment.
My own favourite is number 1 – it is typical of Helena – quirky and bright with a certain joy about it. Number 2 and 3 use original photography by Helena herself. Some of the background images are grainy as these are just drafts but the final cut would of course be crystal clear.
If you would like a website for your wedding business then these and an infinite amount of further designs are waiting for you. Our prices are low enough to make Harvey Norman hoarse, but the quality as always is second to none.
You know where I am – 091 399 939. Feel free to contact either myself or Helena for any website or e-commerce requirements you have, and Held Design of course also do corporate identities, marketing materials, and many other graphics projects.
A nod of my head goes to the other designers I work with – they all have their styles and their way of working and I always pair my clients with one or more designers who I think they will love to work with. You will see more of their work as more of our web projects go live throughout 2010.
Call Ruairi on 091 399 939 to get the website you should have already!
Creating a movie or TV program in 3D requires the use of large heavy dual cameras and associated lighting effects. It might not be the biggest obstacle to 3D becoming the norm but it is a significant reason why a lot of film and television directors will hold off on the technology. It is hard to imagine Blair Witch Project being filmed using 100 kilogram camera units. Actually was that film even in colour?
2) Anti-Social Aspect
When I went to see Avatar in the cinema recently I spotted a free seat in the middle of one of the rows. During a normal movie getting to it would involve asking one or two people to excuse me and let me past. Because I arrived at Avatar during the 3D trailers everyone was wearing multicoloured glasses and they had no perception of where I was or where they needed to move to. The resulting chaos involved lots of spilled nachos, Pepsi spilling down blouses, and me tumbling over and landing in a woman’s lap. Imagine transferring that to a sitting room with three or 4 mates passing crisps. It would be like an acid trip in a nursing home. No-one would be safe.
3) Inconvenience
I think we can take it for granted that surround sound home theatre is an absolute magnificent audio experience for all home cinema fans. However despite that, despite its low cost, and despite the fact that it works with existing equipment I still know very few people who have a surround system. The reason is because you have to actively listen. You are forced to listen whether you want to or not. The vast majority of people use TV not for entertainment but for relaxing. 3D glasses will force the user to have to actively look at and watch television rather than just glancing at it, staring at the ceiling, scanning a paper, and glancing again. That is hard work and you can say that people will maybe use 3D for special events and movies but like most things in life they will not bother moving from good enough to special effort.
4) Depth of Field
I don’t know the technical way to describe this, but what annoys me when watching 3D movies is the issue with parts of the picture being out of focus. In a 2D movie that is fine as it forces you to watch the action the camera is focused on and ignore the blurred background or foreground, however in a lifelike 3D world I am used to looking where I like to look and focusing on what I want to focus on. I don’t care what the director is interested in or thinks is the main story. That VW Beetle in the background is what I want to look at and since it is in an different dimension I refocus my eyes and try to look at it. However it is still blurred (and so now is the foreground). A few minutes of this and I am losing patience. In a movie like Avatar you usually are happy to watch the action, but I can guarantee in a soccer match many people will want to follow the action of their favourite player or the ref. It will be very annoying if he is out of focus.
5) TVs Need to be Huge
Apparently 3D only works well on huge TVs. Very large screen televisions are comparatively rare in Ireland and I would suggest most European and Asian countries where houses tend to be smaller than the USA.
6) We Haven’t Even Got HD Yet
I’m no expert on HD, but those who are inform me that most US programs and channels such as History and Discover are not really HD at all, but just regular TV stretched out a bit. Apparently a lot of Blueray discs are less than full HD. HD is an easy sell but if people feel cheated then a harder sell like 3D will be a great struggle to follow it up with.
7) You Can’t Veg Out in 3D
This one is up for debate depending on which 3D technology you look at, but it appears you have to keep your head upright to get a full 3D effect. Not good for Sunday morning hangovers on the couch then. Not great for TV in bed either. Also as a regular glasses wearer I have to say wearing two pairs (apart from looking daft) is not very comfortable.
8) Not All Movies Are Avatar
I’ve mentioned Avatar a few times. It was a great candidate for the 3D experience. Casablanca however is a story rather than an experience. Stories come in black and white books with no pictures, and every now and again they come in black and white pictures with no book. Sometimes they even get colour, but they rarely need it. They certainly don’t need 3D. It won’t do any harm if they have it but it wouldn’t be worth getting off the couch to find your 3D glasses for. Neither would 3D Holby City, 3D Eastenders, 3D News at Six, or most other TV programs.
9) It Gives One a Headache
I can only speak for myself but I came out of Avatar feeling like I have come out of a 18 hour battle with a 14 inch monitor. Not good!
10) The Biggest Problem
The big sell for 3D is sports events such as the World Cup 2010. Major problem – most team sports are in 2D even in real life. Maybe not literally, but football matches move from right to left, side to side. Rugby, boxing, tennis, and basketball are the same. It will look the same in 3D more or less. To get the best out of 3D they will have to film from behind the goalposts/nets. The problem with that is that the point of all those games is possession and getting the ball down the field. You can’t see that on TV unless it is filmed from the sidelines. That is by its nature a 2D view. Maybe snooker will look great in 3D, but no-one watches that anyway (if they did it would be on Sky – not free to air BBC).
It is the same with movies and TV. Most drama takes place on a stage with a “fourth wall” that is your TV screen. Film makes rarely break the fourth wall (when an actor looks at the camera or talks to the viewer). 3D thrives on breaking the fourth wall, but this can only be done if you plan and intend to do it. The only truly good 3D film I ever saw was a 3 Stooges comedy from way back in 1953. It had obviously been adapted to 3D and the 3 stooges were throwing all sorts of implements in the viewers direction. These jumped out of the TV set and into your living room. Oh and well spotted if you did. Into your living room I said! Because I watched that on RTE2 using a free pair of glasses from a Cornflakes packet in about 1985. The TV didn’t even have a remote, never mind being HD/3D ready. That was the last time I saw 3D on TV. If it was that good I think we would have seen more of it by now. (You can view the 3 Stooges in 3D on YouTube)
One Point That Didn’t Make the Top Ten
An amazing amount of people on the web think that 3D will be a huge success because of porn in 3D, and because men will use 3D televisions to impress the women they bring back to their flat. Now I’m reading between the lines on this one, but I think they are the same men making those points and I think I know why they need 3D porn if their idea of impressing a woman is showing her their new 3D ready TV. There may be a market for 3D porn but my guess is that it will be internet based like most porn these days.
Every Wednesday check out my blog for a round-up of any interesting links I've found around the web. This idea is somewhat inspired by Damien Mulley and his "Fluffy Links" so it is only appropriate that the first link today is to another project of his - the Irish Blog Awards - voting is now open at http://awards.ie/blogawards/nominations/
Also this week some advice for my fellow web designer/developers with a guide to 12 types of client and how to work with them and another guide to what clients really mean when they ask for their logo to be bigger. Hmm
Kro IT Solutions are happy to announce two new employees have joined us this week.
Erika Békés is an experienced Systems Analyst Developer who joins us to work on our Microsoft .Net development projects. Erika will be developing database driven web applications and working on long term client projects. Erika is available to contact via email (Erika@) or on 091 399 939.
Kelly Glynn is joining Kro IT Solutions as a Business Development Manager. Kelly brings over 10 years experience working with Ireland’s largest companies including the Doyle Collection and the O’Callaghan Group. After overseeing the growth of companies as they move from being from small players to handling projects worth as much as €35 million Kelly has seen potential for similar growth in the online retail market. She will be overseeing a major project for Kro in this area over the next few months. Kelly is available to contact via email (kelly@) or on 091 399 939.
Kelly and Erika complement our existing team of contract and permanent staff and will hopefully influence the development of Kro IT Solutions in a very positive manner. Welcome.
As part of our new blog format we will have a different category each day of the week. Monday has been Monday Madness, Tuesday be will and is “Tuesday Trends”. Every Tuesday I will look at upcoming trends in the website and software market. Today I am simply looking at statistics for European web use as compiled by Microsoft recently. This is not as interesting as I hope Tuesday Trends will eventually become, but it may explain why I will be looking at European trends more so that US trends. It appears that the US is being left behind in many ways when it comes to the internet.
Since 2004, broadband connections across Europe have grown by almost 95%, from 44 million households in 2005 to over 85 million. In fact, broadband Internet connections in Europe today outstrip those in the US, representing 83% of all Internet connections, compared to 70% in America. The explosion in broadband uptake combined with the relentless pace of technological innovation is driving a major change in consumer behaviour and is transforming our traditional media landscape.
Based on current growth trends, Microsoft projections estimate that Internet consumption will outstrip traditional TV in June 2010, averaging 14.2 hours per week against 11.5 hours for TV2
Europeans spent on average 8.9 hours per week, or 1.5 days a month, using the web in 2008, up 27% from 2004 – more time than they did reading print media, watching movies, or playing video games1. By 2010 Microsoft predicts people will spend over 2.5 days a month on the Internet
Internet use on PCs will drop from 95% today to only 50% over the next 5 years as other web enabled devices such as IPTV, games consoles and mobile phones become more popular
Online video has established itself as the most popular online entertainment application, with more than 1 in 4 (28%) Europeans watching short or full-length videos – an increase of over 150% since 2006. The European North/South Divide: Nordic countries have an Internet penetration rate of 76% on average, compared to 45% in southern Europe
In absolute numbers, Germany (55 million), the UK (42 million), and France (40 million) have the largest online populations in Europe, while Cyprus (325,000), Ireland (2.4 million) and Portugal (4.2 million) rank amongst the countries with the least number of users
Content (such as news websites and online video) and communication services (such as email and social networks) represent 65% of all time spent online and commerce represents a third (33%) of time spent on the web
Every Monday I am going to post a special offer or giveaway of some sort on the blog. This week it is a simple offer to get the ball rolling.
I will install and setup blog software (Wordpress or Blogger) on your own domain name so as you can start blogging immediately. I will include the domain name, the hosting, and the installation of the blog for just €49 ex. VAT for 12 months.
The hosting will be Irish based and the domain name can be .com/.ie or similar.
Call Ruairi today on 091 399 939 to avail of this very special offer.
In the 18 months that Kro IT Solutions has been around we have grown from one man and one client worth €600 to a pretty serious company with a couple of employees and a handful of major clients (and a wheelbarrow load of minor clients who we appreciate every bit as much).
Essentially this company has in my opinion established itself. So now I feel it is time to start the new year with an explosion of change and movement. Upwards and onwards. Kro IT Solutions is about to go global. Or at least take the next step on the path.
For starters check out our new website. Well it is the same website because I love it so much but every single page has new content. It will be a couple of weeks before all the minor issues and grammatical errors are ironed out but I find it impossible to hold back a new website just because there may be one or two misplaced commas. Call it a “beta” like Google do.
But that really is just for starters. Kro is taking a new direction starting this month. We are moving away from SME and further into the corporate market as we finalise details of another big project with another international Fortune 500 company. A new product we are working on is due to explode onto the market in April and I know for a fact that it will be one of the biggest developments in the Irish e-commerce environment since PayPal was launched.
A new employee is joining us next week also and again she is a proper computer programmer with a Masters Degree in Computing Science. We might be growing slowly in terms of shear numbers but we are taking on good people and they are working hard for us.
In terms of looking after our existing customers and projects we have made some major changes to our customer administration and project management toolbox. Out with the old (Outlook, A4 Pads, and ToDo Lists), and in with a Salesforce CRM installation tailored [of course] by us to our own needs. Backing that up is some pretty serious project management software and a customer helpdesk system. Our customers always come first and I am dedicating much more resources and technology towards customer management from this week onwards.
In terms of PR and marketing we have again agreed without any hesitation to sponsor the Irish Blog Awards which will take place in Galway this year. We will also hopefully get to sponsor the Irish Web Awards and a couple of other major events. As usual we will be maintaining a high presence on Facebook and in the traditional media, and as always we will be right up there on top of Google and way ahead of our competitors for almost all relevant search terms.
In terms of the broader picture in the economy I really hope that our clients and business partners can shrug off the negativity that had affected so many of them in 2009. To quote Bob Dylan “negativity won’t pull you through”. 2010 is the year to get off your ass and get your business working again. We have just finished our end of year “post-mortem” and it turns out that 73% of Kro IT Solutions business came from our website. So you know what to do. Call me (Ruairi) on 091 399 939, get a quote for a proper decent website that will make you money, and then call your bank manager or whoever you need to call and get the money to pay for it. By this time 2011 you too could be saying “wow – 73% - who’d have thought!”.
Check out the new site – http://www.kro.ie/ and please feel free to pick up the phone and call. I am interested in business ideas, website ideas, partnership proposals, leads, etc.
I have always believed that staff are the lifeblood of any business and in 2010 I want to take Kro to a new level of standards when it comes to hiring and retaining staff. The first new developer of 2010 starts with us on January 11th (Welcome Erika) and I would like to have her desktop and work environment equiped as well as possible to make her productive and comfortable.
So my question for all software developers is - what do you think is required by an employee to help you do your job as well as you can? Do you value large monitors over high speed processors? Is your chair the most important item? Do you need access to a laser printer? A3 printer? Whiteboard? Do you like to set-up your own PC or do you expect to start on day 1 with your PC loaded with development environments and other tools? Is having administrative access the most important thing to you? Full internet access? What is it that makes you feel you can best tackle the job?
Please reply in the comments and let me know. Who knows you might want to work here some day!
5 Reasons Not to Outsource Web Development to Asia
Quality
I have never seen work completed in Asia that was to anywhere near even the standard of a junior developer in Ireland. In my personal experience work that comes out of Asia is hacked together as fast as possible to cut costs to the bone. That simply doesn’t work for computer programming or creative work. Development is a science and creative design is an art. Both involve education, intelligence, diligence, and aptitude in equal measures. One or more of these will always be sacrificed if cost becomes too much of an issue. The old saying is “Fast, Cheap, Good - pick any two!”
Honesty
My experience is that Asian workers are trained to never say no. Everything is possible. However anything complex that requires a deep understanding will come back not done. When questioned why it was not done the usual response is “I apologise. That will be my pleasure and is easy to do and I have done it 36 times before”. It will come back again not done. And again. And again. Eventually communication from their side will tail off until you finally send them that inevitable “Ok let’s just get this online as it is for now” email.
Time Difference
One thing that is often said about outsourcing to Asia is that they are “working while you sleep”. I’d suggest some of them are working while they sleep also, but more importantly if they run into a problem or have a question and you are not online then the result is they make an assumption and continue working regardless of the consequences.
Return on Investment
You really do get what you pay for, and in business you get paid for what you pay for. A cheap and nasty site will not make money for your business.
The Big Shocker - Cost
They charge about €80 a day but you will spend approximately 27 hours in each day testing their work, explaining what you actually meant when you said that, providing documentation, asking for changes and bug fixes, and worst of all lost revenue from your site because it is simply shoddy. From personal experience I can almost guarantee that you will after a year or so approach an Irish company asking them if they can fix or maintain your site. The answer will most certainly be no (due to an natural aversion to cans of worms by web developers). You will then end up paying proper money for a proper website. You will however have that warm feeling inside that you only wasted a few hundred euro and proved the concept. As for the lost revenue, lost confidence, and grey hairs – well – who’s counting?
Why Do I Say All This?
We have lots of experience working with clients who previously worked with Asian companies. However I also have my own experience. Here at Kro we did outsource one small enough software project to India. The quoted cost was fairly small ($500) but three months later when I calculated the actual cost I had put two employees working on getting the site finished with the Indian company at a cost of almost €4.5k, I then had to call it quits and start redeveloping the site myself which took almost 4 weeks at a loss of probably greater than €10k in income. My client needless to say lost almost all faith in Kro IT Solutions. We also lost another client as a result of having no resources available to work on their site.
The company teetered on the brink for a short period. All in all I would I could put a figure of €20-€30k on a website that we invoiced only a few grand for. The fact that we are a software development company probably made matters worse as if I had been a normal non tech client I would not have had the ability to throw so much good money after bad but still it proves my point. We did recover and that client is now delighted with our services, but since then we have developed only using Irish and UK resources and so it shall remain.
I’ve learned my lesson and hopefully someone reading this will realise that it is not just a rant by an expensive Irish IT company trying to convince you away from less expensive overseas competitors. After all we don’t need to do that because as American website designers have a habit of sayings “We are changing the web one website at a time”. Each time someone buys a website in Asia that is another website that will eventually be redeveloped in Ireland, the UK, or the USA. So either way we will see you soon, but in the words of Bob Dylan....
An' here I sit so patiently Waiting to find out what price You have to pay to get out of Going through all these things twice
On this budget day we need some reminding that sometimes the bastard child of cheap drink and a bad economy can be beautiful beyond comprehension. Shane McGowan is like a representation of recession ridden Ireland. Haggard and throdden on, but with a God given gloriousness that cannot be beaten out of him.
Let's not forget that we are Irish. Let's not forget what it is to be Irish. It's not about money, never has been, and never will be.
I'll keep this simple. For one day only (budget 2010 day!) we are trying to cheer people up with this amazing offer.
We will give any Irish limited company a free .com domain name and a free business card style website (similar to http://www.kro.ie/BizCard/index.htm).
This is essentially our €50 website offer, but for one day only it is entire free. The only conditions are that
a) You must be an Irish Limited Company b) You must register a .com or .eu domain name c) Offer valid until we get overwhelmed with millions of entries d) Only one domain name per limited company
To avail of this offer just fill out the form for our €50 offer but don't bother to proceed to PayPal. We will take care of the rest for you.
