We have enjoyed working with Sub@omic and continue to enjoy the ongoing relationship. Support has been immediate when needed, by email, phone or in person.
Web Design Case Study: 6
www.compasshotels.co.uk
Compass Hotels Ltd (Compass) have been in business since 1983 and have had a web presence since 1998. The updating of the website was always outsourced to a third party, for good reasons, but this lead to difficulties with the immediacy of site updates and ongoing costs of 'maintenance'.
In 2007 it was decided to overhaul the website, take the updating of the site in-house and create an e-marketing template that could be managed in-house for email communications with a database of clients collected through the corporate website. Compass were introduced to Sub@omic through a third party.
We had found someone that was interrogating the purpose of the site and making us think more about it. Great!!
Our enquiry was treated with a great deal of interest from the outset - the most pleasing part for Compass being the desire of Steve Whiting, from Sub@omic, to understand what we wanted from the website, what is was 'to do' and what we were seeking to achieve from the site. For example: did we want a site that was for information only; did it need to sell; take orders; interact with the customer and so on. We had found someone that was interrogating the purpose of the site and making us think more about it. Great!!
Several meetings followed with detailed discussions about site layout, brand presence and compliance with the marketing association through which we promote our three hotels, search engine optimisation and the 'engine' that would be used to update the site by 'non technical' people.
On each occasion, progress was made and templates of the site started to be generated. Text and images were supplied for the site by Compass but the clever stuff was how Steve interpreted this, created generic formats in which to house this data and present it so that it met with the brand standards and could be updated by us with relative ease.
We have enjoyed working with Sub@omic and continue to enjoy the ongoing relationship. Support has been immediate when needed, by email, phone or in person. The development of our e-newsletter Compass Reading is an exciting development for us and Steve has been able to guide us with design and technical input concerning delivery dates and times, based on data provided by Google analytics which monitors the site. We have a further project pending to take the site to the next level and this has been greeted with the usual level of enthusiasm when asked "can we make the site do this?" The answer, which the incoming President of the United States has now adopted, "Yes We Can!"
I believe we have got it right thanks to the dedicated, analytical and considered input from Sub@omic.
A good web presence is an ongoing strategic marketing objective for Compass. As a small company, we did not have an excessive budget for the project but were prepared to allocate funds to 'get it right'. I believe we have got it right thanks to the dedicated, analytical and considered input from Sub@omic. We have certainly derived value for money from the project and from our supplier.
I would be happy to recommend Sub@omic to you should you need a website, but suggest that this design company is for those who have a considered approach to their internet presence and who are prepared to put in the time to scrutinise what they want their site to do so that this can be interpreted clearly and transformed into a reliable, visually pleasing and productive web presence.
Julian M Tee MHCIMA
Chief Executive, Compass Hotels Limited
November 2008
Old Batford Mill | Lower Luton Road | Harpenden | Hertfordshire | AL5 5BZ
