Alan Cronin and Paul Maguire

• Company: Omniserve Technology Limited / t/a Omniserve Web Design
• Industry: I.T
• Website: http://www.omniserve.ie
• Location: Dublin

In 2006, Alan Cronin and Paul Maguire took part in a research project for Novara that showed just how critical (and potentially damaging) it can be for small businesses to get a website developed. In response, they formed Omniserve, with the goal of simplifying the process, reducing the costs, and producing consistently good professional websites for small businesses. Omniserve officially launched in 2008, after a soft launch in 2007. Today, it offers professional web design for businesses on even the tightest budgets, allowing them to find new business in online markets for the cost of a new PC.

Why did you decide to start your business/how did you come up with the idea?

When Digiweb acquired Novara in 2008, their main interest was in the hosting and domain registration part of the business. We knew that there was a very large problem remaining for small businesses with website development, and we were working on solutions for two years. We also knew that we were on the way to solving the problems and wanted to complete the job. The ideas were well developed already within Novara, and we already had great customer feedback, so we knew we were close to getting the right solution. We decided to put our trust in what we believed to be a great offering for small businesses and we invested our time and money into Omniserve.

What was the biggest challenge you faced when starting your business?

The biggest challenge we faced was in educating our potential customers on what we provide. There was typically a negative perception of web design and the cost and pain points associated with getting a business online. We persuaded our customers that we could provide a quality professional service at a price they can afford, and also that we could make the process simple and painless for them.

What has been your biggest achievement to date?

We have partnered with a number of strategic partners who now offer our product to their customers. They recognise that we can add value to their own offering to their customers.

What are your plans for the future?

In the current economic conditions, we believe building our relationships with strategic partners is the best way to mass-market our service.

Who do you look up to in business?

The person we really look up to in business is Steve Jobs of Apple. He consistently manages to lead innovation that delivers quality products that are easy to use and improve the experience of his customers. 

What is your advice for other entrepreneurs?

Start with the end in mind. Look at what you want to achieve and work back from there and make sure to have a clear strategy. If you have a website, remember it is for your customer and not you. Make sure you provide your customer with the information and resources what they want and not what you think they want. Learn from your customer.

What makes your business different or special?

The Omniserve Xpress Creation Process is a new business model for the 21st century. Through the combination of trained staff, virtual meetings and innovative in-house developed software, the customer can be up and running with their website in a fraction of the time taken by traditional processes and at a fraction of the price.

A key feature of our process is that we train our customers and provide extensive on-line tutorials and help. The big benefit for our customers is that they can maintain and develop their websites without incurring on-going web designer charges. 

What is your own professional background?

There are two of us as co-owners and directors of the business. My background is in InternetDevelopment: I’m a specialist with over 10 years experience of working with, and generating revenues from, web-based technologies for both clients and employers. My colleague Paul has a very broad range of business experience in IT Management and Change Management.

How are you gaining visibility and promoting the business?

We have been very lucky in that a lot of our direct business comes from word of mouth and existing-customer referrals.  We are also active on Irish forums, providing free technical and website advice. This, indirectly, has been a good source of traffic.

Our focus recently has been on building strategic partnerships. We offer a more cost-effective and better value website development package than these partners can provide themselves. As a result, they see that they can use our services to enhance their own offering to their customers.

Do you use any Social Media?

We use our blog, have set up Facebook and Twitter accounts, and are working on our actual digital strategy for 2011. We know that unless you can actively engage the readers, the effectiveness is limited; in some cases it can be better to have no presence than a poor one. When our marketing strategy is ready for launch, social media will be a key area for us.