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Posted: Wed, April 19, 2006
Profile: Draig Technology Limitedby Sali Earls Draig are a bespoke software development company headquartered in Bangor, with a South Wales office in Cardiff. Founded in 1999, the company's mission is to deliver all projects on time and on budget, whether it be a small commission of just a few thousand pounds or a strategic and complex project with a six figure budget. Draig have built a successful business with bilingual software at the forefront, and as such are heavily involved in the Welsh Language Software Association. Sali Earls spoke to Wayne Francis to find out more. What's the history of your company? A commitment to sustainable, debt free and low risk growth has meant that growth has been measured and organic. However, the company is now reaping the benefits of this strategy as it fulfils its vision. Multiple ongoing bespoke development projects for a diverse and stable client base is providing a firm commercial platform for the launch of several significant software products this year. What unique products/services does your company provide?
This year has already seen the launch of two major products which are already enjoying substantial success. The first is an enterprise level web based information directory (draig.PMD). This provides a sophisticated range of functionality to enable an organisation to publish a directory containing records from a diverse range of information providers. It provides extensive administration and data management capabilities to ensure information is timely, accurate and relevant. The second, and potentially more exciting product, is a fully multilingual Customer Relationship Management (CRM) application. Based upon Microsoft CRM, the capabilities of the product are already on a par with industry leading solutions. In addition, Draig have developed multilingual data management, addressing, mail merge, language tracking and switchable user interface features. This has evolved from the bilingual requirements of the Welsh market. Though the Welsh and UK public sector are a key market, other markets already being considered are across the EU, off shore call centres and the US/Canada, since each of these have pressing multilingual CRM requirements which are currently unfilled by existing solutions. What's been the key to your success? It's a tough market and we've seen many companies fall by the wayside. We have taken lessons from every one of these, particularly to minimise commercial risks by being market-led in everything we do. We allow ourselves to develop technically excellent solutions, but always make sure that there is a market demand first. The results speak for themselves, seven years of successful operations with two key products that are already market-proven. What one piece of outside technology has benefited your company most? However, it is far from boring. The architectural, design and methodological challenges in producing high quality solutions still exist. We've just given ourselves a head start through the use of a broad, proven and robust platform that is already used extensively in the market place. What one piece of advice would you give to start-up companies in your field? One of our toughest lessons (and one we're still learning) is the importance of marketing and using the requirements from the market to shape your offering. The most technologically brilliant piece of software will lead to commercial failure if the market isn't ready for it, doesn't want it, or simply doesn't understand what it is or why they would want it. That doesn't mean that your offering shouldn't be technically brilliant. Indeed, if it isn't, you won't succeed either. It's just that being clever isn't enough in its own right. Where do you see your company going in the future? Wales is our strategy and will remain so. We are already seen as the leading software company in Wales in many areas, and our ambition is to increase this to a broader audience. This doesn't preclude a broader market. We already have key and strategic clients outside of Wales, including central government agencies, English local authorities and multinational corporations. We just see it important that these clients see us as a Welsh company delivering the best service they've ever experienced. We see this as critical in changing the perception of Wales to being a region that produces high quality software. We intend to always be in the bespoke solutions market as this brings the excitement of a new challenge every day and is critical in keeping us sharp and creative. However, establishing enterprise products in the market is key to our plans for future and rapid growth. Our long term plan is to evolve into a hybrid products/services company with the bespoke side of the business being the creative engine to feed and support the products side. Find out more about Draig Technology Limited at www.draig.co.uk.
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Reflecting the focus
on the Welsh market, Draig has a strong competency in the provision of software and consultancy for bilingual applications. This has included the technical support for the
localisation of Windows XP and Office 2003, the commission to write the Welsh Language Board bilingual software standards, a number of fully bilingual bespoke solutions and consultancy to a
growing set of partners needing assistance in localising their applications to include bilingual support.|
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