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Posted: Mon, August 19, 2002
Profile: Concentrated Solutions Concentrated Solutions is a young company based in Clydach that specialises in web services. itwales.com talks to its Managing Director, Andy Brenton.  What products/services does your company provide? Concentrated Solutions provides Internet consultancy and design services for businesses large and small. We take pride in providing a personal service tailored to individual requirements within agreed budget and time scales. Whether you are looking for a simple site or you need a full e-commerce solution, we are here to help you realise your vision. We also cater for all levels of client expertise. We can comfortably work as part of a design team or handle the complete process for you, leaving you worry-free to carry on your business. Concentrated Solutions also specialises in site makeovers and bug fixing, search engine tuning and traffic analysis to help you maximise web marketing. What's unique/outstanding about the products/services you provide? This is best answered by one of our customers: "Here at www.theboxstore.co.uk we sell boxes to home movers. Our customers are usually short of time and need to find what they want quickly. Andy redesigned our site to make products easier to find, visually more appealing, and made them much simpler to order. "I enjoy working with Andy because he has that rare knack of explaining technically complex procedures in language that the man in the street can understand. "Some of the design briefs that we give to Andy are at best fairly vague, yet time and again he translates them into slick professional designs. If you want a friendly but still professional service I would strongly recommend that you give Andy a call. In fact, Andy is now working on a second site for our new product launch in the autumn." - Ian J Harding, The Box Store What's the history of your company? Bringing 15 years of Blue Chip industry experience ranging from critical systems support, technical consultancy right up to corporate level program management, I founded Concentrated Solutions with a very clear mission in mind. Coming from a background of companies such as IBM and Bass plc, I have amassed a wealth of both technical and business knowledge. Concentrated Solutions is a framework in which these skills can be of benefit to the SME within the Internet marketing arena. My aim is quite simply to bring corporate standards of excellence to the SME at a realistic price. Every client small or large can be assured that we will treat them as if they are our only client. We take the client's business requirements and needs into account with all of our website services; if the shoe doesn't fit, we aren't going to try and squeeze it on in order to charge the earth for remedial surgery later on. My main driving force is to provide each business with what is needed and no more or less than that. It is all too simple to produce a technically and graphically `overweight' website that looks good, but is not meeting the objectives of its very existence. My desire and ability to do a good job results in clients wishing to maintain a long-term business relationship in the future. Efficient working techniques and a dogged determination to excel at each brief mean that the cost to clients can be kept to a level that is often well below that which could be expected for the level of service provided. We are looking at long-term relationships, not making a fast buck. Where do you see your company going in the future? In the future, Concentrated Solutions hopes to be able to provide employment and training opportunities to local people through growth of its client base. What one piece of technology (software/hardware/other) has benefited your company the most? We have found that the website production environment provided by Dreamweaver to have been invaluable in producing good clear sites that do what we want them to do with the minimum of fuss. What one piece of advice would you give to start up companies in your field? The one piece of advice I would give to others setting up in the same field is to get to know your prospective clients needs and requirements, which means learn as much as you can about business in general. A good website is the one that achieves more for the client than they realised they wanted. It's not all about fancy graphics and effects (although we can do them if you insist) but about providing an interface between the web user and the web site which is comfortable and easy to use and understand. This obviously means being aware of the needs of disabled Internet users and ensuring accessibility above the standards required by law. An easy to use website means that the purpose of your website can be fulfilled with the minimum of barriers. What's been the key to your success? The key to our success is communication. Communication is about listening to our clients and making sure that we understand what is required from us whilst also ensuring that the client is clear about what they can expect from us, and that there is a close degree of match in expectations and results. For more information on Concentrated Solutions, visit: http://www.concentratedsolutions.co.uk Concentrated solutions is strongly committed to the economic development of Clydach and are determined to keep the business based there regardless of future growth. It has set up a community website for the people of Clydach at: www.clydach.net |
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