Technology

Long gone are the days when websites were simply used to present ‘brochure’ content to visitors.

Today’s web savvy and sophisticated users require more. Much more. Consequently, at Classic Studios we’ve invested heavily into a range of technologies that enable us to deliver interactive and engaging websites to our clients. This not only improves the end user experience, but also, ultimately, the economic return of website investment.

Classic Studios undertake a wide range of technological challenges, the most common of which are described below.

Content Management Systems (CMS)

The most common request from our clients is for a system that enables them to control content found on their own websites – without having to recruit technical staff or learn any of the complexities associated with online development (HTML / CSS).

This demand led to Classic Studios developing our own highly configurable CMS. This intuitive yet immensely powerful tool enables our clients to add, edit, preview and publish their content via a simple web browser.

Version 2.0 of the Classic CMS is due for roll-out in August 2008 which will increase the native content supported and future development is planned to add to this feature set.

Ecommerce

There is no greater proof of the impact the internet has had on our everyday life than the proliferation of online shops. Goods and services of all kinds can be searched for, selected and bought at the click of a mouse button. Online sales are showing exponential growth and 2008 looks set to break all records with a bumper Christmas predicted.

Classic Studios has a host of experience with ecommerce, providing support for various online shops as well as having developed a bespoke Classic Ecommerce engine.

Our commitment to the GPL community means we’ve also gained experience in deploying online shops by utilising frameworks such as OS Commerce, Zen Cart and Magento.

Classic Studios have partnered with Secure Trading to ensure safe and efficient processing of all of our transactions.

Web 2.0

The internet has had a profound impact on how we all live, from the way we communicate to the way we shop and conduct our lives. So what is Web 2.0? Well, while it’s not technically a truly definable term in itself, (see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_2.0) it is used to describe the technologies and concepts that have been used to improve the quality of interactivity and experience the internet provides.

Web 2.0 websites typically include some of the following features/techniques:

Cascading Style Sheets to aid in the separation of presentation and content
Rich Internet application techniques, often Ajax and/or Flex,Flash-based
Semantically valid XHTML and HTML mark-up
Syndication, aggregation and notification of data in RSS or Atom feeds
Weblog-publishing tools
Wiki or forum software etc; to support user-generated content
Internet privacy – the extended power of users to manage their own privacy by cloaking or deleting their own user content or profiles.

Classic Studios is a strong advocate of these developments and we’re keen to develop rich websites supporting collaboration and User Generated Content when suited to our clients’ requirements.

Community Development Support

Who hasn’t heard of Facebook? It’s currently the second most popular site in the UK (source www.alexa.com). The growing interest and use of social networking sites has spawned a whole set of community applications called widgets. Such widgets, if well designed and offering real utility to users, introduce a whole new marketing channel that could not have previously been explored by a commercial venture. Popular Facebook widgets have in excess of two million active daily users and such a huge potential user base certainly makes the development of an engaging widget an avenue worth exploring.

Online Surveys and Customer Feedback

Not only is the customer ‘always right’, but they’re also key to the growth and continued development of any business. However, gaining considered customer feedback can be an expensive and time consuming affair. The costs associated with assembling a focus group prior to any analysis are likely to ward off all but the most affluent of businesses.

The advent of the internet though has enabled communications like never before and Classic Studios has developed a feedback tool that is both highly configurable and simple for respondents to use.

Simple barometers are set which determine to whom feedback is sought and exactly how often. Online website users are then encouraged (often incentivised) to complete a series of online forms that gauge their feedback to a recent or ongoing business activity.

Such direct feedback can prove to be priceless, a surprisingly large number of great ideas have simply been the implementation of a customer or employee suggestion... as Google discovered.

e Customer Relationship Management (eCRM)

All businesses would benefit from improving their understanding of both existing and future customers; after all, the consumer is the most important component of any business transaction.

A CRM system provides a business with a central mechanism to enable employees in different departments (such as sales, marketing, customer services, human resources and billing) to view, update and track details on any and all customer contacts and interactions.

Such a system, when well implemented, enables a business to improve their customer service and increase opportunities for cross-selling activities.

CRM has, until recently, been a tool available to only the largest of businesses. Recent advancements however have lead to the development and deployment of a range of CRM systems that are well within the budgetary range of even the smallest enterprise.

Bespoke development

If none of the above options come close, or if your business is pioneering a new technology, then Classic Studios can certainly help.

We have a team of dedicated technologists who can convert even the most abstract of business propositions into a working website reality.

We follow our own strict working procedures but can also work to the Prince II project methodology (typically used for Government and Bank high profile, high risk projects) if a particular project warrants it.

We have previously developed the following custom web components:

Online competitions
Configuration Wizards
Automated quotation tolls
PDF generators
Flash games

Hosting

Every website, no matter how simple or complex, requires a solid foundation from which to operate. Consequently, at Classic Studios we’ve partnered with ‘managed hosting’ market leader Rack Space, to provide our customers with unrivalled reliability and support. All of our Rack Space servers are protected by a 99.9% network uptime guarantee, and, furthermore, support staff are on hand at their dedicated data suites to provide 24/7/365 coverage.