A technology developed by a Dublin-based web development company, and so far deployed across 40 websites, has brought in €250,000 in revenues for the company.
Webtrade’s Siternity content management system was developed at the cost of €1.2m.
The aim of the technology is to help reduce the lifetime ownership cost of websites by more than 50pc through providing automatic upgrades to the core software. The unique selling point, therefore, is that by using software as a service (SaaS) the website is always at the cutting edge of internet technology.
“Most developers tend to build their technology around a website,” said Patrick Bates (pictured), managing director of Webtrade. “But all that should really change is people adding new modules and content.
“The standards behind Siternity ensure website owners always have the latest version. Ultimately, we handle the upgrades internally and let clients know what’s about to change in terms of video features.”
Bates said Irish business websites have been held back by companies being slow to update or modernise their websites. “If a car is 10 years old, there comes a time when you have to replace it no matter how much you love it.”
Bates said the Siternity service is run as a managed service where the upgrade is handled by Webtrade at the backend.
He cited organisations like Complete Office Equipment, StickyFingersTravel.com and Senior College Dun Laoghaire as organisations using the service
“’Websites for Life’ means we can be sure we always have access to the latest web technologies while knowing we won’t need to rebuild the website from scratch in a year or two,” said Barry O’Callaghan, principal of Senior College Dun Laoghaire.
“It keeps us ahead of our competitors and reduces the total cost of ownership of our website.”
By John Kennedy
Pictured: Patrick Bates, managing director, Webtrade