CyberPict

Q: What's your name and position in the company?
A: Fergie Meek - owner and lead developer

Q: Describe your company in 5 words.
A: Professional web development

Q: What's your business philosophy?
A: We believe that quality should always come first. The client should be involved in every part of the process and that we should be able to communicate clearly and effectively without having to resort to 'computer speak'.

Q: Describe your office environment.
A: CyberPict is operated from a home based office.

Q: Describe how your team interact and work together.
A: There are two of us who operate from our home office but we can also call on developers and graphic designers spread across Scotland from Fife to Wester Ross!

Q: What makes you different from other web design companies?
A: We have a small core team but a larger group of experts to call upon at any time, this allows us to keep costs lower.

Q: How do you get the majority of your business?
A: So far most of our business comes from recommendations although the ESI job was taken as a long-term contract.

Q: Describe how you manage projects from the initial client contact to completion and handover.
A: We try to arrange a meeting with the client at the earliest stage possible and then have regular meetings thereafter. As work progresses it is uploaded so that the client can view the current state of affairs at any time, they can then comment on the work and request any changes that may be required. Most of our sites are hosted and maintained by us so there is no real handover, we continue to look after many aspects of the site in an ongoing basis.

Q: What do you think is the most crucial element of creating a good client relationship?
A: Communication, without a doubt it is communication.

Q: How do you manage demanding clients?
A: We have been lucky in that our clients have generally been great although we have refused a couple of website jobs as the clients had much larger ideas than the budgets that went with them!

Q: If a client was trying to decide between a shortlist of web design companies, how would you recommend they go about selecting the right one for them?
A: Yet again I would say communication. Talk to the companies directly and see if they appear to be the kind of company you would like to work with.

Q: Where do you see your company in 10 years time?
A: We would like to be the dominant web design company in the Heart of Scotland.

Q: Where do you see the web design industry in the future?
A: The future of the web is everywhere - websites are going to be accessible on everything from PC's to fridges and designers are going to have to factor this into all that they do.

Q: What computers do you have use in your offices, PCs or Macs?
A: PC

Q: How was your company name chosen?
A: I honestly can't remember now - it was chosen in 1997 after all!

Q: If you were to give your clients one tip on how to get the most from their website what would it be?
A: Think very carefully about what it is you really want from the site before you approach a design company, that way you are fr more likely to get a site that delivers the results that you expect.