MethodFactory Expands Its Horizons
Sarasota, Florida (November, 2011) – MethodFactory, a Sarasota, Florida-based software development firm, is experiencing significant growth due to their timely breakthrough into new and maturing markets, which include international and multi-brand companies. Having built its growth on the continued success of its enterprise portal and commerce practices, the Microsoft Gold Certified developer is poised to meet the needs of a global and changing marketplace.
New Markets – Enterprise Portal & Commerce
MethodFactory’s recent growth has been driven in large part by a maturing market that requires enterprise level portal and eCommerce solutions. This market is largely defined by companies that have multiple brands, in multiple countries, with multiple languages and multi-currencies. This caliber of eCommerce has historically been met by larger commerce systems like Oracle, IBM and ATG, and typically takes seven figures a year to maintain. However, Microsoft has been making steady headway up market with the growth of SharePoint and Commerce Server, and now they can effectively compete in those markets without the higher cost associated with it. MethodFactory, being primarily a Microsoft partner, has been able to take advantage of those initiatives, along with developing their own commerce practice.
Having partnered with some large multi-national and multi-brand companies, MethodFactory has had the opportunity to customize enterprise level infrastructure for portal and commerce solutions that support and manage their enterprise needs. This includes: modern B2C and B2B eCommerce and content management for public facing websites, flexible architecture that supports self-management of product catalogs and customer base, a gamut of advanced marketing functions, merchandising scalability, mobile web adaptation, and social media integration. “These offerings are gaining more traction as the market matures, and that’s driving the lion’s share of our growth,” says James Williamson, MethodFactory Partner.
Both the market and the technology offerings have become established and matched enough that a true fit is now there and the cost is justified. Enterprise commerce and portal solutions are making it possible for companies to reduce costs commonly associated with traditional sales and marketing methods. For example, some of MethodFactory’s clients like Rawlings and 4-H no longer have to produce the volume of printed catalogs, because their product catalogs are now available online - this is the case for both B2C and B2B businesses - so they are pulling from their printing budgets and putting it into IT. Additionally, with the number of smart phone users on the rise (the number of people viewing websites on mobile devices is growing at an estimated 110% a year), this translates to big numbers for mobile commerce and a reduced cost in customer acquisition.
Other MethodFactory clients like Chaparral Motorsports are growing sales through additional channels and taking advantage of other networks, like Amazon.com and Google Shopping. The social plug-ins like Facebook Opengraph also proliferate product awareness and stimulate sales activity that may have otherwise not been there.
“Developing a growing foundation of functionality tailored to these companies gives us the opportunity to drive the direction of the services, features and functionality to meet our clients’ needs,” says Steve Walter, another MethodFactory Partner.