Friends of the Orient

Exponetic, a web site design and development company based in Bethnal Green, have been involved in Friends of the Orient since the first meeting. They've also applied their skills to the new look FOTO website which has just been relaunched.

The company specialises in website design and development and in the four years they've been running they've worked with businesses and organisations of all sizes and across a range of sectors. Now with ten full-time staff they're able to take on most internet work that clients may need.

Recent projects have been for some big name clients such as the DTI, Discovery Network and property consultants CB Richard Ellis, but that doesn't mean it's only big names that can make use of the what Exponetic has to offer and they do a lot of work for businesses in and around London. Director Karl Bunyan believes there's a lot of value in contributing to FOTO.

"We work with a lot of businesses of all sizes, from single owner consultancies through to companies with offices worldwide and turnover measured in billions. It's our job to work out what each business needs and how to give it to them."

"As a small business owner myself I know how important it is to get good value for money. We try to apply the same thinking to small and big projects alike, and importantly make sure that if money is spent that it's spent well."

Many businesses already have a website but not all know how to best make use of the new technology. This is where Exponetic can step in as it isn't all about website design and build. "Often a client has a problem that they don't realize can be solved with web technology. The kind of things people used to think they needed a mainframe application and expensive networking for can now be done over the internet, whether it's an invoicing or payroll system, stock control and distribution, or purely online marketing."

"It's the part of the project I always enjoy: working out the best approach, how much it's worth the client spending, where we can do something efficiently or cost-effectively, and then planning it. Every project is different in some way as everybody's business has different needs."

So how does FOTO tie in with this?

"There are all kinds of businesses out there and all kinds of opportunities just waiting for the right people to be connected. It's all about building relationships. Nothing happens overnight but we're starting to see the benefits not only from working with FOTO members but also from how we're perceived by the guests we bring to games. You only get out what you put in and the best way for people to see what we can do is to demonstrate it in action, which is why we took on the rebuild of the website."

"It's not just about FOTO members sharing business amongst themselves, it's also about getting new people involved with the club. Everyone I've brought along has been impressed by the Gallery facilities and questions like ‘Why would people come here rather than go to one of the Premiership games' tend to answer themselves once they've been to an Orient match and seen what there is on offer."

A lot of the same questions come up from potential clients, and Exponetic pride themselves on finding out what clients need not just what they say they want. Problems such as:

• I've got a website, but no-one seems to be able to find anything on it
• I paid a lot of money for a website but I'm not very happy with it
• how do I let people in one office access data in another?
  

are just some of the common issues that Exponetic are dealing with from day-to-day.

"It's all about problem solving, and that's really what we do. We've been working with some of our clients for four years now and over time I believe that FOTO will really help to generate a lot of new business for its members and also help the club financially."