Active Website is proud to announce that for the 2nd consecutive year, we have made the Inc. 5000 List of fastest growing privately-held companies in the nation. The Inc. 5000 is a national award and has recognized the success of top companies including Zappos, Oracle and Microsoft for over 30 years.
With millions of applicants vying for this honor, we are proud to have ranked #1743 in the 2011 Inc. 5000 list. With a growth of 153% over the past 3 years, our current ranking demonstrates how our ideologies and core values as a company have made us successful over the years.
We are honored to be recognized for this distinguished award and could not have done it without the hard work and support of our employees and clients.
Here is our official response:
We feel very lucky for the substantial growth we have had over the past few years. We are extremely proud and honored to have placed 1743 in the 2011 Inc. 5000 of fastest growing independent companies in the U.S.
We develop complex web based platforms for major industries. Currently we service the waste disposal and real estate industries and are eager to expand.
To be honest with you, we did not reinvent the wheel with the core of our business model. Henry Ford was a great man; a visionary, way before his time. I can sum up our keys to success with two of his quotes:
1. ‘It is not the employer who pays the wages. He only handles the money. It is the customer that pays the wages.‘
For a long time corporations had a tremendous advantage in the marketplace over their customers (many of which abused their position). With the increase of easy access to information and competitors via the web and emerging technologies, customers are better educated and demand more. This evolution is slowly forcing companies to provide a higher level of service and realize Mr. Ford’s vision, or risk falling behind.
Since Active Website was founded (in 1998), we managed every aspect of our business with this concept in mind. We treat our customers and employees like family, and pride ourselves with the highest level of service. In our yearly conference we often cover topics surrounding the customer centric business model, hoping to pass this notion on through our customers to theirs. We thoroughly believe that building a strong brand is achieved through satisfying your customers.
Furthermore, we see many businesses charging their entire fee or the larger portion of, upfront. We structured our business model to charge a small setup fee and an ongoing monthly service charge, meaning that we collect most of the fees on the backend of our contracts. This model helps us align our goals with our clients; companies that charge most of their fees upfront are typically not as incentivized to provide an increased level of service.
2. ‘A man who will use skill and constructive imagination to see how much he can give for a dollar, instead of how little, is bound to succeed.’
These words are really extended instructions on how to make the most of the first quote. To us, more than anything it resembles the need for quality and value in order to keep customers satisfied. Quality in everything you do; your products, your services, your team. When you lose your passion, start cutting corners, achieve the minimum required to get by, stop innovating and breaking new ground, you might as well close shop.
We passionately enjoy the challenge in taking on new and complex projects, but strive never to compromise quality in the process. We have found innovative ways in creating collaborative business networks to help speed up functionality production while reducing our customers’ costs.
We have seen these fundamental concepts take us from strength to strength even through difficult market conditions. It is actually those hard times that provide us with the opportunity to further show our clients the value in our partnership.
We feel how fast we are growing, and while it would be easy to get overwhelmed, we really enjoy the fact that the larger we become the more impact we can have in increasing standards. We recently reached the size where it became viable to open our very own Active Usability Lab. Many vendors base their production on experience and preach their ideologies throughout their potential client base. Usability has come a long way; modern eye gaze technology allows you to scientifically analyze how customers best interact with your online presence and its content. We feel we can bring more to our clients by adding quantitative data to our already qualitative interpretation of user experience. Our findings often result in unexpected and sometimes drastic changes that have proven to yield significant results.
In this early stage of Internet evolution, many companies are still too focused on driving traffic to their sites. Some have progressed to targeting specific traffic. While this approach is heading in the right direction many companies are not aware of the impact of increasing the usability of their sites. With the customer centric model in mind, if we make the end user happier to use our sites, our brands will be associated with quality and greater service and will grow through additional positive user recommendations as well as invested marketing. Focusing on traffic rather than usability is counterproductive; it can lead to increased exposure to less than perfect production, which these potential customers will associate with your brand.
To ensure we’re providing a comprehensive technology platform, we have a dedicated team that works hard to keep our clients’ sites on the cutting-edge of technology. Without the continued support of our employees and clients over the years, we would not be where we are today. Together, we can ensure our placement on this list in the years to come.
