Pain Killers.
You are serious about using the Web in your business.
We build innovative solutions for your customers.
Vitamins Don't Work
This xkcd comic makes fun of a typical university website by highlighting the disconnect between what people are looking for and what they get.
Vitamins focus on features. Like the university website they make you look good, but mostly increase costs and don't help your customers.
Pain Killers focus on your customers and make their life easier. They increase revenue and cut costs.
Developing a pain killer starts by asking two questions:
- Who is your customer?
- What job does the customer need to have done?
Answering these questions is the key to providing an innovative solution.
Innovation is Hard
Giving your customers a website or mobile application with the latest must-have features and technology is not innovation.
Innovation is the one thing all businesses struggle with. Innovation is messy, it takes guesses, experiments, failure and the ability to switch direction quickly.
Most business have rigid and slow processes developed in stable environments and optimized for predictable results. For a business to be both innovative and effective we need a new approach.
It turns out that software engineers have long been applying iterative systematic methods to development that can be used by businesses as well.
There are a number of variations but we like the popular Lean Development approach.
Customer Discovery
We use a business model canvas to describe flow between key components of your business. Unlike a business plan your model is a flexible guide and scorecard.
The model contains guesses about the jobs your customers need done so we have to figure out how to test these guesses and turn them into facts.
With these facts you can set priorities and start to experiment with a minimal solution tested by a small group of early adopters.
Results are assessed against the business model by reviewing the solution, pricing, features and other model components. If it looks good you move onto customer validation, if not we adjust the model and try again.
Customer Validation
In the same way customer discovery sets the direction of your business, customer validation helps develop your sales roadmap.
First you have to get ready to sell by working on sales preparation including positioning, collateral materials and channel planning.
Then you get out of the building.
Once you've made some sales use the knowledge gained to improve your sales activities.
Review results and answer one question: is this business worth doing? If the answer is Yes well done you have a viable pain killer!
Regardless of the answer it's time to adjust your model, for growth, or to try again.
Our Work
Digital AD Services (Japan) produce complex catalogs. The six-monthly revision process requires extensive client liaison and was time consuming and complex. We developed a solution using HTML5, CSS, JavaScript and nifty server-side PDF document processing. Now it's easy and efficient to make revisions and track changes.
Some of our Clients
Our clients are businesses of all sizes:
- Canterbury Rugby, New Zealand
- David Shaw, New Zealand
- Exam Professor, USA
- Gruppo Zurich, Italy
- Panteia, Netherlands
- Tourism Switzerland, Switzerland
- Scotiabank, Trinidad and Tobago
- Thrifty Car Rental, New Zealand
- Uchida Yoko, Japan
We especially enjoy working with micro and small business owners.
If you make your business about helping others you'll always have plenty of work
Chris Guillebeau, The $100 Startup
Want to Work With Us?
We like client relationships that work well for both of us, generally that means:
- You're respectful, professional and take your business seriously.
- Our best work takes time, research and effort. If you're in a hurry, or on a very tight budget, we can't help you.
- You're here for innovation and implementation. If you know exactly what you want we're not right for you.
- Complete solutions typically range between NZ$3,200 and NZ$7,800 and take from 3 to 6 weeks.
If this sounds good then send Johan an email outlining your requirement, timeframe and budget.
You can expect to receive a reply within 3 business days.
Technology
Our solutions are fast, minimalist, and use the latest responsive design techniques and work on screen sizes from desktop to mobile.
We use open-source technologies including HTML5, CSS, JavaScript, MySQL, CouchDB, NodeJS and Railo.
Our Newsletter
Like what you see. Maybe not quite ready to take the next step, or just stumbled across our site.
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Johan Steenkamp
Founder and Owner
About Orbital
We are a small team of experienced technologists and software engineers and who know how to make the Web work in business.
In 1990 we developed one of the first web content management systems - software to build and manage websites.
Our solutions are used by customers worldwide and our partners in Japan, Europe and the USA.
We have been in business for more than 12 years. We're small, efficient, and like Getting Real.
- Orbital Limited
- +64 3 359 4290
- johan@orbital.co.nz
- 3 Kilmuir Lane, Harewood, Christchurch, 8051, New Zealand