Icon eyes bright future

These are exciting times for Icon ( www.icon.com.mt ), the software company set up by Gege Gatt and Ian Castillo ten years ago. Even the company's new brand image - bright and bold - reflects the ambitious, go-getting and innovative mood at Icon.

With roots in web design and multimedia, Icon's creativity got it noticed. The technical team grew over time and the company developed its own products - Icon.snap, Icon.rooms and Icon.pay, to name a few - which were launched in 2004. The client list those products won Icon to date is truly impressive.

Led by Icon's internal marketing division, the rebranding campaign was devised by Visual Trends, after Gatt and Castillo decided it was time to take stock.

"In 10 years, Icon has grown from strength to strength, developing new products, acquiring new customers, opening new markets and increasing team size," Dr Gatt explains. "We will continue to grow at the current pace and diversify into some very interesting areas. The local web development industry, flourishing as it is, is dominated by companies providing template, run-of-the-mill sites. We've always sought to give our clients that edge needed to push their product or service beyond that of the competition.

"The rebranding exercise aims to communicate this to our audience. Our approach is to transform complex business strategies into simple, accessible online encounters. Our team of creative artists, planners, technologists and analytics experts provide intelligent solutions to deliver results. We understand that our brand isn't just for our customers, but it should also summarise our corporate culture for the benefit of our staff and partners."

Icon, a Microsoft Gold Partner, is to relocate to new, larger premises in mid-August that will see the 15-strong team work in a 600-square metre space "where team members can meet in different environments, take time to think, plan, and be more creative."

The team is to be beefed up by five new recruits by the end of the year, and more people will be brought on board over the next three years as the company continues to expand. The larger studio will not only have enough room for new entries, but also for the fun, creative side to the work space - a touch of Google.

Dr Gatt says: "There will a recharge area where staff members can grab a bean bag, listen to some music, and wind down. We're also planning a strong commitment towards environmental responsibility. We already recycle paper, but our new offices will include complete waste separation facilities and energy efficient lighting.

"The offices will cater for management, directors, boardrooms, training rooms, creatives (who need ample wall space for their doodling), as well as up to 16 technical staff. We recently started a sales and marketing team - jobs previously handled by the directors. The sales and marketing team is expected to grow to four by mid-2009 and cover our local operation as well as our first organised effort in foreign markets."

Icon is also in the process of doubling its data centre capacity to accommodate increased volumes of online traffic. Its products are all hosted solutions which means that the data centre is a critical. But rather than build its own data centre, Icon partnered with Go (formerly Innovate) which dedicated a portion of its data centre for Icon's servers.

Of course, the revamp, relocation and recruitment come in the wake of increased, new business. Dr Gatt points out that the company is targeting the hospitality sector heavily and is now to launch a new software product in the UK after a success story in Windsor.

"Icon.rooms is essentially our integrated web solution, consisting of a custom-built website using our award-winning content management system (Icon.snap), a room management system that allows customers to book and pay for rooms online (Icon.rooms and Icon.pay), and a search engine optimisation campaign (Icon.rank) to help hotels place well on search engines," Dr Gatt explains.

"Last-minute bookings are now characterising the average web-purchase. To participate in this market, the hotelier must have a solution which can manage room allocation, compute on-the-fly pricing and process credit cards securely. We've had a lot of success locally with the package and we've now taken it overseas. Following a soft launch in the UK, a first success story was a truly magnificent and historic hotel: the Oakley Court Hotel in Windsor, which will be going live with the solution by mid-June. This prestigious property chose Icon after seeing the level of quality we delivered for the Phoenicia Hotel. The market for hospitality solutions, especially in the UK is relatively open, and we're in a very strong position to compete on an international level.

"Currently, through a tax incentive offered by Malta Enterprise, local companies can reclaim up to €12,000 towards any e-commerce investment. This is a huge motivator for local companies and we're experiencing a high demand at the moment for this product."

A host of new software products developed by Icon offers solutions for different sectors. According to Dr Gatt, the unique aspect will be the delivery platform - the software will not be installed on the customers' network or individual computers.

"Customers simply log on to a secure connection and make use of the software through their account," he says. "This eliminates the need for significant hardware and network infrastructure investment - perfect for small businesses. Also, the 'software as a service' model means not having to worry about back-ups, data storage, and software configuration. Probably the best part is the pricing, which will be biased towards a yearly licence fee rather than a hefty one-time investment.

"The 'software as a service' revolution will become more of a reality thanks to constantly improving hardware and bandwidth availability at ever lower prices. These commodities provide the infrastructure needed for this new software landscape - a landscape characterised by easy-to-use software, available at a low cost, with minimal hardware investment. We strongly believe that 'software as a service' is the future, offering productivity and cost benefits to the user. As always, it's our goal to be at the forefront of innovative ideas such as this."