W2Wave.com Ltd was founded in Cardiff in 2001 and provides a range of business communications solutions. Their SMS text messaging solutions allow companies to communicate, coordinate and collaborate quickly and more effectively and to reduce the cost, improve the speed and increase the effectiveness of customer communications and interactions.
Sali Earls spoke to Jim Taylor, Marketing Manager at W2Wave, to find out more
What's the history of your company?
W2Wave was formed with a mission to reduce communication costs and administration time by communicating with staff and customers by text messages to be sent from a Desktop PC to an individual
or group of mobile phones, instantly, and at the same time using our Bulk SMS Messenger service.
In February 2002, our offering was further enhanced with the introduction of our Mobile service enabling receipt of SMS text messages as emails, or replies to previously sent SMS Text Messages. In April 2003 we introduced our Developers SDK, enabling developers and software companies to add SMS text message sending and receiving their existing or new applications, removing the technical barriers to this technology.
Towards the end of June 2004, we introduced our Reseller Programme, enabling entrepreneurs and businesses to re-sell a fully branded version of our services, removing the development and maintenance costs of setting up an SMS company, but gaining an SMS arm to their portfolio of services. We also license our entire software platform to larger companies who are capable of hosting an Enterprise Level J2EE application.
In October 2004 we launched a spin-off company, Pocket Agent Ltd, with industry Estate Agency expert Richard Rawlings, MD Inside Out PR, which is now successfully servicing Estate Agents across the UK including national Estate Agents, Halifax Property Services. Pocket Agent has a number of resellers across the UK selling Pocket Agent as a branded service and we are now discussing both franchise and additional investment opportunities to accelerate the growth of the service.
2005 will see the introduction of our secure SMS service enabling businesses and developers to send SMS Text Messages that can only be read using a PIN, ensuring that only the intended recipient can read the message.
What unique products/services does your company provide?
What's been the key to your success?
Having an in-house develop team with over 10 years experience of developing Java Enterprise Applications for companies including SUN Microsystems and HP Labs has meant that development
costs have been kept to a minimum. Also, having experts with PR and Marketing skills from day one has meant that our products have been developed based on customer research and needs, with a
focus on what the customer wants as opposed to what we can develop. Our PR team have also achieved excellent coverage including TV coverage on BBC One, BBC 2W Hot Houses, coverage in
Independent, Times, Observer, Western Mail, etc. This has actually led to us providing services to other SME's who want coverage in the local newspapers.
What one piece of outside technology (software/hardware/other) has benefited your company most?
The Java programming language, specifically the Enterprise versions used by larger organisations like HP and HSBC to develop enterprise level applications, has ensured that our services have been
well engineered and robust, but more importantly maintainable and scalable. More recently the Micro Edition of Java for developing applications for mobile phones has enabled us to develop
applications inside mobile phones that can connect to web servers and web services.
What one piece of advice would you give to start-up companies in your field?
Ensure that there is a market for your product or service - start by asking your intended clients if they see a benefit in what you are proposing. If your product or service requires development, speak to
both the traditional software development companies as well as companies that have clearly demonstrated that they have the ability to develop what you require. Companies that have the expertise
may be interested in helping you get your service off the ground in exchange for reduced fees, equity or on a royalty basis.
Where do you see your company going in the future?
Developing further J2ME applications inside mobile devices that can connect to company services, enabling corporate data to be sent and received from mobile devices over GPRS as opposed to
SMS. Enabling businesses to fully expose corporate data to field workers and enable field workers to instantly push data back into corporate databases - something that we have working now
internally and intend to release imminently.
Find out more about W2Wave at www.w2wave.com