Creating a website to brand the fastest growing technology company in Connecticut

As Open Solutions prepared to go public in 2003, the company needed to focus its sights on getting more visibility among each of its key constituencies — the 20,000 community financial institutions nationwide, its client base of over 1300 community banks and credit unions, the investment community, third party analysts, the company’s strategic partners, and the media.

Case Study

Situation

As Open Solutions, Inc. — a fast-growing Connecticut technology firm — prepared to go public in 2003, the company needed to focus its sights on getting more visibility among each of its key constituencies In addition, Open Solution made plans to strengthen and extend its brand by offering and publicizing a broader product line suite to enable financial institutions to better compete in their respective markets, with the ultimate goal to significantly increase sales and expand market share. To help accomplish this, we were brought in to build a strong and effective web site as the company positioned itself to sell on the open market in the Fall of 2003.

Planning

Our planning team held focus groups with Open Solution’s senior staff, and surveyed department heads to identify needs, get input on focus and direction and build interaction between all areas of the company. Primary research and analysis of competitor’s websites indicated Open Solution would need a highly visible, substantive web site to differentiate itself from its fierce competitors, and to elevate Open Solution to a leadership role within its industry and as one of the premiere technology firms in Connecticut. Objectives:

To attract attention from Open Solution’s stakeholders during the build up to the initial public offering (IPO) in the Fall 2003.
How: Build and design areas of the website for each of Open Solution’s key constituencies — existing and prospective clients, potential investors, third party analysts, strategic partners, and the media. Include relevant information and immediately disseminate to each of these target audiences.
To help Open Solution increase sales to its prospective client base, nationwide.
How: Highlight the benefits as opposed to the functions of the company’s ever-growing, full featured strategic platform. Maintain a disciplined focus on “what the technology does for the financial institution customer”— rather than keying in on “how it functions” from a technology standpoint.
To attract attention from premier companies for potential partnerships and/or acquisitions.
How: Build a robust, substantive partner and strategic alliance section of the site. Include information that offers potential partners or companies ripe for acquisition insight into the type of relationship they might expect from Open Solution.
To expand market share by tailoring products and services to each of Open Solution’s disparate target markets.
How: Refocus the entire web hierarchy to deliver streamlined, relevant products and services to Open Solution target markets, which are community banks and credit unions.
To gain visibility of the new website within Open Solution’s bank and credit union target audiences prior to the Fall 2003.
How: Launch the site via a new online corporate newsletter, “Open Exchange” which wraps the new site, further targets information and delivers in a handy, html format. See sample enclosed.

Logo

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Home Page

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Image Piece

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Execution

From top to bottom, the site was developed to align with Open Solution strategic business plans. It was transformed from a tactical, product driven website, to one that positions Open Solution as a “thought leader” in the industry, offering focused, enabling technology to help companies grow their businesses, streamline operations, and form better relationships with customers. The hierarchy was deconstructed and rebuilt to streamline product offerings for two distinct audiences: banks and credit unions, and to intuitively channel and target deeper, more relevant information to those key audiences. The design and style tightly unify and tie to all Open Solution’s collateral and distinct identity and brand. A testimonial approach delivers word-of-mouth endorsements from peers. Since bankers are a conservative group, these case studies have proven to been effective by demonstrating the success of other bankers using OSI technology. New testimonials also entice viewers to re-visit the site.

Results

This robust and substantive web site helped Open Solution grow sales, as it delivered new and streamlined product and sales information to appropriate target markets and audiences. The company now has market share in every state in the nation. Fiscal year 2003 revenues were up 44%, from 44.3 million the prior year to 63.8 million after the new website launch. The partner section attracted multiple new strategic alliances, and the company has since completed several successful acquisitions and launched new products to extend its brand and augment its full-featured strategic product platform. Open Solution is considered one of the premiere solutions providers to community financial institutions across the country and has over 1,300 clients nationwide. In 2003, Open Solutionwas named to Deloitte & Touche’s CT Fast 50 as one of the fastest growing technology companies in the state. The company also received the Outstanding Sales Growth Award from CT Innovations, CT’s leading investor in high technology companies. OSI successfully went public in the last quarter of 2003, and entered the market with a much higher than expected initial public offering of $17 per share. Open Solution was also the first CT company to successfully go public since the fall of the dot COM world. (NASDAQ:OPEN).

iwyellen@talltimbersmarketing.com

860-205-9133