Loan applications jumped by 50 percent, and half of all loans now start with an online application. This provides operational efficiencies, even though online applications are not automatically passed to InTech's back office systems. When that integration task has been completed, InTech will be able to handle even more business with its existing staff.
Not only has the number of loans increased, but the value has risen too. A typical home equity loan was around AU$100,000, but now a $400,000 loan is not unusual. The new Web site also conveys better the full range of services offered by InTech.
"Our members are [visiting the site] much more often, and they ask us about or products instead of us having to tell them," Jutrisa said. Taten took less than six weeks to redevelop the site; "an excellent result," according to Jutrisa. "If we'd had six months. I don't think we would have had a better outcome," he added.
Taten redeveloped InTech's site using its proprietary Web Concept Model, which focusses on content rather than graphic or typographic design. The underlying concept is that of content classes -- expressed in its simplest form, the idea is to consider the immediacy of a piece of information, where it lies on the static-dynamic continuum, and the level of detail it represents.
A conventional design can start off well, but as additional material accumulates the site becomes messy. With Taten's approach, a site manager determines the content class of a new piece of material and the methodology shows how it should be treated.
"A Web site is like a pet -- it's there for life," said CEO Jeff Lim, suggesting that a model created with Taten's methodology should last at least three years. "We put systems, methods and tools into the hands of our clients."
Significantly, the process does not generate detailed Web page designs. Instead, one result is a "grey screen" for each content class showing the allocation of space. A creative design can then be applied and subsequently changed as required without altering the underlying content or the site model.
Web designers typically "give no thought to 'how's the user going to find this piece of content'," according to general manager Lynda Lim, but content classes make it easy to provide multiple routes to the same information using ad-style boxes, popup menus, text links and so on.
"You don't know what frame of mind [visitors] are in... so you must cater for them all," said Jeff Lim, warning that site maintenance can be a nightmare if you do not use an appropriate methodology.
Around 75 percent of Taten's business is in the financial services area, with clients including National Australia Bank, Commonwealth Bank and Credit Union Services Corporation (CUSCAL).
