The company also undertook an InterTradeIreland FUSION project in 2010 to assist with new product development.
“From our research and user-feedback, we realised that a lot of companies not only have a need to store and share files, but also to view them online. We used the FUSION programme to develop a very sophisticated piece of software which is capable of allowing companies to preview very detailed PDFs and photoshop files online without the need to download them, which gave our system an edge in the marketplace.”
The FUSION programme enabled Media Lightbox to employ a highly skilled graduate and also partnered them with a third-level academic institution, Dundalk Institute of Technology, to help them complete the project. As part of the project, Media Lightbox designed an entirely new user-interface, ensuring that the system was as easy as possible for clients to use.
“Our graduate, Ben Willis, was instrumental in the development of this feature. He has a very keen eye for design and has great ideas on how to make our system a lot more user-friendly which is critical in a competitive online space. It not only helps us to attract new users, but more importantly, ensures that we retain these customers.
On the back of FUSION, the company has recently landed a large contract with the Caterpillar group in Europe. They are now looking ahead to the next new design feature, which will keep them in competition with the other big players in their market place across the world.
“The key is to keep being innovative and to try and stay ahead of the game in terms of updating technology or features of our system and FUSION has set us up to do so.”
Shane concludes, “We have personal experience of Seedcorn and FUSION and involvement in both has helped us significantly. We have been able to make many improvements in our company as a direct result of those initiatives and would not be where we are today without InterTradeIreland’s assistance.”