Virtual Office
From the
Sudbury Star
- Business Section
June 21, 2003 - By Harold
Carmichael
Sudbury company
specializes in the creation and the maintenance of Web Sites around the
World.
It seems only appropriate
that a Sudbury company that specializes in the creation and maintenance of
web sites has all five staff members working out of a virtual office -
their homes.
"It's because of word of
mouth," says Mona Sims, Owner and Executive Director of SimAlTech.
"Our clients are referring
us to someone else. And we work on the Internet. So much of my work is
done by and read or initiated online. We are sending files back and forth
on our server. That's where we live and that's where we work."
One of Ontario's first
Certified Internet Webmasters, Sims discovered computers some 20 years ago
and was immediately "hooked."
"In the early 1980's, text
based games were out such as Dragons," she recalled. "I thought that was
so exciting at the time. I took some courses in data processing at the
time, but I found them pretty boring. I found it more fun to just play
around (on the computer) by myself."
Through a chance
conversation in the mid-1980's with a group called Phone Phreaks in
California, Sims learned how to do a lot with a computer.
"I loved it"
"I loved it," she said. "I
loved it so much. I started doing web sites for free. I was on the
Internet the day I could get on. I couldn't see myself doing anything
else. I would have done it for free. So, I decided to do it for a living."
By the mid-1990's, what had
started a hobby switched to a full time job.
"I realized I could do this
for a living," she said. "When people liked my work and offered to pay me,
that was the turning point."
That was also about the
time she met Alain Aube while taking a class together. They formed
SimAlTech in 1997.
"We actually started the
company to sell computers and do related wok" recalled Sims. "Web design
was a small part. I loved it and my web design quickly became big. Soon we
decided not to sell computers anymore."
Sims doesn't see herself
ever stopping work on web site development.
"I loved it and I still
do," she said. "It still makes me so excited that I can talk to anybody on the
planet with a computer. It still gives me goose bumps."
Sims' background is a
varied one. She has owned and trained horses, worked with dogs, and also
worked as a photographer. A native of New York city, Sims has lived all
over Canada and in many American cities. As her mother's hometown is
Espanola, she also has roots there.
One year ago, Sims became
the sole owner of SimAlTech as Aube stepped back from ownership. He
remains with the company as it's Technical Services Director.
Sims won the Influential
Women of Northern Ontario award in May. She was the Northeastern Ontario
private sector winner. When told of the award, Sims initially declined
entering. But her staff assembled a profile and reference package and
successfully nominated her.
"I started crying," she
said. "I felt that I had won already. And then I won (the award), which
really surprised me. I initially thought it was my guys playing a joke on
me."
Up until 2002, SimAlTech
was just Sims and Aube. But more people were needed to keep up with
demand.
"We don't have a
lot of competition for what we do," she said. "Anybody in the world can make a
web site. But there's really not anybody around (here) who has been doing
it as long as we've been or as successfully."
At SimAlTech, explained
Sims, the five staff members work independently, but collectively they are
a team.
"I don't have employees,"
she said. "We share everything. We have five people who are true
professionals. They are like family. It took me a long time to find that
team."
One pf the interesting
aspects of web design, said Sims, is that because small businesses come
and go, there is an infinite amount of work available. As well, web sites
need to be upgraded from time to time to remain fresh and interesting.
To date, SimAlTech has
designed well more than 50 web sites. In addition to local companies and
organizations, SimAlTech has built web sites for an international series
of companies with offices in several American cities such as Detroit,
Cleveland and Cincinnati, and in Australia.
A web site was even
constructed for an international biologist.
"There was a biologist who
was working in Israel who wanted to learn something about fish," recalled
Sims. "He saw the Sudbury Game and Fish web site while doing his research.
He wrote to the club and then to me. Next thing I know, I had a client."
Setting up a web site can
take as little as a month or as much as several months, said Sims.
"It depends a great deal on
the client and how prepared they are," she said. "Every now and then you
get lucky and have a client who has seen the Internet, seen what works,
and knows his target audience."
Sims said that no two web
sites are alike.
"I think the big difference
with us is we ask a lot of questions," she said. "We are trying to figure
out what is best for the client. It may not be the best for us..... but it
will keep the customer there. That's the bottom line."
Sims said there's a golden
rule with web site visits: a customer won't spend their money until the
third or fourth visit. Turn a customer off by a slow, confusing or
distracting web site design and they won't be back she said.
"It may not have the most
"toys", but does it work and do people stay?" she asked.
Information
Not all web site
development SimAlTech has been involved with concerned selling something.
Many web sites such as the ones built for the Ten Rainbows Foundation and
the Sudbury Horticultural Society offer information.
"People are using the
Internet for information now," she said.
One way that Sims is giving
back to the local community is through a web site set up full of
information for Northerners:
www.northernontario.org.
The web site got so
overwhelmed by use recently that Sims has to take it off line temporarily.
The newly re-launched site features list of organizations as well as
numerous guest columnists.
Sims sees a very busy
future for SimAlTech.
"It's (the Influential
Women of Northern Ontario business award) made a difference," she said.
"People who were hesitating before have decided they really want to work
with us. We have been so busy the last six to eight weeks and it doesn't
look like it's slowing down."
