A few words about us

First off, it’s pronounced oz-e-works. Not oh-zee-works. Get that right and we’re sure to become friends! Our name comes from the fact our founder is an Aussie, we specialize in “e” Commerce and we provide end-to-end services for the development and support of eCommerce sites i.e. the “works”.

We’re headquartered in Brooklyn, New York and we’ve been in business since 2004. We work with open source eCommerce solutions such as osCommerce, Phoenix Cart and Woocommerce  which provide a low cost entry point into the online environment.

osCommerce

We recommend osCommerce for businesses wanting to develop highly custom eCommerce sites.

In our experience, osCommerce has the lowest cost of ownership of any open source solution and therefore is cost-effective when it comes to offering a unique online eCommerce solution.

Phoenix Cart

Originally the community edition of osCommerce 2.3, Phoenix Cart has become its own entity.  We applaud their intention to improve the code from a technical perspective while keeping the UX the same and the code base lean and fast eCommerce solution.

WooCommerce

Although there are several WordPress eCommerce Plugins available, we recommend WooCommerce as solution for startups or small businesses that have a small product catalog where they have a story to tell before they sell.

Please note we’ve done Woo Sites with very large catalogs too!

A few words about why we are different

Unlike other companies in our market, we are true IT professionals with extensive experience and skills developing custom software for everything from mainframes to desktops.

In addition to our obvious eCommerce platform expertise, we bring to the table:

  • an excellent understanding of business operations which means we can help you plan your eCommerce website so it supports your actual business goals to obtain improved ROI
  • unsurpassed project and quality management skills which means we make sure your site not only goes live on time and on budget but also meets your requirements
  • best practice in development and operations (DevOps) ensuring your site is properly developed, operated and maintained, effectively lowering your overall cost of ownership.

Last, but not least, when you contact ozEworks, you get to speak directly with our Projects Director who will oversee your work from beginning to end. No hard-sell sales team, just pure eCommerce IT expertise from the get-go.

Our management Team

Founded by Kym Romanets, ozEworks is a staff owned autonomous collective operating under a core management team:

Kym

Projects Director

Over 35 years IT.  Full SDLC now into UI/UX. Perfectionist. Pig lover.

Sergey

Technical Director

Over 20 years IT.  Application Architect. LAMP expert. All round good guy.

Olga

Creative Director

Over 15 years creative experience.  Keen eye.  Award winning photographer.

Anton

Operations Manager

Over 15 years operations experience. Attention to detail. Loves gadgets.

Our Methodology

We don’t talk Agile here.  We don’t even talk Waterfall. Why not?  Because these methodologies are best left to custom software development projects.

Developing a website using an existing solution is about Package Implementation which is  whole different methodology that only seasoned IT professionals really understand.

So while we may stage delivery in order to bring a site or new functionality to market faster and we might even do iterations during build, we’re implementing a Package and we know better than anyone when you implement a package, you have to “watch the gap“.

Requirements Gathering

Website development is not just about coding. Programmers are the last people to get involved! Like any serious undertaking you need to plan it and the most important part of that plan is defining what outcome you want and what needs to be done to achieve it. We call it analyzing your requirements. We look at the big picture – your business – before we start talking about the little picture – your site. End result? A list of clear requirements covering both business functionsand technical needs.

Gap Analysis

So now you know what you want, let’s look at what you need.  It’s time to look at the selected platform(s) and identify the gap between what it can do and what you want them to do.  To fill the gaps, we determine if there is existing code (Extensions, Plugins, Add Ons) that we can use or if, in fact, we need to write some custom code. Only when we know how we can fill the gap can we work out the true cost in time and money to undertake the project and you can ask yourself “is every change worth it?”.

UX/UI Design

Pretty as a picture right? Has to be flashier than the competition? Sure? What your site looks like is important – very important – it decides whether first time visitors stay. But how easy (and fast) it is for your visitors to use is the most important factor as it decides if they convert to customers. And what tools it has for getting those customers to return determines if they become repeat customers. If we are designing your site, we keep this in mind. If you design it then we will review your design with the same criteria.

Build

Websites are easy things to build. I mean kids can do it. You just install some open source like WordPress, choose a theme and there you have it – a new website! The frozen food meets microwave approach to cooking. Sure kids can cook. I don’t know about you but I’d rather sit down to a meal prepared by a qualified chef.  Our team are fully qualified LAMP developers with a minimum of  7 years experience on your chosen platform. Why risk your business using a hosting company or website designer who cannot code basic PHP commands? Simple as that.

User Acceptance Test

You know what your website should do – you told us. So we should test it, not you. Right? Actually no, wrong. Developers can test programs (UI), only users can truly test usage (UX). Just like proof-reading your own writing, it is impossible for a programmer to fully test her own code. That is why there are several levels of test: unit, site and user testing. Our developers unit test.  Our QA team site tests. You need to do the user testing. But don’t worry, if you need help, we’ll guide you. First hint, start planning how to test as you document your requirements!

Go Live

We’ll help you go live seamlessly with little downtime to your existing site. We can set up a staging site, load and convert data. Make sure everything is ready. But going live is just the beginning, not the end. Websites are not set and forget. Things are always changing. Bugs are found. Security patches are needed. Hosting environments change. Not to mention customer expectations about new or improved functionality. Website owners who keep their sites up to date not only keep their customers, they increase their revenue.

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