What kind of solutions do you provide?
Madvox Ltd. provides specialized solutions ranging from Custom or Standard Software Development
(including web sites and specialized application software such as ERP, PLM, Content Management,
eCommerce, etc) to advanced mobile and web applications, information systems consulting services,
and advanced custom training. We are registered with Microsoft's Partner Network and specialize
additionally, in Microsoft Business Solutions including most Microsoft Products and Technologies
for Applications Development and Business Office and Infrastructure (Microsoft Office, Microsoft
Operating Systems, related server and workstation infrastructure, wireless and wired networking,
Microsoft Development Products, Microsoft Small Business Server, etc.) Our combined technology and
platform expertise allows us to provide the full range of business services from individualized
applications to office software installation, configuration and support. We also consult and
recommend technology solutions for your business even if such solutions do not come from us.
Finally, we write technology reviews and White Papers whether specifically for our customers or
for the industry in general.
Web and Games? How is this compatible?
Madvox Ltd. has extensive knowledge in advanced software systems. Our technology has
applications in the gaming market as well as the consumer and commercial application market.
We are able to supply both in a diversified and effective manner. Games and business
applications are unrelated. However, our innovative software research produces components
that can be leveraged across two distinct business divisions very effectively. The type of
expertise required to develop professional video games is enormously reusable and valid for
our business applications; the reverse is also true. What you get as a result is advanced
performance, scalability and reliability of business applications as well as strong
process-centric video game development. The combination is not uncommon, citing Microsoft
Game Studios as an example of such hybrids.
In terms of web design and development, do you deliver only the final product or do you also help with associated tasks?
We are a software company, not an ISP. However, the answer to the question is yes, we do help
you through the process with appropriate documentation. Although we do not host applications,
we will build your server for most advanced and custom applications
so that you can host the application yourself or, if you use shared hosting, we will acquire
and set up hosting on your behalf if you so desire. Similarly, if you are unfamiliar or want
us to register your domain, search engine optimizations, additional third-party services and
such, we will indeed help you complete these tasks (hosters and ISP may
charge fees for hosting and other services which would be billed directly to you but we
eliminate the need for you to do this yourself). Additionally, we do speak your language not
just that of the technical experts which means, you will understand what we say, in personal
or business terms and we will communicate with the necessary technology third-parties on your
behalf so you do not need to understand technical jargon as the case might be. These services
will be defined in our Statement of Work and may not always be offered depending on the solution
you require and whether you subscribe to maintenance and support.
I am unfamiliar already with some of the jargon
such as web hosting, domain names, registration, what I want to do is have my own web site and
I don't understand where to even start. Can you help? Absolutely, not only can we explain what
this all means but we will make some recommendations on tools and products you can buy cheaply
if you want to try to build a personal or hobby web site by yourself without knowing any
programming. We have an article (choose articles from our top menu on our main page and go to
category "home computing") that takes you through all the steps in a language that
you can understand. That way, if you want to learn or are confident you can do a basic web site
yourself, you won't need to pay anyone for it... part of our mission is to educate and where
possible, we will always do that for free.
And once the site is done, do I depend on you
for further changes? No, this is your choice... If you are a business for instance, we can
agree to a maintenance contract which will allow us to service and support the site for you though
you still are responsible for keeping its contents up to date since it is your intellectual
property. If you are an individual, for instance, and prefer to manage the site entirely by
yourself that is perfectly fine too. We not only deliver the site but also the means to maintain
it and manage it whether by providing dynamic content (pages you can manage yourself) or database
content (which you can also administer yourself). We deliver training as well if you want to
learn how to manage the site yourself. Either way, we can provide various levels of maintenance
and support or we can hand the site over to you for management and support. It is your choice.
After you build something for me who owns the Intellectual Property
on the final product? For games, applications and software delivered in binary format
(that is, a protected application) we do. You have a license only to use it.
For web sites and content-driven applications (that is, templates that you can customize or
add your own content to) you do although we (or our partners, such as Microsoft) may
retain IP on bits and pieces, for instance, if your new web site was developed by us but
it contains our proprietary forum component, we own the forum component but you own what is
actually in the forums. For personal web sites and similar products you own 100% of the
end solution.
What does it take to build my solution?
It depends on the solution. We measure complexity in terms of effort or duration as well as
other factors and this determines how long it will take to build your solution. So, there is
not a simple answer to this question, we would have to agree on time frames. However, we can
tell you this... personal, hobbysts or template-based small business web sites can usually be
built and fully delivered from a week to a month. Do not take this as cast in stone though...
it depends on what you want on those sites. For instance, a basic small business web commerce
site requiring minimal customization is very different than a small business web site requiring
personalized content holders, web parts and say, an integrated shopping cart. One final note
on this... aside from effort and duration and other metrics, the arrival time of your request
matters as well. If the production queue is full, duration or effort may not be impacted
but project start time may be since there may be others ahead of you. If this happens, we will
let you know prior to any agreements.
What kind of support do you provide?
Support and maintenance are directly related to project types. We always provide support no matter
what type of project you choose. Check out our support page for more details but for now, we want
to let you know that we offer multiple levels of support including direct e-mail, telephone, online
self-service, registration, forums, chat, on-site, etc...
Do you offer warranties?
Absolutely! All our work is guaranteed and we also offer money-back garanties on most types of projects.
Your satisfaction is our goal and exceeding your expectations our mission. If you are not satisfied we will
help you find a solution and you can keep the goods for free. We excel at customer service.
Do you create graphics as well?
Yes we do or we partner with people that do. However, our artwork is not clip-art or 2D. We work
almost exclusively in 3D and 3D Animation. Nevertheless, we can provide office style clip-art and
artwork via our network of partners.
Why should I go with you?
It's very simple. Look at the following key benefits, to cite a few: We can beat anybody on price, we
master the technology at all levels and have done so for many years, we also have the credentials to prove it
and plenty of prestigious ones as well as awards (including academic and science awards), our customer
service is exemplary (check it out!), we don't want to sell you something we want to provide you with something
you want at the right price, if you think you need it and we don't we will tell you right away, also if we
think you can make it yourself we will tell you that too and also how to make it. We are honest, we have
high ethics and we are professional programmers and designers, not salesmen.
I don't know what I want, can you help me?
Indeed! We own many prototyping templates (these are sites you can look at for design and look and feel
so you know what you would get). We also partner with many Internet Template sites that can offer you
a significant set of visuals to choose from. We have also done this for many, many years and many, many people.
We can guide you through a process for every bit of help you need or if you just like to pick out a template
we can tell you how it would work best for you. We can explain the jargon, the technology and what is involved
in getting and managing a web site. If you are a business, we can help you in areas such as marketing advice,
customer exposure, online payments, customer support, moving your processes online, participating in
industry exchanges, integrating your back-office systems, etc. Don't forget that we are also technology
consultants and researchers.
Do you charge per-hour or per-project (completed work)?
Absolutely always on a project basis, never per-hour. There may be exceptional cases where per-hour
is required but this is not our preference. Per-project in our experience, tends to be cheaper and
more convenient for you, it tends to be much more accurate and fair for you and there are never any
doubts as to how long the job will last and, if we are late, the cost is on us, never on you. We
estimate per-project costs with extreme accuracy and you will always know before hand how much that
is and will have always a choice to continue or not with the estimated work.
Do you offer flexible payments or alternative forms of payment?
Yes, depending on the nature of the project and who you are. For instance, for simple, cheaper,
static web sites there is usually just a single flat free payable by credit card upon delivery
(nothing is ever advanced, in terms of payment). However, if you are a business, particularly
a small business, flexible payments are indeed an agreeable option and PO's are fully acceptable.
If you are an individual consumer we may also offer flexible payments for projects beyond basic
work.
What if I change my mind after work has started?
That's ok but there are limits imposed by the flexibility of the software being built itself.
Compare this to, say, building a bridge. As long as the metal structure is being put together
you can change your mind, for instance, on what type of pavement you want on this bridge.
But once, say, half the bridge is built and suspended in mid-air you can't realistically say
you wanted a log cabin and not really a bridge, right? After all, the contractor would have
paid the bulldozers and materials for the bridge already. Depending on the type of change you
want we call this extended scope or sometimes "scope creep". As professional project managers
we manage scope creep efficiently and will allow you degrees of freedom (in fact, quite a bit
of freedom). However, once there is a clear statement of work agreed by both sides the degrees
of freedom often are constrained to what is possible without impacting the basic value of
the project. This is a natural and required part of the process that protects you as well
as us. In practice, our assessment process is quite effective and tends to eliminate the
potential for scope creep. If you do say you want a log cabin after we built a bridge for
you under mutual agreement, we'd have to build the cabin looking like a bridge :) or agree to
a new statement of work which very, very likely will increase your costs for the project.
Let me ask that question differently...
how many times can I change my mind before the agreement is set in stone? The answer
is as many as you want prior to agreeing to a statement of work (that is, prior to,
metaphorically, calling the bulldozers to get the bridge started). Let us take this
opportunity to say that we always prototype when possible. Prototyping means we will give
you, at the completion of our assessment, a mock-up version of what you want so you can see
it and feel it, before we build it. This is freely included in the assessment, again, whenever
possible and reasonable (we can tell you what "reasonable" means at the start of the assessment
depending on project needs. This way, you can change your mind a few times before we build
anything, and frankly, call the whole thing off if you don't like it. We do believe you need
to see it before you realize whether it is what you want or not. This, of course, does not
apply to games and most binary applications.)
Do you provide global solutions?
Yes, we do, we are a global company. However, not all our services are global. If you navigate
to the pages for each of our services you will find indications as to whether a specific
service is offered globally or not. For instance, software and web design are offered
globally but most small business and infrastructure services are not.