Onlineweather.com
www.onlineweather.com
Background
OnlineWeather.com, a Dumfries-based company offering weather forecasts online, was established in 1996 by Managing Director Douglas Yule. The web site was initially run on a part-time basis and it was only in 1999, with investment from local businessman Thomas Hogan, that OnlineWeather.com's web site and weather content services grew dramatically.
Now employing eight people, the company offers online forecasts directly to individual users as well as good quality weather content for use by other web sites. Its weather content services are currently provided to 50 online clients and partners, including BT, First Active Bank and Eircell (Vodafone).
Year Overview
- In August 2001, the company saw web site traffic hit a record high of over two million page impressions.
- OnlineWeather.com launched a new global weather service in conjunction with Accu-Weather Inc, one of the leading US weather forecasting companies, to provide access to approximately 25,000 global locations
- OnlineWeather.com now provides European content in French and German after linking up with ub-Mobile, a Swiss based content provider specialising in SMS for mobile phones. Additional languages are planned.
- Through the establishment of new contracts with RTE Interactive, Esatt Digifone and Eircell (Vodafone), the company extended its reach in the Irish markets.
- OnlineWeather.com continued to improve internal efficiency through extension and development of proprietary content management tool.
The Business Opportunity
Using his experience as a forecaster and a manager of a local business, Douglas Yule initially saw the Internet as an opportunity to promote OnlineWeather.com's weather services to reach a wider audience. The design and production of the web site was carried out in-house and general business and ICT advice was sought on an on-going basis from Richard Ritty, the UK online for business adviser based at the Dumfries and Galloway Scottish Enterprise.
Douglas quickly recognised that the Internet also offered an alternative way of delivering weather forecast information to customers and the potential of increasing the range of services offered by OnlineWeather.com.
The Solution
OnlineWeather.com developed its own production and distribution system which allowed its forecasters to add forecast information and statistics into a database to be processed and developed. Data, in the appropriate language, is then sent to either its web pages or directly to the client's server for presentation. This allows the automatic update of all information both on the OnlineWeather.com and partner web sites.
The company is constantly developing its services based on feedback from its customers as well as internal research. Weather forecasts can be received via Short Message Service (SMS), email and, since April 2000, Wireless Application Protocol (WAP). A web channel to work with a wide variety of Personal Digital Assistants (PDA) has also recently been developed, and the company has more than thirteen thousand PDA users through the popular AvantGo service.
Success
The company generates between one and two million page impressions per month, with hundreds of thousands of users visiting the site every month, and has succeeded in matching specialist channels for WAP, PDA and SMS users. It has secured 50 clients and partners and continues to attract a growing number of individual users.
Company efficiency and economic performance has improved and the business' 'City Forecast service' has been expanded to cover around 225 locations across the UK and Ireland. This is its most popular service receiving tens of thousands of hits each day. A new service launched in June 2001 provides a '10 day forecast' service and is now attracting thousands of users per week.
Following a deal with the American company Accu-Weather, Inc., the company now offers direct access to around 25,000 global city forecasts to both web site users and clients. In January 2002, OnlineWeather.com upgraded its web site and launched a new forecast service aimed at those interested in horse racing in the UK. The site now also includes useful links for astronomers.
In recognition of its commitment to using technology to ensure its business success, the company won the 2001 UK online for business/ InterForum E-Commerce Award for Scotland worth £5,000.
The Future
OnlineWeather.com is developing multi-language content for both its UK and global services in order to open up new market areas, especially in Europe. The company is also looking to lower the financial and technological threshold of its services so that small and medium businesses can make better use of its weather forecast and content services.
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