Internet Application Firm Celebrates its Fifth Anniversary
Live Oak Interactive looks back on a fulfilling half-decade while looking forward the future
AUSTIN, Texas - March 9, 2007 -- Andy Meadows recalls the humble beginnings of what was to become a true success story. “Five years ago the company was just myself, a handful of employees, and a small network of contacts.”
But in the years that followed, Meadows and his hard-working, dedicated staff guided their fledgling enterprise, Live Oak Interactive, to its present position as a leading Internet application development company that works with everyone from dynamic start-ups to Fortune 500 companies.
Meadows himself has spent his entire career in technology. Before starting Live Oak, he worked at Metadot, a subsidiary of Shlumberger, and also led the initial eBusiness development teams at Nortel Networks. His tech background helped him develop a thorough understanding of the possibilities of interactive applications for businesses.
When Live Oak was first conceived, Meadows says, “the idea was more about building an Internet consultancy” -- finding ways to build technology into a business by streamlining the flow of data to partners, vendors and customers. As the company, its clients, and the industry itself grew and evolved, Live Oak expanded its vision to include a full range of Internet application services. Meadows credits Live Oak’s success to “our willingness to go above and beyond for our customers. Attrition is a factor in this business, and our attrition rate has been very small from the start. We have customers who have stayed with us from the very beginning.” Live Oak team members share a sense of family based on their common goal of putting customers’ needs first. “We’ve talked ourselves out of doing things that would be revenue-generating for us, but the wrong thing for our customers. Everyone here has that same mentality.”
Another key factor, and a pleasant surprise for Meadows, has been Live Oak’s ability to attract and retain top-quality talent. “In my opinion, we’ve developed a team that is so well-rounded that its members encompass all the major components of an engagement. We have expertise in all the areas I feel are necessary to do our job effectively for our clients.”
“I feel we have accomplished amazing feats,” says Meadows. “We’ve been able to maintain our integrity, and in that sense we’ve restored some credibility to an industry which in the past has had its share of fly-by-night operators. Many times we’ve had to accomplish great things in a very short amount of time, which reflected well on us and helped us build robust relationships with our clients.”
The next five years look just as bright for Live Oak Interactive. The company’s reputation for designing highly scalable interactive solutions has attracted the attention – and the business – of even the biggest corporate names. But Meadows points out that in this day and age any size of company can have the latest in Internet application technology. “Five or six years ago the perception was that you had to be a Fortune 500 company to have this kind of technology. But things that seemed complex and mysterious a few years ago are now easily achievable, so now the technology is at hand for those who want it.”
And for Live Oak, says Meadows, “It’s all about taking the complex and making it simple. Technology doesn’t have to be scary or dangerous, and you don’t have to stay up late at night worrying about your technology or your infrastructure – we can take care of those things for you, and we don’t have to worry about it either because we know it works.”
For Live Oak Interactive, it’s worked for five years, and the company and its president are looking forward to the years ahead. “We’re always looking for clients who are serious about integrating technology into their businesses – because we’re serious about it too.”
About Live Oak 360
Live Oak 360 (www.liveoak360.com), an Austin, Texas-based web technology services company, specializes in Digital Landscape Management™ consulting, customized software development, conversion acceleration and social networking applications to assist companies in the management of their digital landscape.
The firm's name embodies a cyclical growth engine that discovers the needs of clients, finds the strategic solution that is the best fit and then cyclically evaluates and refines the client solutions based on the clients' evolving business needs. It empowers the team to step in sync with clients, at any point within their development process, to create custom software applications in alignment with corporate goals and to maintain iterative, impacting improvement for clients.
Drawing upon proven industry experience and open source expertise, Live Oak 360 is able to develop scalable and efficient customer driven applications. Live Oak 360 integrates marketing and business activities, provides in-depth business intelligence, and increases visibility with key audiences, which, in turn, improves website profitability for clients.
Founded in 2002, Live Oak 360 has developed solutions directly for Buffalo Technologies, Green Mountain Energy, and Time Warner Cable Media Sales and dozens of other clients coast to coast. Through strategic partnerships, the firm has customized applications for AMD, Symbol Technologies (now a division of Motorola) and World Vision.
