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October 5, 2010 Portlandbiz

Portland Webworks brings home the gold, again

Photo/Whit Richardson Justin Davis, founder and president of Portland Webworks, the firm behind the Maine Office of Tourism's award-winning website
By Whit Richardson

Maine may be Vacationland, but these days a tourism destination needs more than a reputation to attract visitors. It needs a standout website. The Maine Office of Tourism's website has been a frontrunner in the destination marketing industry, and has won awards for its design and usability.

In September, the website won another award -- a Gold Magellan Award from Travel Weekly magazine, its second in two years -- competing alongside such destination heavyweights as Universal Orlando Resorts and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority.

But while VisitMaine.com has built up shelves full of awards over the years, the Portland company that built and maintains the website has stayed out of the limelight.

On a recent afternoon in the downtown office of Portland Webworks, Justin Davis, the firm's founder and president, sits in a brand new conference room, the chemical smell of the new carpets still in the air. The new room is part of the company's third office expansion in four years, and is indicative of the 30% average annual growth in revenue the company has experienced over the past several years. "We've consistently been growing," says Davis, adding that this year the company's revenue is on track to grow 62% over last year's revenue of $3 million.

Davis launched the company, which currently employs 19 full-timers, in 1999 after leaving a job managing commercial web development at New Media Development Group, which was a subsidiary of the Portland Press Herald's parent company, Guy Gannett.

It was there that Davis first worked with the Maine Office of Tourism, banging out code in 1997 for the tourism office's first website.

Portland Webworks has held the Maine Office of Tourism's website account since 2002, when it successfully competed in the state's public contract procurement process. The company designed VisitMaine.com to handle most of the logistics that otherwise would take valuable man-hours, from tracking visitor satisfaction to responding to requests for guidebooks. Davis says VisitMaine.com is by far the company's most recognized piece of work.

Despite its name, Portland Webworks does not just design websites. It's not an IT firm, either. "The name is a bit of a misnomer," Davis admits.

Davis considers it a consulting firm and an "enterprise application developer," which for the layperson means the company works with large corporations and government organizations to identify challenges and goals and then develops software that can't be bought off the shelf to meet those needs.

Besides the Maine Office of Tourism, the company works with the state of Colorado, Lockheed Martin, Sappi Fine Paper North America and MaineHealth, among many others.

Davis admits the greatest challenge is hiring the right people with the right skills. When asked if he hires most of his employees from out of state, Davis swivels his chair around to take stock of his employees through a window into the conference room. He raises his arm and points from one employee to another. "Wisconsin, North Carolina, Bangor," he says. He points to an office on the far side of the room, which he shares with Tom Lovering, director of business development. "Tom is supposedly from England, but he's really from Topsham," Davis says with a smile.

Miljan Bajic, project manager on the Maine Office of Tourism account, is from Sarajevo, but was recruited from Boston. "So, it's a mix," Davis says.

But he'll take the challenge because Maine is where he wants his business to be. Plus, he finds clients often warm to the idea of working with a company from Maine. "People believe, whether true or false, there's an authenticity to the people who live here," he says.

Davis' goal is to pursue large enterprise projects that require more than just designing a website's graphics or building a content management system. Davis aims to have "fewer, better accounts" that require a team approach. "It is better to have accounts large enough to put teams on rather than splintering the group" by working on many small accounts, he says.

The approach of "fewer, better accounts" comes with the risk of having too much revenue coming from too few clients.

For example, the Maine Office of Tourism account is an important one -- bringing in $700,000 of last year's $3 million revenue -- but it wouldn't cripple the company if it lost that account.

That possibility will be on the table next year, when the tourism office's three-year website contract goes back out to bid as mandated by state law. "You can't let your guard down because you always know you're at least three years from a very competitive public procurement process, which is grueling to say the least," Davis says.

Despite the awards and recognition the website has received, Davis says his company is not a shoo-in for renewal. Portland Webworks will compete with much larger companies that focus exclusively on destination marketing. "This is a truly national competition for the account," Davis says. "People want this type of work and we're fortunate to have it."

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