WDANZ

Infobox_Company
company_name = Web Developers Association of New Zealand Limited
company_
company_type = Privately owned
company_slogan =
foundation = 2006
location = Auckland, New Zealand
key_people = Dennis Smith, Director
industry = Web development
num_employees =
products =
profit =
homepage = [http://www.wdanz.co.nz/ http://www.wdanz.co.nz]

Web Developers Association of New Zealand Limited ("WDANZ") is a New Zealand-based company, established on 31 May, 2006 by IT Entrepreneur and web developer, Dennis Smith.

History

Dennis distributed a discussion documentFact|date=July 2008 to interested web developers in May 2006, after discussing the idea of expanding the growing [http://www.meetup.co.nz Auckland Meetup] nationwide with several Auckland web developers.

Survey feedback from a sample 49 interested web developers gave him support for the idea of a national organization, however opinions on the format, roles and purpose of the proposed organization differed widely. According to a WDANZ Report to the Industry, overall feedback indicated that practical benefits should be paramount, and industry representation, or lobbying were neither needed nor wanted.cite web |url=http://www.wdanz.co.nz/Documents/WDANZ-Report-to-industry-6June20060.pdf |title=Report to the Web Development Industry |accessdate=2008-08-22 |author=Dennis Smith |date=2006-06-06 |format=PDF ]

He subsequently established the organization as a commercial operation and launched WDANZ on 4 July 2006.cite web |url=http://www.wdanz.co.nz/News/Press_Releases/Archive/Web_Developers_organisation_launch/MenuId/44.aspx |title=Web Developers organisation launches with a bang! |accessdate=2008-08-22 |date=2006-07-01 ]

Conferences for members were held in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch, 2006 & 2007, including Search Engine Optimization training for both the industry and public.cite web |url=http://www.wdanz.co.nz/News/Press_Releases/Archive/Gold_Tick%E2%84%A2/MenuId/41.aspx |title=Gold Tick™ SEO Training & Certification Initiative Joint Venture Announced. |accessdate=2008-08-22 |date=2006-11-13 ]

In 2007, John Jones was appointed General Manager.cite web |url=http://www.wdanz.co.nz/News/Press_Releases/WDANZ_Appoints_GM/MenuId/235.aspx |title=Web Developers Association appoints General Manager |accessdate=2008-08-22 |date=2007-09-14 ]

The [http://www.internetunmasked.com/ Internet UNMASKED!!] brand and book, targeting the SME and [Non-profit_organization Not-For-Profit] sectors were launched on 16 April 2008 in Ellerslie, Auckland.

In June 2008, WDANZ announced [http://www.wdanz.co.nz/News/Press_Releases/MOU_with_Software_NZ/MenuId/260.aspx] , MOU with NZSA, New Zealand Software Association Dead link|date=August 2008] that a Memorandum of understanding had been signed with [http://www.nzsa.org.nz/ Software New Zealand] to share membership benefits between the two organisations.

Structure

WDANZ claims that many in the industry, including ex-members of a previous defunct organization [http://www.wdnz.org.nz/ WDNZ] advised it that widespread agreement within the web development industry would be highly unlikely, as the industry was quite fragmented, could be confrontational at times and that any organization would need very strong leadership.

Essentially, Dennis assessed (apparently correctly) that a commercial, user-pays business model would be the only viable option, and personally underwrote the establishment and marketing of WDANZ as a business.

Services

WDANZ claims to support its members through providing:
#Brand affiliation
#New business generation
#Support & training and
#Networking

Additional services are also available to WDANZ members including assistance with dispute resolution; a business brokerage that assists web developers wishing to buy or sell IT businesses and business mentoring.cite web |url=http://www.wdanz.co.nz/Services/MenuId/18.aspx |title=Member Services |accessdate=2008-08-22 ]

Membership criteria

Early on, WDANZ encountered differences of opinions from the industry over suitable entry criteria for membership.

According to WDANZ, larger web developers preferred to have size, or business tenure a necessary criterion for membership. Smaller web developers however preferred to have membership more open and inclusive. Some preferred to have quality of work, including adherence to W3C standards as a criterion for membership.

WDANZ addressed the membership criteria issue by requiring adherence to a Code of Ethics that focussed on a commitment to professionalism without actually defining professionalism. Quality of work is therefore not a criterion for WDANZ membership.

WDANZ memberships are based on members acceptance of a Code of Ethicscite web |url=http://www.wdanz.co.nz/About_Us/Code_of_Ethics/MenuId/32.aspx |title=Code of Ethics |accessdate=2008-08-22 ] and the appropriate category of membership depends on a mixture of the member's tenure in business, and volume of websites they have developed.

Membership

Membership statistics [http://www.wdanz.co.nz/About_Us/Membership_Statistics/MenuId/237.aspx, Membership Statistics] Dead link|date=August 2008] as at July 2008:

:note label|total|I|I Total members: 309

According to WDANZ, members cover a range of web developers from throughout New Zealand, small one-man-band developers, through to larger development companies with multiple staff and a wide range of disciplines.

Key personnel

Dennis Smith, Director

John Jones, Administrative Manager

Russell Holland, Industry Advisor & Conference Compere

Harvey Kane, Industry Advisor

Quentin Nel, Industry Advisor

Competition

In the week of the launch of WDANZ, following discussion on the [http://www.phpug.org.nz/ PHPUG] Dead link|date=August 2008 mailing list [http://archive.phpug.org.nz] , PHPUG Discussion 2006Dead link|date=August 2008] , Eaden McKee ( [http://www.webforce.co.nz/ WebForce] ) established a mailing list of those interested in creating a non-commercial alternative to WDANZ. Discussions focussed on ways to create a viable organization, its possible objectives, membership criteria, funding, branding and structure, however essentially remained discussions only.

In April 2008, a WDANZ ex-member Ben Simpson ( [http://www.hostingdirect.co.nz/ Hosting Direct] ), also following discussion on the PHPUG mailing list , established an alternative to WDANZ which he called [http://www.idanz.co.nz IDANZ - Internet Developers Association of New Zealand] however he deleted the group and all online discussions after an altercation with another group member cite web |url=http://groups.google.co.nz/group/idanz-discussion/browse_thread/thread/a44de54eef371f5d/de5220619eb0303e |title=What the hell happened? |accessdate=2008-08-22 |work=IDANZ Google Group ] . Citizen Gold ( [http://www.evolved.net.nz Evolved Development] ) shortly thereafter resurrected an alternative group ( [http://www.idanz.net.nz IDANZ] ) in June 2008.

Controversy

WDANZ received early criticism from some sections of the New Zealand IT community including:

Misrepresentation. Concerns were expressed about the potential and real misrepresentation of the nature of WDANZ by way of use of the word Association in their name, when the organization was in fact a company.

Accountability. It was claimed by some that there would be less accountability in a commercial organization than in one where decision-makers could be voted in or out of decision-making positions.

Profit. The potential for individuals such as shareholders and/or directors of WDANZ to make profit from WDANZ was a concern to some who favoured a voluntary organization.

Negative Publicity. Some claimed that any association with a previously high-volume spammer (Brendan Battles) could or would tar the reputation of WDANZ or its members.

Standards. Upon first launch some claimed that the WDANZ logo, marketing materials and website were of poor design quality, the website didn't W3C validate to W3C standards and that WDANZ should be seen as a representative of only the best in web design.

Conflict of interest. Some people could see a potential conflict of interest, for example the favouring of sales lead distribution, conference or event speaking opportunities and other business opportunities arising.

Leadership. The integrity of the principal was called into question, particularly the fact that the New Zealand [http://www.dnc.co.nz/ Domain Name Commissioner] had previously deregistered one of his companies (DNSML) as a .nz Registrar.

WDANZ has responded to some of these concerns:

Misrepresentation. In response to any misunderstanding or concerns from some sectors of the IT industry, WDANZ altered its marketing materials to emphasised its commercial status, and altered its primary website URL and emails from wdanz.org.nz to wdanz.co.nz.

Accountability. WDANZ countered the claim of lack of accountability by claiming that (not mentioning the community aspect to a voting organization) the principals of a commercial operation in fact had greater accountability than their counterpart in a voting body . It implied that it would be out of business overnight if it failed to listen to its members and give them the products or services that they sought, who were after all its primary source of income .

Profit. WDANZ claims to have been established as a commercial operation primarily for the purposes of being able to make quick decisions in a fast-changing commercial environment, and that while making a profit is certainly possible, it is not the primary focus of the organization .

Negative Publicity. Dennis Smith has claimed that a large part of his personal motivation to proceed with the WDANZ idea was because of the encouragement and support of Brendan Battles, who was working for another of his companies at the time. Brendan was a keynote speaker at the first WDANZ conference, and assisted in the early marketing for several months of WDANZ, however was never an employee of, nor formally involved with WDANZ.

Standards WDANZ validated the original website within hours of the launch and publication , claims that the logo and branding was agreed by a team of designers and early supporters and that the original website has since been revamped to a generally acceptable commercial standard by [http://www.website.co.nz/ Labyrinth Solutions] .

WDANZ has not publicly addressed the issue of either leadership integrity or the potential for conflicts of interest.

Offshoots

WDANZ limits its trading to membership only, however commercial services are provided to WDANZ members and others through Gold Tick Services Ltd, a sister company, also owned by Dennis Smith.

WDANZ provides sales leads to WDANZ members through [http://www.quotemasters.co.nz/ QuoteMasters] .

[http://www.seomasters.co.nz/ SEOMasters] provides Search Engine Optimisation reports and recommendations commercially, and distributes sales leads to SEO consultants.

WDANZ is a supporter of [http://www.domainmasters.co.nz/ DomainMasters] , a .nz aftermarket portal, and the [http://www.whiteknight.org.nz/ White Knight Trust] established with Steven Heath and Bruce Clement to assist victims of Cybersquatting and Typosquatting.

[http://www.internetunmasked.com/ Internet UNMASKED!!] communicates IT information to and educates the Small-Medium Enterprises (SME) and Not-For-Profit sectors, through publications and educational events.

See also

[http://www.nzsa.org.nz/ New Zealand Software Association]

[http://www.wdnz.org.nz/ WDNZ] Web Designers Association of New Zealand (established 1997Fact|date=July 2008/defunct 2000)

[http://www.idanz.co.nz/ IDNZ] Internet Developers Association of New Zealand (idanz.co.nz - established 2008/defunct 2008)

[http://www.idanz.net.nz/ IDNZ] Internet Developers Association of New Zealand (idanz.net.nz - established 2008)

References

External links

* [http://www.wdanz.co.nz/ WDANZ] Official website
* [http://www.quotemasters.co.nz/ QuoteMasters] WDANZ sales lead distribution service
* [http://www.domainmasters.co.nz/ DomainMasters] .nz aftermarket Domain Name portal
* [http://www.seomasters.co.nz/ SEOMasters] Search Engine Optimization reports and training
* [http://www.internetunmasked.com/ Internet UNMASKED!!] SME and Not-For-Profit Training