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esense History Book

 

Pre History

Telling Dreams from Visions

In year 1996, two young men with lots of ambition, met at university, where they were studying to get a Bachelor degree in Computer Science. After graduation, and working for big companies in the IT sector, they gathered years of experience, and lots of knowledge.

They have gathered skills in programming, and crafted leadership in their own small teams. From behind their small desks, they had a dream that once they grow up they are going to own a convertible van, with satellite transmission, and tour the country. But on the professional side, they had a vision: To make an IT services and solutions company that its mere core value will be excellence. And when all was in place, and the right time came, esense was born. On the following pages, the short diary of our friends is told.

The two young men are Mohammed Banat,: currently the General Manager, and Mohammed Abu Hadhoud: currently the Chief Technical Officer. Both graduated with a Bachelor Degree in Computer Science from PSUT.

Born

for the record, stating our name, and place of birth

The year 2001, the place, city of Amman, specifically in Jabal El Hussein, in a very small office, esense was born.

We have already established static interfaces for local places, and accepted to design few pages. We were in the phase of getting one project up and running to get the word out. Our first client: NEXT, referred us to our next client: MEDEXA; a medical insurance management company, for whom we delivered our first complete project.

We developed an ASP website for MEDEXA. The site included database-driven reports for doctors and insurers. It also contained lists of doctors, and insurance companies working through MEDEXA. The project was of a small scale, but we delivered a high quality product that continued to serve the client’s needs.

MEDEXA: find them online: http://www.medexa.net

First Word

spelled correctly, with esense first major client

First local challenge belongs to Farah Cards. Internet Service Provider: NEXT had previously employed international resources to write the necessary code for their Farah Dialer; a combination of smart client application that enables internet subscribers to dial into the internet and keep track of their call history. Steamed up with challenge and ambition, we strived for a chance to re-write it locally. NEXT saw no harm in giving the kids (us) a chance, and we felt like spelling our first word!

The Farah Dialer was rewritten using Visual Basic, impressing NEXT into giving us more work. Finally we ended up doing all the technical work for NEXT, including their interactive website. Soon after that, NEXT jumped into the party of Internet pre-paid cards, allowing users to send SMS messages, ring tones, and logos, without a credit card or having to wait on the phone.

We were there, armed with determination to make our first major client a success.

We developed the pre-paid card website, where users can access, charge and recharge their cards, download ring tones, and send SMS messages using the Farah Card Mobile services. That was a hit.

Today, we have also developed the website where Jordan’s High School examination results were published. Over 100,000 requests per hour were handled smoothly (under 0.2 seconds per request) from within a two-server web frame. That was a cool thing to do.

We have concluded the day talking to our next major prospect: Acebroker.

NEXT Farah: find them online: http://www.farahcard.com

First Step

spelled correctly, with esense first major client

After a whole year of prosperous, challenging work, we decided to take the first step, moving into a larger office, and hiring more talents. Time was tight, and projects were piling up, but we still reflect back at those days and recall the endless interviews conducted to find that true talent, not satisfied with any less. The first stars of esense, were, and still are, the soul of excellence.

By that time, we secured ourselves a project from the high class client, based in the UK: Acebroker. Acebroker had already operated a web-based platform for pharmaceutical products trading, but it did not succeed for a failure in the business concept. They needed a new system to replace the old one, and we were there to respond to their needs.

We developed a high-tech, rich, and friendly web-based platform, to handle requests of quotation, shipping and sales of pharmaceutical products for clients in the UK and in Jordan. We did not stop at developing the system, rather took delicate care of the user interface, and the usability of the system. The stars saw to it that every wish was orderly made true in the system.

In addition to the platform, Acebroker also relied on us to deliver a web-based searchable pharmaceutical catalogue solution, Eurolab, hosting 4,000,000 chemical substances, and providing reliable and fast responses from within a single box where a dozen of other services are handled as well. Both a web-based, and CD based versions were delivered. And finally, Acebroker asked us to develop the web presence and the online shopping system of Cell-aid.

Along the way, there were many fruitful accomplishments that built the name and reputation of esense: ATI, the official Middle East representative for Bayer Corporation, and one of the world’s largest chemical manufacturers in the world, requested a B2B platform to enable them to control orders from distributors in the Middle East. Idealsoft, a software development house based in UAE, requested heavy DHTML components for their on going project, and outsourced us to do the job. And Jordanian Electric Power Company requested a web presence, and simple report depository, we designed and developed the website. With those, and using the skills of our all-field stars, we have proven that esense could do just about anything, anywhere.

At the end of this period, we got word that we were considered by our next major client: the Royal Court.

Find more about our all-field stars on our online profiles: http://www.esensesoftware.com/profiles

School

no such thing as too old for schooling

Shortly after, we signed a contract with the Hashemite Royal Court, in order to build an electronic internal system, that helps their different parties to communicate better. So naturally, we decided to hire more talents, and elevate to higher ground of technical knowledge. esense school was established in late 2003, in order to put new esensers on the road of stardom. At this stage, development has become more organized, and features started to make their way to a shared guideline manual. Reusable components were taking shape, developer’s tools were being programmed, quality assurance was becoming a process, and standardization was becoming a reality.

In order to keep up with latest technologies, we created our own in-house tools to experiment as wide as possible. Amongst the tools we developed was the Bug Tracker, which enabled our quality assurance team to keep track of issues and bugs. Later, it was upgraded to a web-based tool that allowed our clients to post issues about their delivered projects, and keep track of them. Our clients were very excited about this feature, because it reduced the gap between them and the developers, and kept them posted on the development process.

We also created the Task Manager tool, which helped developers to schedule their tasks and keep track of their accomplishments. In addition to a newsletter generator, to help us and our clients send mass newsletters on time. The code generator which basic platform was put forward since day one, has been growing for a while.

Our organized work has finally paid off. This year, we introduced our first product: Prepaid Sense, and implemented it for the first time for our client in Saudi Arabia: NESMA; a local ISP there. We started working behind the scenes to produce our upcoming product: GALA SCHEDULE+.

The day was concluded with promising talks with regional companies for an opportunity of partnership.

Action

what’s a theory if not put into action?

Now that we had a few sustained clients, we started focusing more on business development. With the help of some clients and interested investors, we were able to establish a business base and constant contact in Qatar. More interested investors started to call in, and the idea of business partnership, soon became a reality. In year 2004, we signed partnership with Aregon, nextmove, and Alliance. With the help of these hi-notch local and regional companies, we established good relationship with neighboring and international companies. Things were blooming.

Two other young and ambitious men, and old friends of us, decided to join and venture with esense, to form together, the first real Board of Directors of esense.

During this year, we have developed an internal testing tool for Alliance - one of our partners. The easy to manage web-based tool allowed Alliance to conduct exams to their trainees, and get all kinds of reports on human performance levels, and provide guidance for future development.

We also kicked off a project with iManage, to develop an Incubation Management System portal that would enable business incubators in Jordan to communicate together, and present themselves to the outer world. It would also provide all means of tools to help start-up companies get all the information and consultation they might need. The portal aims largely to automate incubators’ administrative and decision making functions.

Another portal followed up very shortly, this time for UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women), who needed a system to consolidate UNIFEM projects, resources, and publications. It was getting more exciting.

Amongst the clients we made during this year was: Rasmala Investments. Rasmala is based in Dubai, and they asked us to develop a customer relationship management operator, that does not only help sales people to better manage their clients and prospects, but also would allow managers to assign prospects to their available resources, and track the progress of each one. It would enable all users to add notes, documents and tasks per client account, and define exact portfolio details. This solution is meant to increase performance and accordingly increase sales. Landing the project turned our attention to a new market, which is: the financial market.

The first financial market we addressed was CMA: Capital Market Authority of Oman. The requirements were to introduce a web presence for CMA, and make all kinds of information available for internet users, and easily managed. Profiles, latest news and events, latest reports, market statistics, investment guides, financial reports and publications were among the delivered modules for this project.

By the end of this day, we had already introduced ourselves to two financial markets in the Gulf, Dubai, and Muscat.

After the partnership, projects started to pile up on our desks. It was a call for more staff, more space and more creativity.

The Board of Directors: Mohammed Banat, Mohammed Abu Hadhoud, Samer Maslamani, and Samir Abu Ghosh. Samer Maslamani has previously lead the position of a general manager of iHorizon. Prior to that, he had a strong background in project management and direction. He is a computer science graduate. Samir Abu Ghosh, formerly worked as a Java developer, and then later became a technical team leader. Today in esense, he leads the position of a project manager, and business development assistant. He, too, is a computer science graduate.

Moving

always heart breaking, but necessary

In March 2005, we relocated to a more spacious office in Madeenah Riyadiah. The office could now make home for at least fifty esensers hired recently for the demanding projects, and yet could accommodate more in the future. The move was a very exciting event, to all of us.

With attention to the financial market, we successfully landed two projects: MSM - Muscat Securities Market, and DFM - Dubai Financial Market. Both projects possessed identical business requirements. The developed websites’ contents included data on live trading, news digest, companies’ performance, brokers’ information, market performance and others. The new challenge presented in these projects was mainly in the market watch, where live trading readings were to be posted on the web, and updated automatically.

Our previous client Rasmala, has brought in another similar project: Cairo Amman Bank - Awraq Investments. The client needed a platform to automate brokerage services in order to build customer satisfaction. We developed a system that handled brokerage management, and enabled brokers to put client orders as soon as they came in, according to their current portfolios, and credits. Speed was a key issue, and esense granted Cairo Amman Bank the edge that would set them apart from other brokerage firms. In addition to the platform, the system should enable the clients of Cairo Amman Bank to place their orders online, and follow up on their current portfolios.

This year was a success, we had some returning clients, and we built on lots of previous knowledge. The similarities between several projects enabled us to experience true reusability and put it into action. The success of one project lead directly to the second one, in which more features were added, and less mistakes were made. The major advantage was faster development, that we made best use of by making more complex features for newer projects.

We called the day with a proposal for a major client to get into a totally new venture: ERP Solution!

Second Grade

what goes around, comes around

The second challenge came round right after the move. The Royal Court asked for an ERP solution for the whole establishment. This year we completed the first phase, in which the system developed were to connect the Human Resources, Payroll, Accounting, Warehousing, and Logistics departments all together, through a single login from anywhere inside the establishment. Our experience in ERP solutions has already been capitalized on by making more aggressive proposals to new clients.

More good news; Acebroker requested new additions in which true online sales could be made possible, allowing different actors to interact together, and allowing Acebroker administration to facilitate all sales by means of virtual banking. We were there, and we responded.

The telecommunication industry has also opened its arms to us, when we landed a project with Saudi Telecom, to provide the Directorate of Data Network Services a web-based portal, which involved integration with their current working system. Other opportunities in the telecommunication industry were materializing, and it was indeed another leap.

As part of growing up, we decided to upgrade our internal platform to Visual Studio.NET 2005, and SQL Server 2005. We had already upgraded three of our clients to the latest platforms, and we were working on upgrading all of our projects by early 2006.

Another big success arrived this year; we finally finished the last touches of our new product: GALA SCHEDULE+. We also landed a project to implement GALA, making use of all the skills, knowledge and experience. The project belonged to DSI: Dead Sea Institution. DSI was planning for an event to take place in April 2006, with lots of guests, abroad communications, contacts, logistics, invitees, airplane passengers, food and banquets, transportations, and lots of preparations. GALA SCHEDULE+ helped them take care of every little detail, and stay updated with any new changes, instantly, locally, and remotely. The good part about DSI project is that it took less time to develop than it would have, had we not used our previous experience.

To make use of GALA, we have been proposing to other prospects as well. We finished this phase with a demonstration of a solution based on GALA for a company in the Film Making industry.

Growing Up

this is just the beginning

The soil is wet, the seeds are planted, the wind is perfect, and everybody is seated. We are now watching ourselves grow. Each and every esenser has his or her definite part to play, and we all play to the maximum perfection. The next necessary jump for such an all-star team is internationalization. Today we made it come true. We opened a new office in London, and in the coming year, more offices will follow.

Thinking back, looking at our progress, and seeing ourselves today, we can only think; this is just the beginning. We have established the solid base, and now, we are building our first brick. We have so much to say, and lots of days to log in our esense book. So many dreams to full fill, and lots of blank pages...