Zac Parkplatz Ltd (ZP) provides design consultancy and implementation services in the area of software that drives websites. Founded in 1999, we are based in Coventry, England.

Over the last 11 years, ZP has worked with a wide range of clients in business as well as in the charity and public sectors, with a focus on the small/medium organisation. Many companies have IT needs that cannot fully be met with off-the-shelf solutions, but have neither the resources nor the desire to have a range of highly qualified IT specialists on the payroll. In this situation, what you need is someone with the analytical skills to understand your needs, and the knowledge and experience to see how best to meet them. ZP can analyse your business requirements for IT and offer professional advice on how to meet them; see the Consultancy tab below.

software know-how	Between us we have over 60 years' combined experience of IT, have studied computing science theory and taught practical IT skills, and have delivered many successful software projects using a wide variety of technologies. We can design and implement software, or integrate existing systems; see Business Systems. When you hire us, you get a wealth of experience, but we have low overheads, so the price is more affordable than from larger solution providers.
web wisdom	Having set up our first web server in 1994, we have been developing and maintaining web software ever since, so we have the experience to understand the web and the judgement to evaluate new technologies as they emerge. We can design and/or develop a suitable website for you (see Web Design) with a sound understanding of how the web software needs to integrate with your other office systems.

software know-how

Between us we have over 60 years' combined experience of IT, have studied computing science theory and taught practical IT skills, and have delivered many successful software projects using a wide variety of technologies. We can design and implement software, or integrate existing systems; see Business Systems. When you hire us, you get a wealth of experience, but we have low overheads, so the price is more affordable than from larger solution providers.

web wisdom

Having set up our first web server in 1994, we have been developing and maintaining web software ever since, so we have the experience to understand the web and the judgement to evaluate new technologies as they emerge. We can design and/or develop a suitable website for you (see Web Design) with a sound understanding of how the web software needs to integrate with your other office systems.

The sections below describe our principal activities and general approach. They also give details of the quality you can expect from us. To request more information, or if you think our expertise could help your organisation, please tell us more.

Click on one of the tabs above if you would like to find out more.

Consultancy

Our consultants have a wide range of experience of organisations of all sizes, having worked with everything from single-person web designers to corporate multinationals, with small businesses, charities and NGOs in between. We can help you to analyse your website, software and training needs and advise you on approach, as well as giving you information about the highest quality open source (free) and commercial software available.

We can also deliver training tailored to your needs, from one-to-one coaching up to structured training courses.

Clear communication

There are a lot of buzzwords around in IT, like ‘SEO’ and ‘tiers’ and ‘web 2.0’. Our consultancy report to you, and our manuals or any other written product that we supply, will be written in plain English and tailored to your level of understanding. Our principal consultants are PhD graduates who are well practiced in expressing themselves in written form as well as giving presentations.

Business Systems - Design, Development and Integration

While packaged software usually brings the lowest total cost of ownership for small businesses, sooner or later most organisations find themselves in need of bespoke software to integrate their various systems together, or start looking for a value add whereby features not normally available in commercial packages can give a significant competitive advantage. We are highly experienced system architects, project managers and developers, so we can meet your needs with confidence, whether you require a complete new online booking system or just an off-the-shelf shopping cart application.

Software development

We use Java as our main implementation language because of its industry-leading security, scaleability and cross-platform portability. We also deliver software in PHP and JavaScript. We have a team of four developers in-house, a network of associates with other skills such as graphic design and system administration who can be called on as necessary, and we use contractors where appropriate for larger projects or to complete work faster. We have long experience of managing software projects and pride ourselves on always coming in on time and to budget.

Installation and hosting

For web-related systems, we can host your website on our servers, set up a directly-owned hosted server for you, or supply the software only. We will document what we've done so you need not rely on us forever, and we can provide whatever training you need.

Website Software

We understand that in today's environment, the internet and the web are used as business tools and an information resource, and not just as another format for the output of your marketing department. We bring our understanding of user interface design to your understanding of your customers (and what they need from your website) to produce a content-focussed, customer-centric website design.

As well as completely new websites we can also help you deploy and customise off-the-shelf e-commerce applications, CRM and content management systems.

Accessible, SEO-friendly websites

We can produce websites which are designed by an experienced graphic designer and we can also provide consultancy on print-based design if you wish to co-ordinate your website and print materials. We believe in a standards-based approach to website implementation, so as to produce websites that are accessible to the disabled as well as working across common browsers on all platforms. We can also advise on what you need to do for Search Engine Optimisation any why.

Case Studies

Two sites we've worked on this year which highlight our capabilities:

Rural Retreats Holidays Ltd

Multi-million turnover holiday cottage rentals at the quality end of the market. ZP designed and implemented their website, call centre systems and complete back office system based on Java/Oracle, and integrated with their Bank's merchant services.

Regional Equality and Diversity Partnership

Equality-focussed charity with a requirement for a highly accessible website. Designed in partnership with Web Design & Mastery who did the graphic design for the site. ZP implemented the design as a CMS template, provided software for additional functionality and delivered on-site training.

Tell Us More

To discuss your project with us, please e-mail zac@parkplatz.net. Or call us on 0845 313 8457 to give us your contact details.

One of our principal consultants will then contact you by whatever means you wish, to discuss your needs further and normally to arrange a meeting. We will not pass your details on to any third party.

(ZP is Zac Parkplatz Limited, registered in England, company number 3791093)