Areeba's History

1998

A bunch of friends create their own web company. The focus is upon value for clients and quality. A single room office in Collins Street sets us on our way. We ring and visit every person we know. Straight talking and a no nonsense attitude lands us our first big clients - The Age, SEEK and CPA Australia. Long hours fuelled by coffee and the excitement of the unknown.

1999

More staff and larger offices in William Street. Internet is it - everyone wants a website and everyone thinks they have the next "big idea". We take onboard a lot of dotcom clients, corporates and small businesses. We pick up Parks Victoria, starting off with one project, extending into a relationship that exists to this day. Work is everywhere and good staff are hard to find. Areeba ignores the hype and keeps it small.

2000

A big year for Areeba. We enter double digit staff numbers. KPMG, dstore and others hear about the calibre of our work. Foster's Group and Applied Aged Care Solutions invite us to rebrand their websites and lay the foundation for long term relationships. The close of 2000 sees the bubble beginning to burst. Our surrogate child - dstore - goes out of business before it even goes live. It gets bought by another company which itself goes out of business.

2001

The Bubble's burst. Every second web company is going out of business - they grew too big, too fast. In contrast, Areeba's non-hyped approach means we have one of our best years yet. Instead of asking how many staff we have, clients ask how financially stable we are. We start work with Bayer CropScience (formerly Aventis CropScience) and Content Management becomes a focus. We see the writing on the wall and start offering commercial third-party software such as RedDot CMS.

2002

A consolidation year for us and the industry. The aftermath of the dotcom crash sees Areeba's work becoming more consistent - and talked about. We continue to build upon our clients and complete projects. Murray Goulburn and Australian Centre for the Moving Image come on board. Areeba's portfolio of dotcom businesses has given way to stable companies. ASP is phased out and we begin writing with ASP.NET for new projects.

2003

New offices on Bourke Street. Autobarn, Victorian Curriculum and Assessment Authority, Port of Melbourne, Saint-Gobain RF all have interesting and challenging projects. Areeba's client portfolio reflects a mix of stable businesses and government. Safe Return initiative launched for Applied Aged Care Solutions.

2004

The depth of experience increases dramatically - a conscious effort to recruit and develop senior staff - experience and diversity. Clients include Department of Human Services, Dairy Australia, RADD Australia, Maurice Blackburn Cashman and Oriental Merchant. The year ends with the launch of the VCE Results website. We're a tad nervous about 40,000+ con-current logins at 7:00 am on results day, but all goes smoothly.

2005

Areeba's reputation as a premium online agency continues to grow. The year starts with projects for Victoria Legal Aid and Jobs Plus NAS. We start to see interest from market areas we're keen to get into. Foster's Group 2005 redesign launches with much joy and frivolity. Existing clients that we began working with 4, 5 and 6 years ago return to us with projects and updates! Sage CRM, City West Water and VITS Language Link are new clients. More work from DHS, Matilda Bay and Saint-Gobain RF.

2006

The industry is continuing with its strong demand that didn’t let up the whole year. Areeba moves to new warehouse style premises in Flinders Lane. It finally feels like we’re home. A big year with launches for City West Water, Victorian Government Solicitor's Office, Drinkwise, Parks Victoria, Applied Aged Care Solutions, Plantic, Dairy Australia, Foster’s and others. Third successful year of VCE Results, can we breathe yet? Also a growth year for Areeba with increased development and design capacity. The end of the year sees a huge number of jobs in the pipeline and some exciting launches to look forward to in 2007. And yes, the Age Cricket Scoreboard that the boss built 8 years ago is still going strong!

2007

We're off to a great start. Haden Partners and MLCOA go live. The momentum builds with launches for Youth Central, Turning Point and Devondale's new product Moo Zoo Kids. Major projects for APT Free Spirit, Hippo Jobs and Ascend Sport are complemented by a flurry of RedDot projects for Sustainability Victoria, Tabcorp, Zinifex Mining and Maroondah City Council. Our fourth year of VCE Results. The grand daddy project of them all sees us ending the year - Areeba have been awarded the entire redesign and rearchitecture of the global RedDot.com website. More experienced staff, larger, more complex projects and a continued focus on the quality and service which has paved the way previously, guides us into 2008.

2008

Into our tenth year of web (that's 80 in human years) Areeba is a hive of activity. To complement the numerous new people that have joined the organisation we are adding new services and expanding our existing ones to ensure we can fully cater for all the activities our clients expect; from technical to creative, digital marketing and operational strategy. An influx of senior people, continuing from last year, adds depth and experience to the company. Youth Central Schoolies website goes live. A big year ahead.