As long time readers of Komplett’s blog will have noticed, we’ve just completed a redesign and twisted the site into a format I think is a lot friendlier for displaying the large amounts of content we’re now producing every day. This content ranges from tech industry news through how-to articles, interviews, analyses and fun pieces.

I must send out kudos to JJ Worrall, Marc McEntegart and Gavin Murray of Komplett and Leon Quinn of Reverb Studios for conceptualising, organising and completing the redesign in excellent fashion. But this is more than a simple facelift; it represents a milestone on our journey towards producing a publication of consequence in the Irish tech world.

There’s not nearly enough in the way of relevant tech content written for Ireland in particular. There exists a multitude of publications for consumer and hardcore tech enthusiast alike, but we live in the shadow of dollars and pounds and unrealistic release dates; and there’s very little content given to accommodating the unique points in our market.

As well, I believe that what does sit here in the Irish market, analysing the products we receive and the business decisions that are made, is not all that comprehensive, despite the best efforts of the players. I am also inclined to think that a tight advertising market stifles real analyses, in which there is always a winner and a loser, both potential clients.

Speaking of bias…

Komplett is not, many might firstly point out, an unbiased observer of events. But this publication, and our social media efforts in general, has to be honest and unbiased – if it is not, you will not read it. And if you don’t read it, Komplett will gain no benefit from it at all. The editors, the management and the stakeholders all clearly understand this. There’s no sense in paying to print a digital rag you can’t even use to wrap your chips in.

What do we stand to gain from investing in this effort? A number of things. First of all, we’ve been making large efforts to humanise Komplett since we opened our local offices in 2008. I don’t want us to be a distant, faceless ecommerce brand. We’re Irish employees of an international company, taking an active role in the world around us for – we hope – the better, and making connections with the individuals around us.

Secondly, we benefit as a brand by putting ourselves in front of you incidentally as you enjoy our publication on a daily basis. We’re going to talk about products, when they’re announced, when they hit the market, and what to do with them when they do. Maybe something you read will prompt you to make a purchase. Maybe even from us. Perhaps we’ll just stick out in your mind when you are looking for something. I won’t lie, I’d like you to think of Komplett any time you think of buying anything we sell.

Thirdly, I think that the entire Irish tech market – consumers, media, suppliers and manufacturers – benefit from our attempt to fill in the gaps and create a place where we can all keep up to date on the happenings and be inspired by the ideas we put forward.

Social fellows…

Our social media efforts in general, on Twitter, Facebook and Boards.ie as well as in a multitude of other channels in other ways, are aimed at making connections and adding something of value to people’s daily lives. From getting customers a quick answer on an order to running thought provoking competitions and events, I want to bring something to people every day that is useful at least, and smile provoking at best.

To this end, we’re constantly looking for good ideas: For how-to’s, for areas we should be looking into in more depth, and of course we want to be socially active to get the best feedback on our core business – the web shop. No matter the question, the query or the comment, we always want to make it easy to approach us with them.

We’re rolling forward a whole bunch of interesting stuff in 2010, this publication being one of a list of things. The next thing to roll out the door will be large build your own PC classes, where we aim to bring DIY education to the country at prices far more affordable than are available today, for either the education or through paying someone else to do the job for you.

If nothing else, I promise you we will try and be interesting in everything we do. Enjoy.

Aaron McKenna,

Country Manager Ireland