About Us
What are e-Biz Watch’s Credentials?
e-Biz Watch and its sister e-Gov Watch have reviewed over 400 New Zealand websites against its best practices criteria and have extensive comparative benchmark results available.
The developer of the e-Biz Watch and e-Gov Watch methodology and Chief Assessor, Shane Middlemiss, has over 15 years experience in online planning and development across commercial and government levels. He assisted in editing the initial set of Government Web Guidelines. He is a recognised expert in online strategy.
Specialist assessment is conducted in the accessibility and usability areas by the companies Accease Ltd and the University of Waikato respectively.
Our team is made up of professionals with extensive commercial experience.
Who We Are
e-Biz Watch is part of a small, independently-owned New Zealand company. We have a team of experts who are leaders in their field. The team all work from home in the Bay of Plenty, Wellington and Brussels, Belgium. We are independent from any web development companies and are therefore able to offer independent, objective reviews of your website.
Our Team
- Shane Middlemiss, Director & Chief Assessor
- AccEase Ltd, Accessibility Assessors
- University of Waikato Usability Lab, Usability Assessors
Shane Middlemiss – Director and Chief Assessor
Shane has had extensive online experience over the last 15 years. He has worked as a consultant in e-strategy, content management, and project management for commercial and government organisations since 1997. Shane is one of the leading thinkers in the e-government space in New Zealand. Shane developed the e-Gov Watch criteria five years ago and has successfully established these criteria as one of the leading measures of e-Government performance here in New Zealand. He then developed an assessment approach relevant to commercial websites in 2009. Shane completes the assessments for content delivery, personalisation, and integration and controls the overall quality of assessments through sampling of the results from the rest of our team to ensure consistency in performance.
AccEase Ltd – Accessibility Assessors
AccEase are our accessibility experts. They are committed to helping organisations ensure that their on-line information is accessible. Services include accessibility auditing, user-testing by a panel of testers with disabilities, consulting on accessibility issues and constructing accessible web sites. They also develop accessibility purpose statements and in-house development methodologies. The principals are Robyn Hunt and Mike Osborne. Robyn Hunt is one of New Zealand’s leading experts in the field of disability. Her expertise has allowed AccEase to put together a unique panel of disabled testers. As an award-winning journalist and communicator she brings extensive experience to ensuring readable, accessible web sites and other electronic communications. Mike Osborne has a long background in software development and consulting on IT, measurement, reporting, effective meetings practice and other business management areas. He brings a focus on software usability and on simplifying the communication and presentation of complex information which lead him naturally into the area of accessibility.
Waikato University Usability Laboratory – Usability Assessors
Waikato University Usability Laboratory are our usability experts. The Usability Laboratory promotes and facilitates innovation and quality through academic-industry relationships within many areas of Human Computer Interaction (HCI) including user-centred design, usability and interaction design. This is done by offering three valuable services to the NZ ICT industry: User Experience / Usability Consulting, Industry & Government -Focused Research, and Academic Research. Established in 2001, they offer one of the most experienced teams of usability practitioners and researchers to the NZ IT industry.
The team is well versed in all aspects of usability and HCI. In addition, the Usability Laboratory has the most extensive usability testing and evaluation facilities in NZ. They have provided consulting and research services to a number of NZ commercial organisations and government agencies. The Usability Laboratory provides high quality outputs; and developing long term, mutually beneficial relationships with clients is an important part of the ethos of the Usability Laboratory.
Our Vision
We want to help companies create engaging and rewarding experiences for their users. Many websites can be so much more than they are right now. Our experts can quickly find those things that will help your users to have a great time in your website and make you more successful doing it.
Our Values
Independence
We are independent from any website delivery or development services. Our assessments are unbiased, objective and consistently evaluated regardless of the client.
Quality
We apply due diligence in evaluating all our criteria. All assessments are put through a process of quality assurance. All quality issues are investigated and acted upon promptly with no additional cost to clients
Right Relations
We honour the agreements we make. We are accountable for breaches to agreements and act to remedy them. Open communication is valued and encouraged. We work with our clients, suppliers and the public to attain our vision and support the achievement of their goals.