The Challenge
Headquartered in Dubai and straddling increasingly global ambitions, Tamweel is the largest provider of real estate finance in the United Arab Emirates. Having financed property worth over AED 11.5 billion since 2004, the company is at the forefront of Dubai’s frenzied, record-breaking freehold property market.
Tamweel’s earlier web identity was not in keeping with either the company’s achievements or its standing in the region’s property finance sector. The previous web presence was devoid of CMS, and didn’t make for a very user-friendly experience with regards to the company’s prospective clientele.
Tamweel brought in Omnia to refresh the web identity, one which would be more accurately reflective of the company and provide a more dynamic user environment. The challenge was to create something that looked beautiful, yet made navigation and information-dispersal for the viewer as intuitive as possible, i.e. a perfect integration of form and function. A greater challenge was the fact that this needed to be a bilingual website, and technical considerations needed to be made keeping both English and Arabic in mind.
Since seamless Content Management was integral to the refurbishment process, Omnia tapped Sitefinity’s excellent CMS capabilities in taking things forward. The team formulated a redesign and information architecture strategy to strengthen Tamweel’s web presence and cement its brand identity amongst a savvy web audience.
The Solution
Using Sitefinity’s holistic CMS modules as a base, Omnia were able to arrive at a complementary solution to their design objectives. Quick and seamless the CMS structure spanned text tabs, news updates, RSS feeds, lists and FAQ sections, amongst others. With the technically sound back-end that Sitefinity provided, Omnia were able to maintain a consistency to the information flow and bring a visually refreshing approach to the navigation.
Other aspects to Sitefinity’s CMS solution covered the custom modules that they were able to put together, including a dedicated HR module and application forms that were light, spacious and a far cry from the cluttered approach favored by a majority of websites.
Taking the tools laid down by Sitefinity, Omnia were able to innovate and bring effective flourishes to other parts of the site. These included an interesting lightbox module for the gallery section, and a well-appreciated ‘fee calculator’ system that allowed prospective customers to figure out instantly how much their dream home would cost as well as arrive at precise numbers for installments, interest rates, etc. Further, Omnia handled the entire site population process - right from digital branding to copywriting.
Most importantly, Omnia with the help of Sitefinity managed to tackle the bilingual aspect of the client brief with ease, incorporating twin-information feeds and an exhaustive Arabic-content site within the same convenient CMS offering.
The Results
A striking corporate presence, Tamweel’s new web identity is a triumph of beautiful design with effective usability. Visually, the website stays true to the company’s Arabic heritage, with a subtle traditional motif being watermarked just beneath the header tab. Clean, spacious and graciously minimal, the site is pleasing on the eye with all necessary information being displayed in an uncluttered approach.
Developed in a 4-week timeframe, the site allows for updates and additions to be introduced with minimal effort. The system’s functionality also allows for new applications to be brought in without any technical worries.
Client satisfaction being the key prerequisite to any project being deemed a success, Omnia and Sitefinity’s execution of Tamweel has been a resounding one. The site has met with an equally good response from visitors. Since going live in April 2008, Tamweel’s web address has notched up some of the highest traffic for a Dubai-based web portal. And the project has been an added feather in the Omnia-Sitefinity partnership cap, with the two teams keen to add new projects to the partnership portfolio.