It’s 2024 and Komosion is celebrating a significant milestone – 15 years of operation. The anniversary also effectively marks our 25th year in the digital sector, as our company’s journey started as two separate entities:
- the Sydney (Darlinghurst)-based digital web design agency, Glass Onion, which opened its doors in 1999; and
- the South Melbourne-based proprietary web software publishing company, KomodoCMS, which started trading in 2003.
Those companies merged in 2009 to form what is now Komosion. (Komo–s–ion, from Komodo and Glass Onion).
Adapt, adapt, adapt …
From the early days, Komosion’s journey has largely mirrored the evolving digital landscape. Since 2012, a key focus for us has been the deep understanding of customer journeys.
Championing Customer Journeys Insights and UX
This emphasis has been instrumental in shaping our approach to Strategic Consulting as well as User Experience (UX) Design services, ensuring that we provide customer-focused solutions that drive our clients’ broader business strategies.
In this realm, we have worked with an amazing array of private sector brands, Government agencies and higher education providers from Flight Centre, the InterContinental Hotel Group, Sydney Opera House, David Jones, News Corporation Australia and Tabcorp to NSW, Queensland, Victorian and Commonwealth government agencies, as well as universities including RMIT, La Trobe, Monash, Federation, Victoria University, the University of Canberra, the University of Queensland and the Australian Catholic University.
Our move to Open Source
We moved from being a proprietary software vendor (KomodoCMS) to offering open source Content Management System (CMS) software which, like generic drugs, is free of licensing fees.
This was a strategic response to the global consolidation of proprietary web publishing platforms and our first move, in 2014, was to the Drupal “open source” web publishing software, popular in the Government and Education sectors.
However, developers were scarce, the system complex and the project costs proved very expensive. In truth, it was a near death experience and we realised that, for us, another move was make or break.
WordPress’s remarkable growth
In 2017, we shifted our open source platform to WordPress , to take advantage of its user-friendly interface and extensive ecosystem. It proved to be the right decision.
Since 2011, WordPress has enjoyed remarkable growth – approximately 12% per year, while Drupal’s market share decreased 6.1% during the same period.
Today, WordPress dominates the Content Management System (CMS) market, powering more than one in three of the top one million websites in the world. And, overall, WordPress powers 65.2% of the world’s CMS-driven websites – Drupal’s market share is now just 1.2%.
Embracing AI and Machine Learning
Our journey into AI and machine learning is underway as we experiment with the integration of ChatGPT-powered chatbots into WordPress sites.
We’re also delving into the realm of Learning Experience Design, creating content and acquainting ourselves with various Learning Management Systems.
A forward-thinking approach designed for organisations in the Lifestyle, Learning & Public Service sectors
Our aim has always been to create web platforms that are not only visually appealing but also functionally robust, for showcasing luxury resorts or developing complex public service sites.
Fifteen years on, we continue to deliver practical and cost-effective consulting services and digital solutions in the most dynamic technology landscape in history.
John O’Neill is the Principal and Founder of Komosion.