This week, we had the opportunity to speak with Patrick De Jongh, the Co-founder of
TenTwenty Digital Agency. We discussed how the company started and evolved, what services are offered, and what is the mission of the company.
Please describe the story behind the company: What sparked the idea, and how has it evolved so far?
Back in 2012, I (Patrick de Jongh) had a small web agency in the Netherlands. Via a common friend, I was introduced to my now business partner Baster Laare. Bas was already living in the UAE for several years and was experiencing difficulties getting a website designed and developed locally. The work delivered was below average from both a design and development point of view at the time.
Now being introduced to Bas we started working on several web projects together for Dubai clients with great results. We saw a huge opportunity in the market and it sparked the idea; ‘Why not start a digital agency in Dubai?’. 6 months later, after wrapping up all business in the Netherlands, ‘tentwenty digital agency’ was founded. Starting with just the two of us and word of mouth references we quickly gained traction in the market and expanded our services and the team, now having a headcount of 50. It’s great to see the Middle Eastern market has really evolved from a digital point of view with a focus on now being the world leader in digital solutions. For us as an agency it also allows us to advise both governmental bodies and multinationals from a digital point of view, reaching the client’s full online potential and growing their business.
What services do you offer?
– Website UI/UX Design and Development
– App UI/UX Design and Development
– SAAS Product UI/UX Design & Development (web and app)
– Complex destination and event digital solutions
– Digital Consulting
What is the mission of TenTwenty?
Our overall goal is to; ‘Bringing Digital Growth Opportunities to the Region’. We don’t just want to deliver a website or an app to our clients. We aim to be the best in the industry at what we do.
What is unique for TenTwenty?
We see our strength in different places. Our team has great knowledge in both UI/UX, front-end, and back-end solutions. In the end, any web or app request no matter how complex we can take on as an agency. Which is a great position to be in. Furthermore, we have vast experience in the region allowing us to bring solutions to the market that works here, for businesses and their customers. This is by understanding the client’s pain points from running their business day to day and from a digital perspective. Then offering the right digital solutions, allowing the client to grow their business further.
Who are your typical customers, and what do you think is the main challenge that your product solves for them?
That’s a good question – I’m not sure if we have a ‘typical customer’. We’ve meanwhile worked on over 500 projects in 20 different kinds of sectors. From aviation to retail, F&B, property development, event management, governmental, etc. In general, our strength is in solving complex digital challenges for multinationals and governmental bodies. Think of products that offer both web and app platforms having multiple 3rd party back-end integrations through APIs with real-time information. Those are the types of projects we excel in.
How do you envision the future of your industry?
We envision the industry to be more and more automated. The ‘informative website’ creation will shift completely to user-friendly platforms like WIX, Squarespace, and Godaddy. Get your website up and running in a few hours or days. Ecommerce is already moving to the bigger platforms like Amazon and food delivery platforms, where it would only make sense for a select group of companies to have their own ecommerce sites. The opportunity for agencies will be in bespoke digital solutions.
With regards to the metaverse, I personally am not sure if it will fully replace the web as we know it. Keeping in mind digital wellbeing, I do foresee at some point a certain shift happening away from non-essential digital usage. In the end, as much as I love digital. Digital still has a long way to go to ‘replace’ face-to-face interactions if ever. There’s nothing more rewarding than meeting people in person.
