Quest Technologies, a self-described "Internet Technology Implementation Company", recently expanded its Doral-based offices to include almost the entirety of the fourth floor of the 8180 Doral Boulevard office building--16,000 square feet of space.

Chief Operating Officer Jessica Adames (left) and Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Ray Knight at the Quest Technologies headquarters.

Said Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Jessica Adames, who co-founded the company with her husband, Quest CEO Leo Adames, "We're currently evaluating different options, but another firm will occupy up to 2,000 square feet of space in a loose partnership for four or five months. After that, Quest will occupy that space as well."

The company has evolved gradually since its creation into its current from, what's called an I-Builder or E-Builder: a company that constructs large E-commerce web sites.

"We've gravitated from doing just bits and pieces," explained Executive Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Ray Knight, "to doing complete systems integration."

Jessica Adames said, "We actually started quest in a space we sub-let from a friend on (NW) 25th street. We started in small office on the third floor here five years ago."

Knight explained that Quest's departments could be divided into three primary parts.

He said, "We have a technology department that consists of code writers and programmers, a strategic group that handles business--research and development--and planning, and a creative team which is involved with graphics and creative design including branding and logos."

This complete end-to-end construction concept was brought about by shifts in the marketplace, as more and more companies looked to one firm to handle all aspects of the construction of their web site.  And Quest's work isn't done once the site is constructed.

Leo Adames explained, "Our business is an on-going process: we handle re-launches of sites, we post new products you want to sell, add new graphics or features to the site, and integrate any new financial or credit card services the client wants to use. We're always maintaining, tweaking, and monitoring the sites."

Additionally, businesses are looking more and more at e-commerce sites as opposed to the more traditional sites that simply display information.

"The industry has gone from sites that are strictly informational to sites that are transactional," Knight said, "companies that are doing business on the web, that are looking to make transactions on the web."

Quest has seized on the e-commerce concept and has been engaged by a number of companies looking to create an e-commerce aspect to their business.

And Quest isn't handling no-name firms--their past and present client list includes big names like Burger King, American Express, the City of Miami Beach, and Arthur Andersen Consulting.

Not surprisingly, many of those firms have begun to look to Miami-based companies like Quest in their pursuit of the emerging Spanish-speaking and Portuguese-speaking markets. Quest is particularly adept at creating these multilingual sites.

Knight said, "Miami's strategic connection to Latin America makes it a natural starting point for those interested in gaining access to those markets."

Quest's creative team also stays up-to-date on the latest in graphic design, including elaborate "flash" images.

Doral isn't typically the area you'd associate a business of this sort, but Leo Adames said that it was a great fit for Quest, which also has offices in (or soon to be opened in) Detroit, New York, Orlando, Bogota, Santiago de Chile, Buenos Aires, Mexico City, Barcelona, and Caracas.

"Originally," he explained, "it wasn't necessarily a choice--we just happened to find a place here. But it's cost-effective, it's centrally-located, very few people like going to Downtown, and South Beach is expensive and the parking is problem that only gets worse as the company grows. And it's easy to get to for our employees, whether they're coming from Kendall, south (Miami-) Dade, or Broward--it's right between the 826 and Turnpike."

To find out more about getting your business online, particularly if you're interested in a business-to-business or business-to-consumer E-commerce site, you can call Quest at 305 592 8088.