CLUBSATIONAL 2.0 ITS ABOUT EVOLUTION!!

I like to try and add a meaningful post with a little something that someone may be able to take away and use in their own business. I think that knowledge sharing, and in particular, its dynamic nature by definition, is ONE of the ultimate rewards of the internet and online facilities available in Web 2.0.

This post is all about time being a little bit like an elastic band. You can pull it back with all the best of intentions of letting it go to a fixed target, and it can flick back and give you a nasty sting. A bit dramatic really, but true, in particular when we are talking about technology and it's implementation.

Our team has been working away diligently on our new software upgrade aka CS2.0 for nearly 6 months and we are looking forward to launching in December 08. There are significant technology features in our front and back end.

I think the lesson for us all though, when working with technology and/or developing a website for your own business - identify your budget and state this clearly, break the project down into stages if you can and worry less about the time. That is, make sure you get a fixed cost for the project so that you can factor this into your Marketing Budget - and be wary that, when dealing with technology, to get it right often requires a compromise on implementation time. Time to test and ensure that your features are working is imperative to ensure a positive user experience. Rarely does a user of your website come back if something doesn't work. If it is a large project - take small steps to get to the end point rather than taking on a large brief with a very long project time line. Of course, this can be done, but the number of resources need to be significantly increased - which is not always realistic.

This is one of the reasons why when we launched Clubsational, we did so with a simple online discount voucher. This was the first of many features we identified in our Business plan. It was only after we launched that we introduced the Jobs feature and then the Accommodation feature. Small steps mean that the ultimate destination may take longer, however, your customers and users are able to share the incremental improvements with you and embrace your product offer during the journey.

So.....if evolution is our aim......what would you expect from Clubsational 2.0?

I know one thing for sure...I am looking forward to sharing it with you!