How Clubs Benefit From Web Based Services
Web based services (software) has many advantages over traditional standalone software.
1. No Software Installation
Web based software is available from any computer that has an internet connection - ie from anywhere. With traditional software you have to install it on a PC. What if that PC goes belly up? Well you have to install it again (assuming you can find the CD, wrote down the install serial number and have a backup of your data course)
2. Frequent Updates
Typically with traditional software you install from a CD and maybe once every 6 months you either get an upgrade CD or download upgrades from the web. With web based software updates just happen. With ClubReady we are able to respond to customer suggestions, and add new features at a blistering pace. A client may have a need or a suggestion and the next day it might well be added - they don’t have to download or install anything.
Below is a chart showing updates to ClubReady since May’05 - in some months we’ve had as many as 60 improvements uploaded. This is just never going to happen with traditional software.
We believe in transparency - every update is documented and available to admin users to review (plus we post improvements here at the blog). Not every update is a big improvement or change - it might be something as simple as a small tweak to make something easier to understand or more usable.
3. No Need For IT Experts At Your Club
With traditional software - you need somebody at the club who knows how to install everything. A big club probably needs a full time IT guy just to keep on top of the PC’s and so on. With web based software - you don’t need an IT guy - there is nothing to take care of.
4. The $$ Cost
Typically with installed software you are going to pay a wad of cash upfront for the software and then they’ll get you on maintenance fees too. Typically web based sofware does not work like that. ClubReady costs nothing upfront - zero capital spending. Then you pay a monthly fee that includes everything. Don’t forget as well - with installed software it’s tied to one PC - chances are if you want to access it on two or more PC’s then you probably will need to buy it twice. With web based software you can access it on a thousand PC’s at the same time - it makes no difference. Web based software is ‘Software as a Service’ - just like running water is a service, or your electricity is a service. You shouldn’t have to sink capital into software - save that capital for the cool workout machine.
5. Access Anywhere
It’s pretty hard to access the club data while sitting in front of your TV at home if it’s installed on a PC in the club. Web based software lets you access it from anywhere in the world. This is one thing that ClubReady excels at - in particular Trainers just love checking their schedule from home at 2am Sunday morning.
6. Client Access
You can forget this with traditional installed software. Of course, this is what web based software is all about. Your clients can check their schedule, enter in what they’ve eaten and so on from anywhere - even if they are on vacation on the opposite side of the world.
7. What About All Your Data?
With traditional installed software - your precious club data is probably on that hard drive that makes a funny noise that you’ve never backed up. Ok that’s an extreme - maybe you do back up your data onto a CD once a month, or maybe you forget, but hopefully you keep those backup CD’s off site in case your club gets hit by a meteor, hurricane or whatever.
With web based software - your data is always off site and it’s backed up. ClubReady data is backed up daily and then the backup is backed up to a different location again.
