Welcome
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Welcome to our first edition of Book-It News for 2007 and a
rather belated happy New Year to you. It was a rather hectic end to
2006 with our office move the week before Christmas, the unexpected loss
of broadband services for around 3 weeks following the move followed by
several problems with our new phone system at the new premises. Hopefully that is all behind us now as we look forward to a new year
packed full of exciting developments. |
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In this edition we bring you news about the late breaking features added
to the current release of our
Book-It membership and contact
management software, we bring news of new maintenance releases now
available.
We also update you with news about our
Book-It Forum message board.
We also bring you the first of what we hope are many customer
case studies to give you an idea of the wide appeal Book-It software has
and how it can be used in many different industry sectors. We hope you find this newsletter interesting. Watch
out for the next edition with even more news about exciting product
developments here at Instinctive Systems.
Paul Herschell
Managing Director |
Book-It News
Book-It Version 4.0 Late Breaking Updates
Book-It 4.0 released March
2006 brought with it many new features making it a major
improvement on Book-It 3.0 which was released over 3 years earlier.
That was not the end of the Book-It 4.0 developments, however, we now
have
several new features that have been in great demand from customers who
could not wait for Book-It 5.0 (expected late 2008 at this point) before
they would get the new features and therefore we have decided to include
the new features in the current Book-It release bringing with them
the best incentive yet for customers who have not yet upgraded to
Book-It 4.0 to do so now. |
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Some of the new features added include
- a new record tagging feature implemented
throughout the system allowing the tagging
(and untagging) of individual and selections of records for
inclusion in mailings, emailings, reports etc dramatically
increasing the power of existing filtering functionality
- the ability to save and restore complex filters
for regular reuse
- extension of the filter feature to include up to
50 lines of filtering
- inclusion of brackets in the filter feature for
easy grouping of filter components
- name badge printing in the event screen
- improved support for widescreen and high
resolution screens
- event supplier public liability monitoring
- Vista and Office 2007 compatibility
- ... and more
Click
here for a full
list of new features in Book-It 4.0. Existing Book-It 4.0 customers can
upgrade to pick up the late breaking features by visiting our
maintenance release
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New Book-It Maintenance ReleasesWe have this month
released further maintenance releases for both Book-It 3.0 and Book-It 4.0. All
customers are advised to upgrade to the latest available maintenance release for
their software ASAP. Maintenance releases help to ensure the quality of our
products by fixing problems that have been reported to us as well as, on many
occasions, adding additional functionality and improving the ease and use of the
products. As already discussed the latest maintenance release for Book-It 4.0
includes a number of late breaking enhancements that would normally be held back
until the next major release and therefore is very worthwhile installing.
Whilst maintenance releases will continue to remain FREE OF
CHARGE to customers on support agreements with us, it is with regret that we are
now having to charge other customers without support agreements for maintenance
releases for Book-It 4.0. This is in order that they too will now contribute to the development
costs involved in maintaining the quality of the software that they are using.
We have priced the administration charge according to the Book-It Edition which
is being used, however, we hope that we have priced the maintenance releases
such that they represent great value for money regardless of the edition with
prices starting from £10+VAT. Customers already on support agreements with us
should also now find it easier to justify support renewal costs by taking into
account maintenance release charges without a support agreement.
Click
here
to obtain your copy of the latest maintenance release for your Book-It software.
The latest maintenance release for Book-It 3.0 remains FREE to all customers.
Book-It Forum
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We are continuing to trial our new
Book-It Forum
on our own website. We have also recently gone live with our first beta test customer,
Sports Endurance (http://www.sportendurance.co.uk). As with all our
software, once the new software has been sufficiently
tested in a real working environment we will be making the
software available to other customers.
Existing customers can log onto our message board area and
try it for themselves by clicking
here, Please contact us if you do not know
your login
ID and click 'need / forgotten password' to have your password
emailed to you. |
One of the areas of the message board we are particularly keen to
encourage is the use of the
customer chat forum where you can exchange thoughts with other Book-It
customers not just about Book-It software but also about your particular
industry. Just have a look at a selection of our
existing
customers. As you can see many fall into similar groups and will have a lot
in common with each other. An exchange of ideas not only will help those
involved, it is also likely to sew seeds with Instinctive Systems for future
developments.
Book-It On-Line
As discussed in our previous newsletter, having released a major new version of our Book-It
Office Software, a lot of our development now is concentrating on enhancing our
Book-It
On-Line module. Using
this module our customers are taking online bookings for events and providing online
event details and place availability. But did you know that the module offers even more
functionality? Users are now also taking advantage of the "members only"
access facility - providing their members with an enhanced online service. Web
page content can then be tailored, for example, by examining the member's
membership type. Existing customers can already see this working by logging into
our own website at
www.instinctive.co.uk,
try visiting our Book-It 4.0
maintenance release area before you are logged in and then again once you
are logged in and see how the screens differ. Why
not click
here to see a working demonstration of the software or
here to read more about the software.
We have just added features to highlight similar events to the one
you are currently browsing and we soon hope to release features to push slow
moving events and selected events and to allow members and contacts to check and
update their personal details. |
Other News
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Community Sports and Social News
Book-It has had wide appeal to community and sports
and social groups for some time, not only to manage their
memberships and events but also with the release of Book-It 4.0 to
manage facilities at the organisation such as rooms, equipment,
courts, pitches etc. Helsby Community Sports and Social Club is one
of the newest customers in this category. Although long established,
the club recently took bold steps to appointment a Business
Development Officer to run the membership, market the organisation
and obtain some of the widely available grants aimed at this kind of
organisation. Supported by Book-It software we hope that this move
is going to prove extremely successful for the club. Why not find
out more in our
detailed case study. |
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Office 2007 and Windows Vista Compatibility
As you have no doubt heard in the press
recently, Microsoft has finally released the latest version of its
office productivity suite and Windows operating system in the form of Office
2007 and Windows Vista. We have now completed testing of these new
environments and now ensured that Book-It 4.0 is completely compatible.
If you expect to run Windows Vista or Office 2007 in the near future you
are strongly advised to upgrade to Book-It 4.0 if you are still running
Book-It 3.0 and if you are already running Book-It 4.0 to upgrade to the
latest available maintenance release described above which will ensure
compatibility. Book-It 3.0 will not be supported on Windows
Vista or using Office 2007.
Bulk Emailing From Book-It
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Some time ago we identified restrictions in Microsoft
Outlook that create messages that make sending bulk emails from
Book-It impractical. These messages were intended by Microsoft as a
security mechanism against malicious developers that might hook into the
same technology that Book-It uses to spread viruses and spam. As
a result a message needs to be acknowledged each time a customer
generates an email from Book-It. This is annoying for one or two emails
but completely impractical if sending a large batch to your entire list
of contacts for example. |
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We have had a solution to this problem for some time and
a number of customers have already adopted it. Other customers are
getting around the problem by running old versions of Outlook 2000 on
service packs prior to the one in which this feature was added by
Microsoft which is very risky as without the latest service packs of all
your Microsoft software you may be leaving yourself exposed to internet
security threats. Click
here if you would like to learn more about this particular problem
and our solution to it. |
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2007 has got off to another great start. Key
developments so far include:
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Reduces your administration costs
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Personalises and targets communications with your members and helps you attract new ones
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Optimises and targets your marketing campaigns
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Fully traces member, event and facility activities
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Offers online booking to your members
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Fully supported – our low cost Support Agreement is like adding an extra member of staff to your team!
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Talks to and listens to Microsoft™
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Book-It is secure, reliable and stable – it works!
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Software for the life of your organisation – as you and your members evolve, so does Book-It
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Swift return on investment
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Gives your organisation 21st Century appeal
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The most cost effective way to receive prompt support for your Book-It software is through a support agreement. Receive support when you need it to keep your Book-It
system running smoothly. Your agreement will not only cover all your support costs for the year in one simple payment
(or monthly if you prefer) but you will also get priority over other customers, access
to mobile support numbers (should office resources be limited thereby reducing waiting times) and you will be regularly asked to provide input to new product developments to ensure that we continue to
develop the systems you want to use. Support agreements also include FREE
maintenance
releases for your software whilst you remain on support. Pay support annually by cheque or quarterly or monthly by standing order. See
the support area of our website for further information. |
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Pleased with your Book-It software? Impressed with the level of support from Instinctive Systems? If the answer is 'Yes' then please let us know. We value your feedback and
love to hear from you and to be able to tell other potential customers what you have to say about us through our testimonials page.
Why not leave us a note on our
Feedback message board. As many
customers have said in the past, if we are successful then they will be too as our software will continue to improve and make
your job easier. Help us be more successful by telling people about us
and if you are not happy with anything we still want to know so that we can put that right immediately. |
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Check out our new
Book-It Forum Software - a message board system to compliment
your Book-It On-Line system. Restrict message board access to members and
contacts only. Develop an interactive community within your organisation to
share ideas and feedback. |
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Use our Book-It On-Line software to extend your Book-It Office Software to the
web. Allow members and contacts to checkout event details and availability and
book events on-line using their web browser, develop member / contact only areas
on your website with ID and password protection. Join, renew and pay balances
on-line using a secure on-line payment system. |
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In the same way that you would not pay your next 3 years staff salaries up
front, it makes sent not to spend a large amount of free capital on a software
purchase but instead to spread that payment over a period of time during which
Book-It will start to work for you by reducing your administration, improving
your marketing and maximising the return on your membership / contact base.
In order to help you spread the cost of your Book-It software purchase we have
partnered with
Systems
Finance Ltd who specialise in software leasing allowing you to spread the
cost over 12, 24, 36 or 48 months. Leasing is available on most Book-It software
editions, configurations and services. Click
here for more information. |
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Click here for access to previous editions of Book-It News |
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