eKourier Jan 2021

FEATURE

Leveraging lessons learned during our CBA usability engagement (a controlled environ- ment like a Mystery Shop but moulded for a digital experience) at the end of 2018, 2019 would see us reimagine and conceptualise a modern-day website, bringing it all together in an RFP with the intention of going to market. Armed with the goal of selecting a digital partner that understood us, valued our Brand, market position and has a proven track record in developing and delivering next generation online platforms, we set about formulating key evaluation criteria. This involved looking at many aspects of online performance, across the hospitality industry, peers overseas and bricks and clicks retailers (think Officeworks...). WEBSITE REIMAGINED, THE JOURNEY AND GO LIVE

A t the pointy end of the RFP process we arrived at a stalemate between Website Developers. We could not split them. A head to head comparison and with client interviews done, we were still deadlocked until one of them helped us make the decision (another story). First Digital were successful. Starting off as a Digital Marketing Agency (a foundation that resonated with us), First were able to demonstrate success across Digital Marketing, customer experience and technology through a single partnership - this really appealed to us. Our goals were simple and based around what the modern-day consumer has come to expect. Customers want information that is easy to find and fast. An intuitive online shopping experi- ence (both on mobile and desktop),

rich in function and simplistic in flow. Reserving, renting a space or buying a box needed to be faster and easier, underpinned by a platform that allows us to scale quickly, incorporates eCommerce best practise and an analytics engine behind it to learn and incrementally improve. Like any good business, we recognise that ‘new’ also presents a ‘change window’. The new website initia- tive allowed us to step back and think strategically about our product and the operational execution across agreements and customer experi- ence. With that thinking came innova- tion, evolving a new website project into a completely new platform initiative, threading three key applications at the core and the introduction of the; a) one size fits all Modern Agreement; b) One

month free insurance; and c) the post “move in” customer centric check Care Call all baked in. Fast forward to now, 12 months in the making our new website(s) will have gone live by the time you read this with Teams introduced to the features and benefits during Skillbuilder 2020. You will find the new website has a fresh contemporary look and feel that visitors will find easy to interact with, akin to accommodation/booking sites, that is easy to navigate and discover what they need. This is very exciting for our business, a lot of work has gone into a successful launch. Changes and improvements to the platform will be ongoing. Jeff Xanthos Chief Information Officer

7 Kennards Kourier Jan 2021