How to improve daily operations and make your client happy
Optimization, customer satisfaction and sales growth are the keywords of modern business in every sector of the economy. Yet putting these concepts into practice, and succeeding as a result, isn't always quick or easy, especially without the technologies that make this virtuous cycle possible. Often it isn't just a lack of technology that makes a service or product feel outdated: image plays a decisive role too.
Some time ago we took on an interesting challenge involving exactly these topics. One of Italy's most exclusive and oldest golf clubs, Golf Ugolino in Florence, founded in 1899, asked us for advice on becoming Italy's most modern golf club in the way it runs its daily operations as well.
Beyond code: a well-rounded web project
The Golf Ugolino project is complex and structured. Our work covered many aspects that went beyond writing code. We delivered:
- a web app for managing bookings, with the utmost attention to usability on mobile devices
- a new corporate website (development and branding, with a restyled image)
- in-house staff training on the new management workflows
in short, a truly well-rounded project.
Where to start?
Given the complexity of the project and the close relationship between all the work required, Cantiere Creativo's design team first focused on the image: it rethought, redefined and gave new personality to the corporate website, the club's main channel for communicating with golf lovers. Elegance in style and tone, combined with evocative images of the facilities and activities, gave Golf Ugolino a visual identity consistent with its positioning as an exclusive club with centuries of history. The new image was coordinated and applied across all communication tools and promotional materials. To make it easy to use in a wide range of contexts, we brought order and method by defining the visual identity guidelines, with rules for using the logo, and by creating a format for corporate and promotional communication about events and the facilities.
Once the visual identity was defined, we focused on the website and worked in parallel on:
- content: sorting, revising and organizing navigation to make finding and accessing information easier, simpler and faster
- design elements consistent with the new visual identity.
The website had to be the first, immersive experience of the club. We didn't think only about members: in parallel, we developed a custom Content Management System (CMS) based on the club's management needs and trained the staff to use it.
The web app
This hands-on training with the staff allowed us to identify and solve another major issue faced by almost every golf club: how registrations for weekend competitions are managed.
How do you organize and manage registrations from two different stations in the Club House without overloading the front desk? Go back to the past with notices pinned to a board, or step into the future? The Golf Club immediately chose the future!
In just 4 weeks, we defined and developed a "teetime" web application that manages:
- the competition calendar
- tee times
- registrations
- news from the course
- golf cart bookings
- weather forecasts
Results
The Cantiere Creativo team was fully involved in the project and delivered a quality product to Golf Ugolino with a twofold purpose. The tools were designed to:
- make daily work easier for the whole staff (from the front desk to the groundskeepers who maintain the course);
- simplify and improve the organization and management of all Golf Ugolino's activities;
- make interaction with members easier.
It's fair to say that, despite centuries of history behind it, Golf Ugolino is an example of streamlined service management, content administration and tools built to meet members' needs.
For Cantiere, it was an exciting project because, beyond code, what we really care about is finding solutions to everyday management problems, adding value that goes beyond the initial request.
