As promised in my last post here is a video showing the prototype of the new design concept we have been working on.  The prototype is still very preliminary and very likely to keep changing as we get more ideas and feedback from you all.

The purpose of the prototype is to give us the ability to see, touch and work with the concept.  It will help us to refine the look, feel and usablity well before we have been able to in the past.

As always we appreciate your feedback.  Please respond to the blog post or email me directly at: jeckert@ewsgroup.com

Thanks.

With the refresh we would also like to change the default size of the application.  Currently when you open MoversSuite it opens in an 800×600 (pixels) footprint.  We would like to change that default to be 1024×768.  Click here to see the difference.

Here are some more examples of what the UI refresh might look like:

Name, Address, Phone Tab

Move Information Tab

Agents Tab

As always we are interested in your feedback.  Please let us know what you think of the refresh and especially the idea of making the default window size bigger.  You can either comment on this blog posting or email me at:  jeckert@ewsgroup.com

Also, I hope to post a video soon showing you a prototype of the new application…So stay tuned!

This is where Microsoft rolls out their future plans and vision and we’re expecting a lot of talk about cloud computing and the enterprise. Not to mention the huge releases they just had of Visual Studio, Sql Server, Windows Server, Office and Dynamics GP.

We’ll keep you up to date on the highlights by posting pics and quick updates on both our Facebook and Twitter sites, so be sure to watch those for further info throughout the week.

http://www.facebook.com/pages/EWS-Group/301198890756

www.twitter.com/ewsgroup

Feel free to leave comments or ask any questions you’d like us to ask of Microsoft or about the conference in general.

Please have all MoversSuite users in your organization fill-out this survey. 

Access the survey using the following link:
www.surveymonkey.com/s/moverssuitedocsurvey

Thanks for all your help in making MoversSuite better.

That said, we put together a quick survey to collect some feedback.  We would like as many users as possible to respond to this survey.  We appreciate you taking a couple minutes to complete the survey as well as forwarding the survey link on to other users in your organization.  Thanks in advance for your help getting this out to all the users.

Take the Survey

Now for the exciting part….

We want to accomplish these items through the following:

• A substantial redesign around module navigation
• A refresh and update of the user interface
• A redesign of Payment Management and Cash Receipts

In all these changes we really want to focus on the user experience, especially in the area of Payment Management and Cash Receipts.  Over the years Payment Management has been the biggest pain point for our customers and we have collected a lot of requests and ideas and hope to incorporate as many as we can in the redesign of the module.

Who wants to help?  In order to accomplish all this we will be once again incorporating the help of user design teams built with people like YOU!  If you are interested in being on the UI/Navigation team or on the Payment Management team please let me know by emailing me (jeckert@ewsgroup.com).

The award reflects AMSA’s and the industry’s commitment to excellent customer service, and is presented to agents nominated by their affiliated van line based on customer surveys and van line experience. Nominations are judged primarily on customer service assessments and industry awards and recognitions.  Consideration is also given to additional factors such as leadership, innovation, community involvement and activities that enhance the industry image.  Hilldrup was nominated by United Van Lines, Inc.

We’re very proud and honored to have Hilldrup as a MoversSuite customer. Over the past several years, they’ve been instrumental in pushing our products and services to new and exciting places. We look forward to even more great things to come from our relationship in the future.

You can read the entire press release on Hilldrup’s site.

We want this to be a tool that is used continually throughout the year.  A place where the MoversSuite community of customers can collaborate on enhancement requests and elevate through voting those that are most important.  The goal is to get as many of our users involved in the process as possible which will lead to better design which leads to a product better suited to your needs.  Users can change votes as they see fit, and as enhancement items are completed by MoversSuite, votes will be returned to be placed on other items.

The UserVoice site still has all of the enhancement requests gathered during the process for the Fall 2009 release.  You will notice that enhancements that have been completed or are in process are marked as such.  As we plan for each subsequent release, the current number of votes and time estimated to complete the enhancement will be used to determine what enhancements will be included in that release.

Many of our customers have existing logins and those are all still valid.  If you are new to MoversSuite and don’t yet have logins to this site please contact Darla Gillaspie (dgillaspie@ewsgroup.com) to be setup.  Once Darla has set you up as a user it is then up to you to enter your enhancement requests and vote.  The number of logins available to your company is determined based on the number of MoversSuite user licenses you have purchased.

To access the site now click here: http://feedback.moverssuite.com

We look forward to engaging with you in the virtual world!

Anyhow, this has been a big project and my excitement stems not just from the website finally being live – it’s that this site is really about where EWS Group is going and the promise it holds.  We undertook the rebranding project because we found ourselves pushed into new areas by our customers.  Some of that has come in the form of improving MoversSuite by tackling real problems like managing all the paper in a move and a better system for collecting accounts receivable.  Other pushes have come in finding ways to increase revenues through lead and sales process management or reducing operating expenses by simply bringing payroll processing in-house.  Each time our customers ask us to help, we grow as people and as a business.

This site not only allows us to better communicate what we can bring to our valued customers and new prospects; it challenges us to push ourselves to make sure we are bringing them the best that technology, process and people have to offer.   This is a big responsibility and one that we are eager to fulfill.  Please take a few minutes to check out the site.  We would love to hear your thoughts.

And come back often.  This is just the start.  We don’t want this just to be our site.  We want it to be your resource.