Gladstone previews new Orbit Professional at LIW

Gladstone (GLD.L), the market leader in Health and Fitness membership management software solutions, has developed Orbit Professional™, an intelligent yet simple-to-use solution for independent club managers. It gives them the ability to manage their operations effectively, leaving them time to concentrate on enhancing the quality of their customer experience and the value of their business.

Single-site operators need a robust and intelligent solution and do not have the time, or the financial resources, to invest heavily in a software management system. Orbit Professional offers this "Simple Intelligence". But despite its simplicity, the solution is an incredibly powerful business tool and makes light work of managing today's modern independent club business.

"From our research and with the help of our current customers, Gladstone understands that a key requirement for this market is to deliver a superior service without overwhelming effort" says Bronya Oldfield, Orbit Team Leader at Gladstone Health and Leisure. "So from the very beginning, the user experience has been at the heart of Orbit's design and development. With our market leadership position, serving the major chains in both private and public sector, Gladstone decided to invest in a brand new leading-edge product platform. Orbit Professional is designed to comprehensively serve the needs of single site leisure facilities."

Bronya outlines some of the innovative features of the Orbit Professional solution: "As soon as members swipe in their card at the club their details appear on the receptionists' screen. Their work is not interrupted. They are simply alerted to any membership issues that need their attention. Here an intuitive "sticky note" function reminds the staff member of any needs specific to that customer; this may include an item of lost property or a reminder to interact with them because they are new to the club. The sticky note also displays any outstanding balances that need to be paid. All of these innovative automated functions allow the club to make the members' experience much more personal and positively impacting retention."

Orbit Professional is a powerful tool for maximizing revenue. It empowers reception staff to sell add-on benefits to personalise memberships, such as towel and locker hire. Because Orbit Professional has all the details configured, users don't need to know individual prices. Orbit guides them through this process. Point Of Sale, payment and direct debits are all handled by Orbit.

Customer information can be entered efficiently and accurately using Orbit Professional. The system intelligently auto-populates where appropriate whilst compulsory fields are noted. Orbit's "Simple Intelligence" alerts the user where members bank details are not populated and displays dashboard charts and reports in real-time, informing club owners and managers of all current activities.

"Orbit Professional has been developed with club staff in mind. For example the individual on the reception desk can spend more quality time with their clients and less time on routine transaction-based activities" says Peter Doyle, Head of Marketing for Gladstone Health & Leisure. "Our aim is to redefine market expectations of what the benchmark should be for customer management systems in today's independent clubs."

Peter adds "The customer will quickly experience the benefits of real creativity and user interface design; a design delivered by one of the leisure industry's largest software development teams. Think of your standard mobile phone interface and then think of the Apple iPhone™ interface, and the world of difference between them. Now think of your standard independent club membership software solution and then evaluate the "Simple Intelligence" philosophy which the Gladstone Orbit Professional solution delivers. Just as Apple has set new standards for consumers, so will Orbit Professional set new standards for membership management solutions."

Orbit will be available to our Australian customers next year.

For more information please contact us on 01491 20 10 10 or orbitinfo@gladstonemrm.com

29 September 2008