YMCA develops online strategy in partnership with vbn

YMCA England is working with Cambridge based vbn, the leading provider of online business networks to help strengthen its online presence across its 144 member YMCAs.

YMCA England has purchased vbns intelligent networking product offering - a totally integrated out-of the-box web software solution that contains all the content management, membership management, participation, and configuration tools needed to build a professional online network. The partnership with vbn means that all YMCA Englands member YMCAs will be able to purchase the netsphere product line at a very competitive price. Hosting and technical support are included as part of the package.

Following a successful pilot for YMCA Liverpool, which went live on Sept 6^th, YMCA England will now be offering the software to other YMCAs in England.

The system, which can be deployed within days, will enable YMCAs across England to offer their members an enhanced and professional online service that is consistent in terms of visuals, layout and functionality. Improved functions include a dedicated press area and photo library, registration and database management, and an intranet for staff and board members as well as a newsletter generator.

Stephen Buckley, Information Services Manager, YMCA England said:

We were looking for a truly integrated content management system that we could offer to all of our member YMCAs. Vbns software and support package is everything we were looking for and more. Having 144 member YMCAs each with their own particular needs - to support puts a huge strain on our resources and up until now we could only work on a case-by-case basis. By outsourcing the technological burden we can now offer an extremely competitively priced solution with a dramatically reduced development time. In addition, vbn will help us build the YMCA brand through locally adapted visual templates and help offer consistency to visitors to YMCA websites. We are delighted with it.

Paul Malone, Commercial Manager, Liverpool YMCA says of their new website: We are really excited to be the first ones to offer this to our members. The site went live on 6^th September and we have already received a very good response from staff and members.

Simon Elliott, founder and CTO of vbn said of the result: vbns site builder range has been a huge success. Because its an out-of the box product we can quickly configure it to suit the customers requirements so they can be up and running in just a day. We expect it to be our fastest selling online solution this year.