EndUser Board Meeting with Ex Libris
Simon, from
Those present included EndUser board members & individuals from Ex Libris: CEO, North American Director, Director of Strategy, VP of Customer Srvc for NA, and former Endeavor folks (now part of Ex L): Director of Marketing (Randy Fink), Director of Customer Relations (Susan P.), VP of Marketing (Nancy ?), Director of Product Management (Kathryn Harnish), VP of Global Support (Don Mucchino), and Director of Global Support (Dave Carlson). (I think I have the names/titles correct! Sorry I couldn't get them all!)
Ø Board to have discussion at MidWinter with Ex L VIPs.
Ø Hope to have a formalized plan for Endeavor users by the end of the year
Ø Will put out preliminary info to the listserv very soon
Ø EndUser conference 2007 will go on as planned
Ex Libris folks introduced themselves and gave some history
Ø With the Endeavor acquisition, the company has
grown from 500 to 1500 customers in
North America
Ø Current discussions center on the integration of the 2 companies; working on a plan
Ø Will combine the R&D of both groups
Ø Focus on standards and interoperability; support collaboration & resource sharing
Ø Maintaining 2 of the Endeavor products: Voyager and Journals OnSite
Ø Customer/tech support: will consolidate though this will take a bit of time – cross training will begin in 2nd quarter 2007; Ex L support model is different: have regional 1st line support, leverage systems, regions, & know-how
- Board members report that phone & tech support has not been too good lately (i.e., Nov./Dec) but things seems to be getting back on track. Support staff hasn’t changed much.
- CEO says structure is stable for the moment; no other imminent changes.
Ø schedule of upgrades can proceed
Ø backlog: closed more incidents than opened in 2006
Ø dedicated development staff now
Ø will move to Pivotal for reporting/tracking/searching incidents (Ex L has been using this)
Ø will cover product lines & enhancement
Ø registration will open in Feb.
Ø Ex L staff will be there
Ø Enhancements: Del Hamilton reported on the enhancement voting: very clear info, will be shared soon with customers. 80% of folks voted on the top 10 issues; top 7 – 50%.
o Ex L plans to respond to customers as soon as possible; ongoing eval by Ex L staff; help develop strategies to move products forward
o The “me, too” functionality is being worked on
o Board voted to dissolve the current enhancement process & enhancement board: new “board” will be in place by EndUser
Ø OPAC interface: in light of merger & Ex L product Primo – there is (?) need to develop & support WebVoyage; trying to determine what can be used from prototype (what prototype?) and looking at ADA compliance. More info at EndUser
Ø Maintenance costs: have not changed pricing
Regional User Groups: will continue with some support and Ex L staff will attend in 2007.
Legacy Systems:
- Susan’s group will be contacting customers with legacy products very soon to determine how to manage.
- Board suggests that Ex L send out targeted emails to customers because there is much confusion
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