It can be scary converting your fitness center’s database over to a new gym management software program. Every client phone number, account, and credit card is listed in that database and now you’re handing it to another firm for import into a new software application.
What if something, maybe everything, gets lost? Tangled in a web of encrypted material, like an exploding black hole…
Ok, that’s a bit of an exaggeration, but converting data from one software program to another is the number-one reason gym owners put off switching gym management software companies. Owners hang on to their old software because they are simply fearful of losing their life’s work to a badly managed export process.
Let’s bust three common data conversion myths
Exporting gym data suffers from a bad reputation created by unscrupulous software companies who block customers from leaving through any number of bad business tactics. It does not have to be that way. In short, here are the three myths we’d like to prove wrong:
1. Exporting should be a free service — Nothing done well is free. As the saying goes, “There’s a price to pay” — you just don’t know what it is yet. “Free” data dumps done incorrectly can cost owners months in cleanup as they rake through company info, attempting to piece details back together.
2. Is difficult and time consuming — This is true only if your data is held hostage by the company you’re leaving. At Gym Insight we see this from time-to-time. It’s never fun to watch an owner struggle to retrieve his/her own client database from a software provider. In most cases, done correctly, exporting data should be streamlined and predictable, not a new part-time job.
3. Always requires hours of data cleanup — False, again. Choose a company with a highly supported methodology to its data conversion and your data will transfer cleanly and accurately.
Data conversion done the right way
We believe the data export process must be an absolutely controlled, methodical team effort. At Gym Insight, sales, customer service, and programming departments all communicate tirelessly to manage our new clients’ data transfers. And, most importantly, every new export starts the same way. We move over client info in small batches, smoothing out formatting inconsistencies, until a final group moves over without a single glitch.
When your ready to power up your new software, there it is — all your company information, exactly as it should be. What a relief!
Our process works like this:
- We export 10 of your client accounts into our system.
- Your sales representative shares the screen with customer service, who then looks for inconsistencies in formatting.
- Programing then unencrypts and re-encrypts the first batch to ensure information matches and formats perfectly.
This back-and-forth process between customer service and programming continues batch-by-batch until the final sample comes out clean, and all the material aligns within our system perfectly. Only then do we move the rest of your client information over to Gym Insight.
Sounds time-consuming and expensive, right? Well, not necessarily. Our conversion tools make it easy and generally seamless. In most cases, we can import data within 24 hours of receiving it from you. However, if you’re using a very old or proprietary system, we may have to hand-convert before all the data is imported. In these cases, the wait may be 48-72 hours. For more information on your alternatives when exporting data, check out our client article in “Getting Started.” (Though we do charge a flat fee for data conversion, we think you’ll agree it’s worth every penny.)
Don’t let fear hold you back – Gym Insight is here for you today!
We don’t usually use this space to brag on ourselves, but we feel data conversion is a big enough issue to put our way out there.
Great gym management software returns control of your business to you. Our software is fully integrated and custom-designed. There are no badly working third-party plug-ins to wrangle with as you run your business.
We approach the process of exporting and converting your data as carefully as we have building our software – step-by-step, line-by-line. From promoting ease-of-use to automating so many daily tasks our owners can finally take vacations, we live for excellent design. If you’re interested in an easy data import and are ready to cut away from your over-priced, complex gym software, give us a call. We think it will be worth your time.
Call us at 855-FOR-GYMS for a demo and ask for Anthony or Natalia. Or check out our social media and YouTube Channel for “The Gym Owner’s Podcast. Looking forward to hearing from you soon!