Before I eagerly talk about what we have been doing in our development rooms, I hope that you, the Konnexsion community, your friends and your families are safe and well. We have all experienced the last 12 months differently and wish for you all that 2021 brings some improved level of stability and success. I thank you all for your ongoing support and interest in Konnexsion and trust that we, in return, continue to improve the efficiency and integrity of your lettings operations.
I always find it an honour to have the opportunity just after a launch to spend a few moments to reflect on the work and dedication of the Konnexsion product team by putting some words on paper.
I mentioned that this March release is our biggest yet; This is because it contains significant evolution, both behind the scenes and in the features we have added to the solution.
Security:
I often talk about how it is necessary to focus on one's strengths. Well, in software development, this is equally as important. We build capabilities within Konnexsion, where they are critical to our overall offer. However, we will always look to incorporate the capabilities of other leading solutions where appropriate. Whilst we always used industry-standard authentication, we wanted to offer you more:
- 2 Factor Authentication
- Google federated logon
- Single sign-on
- Future-proof evolution
To reach this goal, we have incorporated solutions from Amazon Web Services to manage authentication and security. Since the upgrade on Sunday, I have already seen many of you transparently migrated over to our secure AWS user pool. I hope these changes demonstrate the importance we place on your security.
Infrastructure:
We have upgraded our whole server stack, again using AWS London based servers. We did this to support this release and the increased load we expect to receive from our new public-facing solution. "The Marketing Release"
I am delighted to announce the implementation of our new website builder. Using no-code and little more than drag and drop and your imagination, you can build your own branded customer-facing website. I gave the Konnexsion design team full reign with this release to develop the most enjoyable user-experience we have ever produced.
Your word may well be your bond, but your brand is your reputation. We want to help you with that brand. Our website builder will allow you to showcase your lettings, sales and development portfolios. Your Konnexsion portfolio publishes instantly to your website, which is then complemented by:
- Completely individual branding
- Customer submission forms
- Static web pages for information
- Blogs and postings for your content and discussion
Our team have considered ways to help you: from choosing your colour pallet to finding suitable images. All this to keep your customers interested.
We've spent the time to help you quickly improve your Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) without the need for expert technical knowledge.
Over the coming weeks, I will be publishing videos and other content to show you how you can:
- Build your website
- List your properties
- Write complementary posts that demonstrate your industry knowledge or highlight your value proposition.
And to demonstrate our own belief in the website builder, we will be migrating our website into Konnexsion over the coming weeks.
Rightmove, Zoopla and OnTheMarket publication:
For our agency users, if you have accounts with the marketplaces, you can now seamlessly and automatically publish your properties directly from Konnexsion. A feature that will bring a significant time saving to your team.
A year in lockdown / a year of product investment:
A year ago, when we and the rest of the world were hit hard by COVID, I spoke about how I had started to spend more time with our India based product team. I understood the challenges that our team would be going through, and with limited ability to get out myself during the lockdown, I shared with you how I was planning to increase our investment focus in the product.
A year later, this has personally been an exhausting yet fulfilling year. Beyond being immensely proud of our team's commitment and dedication, I believe we have all benefited from one another's skills.
In return, I feel the Konnexsion solution has evolved at a pace far more significant than going into 2020, I was anticipating. Allow me to list a few of the changes we have brought:
Returning to this Marketing Release, we will be launching our website builder as an add-on to your current subscription. We have some work to do now that the release is live to add the capabilities to your accounts. If you are interested in being one of the first to benefit from this great product, please contact your account team directly.
Finally, I would like to thank our early release customers. You have supported us throughout this build. We have benefited from both your ideas and your experiences. You might have added to some of our late-night brainstorming sessions, but I don't think this release would be the same today without you.
Please look out for my follow up emails, videos and posts over the coming weeks as I showcase in more depth how you can benefit from your very own self-managed website fully integrated with Konnexsion.
Best wishes,
James
