Many of you are aware that QFloors celebrated its 20th anniversary this past November. We are so grateful for the support and feedback from our customers over the years, which have helped create the products we offer today. It has definitely been a team effort. Throughout those years we have had to continually prioritize which features would be added to QFloors and which ones would have to wait.
Let’s give some context first. We currently have over 1,100 active customers (businesses who use QFloors currently). You can imagine that as our customer base has increased, so have the number of requests. Customers run their businesses in a huge range of unique ways, and almost universally feel strongly that their particular suggestion for a feature or a change is very important. To be honest, on a weekly basis, I hear comments such as, “If you add this feature, you will sell thousands more systems,” or “Nothing should be more important than adding this feature. How can I run a business without it?”
So how do we prioritize? Here are a few considerations:
QPro
Five years ago we decided that creating the QPro platform would be the answer to many of the requests coming in. We know that this is taking longer than many have hoped, but it is the future, and it is the technology that the majority of our customers desire to have. The majority of our development efforts right now are allocated to creating QPro. There is a webinar from earlier in the summer on our Support website, which addresses many of your questions surrounding what is going on with QPro, what features and capabilities it has at the present time, and what will be added next. I point you to that webinar for a deeper dive into that technology. We are trying to be as transparent as possible as we progress through this development process.
QFloors Development Priorities
This is an attempt to explain how we decide which features are implemented first.
- Bugs - A bug is classified as a feature that is not working in the way it was initially intended to work. Some bugs need immediate attention, while others can wait a little longer to be fixed. When an issue comes to the attention of our Support department, we have to make a determination as to whether the issue is a bug, or an improvement to how QFloors should work. Some bugs are repeatable; those are the easiest ones to fix. Bugs that can't be repeated are more difficult to fix and take longer to identify. Bugs are always at the top of the list of things to be fixed.
- Suggestions/Enhancements - As mentioned, with our huge customer base, we have suggestions that are coming in daily. We have an internal list, and each suggestion is added to this list. How do we determine what is done and in what order?
- Small changes - If there is a suggestion that will take less than 15 minutes to add (from the developer’s estimation), and doesn't significantly change the way QFloors works, these types of suggestions are usually added immediately.
- Some suggestions have already been added to QPro, or are scheduled to be added to QPro before they would realistically be added to QFloors. This means these suggestions will probably never be added to QFloors.
- All other suggestions are added to our suggestion list. Right now we have a Users Conference every two years, where this list is reviewed. The QFloors users that attend that conference have the opportunity to weigh in and help with prioritizing the list. We create a development strategy for the next two years. We have never run out of things to do during that two year period of time. So if you are passionate about a particular addition you wish to see, your best course of action is to attend the Users Conference and communicate the benefits of it with the other QFloors customers there during the Development Roundtable. At present, the next Users Conference is scheduled to occur Autumn 2021.
The Takeaway
In sharing these processes with you, my hope is that you can better understand that; a) We listen to and value your feedback; b) We are constantly working on development for QFloors and QPro; c) We hope you can be patient, understanding, and realistic as you wait for your particular feature or capability to be added.
We’re grateful for our partnership, and all the ways you help to make our company and product even better.
Let’s all stay focused and be ready for the other side of this. Those who did this back in 2011, 2012 were the ones who were really ready for the built up demand once things turned back on. Let us know how we can help.
