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Squash NZ Delighted By Merger Between Friendly Manager and Hello Club

An exciting future for Squash is being realised, with our recently chosen technology partner to develop a brand-new IT platform for our clubs and players, ‘Friendly Manager’, announcing today that they are formally merging with another well-known club management technology supplier, Hello Club.   

Last year Squash New Zealand launched an exciting project to develop a new technology platform for our sport to replace our current tool – iSquash.  After a comprehensive process, New Zealand tech company Friendly Manager were chosen as our technology partner. Since early 2022, both parties have been working to define and deliver the new platform for 2023 and beyond. The project will not just achieve an upgrade to the current iSquash setup, it will also deliver improved club management, club competition features, a fully mobile interface, a more user-friendly experience, and functionality to help our game grow and attract new members.  

Squash New Zealand CEO Martin Dowson is delighted with the announcement. “A key requirement during our process was to find a partner who would work collaboratively with existing providers to get the best results for our sport – this outcome is better than we could have hoped for. The combination of Hello Club’s gold-standard racquet club management and Friendly Manager’s experience at the national and regional sports across the country matches our goals perfectly”.  

Following stakeholder feedback at recent huis the preferred option and greatest benefit to squash will be to push the release back one year allowing the two companies to finalise the merger and work towards delivering the full solution for the Squash 2024 season. There will be opportunities for early adopters to get involved, try features, and give feedback during the 2023 season. This does mean that some elements originally signalled for release in 2023 – such as the new competition functionality - will likely be delayed by one year. However, this will allow us to expand the total combined solution for a more comprehensive release in 2024.  

Both Friendly Manager and Hello Club’s current club management platforms will remain available and well-supported for clubs to adopt at any time. A simple migration path will be in place for clubs to upgrade to the new integrated platform.  We will also work with the newly formed company to provide integration options with other platforms that our clubs are currently using where feasible.  

“Over the next 18 months Squash members and clubs will see our exciting new technology plan come to life. Along with many other aspects of our development, we’re striving to position Squash New Zealand as global leaders”.  

Releases can also be read from Friendly Manager and Hello Club.  Further details on the technology project will be released over the coming months.  

FAQs

I’m a current Hello Club user, does my club have to do anything different?
No - Nothing will change for our customers for at least 12 months, you’ll continue to use the Hello Club App on the same subscription. We will keep you all updated as time goes on.  

Do we continue to use iSquash in 2023? 
Yes, iSquash will continue to be our national database, grading list and competitions platform for the 2023 season.   

Our club is looking for a platform right now, which do you recommend?
We suggest you evaluate options – however Hello Club does have more racquet club specific features so this may be a better fit. If you contact John Fletcher john@squashnz.co.nz he will guide you to the best option for your club.   

Will the new company be called something different?
Moving forward, they will be working under a new company name and identity, which will be  announced in the coming weeks.  

Why the delay in the new system?
This gives Friendly Manager and Hello Club time to bring together their current platforms into a single app. This is additional workload above what was expected, and all parties felt it added too much risk to roll this out for 2023. We want the launch to go seamlessly, and give you great functionality – as such being able to trial and provide feedback during the 2023 season will give us good reassurance, we’ll achieve that.   This approach was tested and supported strongly by club leaders following the second half of our recently completed club huis around the country.  

How do we get involved as early adopters?
A high-level roadmap with an indicative timeline will be released in the next few months. This will include information on how early adopters can get involved.


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