Updated Forum & Website Status?

AshvEd

It's getting late in the year and curious about the launch plans for the new website and Forum.

British

Tauck has been talking about this for years. I remember the Ask and Share forum they had before this one, that was actually better. If I remember correctly you could see everything each person had written so you could get an idea of how people usually wrote etc. I don’t think this should be a priority for Tauck, but the remainder of their website is very outdated. If I have to look at the photos of those people on the front page of the website for much longer—- they must be all passed away by now.

AlanS

I wonder if they are having issues with the software developer? It won't be long before the rollout is a year overdue. I've seen it before- a company hires a software developer who is not up to the task and after too many months and too much money spent, goes under, or finally admits they can't deliver what they promised. That can really doom a massive project like this. At least what we have is better than nothing.

The IT folks haven't been responsive lately either- I sent them an email early yesterday with links to 3 spam posts- one hawking software, one hawking waterproof boots, and a creepy (foreign?) one 'looking for a partner'. None of the posts have been deleted.

AshvEd

Check Tauck's Help Wanted and see if they are hiring IT and Web Developers. They might be a bit short on staff.

British

You probably know Alan that last year I took a tour with OAT and the tour organization and fine details never mind other unfortunate occurrences that happened means I will never travel with the, again, they were terrible compared with Tauck, but there website is far superior to Tauck, even their information for each destination is so much better, weather details, clothing, everything. It is so good that I already downloaded their great booklet for the equivalent Rwanda Gorillas tour that they do because it will help me with my Tauck gorillas tour. They have great films to watch about the destinations too. So if they can do that, why can’t Tauck? Tauck must be a much bigger company.

AlanS

British wrote:

You probably know Alan that last year I took a tour with OAT and the tour organization and fine details never mind other unfortunate occurrences that happened means I will never travel with the, again, they were terrible compared with Tauck, but there website is far superior to Tauck, even their information for each destination is so much better, weather details, clothing, everything. It is so good that I already downloaded their great booklet for the equivalent Rwanda Gorillas tour that they do because it will help me with my Tauck gorillas tour. They have great films to watch about the destinations too. So if they can do that, why can’t Tauck? Tauck must be a much bigger company.

One reason, might be that the Tauck website technology got too far behind the times which made it that more difficult to upgrade, requiring a completely new site software. However, in addition to writing all the functionality code, it would require serious data migration to preserve tour descriptions, etc. and forum archives, or a rebuild from scratch. Either way, it is a big job.

Also, technology doesn't stand still. If you try to stay up with it during the build and don't freeze the specs at some point, you can end up with serious problems.

Another issue, users may want one thing, the operators, another, while the software engineers provide what they think the others want, but miss on both accounts.

I wonder how the app is doing. I haven't seen any posts about it in a few months. I don't see a need, but I wonder if there will be one for B,SA,Z?

MarvinF

A few years ago I was an IT professional for Bank of America when it was independent and headquartered in San Francisco. BOA had this theory that a good manager could manage anything so it put a terrific senior sales executive in charge of IT. At the announcement, one of the soon to be former IT executives asked his new boss to say something in "Computer." So the new boss said "The project is going to be late." Those words are as true now as it was true then.

AlanS

MarvinF wrote:

A few years ago I was an IT professional for Bank of America when it was independent and headquartered in San Francisco. BOA had this theory that a good manager could manage anything so it put a terrific senior sales executive in charge of IT. At the announcement, one of the soon to be former IT executives asked his new boss to say something in "Computer." So the new boss said "The project is going to be late." Those words are as true now as it was true then.

joycesw

Absolutely hysterical, MarvinF...probably more so because of the ring of truth! On the topic of a new and improved website...sadly, our next trip will not be with Tauck, but with an Adept & Knowledgeable competitive company (if you get my drift...not sure it is ethical to mention the competition), as Tauck is still not returning to Egypt. Frankly, their website is no better than Tauck's, in fact, maybe not as good as they do not have any "forum" where experiences and ideas may be exchanged that I have been able to find. It's pretty disappointing, so I guess as Tauck guests, we should be grateful that at least we have this area for helpful hints, sound-offs, compliments and just plain discussion!