I am very proud of all of this years nominees, I couldn’t have picked a better list of deserving local businesses. I hope this year will allow me to work with more enthusiastic entrepreneurs in their pursuit of business excellence. Congratulations to all of this years winners and nominees.

When designing and building this web store it was the nature of the products being sold that presented the most challenges. See, selling oils, vinegars, and spices by weight and volume in different containers, or in no containers at all, over the internet is not something most shopping carts and out-of-the-box solutions can handle. This niche market requires something unique, something custom, a solution that can help customers to find the products they want and purchase them in an easy, intuitive, and attractive manor. We are confident that this is that solution.

For us building the web store for Crescendo meant re-imagining the shopping experience. We researched, and white boarded, and thought hard to come up with ways to reproduce the natural and effective shopping experience you get from walking into a Crescendo store and here is what we came up with:

1. Visual: walking into a Crescendo location you are immediately treated to a feast for the eyes, oaken barrels, spices you can see and smell, and a soft and inviting Mediterranean colour scheme. For the web store we matched this by using super high resolution and high contrast images of the base ingredients to really make the different varieties of oils and vinegars “pop”, we had macro photos taken of all the herbs and spices so you could see them as if you were there, and finally we took the mediterranean colour scheme and expanded it with warm and appealing background images.
2. Selection Process: when you are buying an oil or vinegar in a Crescendo shop you first select your liquid, then you are able to select from a wide variety of containers. Your container selection determines the amount of liquid you purchase as well as adding a decorative quality to the purchase. For the web store we built an intuitive system that guides you through this very same process of first selecting a liquid and then selecting the desired container, all the while keeping you apprised of the final price and amount of product being ordered.
3. Information: when you are in a Crescendo shop you will never be overwhelmed by information, but you also will never leave without knowing all of the important information about your product, how to care for it, and how to use it. This same philosphy was applied to the website through the subtle use of info buttons for the products description, origin, acidity and other important information, the FAQ page for answers to common questions, and the Recipes section for all sorts of amazing ways to use Crescendo products to make amazing meals.

So by identifying these, and other, essential features of shopping Crescendo and ensuring they were preserved in the web store we at Rev Software hope that customers find their experience online as pleasant as their experience in store. Well maybe not quite since we can’t offer samples online .

This website and the accompanying web store is our largest and most important web development to date. It is our opportunity to showcase what we are capable of. We encourage all of our readers, and anyone who enjoys amazing food products and fantastic service to head over to Crescendo Canada’s Web Store.

I only hope people enjoy shopping Crescendo online as much as we enjoyed building it. I would also like to extend a very big thank you to Elvira and Daniel of Crescendo Retail for providing our small company the opportunity to create this website.

The Crescendo Canada website was commissioned by local Revelstoke proprietors Daniel and Elvira Brunner and will be the home of not only the Revelstoke franchise, but of all future Crescendo franchises across Canada. The Crescendo project  presented many unique challenges that had to be overcome and we hope you will agree that the end result is as beautiful as it is functional.

The Crescendo Canada by Rev Software Ltd.

I am very excited to be working with Daniel and Elvira on this project and am proud to announce the completion of the first phase. The website features a fully custom content management system that is allowing Elvira to edit, create, and update the websites content as often as she has time. Check in often to see the new recipes, or to find out the latest news & events.

Be sure to check back in June when we release the second phase of the project, which will include both French and English, as well as a full e-commerce store, allowing loyal Crescendo customers to order their favorite products from anywhere, anytime.

Why should your business care?

1. With more than 43 million units sold the iPhone is one of the best selling mobile platform in history, giving applications developed on iPhone the largest market of potential customers;
2. Revelstoke is a tourist destination and more and more people are making their choices based on their mobile phone. Already many consumers use apps like Yelp to help you choose a restaurant based on customer reviews, Google maps to locate businesses by type and category close to their location, apps like Order Pizza that allow you to order (yes I said order) pizza straight from your phone… etc.
3. The iPhone/iPad platform can open an entirely new market for your business as well as providing an excellent avenue to engage your existing customers.

It’s simple, people want access to information wherever they are and making your company accessible via the iPhone platform is just another great way to reach out to your customers.

So call, click, or Skype us and find out how we can turn your great ideas into the next big iPhone/iPad app.

Thanks to a new strategic partnership Rev Software is now positioned better than ever to help you tackle business problems of all shapes and sizes. Adding 12 new Python / Django developers, a new team of 4 Ruby on Rails developers and a team of dedicated PHP programmers. The new team is composed of educated and experienced developers hand picked for their skill and reputation in the industry.

The addition of these developers through our partnership means two amazing things to our customers.

1. We can now offer even more competitive pricing on our smaller projects and quicker turn around times for development;
2. Rev Software is now able to take on projects of a size and scale previously not possible within Revelstoke, allowing our larger clients the option to get their project done locally with the care and attention that only another local business can provide.

With this new partnership Rev Software now becomes Revelstoke’s largest and most experienced software and web design company, so give us a call and find out what we can do for your business.

Overall I must say I was very impressed with the work done by the Kimberly based marketing firm that was hired by the Hoteliers. The brand looks clean, modern, and the slogans are catchy and appealing. I am very excited with the re-branding and I am hopeful that the community will rally behind this move to modernize and promote Revelstoke as more than just a “pee break” between Banff and Kelowna. The campaign portrayed Revelstoke as more than just a resort community, or a historical railway community, it showed that Revelstoke is a truly magnificent and inspiring place to live and visit no matter what the season. Kudos to Thom Tischik for a great presentation.

All in all it was an excellent event, I met lots of interesting local entrepreneurs and had a chance to witness the unveiling of something that is no doubt destined to change this community, hopefully for the better.

Looking forward to the next “Business After Hours”

It has been a flurry of activity at Rev Software since the announcement that we would be designing the website for Revelstoke’s new (and only) online newspaper, The Revelstoke Current. In just over one week we were able to create the current out of a modified theme based on the WordPress content management system and we had it up and running with time to spare for the July 1st launch date.

Thanks to the WordPress system installed by Rev Software the website is easily managed by David through an intuitive WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) system allowing David to spend his time doing what he does best, writing and reporting the news. No fuss, no muss this is just another example of how in a short amount of time you can have a website created by Rev Software that you can maintain and update yourself.

Having a daily, professional, online newspaper is something I, as a fellow Revelstokian, am very excited about. David is an excellent reporter, and a driven man who is committed to the community and to his beliefs. So I encourage all of you to head over to The Current and check out the latest news.

The Screen Smart website will be dedicated to providing families the information they need in order to make informed decisions about screen time. This website is loaded with high quality, well cited information on all aspects of media awareness, and the effects of screens and the media on health, education, and internet safety.

As Rev Software’s lead web designer I created the site using structured W3C validated XHTML and CSS integrated with the PHP content management system, ModX. This design will ensure the Screen Smart organization members can update and maintain their website within the safe and user friendly ModX system, while enjoying fast, streamlined, XHTML & CSS code.

I highly reccommed you check this website out, and I guarantee you will learn something new.

1. Phil Welock
2. Peter Frew
3. Chris Johnston
4. Steve Bender
5. Tony Scarcella
6. Antoinette Halberstadt

I unfortunately cannot say that I played any part in electing (or not electing) any of these candidates since unforeseen circumstances prevented me from being in Revelstoke on election day. I had fully intended on voting, and had even made it out to the public debates but a last minute business trip to Calgary this past weekend spoiled those plans.

Either way, after attending the debates and reviewing the platforms of the various candidates I am overall positive about the outcome and looking forward to some fresh thinking and new ideas. The city of Revelstoke is at a very important moment in history. With the new resort experiencing financial difficulties, and the slow down of the world economy it is very important that this council tackle the tough issues and focus on sustainability and economic diversification.

It should be noted that all of the elected members are in favour of the proposed technology park, and hopefully will be in favour of other such developments which can only help to further diversify the economy and the community.

Last week at my day job employer, there was concern that a recent computer failure had been caused by a power surge. This in turn brought about a discussion of upgrading many of the non protective “power bars” with proper surge protectors. After counting up the number of protectors needed we headed off to the local computer/electronics store to purchase some new surge protectors. Upon arrival I was shocked and horrified to see the exact same surge protector I had bought for my home (~$9.99 at Costco) priced at $69.99!!! How can they justify this? This was no mere small town markup, or “local premium”; this was price gouging comsumers who had no other choices. Having a total loss for words, we quietly purchased the one we absolutely needed, and have decided we will be heading out of town to purchase more.

Buying local vs shopping out of town

I am all for keeping local business local, but I believe that it is the businesses responsibility to maintain a relationship of trust with their clients. I need to trust that the business I am buying from is being honest and selling their products at a fair markup, fair being where they make a profit and I get value for my money. If a retailer gets too greedy this trust is broken and I feel no guilt in taking my hard earned money out of town, where I will no doubt pay less and get more.

I understand that it costs money to bring in merchandise and that many stores are not large enough to get significant supplier discounts, but a 600% markup? Please.