Cam Systems Offers Users Improved Version Release Policy

Cam Systems has introduced a new policy to manage the regular and controlled release of upgrades, enhancements and ‘bug fixes’ for its Cameo software program. With effect from January 2009, Cam users will start to benefit from regular bi-annual Cameo upgrades. The new Version & Release Control policy will, for the first time, allow all Cam users to benefit from the latest and most efficient version of the program at the same time.

The updates will be automatically issued to all Cam subscribers and will be accompanied by clear, easy-to-follow documentation. Supporting instruction and advice will also be posted on the Cam Systems website. Support staff will be fully conversant with modifications and available to assist customers where necessary.

Steve Daly, Cam Systems’ commercial director, explained the reasons for the new approach: “Cameo software has traditionally been upgraded and enhanced on a regular but ad hoc basis to meet customer requirements and add new capabilities. Although that has been a successful approach in terms of maintaining Cameo’s functionality and currency, it has also resulted in some inconsistency, with customers not all being able to access all of the latest developed features.

“By adopting a regular cycle of half-yearly updates, customers will be able to take advantage of the very latest upgrades, helping to improve their business efficiency. In some cases this will lead to radical improvements as customers take advantage of functionality they will previously have been unaware of,” said Steve Daly.

Cam expects that Version & Release Control will also help its team of Helpline support staff to diagnose and resolve queries more efficiently as, over time, all customers move to using the same version of Cameo.

“With different customers currently using different versions of the program it can be difficult for the Support team to work across a wide variety of scenarios. But once we have customers using the latest version of the software those challenges should gradually become far more manageable,” confirmed Daly.
Thereafter, it is planned that Cameo users will be updated early in the second half of 2009 onto the same platform. This regime will be repeated again in early 2010 as more enhancements become available.

“This is a well-planned, tested and structured process which will be of tremendous benefit to Cameo users in terms of access to more and broader functionality and our ability to provide higher quality support. Ultimately, this represents a key change in our approach to managing our software which we know is something that our customers wanted from us,” said Steve Daly.