Guild of Sommeliers

THE CHALLENGE

Transforming a Website's Collaboration and Communication Capabilities

The Guild of Sommeliers is a non-profit, member-run organization whose aim is to help its members broaden their knowledge of the world's wine regions, enhance their beverage service skills, network with other wine enthusiasts and stay up-to-date on industry news and trends. To increase membership in the guild and further their advocacy of sommeliers and wine enthusiasts, the Guild needed to completely revamp their rather outdated website to one that encouraged more communication and collaboration among its members.

THE SOLUTION

	Integrating and Customizing Telligent Community Server to Create an Online Community We integrated Telligent Community Server as the platform upon which to build the Guild's online community activities. Members are able to participate in discussion forums on a variety of wine-related topics, publish blogs, take part in sommelier certification study group forums, and use the social networking component of the site to stay in touch with other wine industry contacts. Members can also access a variety of study guides useful in preparing for the 3 levels of sommelier certification exams as well as receive news and updates on issues pertinent to the wine enthusiast community. Our developers have extensive experience in using leading online community platforms such as Telligent Community Server. They understand the challenges inherent in integrating the platform in such a way as to make the look and feel seamless with a customer's own website design.
	Developing E-commerce Capabilities for Automated Member Management To encourage sommeliers and wine enthusiasts to join its members-only site, the guild wanted to ensure that the sign-up process was as easy and seamless as possible. We developed an automated member management system which incorporates features such as managing member access, collecting annual fees, and sending expiration notice reminders. The Guild also uses the system to sell a variety of branded materials available on their website.