GC Pleiskirchen welcomes PC CADDIE back
Rudi Hofer, managing director of GC Pleiskirchen, echoes the sentiments of Emperor Franz: “No one can separate good friends”. Following a brief foray into a new software provider in the golf market, the club management and secretariat are now relying once again on the expertise of PC CADDIE. The native Bavarian (HCP: -14.9) and founding member of GC Pleiskirchen not only knows the golf business and its members inside out, but, as a former IT entrepreneur, understands the challenge of developing good software. His summary: “The mere presence of all the necessary functions is not enough. If many tasks can only be carried out in a cumbersome way, then that is frustrating and leads to unnecessary errors.”
Hofer explains his decision to work with PC CADDIE again by pointing out that, from decades of experience, he knows how long it takes for a software product to overcome its teething problems. PC CADDIE has been on the market for a long time and has long since passed this stage.
Hofer’s patience finally snapped when it came to direct debits: “We had numerous direct debits from members with direct debit authorisation every time, whilst other members sometimes failed to pay because they believed they had signed a SEPA mandate. The reason: the software was unable to either indicate on the invoice that the amount would be debited or to instruct the recipient to make a bank transfer. The problem could only be resolved by running two separate invoicing cycles, which meant double the work.
Hofer continues: “We also have staff who aren’t golfers. They rely on the software being accurate. If, for example, the combined Handicaps are calculated incorrectly in scramble tournaments, there are complaints upon complaints and the staff have no way of rectifying the errors. Here too, it pays off for us that PC CADDIE is a mature, stable programme.
In Hofer’s view, the advantages of pure cloud software are always offset by the risk that the internet connection might drop out or the server might be unavailable for other reasons. “We’ve experienced that too,” reports Hofer.
Last but not least, Rudi Hofer values PC CADDIE’s customer service and support, which is “also very pleasant on a personal level. We have complete confidence in a good partnership and are happy to say ‘Servus PC Caddie’.”
