Appendix Valentinos’ Case Study

The following information was gained from an interview with Rudolfo, MD of Valentinos, a highly successful “Personal Introductions Agency”. Although they have been very successful and have made major investment in the Internet they are becoming increasingly worried about their market share and continuing profitability. They have asked you to advise them on their strategy and how they might further exploit technology. Their current technology was at the cutting edge 10 years ago but a lack of recent investment in this area is beginning to worry their senior management.
There has always been a need for matchmakers throughout history, in all levels of society -Valentinos has successfully filled this role
It is then up to the client to contact their matches by letter, telephone or email. The proportion of members using the Internet has risen considerably in the last few years, but still 25% of new members don’t have an email address and only 45% choose email as their preferred means of communication. It seems that, in affairs of the heart, Valentino’s members still prefer the personal touch.
Valentinos normally send the list to the client by post but some clients now prefer to receive their details by email.
If clients wish, their name can be given out to appear on other compatible members' lists, so they can be contacted in the same way. Clients can request as many lists as they want, over the membership term, until such time as they have met someone.
On a matching run Valentinos send out the names and the contact details of up to six compatible members. Clients can then make contact with them using whichever means they have told us to release. Clients can ask for their matching runs to be e-mailed, and can then access the members' area of the website and get further background information about the members with whom they have been matched. This may include a page written by the member themselves, in which they often include their photographs or links to their homepage elsewhere on the Internet. Their web site is maintained by a third party