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“I think this is an exciting frontier, with great value in a lot of time it’s easy to get caught up with bells and whistles
the opportunities it presents for individuals, and for school and find out when you open the box that it isn’t really right for
business development,” said Katie Ertl, managing director for you. Do your homework, and be able to test it to no end.”
ASC’s Ski & Snowboard Schools. “The questions we have are According to Michael Stocker of Snowvation, instruc-
whether the app can hold the skin of the company. Is there a tional apps are already recognizing some early gains, as the
way to move from the app into a company website, how do company has seen 40 to 50 percent average growth of repeat
we track commissions, what type of security is in place, and private lesson business in working with eight resorts and
on a personal level, how do we ensure that our individual more than 3,000 instructors around the world.
pros are representing themselves and the school properly? All “We’ve also seen consumers develop a new expectation
of these questions have to be properly vetted by IT.” for the type of functionality with which we’ve powered our
Erik Barnes, director of resort operations for Mount partner resorts,” he said.
Snow, Vt., agrees. Barnes has been using Snowvation (which Snowation just raised an additional $500,000 from
owns ShredBetter.com) to book many of his private lessons. venture capital investors between Colorado and the two coasts,
“I think the technology does promote the ease of accessibility, led by Rockies Venture Club, said Stocker. “Tech investors are
and takes the hurdle out of booking some things,” he said. really starting to take this space seriously,” he added.
As someone who’s spent the past 20 years developing
his own database management system, Barnes also adds that
making sure any new technology interacts with your school’s The Wild, Wild West
existing resources is going to be critical. Everyone interviewed for this article agreed that on-demand
“I think the point for any school is to make sure the booking is the future, but that doesn’t mean they could
solution is right for your business,” Barnes said. “I know that accurately describe just what that future will be—or which

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CONVENTION 2017 | NSAA JOURNAL | 27