Ok, I can't make any promises here about presenting the following news in a calm manner, but it's just hard to hold back the enthusiasm. We are knee-deep in the planning of our next iteration of SendLabs. Our enhancements are packaged in two releases over the first half of 2007.
SendLabs 2.5 - This release will focus on some list management improvements, enhanced deliverability and some campaign wizard enhancements.
SendLabs 3.0 - The greatest release yet, SendLabs 3.0 will focus on each layer of the application experience - both from application standpoint and the technology layers that support it underneath. The largest improvement will be an implementation of our new transportation engine or MTA (message transfer agent). Via the implementation of new Microsoft technologies and re-architecting and deploying on MS.NET 2.0, the SendLabs 3.0 transporter will be strong enough to stand on its own as a separate product.
We'll also be revamping our reporting, adding new dynamic content options, enhanced list management and providing marketers the chance to slice and dice data from every angle.
New software development approach
In a way that symbolizes the times, SendLabs product road-mapping and development will take advantage of an AGILE development approach from this year forward. Satisfying both our biz dev and marketing group, as well as customer feature requests, this approach simply states that improvements and upgrades will be ongoing as opposed to being released every so many months or even years - as is the case with much of the software world. The reason for this model of software development dying is the ever-changing needs and requirements of the customer. With too much time spent planning and plotting feature enhancements and upgrades, often software releases are outdated by the time they're released. The approach has multiple benefits and most importantly - it releases improvements ongoing to our customers, lways ensuring they look forward to a "constant improvement" model. It reminds me of the Japanese phrase of "Kaizen". Kaizen is the word in the Japanese culture for "constant improvements". It will be like buying a car and having the manufacturer measure real-time use and optimize its experience on the fly.
By the way, we invite you to be a part of the products ongoing improvements by emailing us at thecrew@sendlabs.com with your thoughts, comments and suggestions.