NOW Digital and YMCA Engaging the Community during COVID
NOW Digital helped to create a digital experience platform that activates the true value of YMCA and the role it plays within your community.
YMCA Victoria is a not-for-profit organisation that has served the Victorian community since 1853. With over 6,500 staff and volunteers, delivering services in settings including recreation, swimming pools, and early learning centres.
Before 2020 NOW Digital commenced a relationship with YMCA Victoria to consolidate the full suite of service offerings into a centrally managed digital experience platform. This work has been a significant step in the digital transformation journey for YMCA showing that – each customer will benefit from greater exposure to the services of YMCA.
Faced with the forced closure of most of their leisure facilities during the initial onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, YMCA had to pivot and rapidly move towards an online-only model of delivering content and services.
In conjunction with YMCA, NOW Digital developed what is now known as the ‘Virtual-Y’, a secure online portal (based upon the Sitecore Digital Experience Platform (DXP)) created to provide new and existing members with access to a variety of online content.
To detail how customers utilised YMCA products and services, NOW Digital undertook an expansive discovery phase that required involvement from all areas of the organisation. The key was to continue breaking down the perceived silos that existed, creating a flow of information that will be utilised to serve customers better across all sectors of the organisation.
The result was an online platform that has given YMCA ownership over their products and services offered to customers, from initial contact through to advocates of their brand. Working closely with YMCA’s digital team, NOW Digital successfully delivered a platform transformation that speaks intimately to each customer’s needs when they need it, for a truly personalised and online experience.
As vaccinations progress and NOW Digital move into ‘covid-normal’, past the effects of the pandemic, the YMCA – Virtual Y will continue to be expanded to manage subscriptions and accept payments online for premium content, creating a new, exciting and ongoing revenue stream for the YMCA.
The Virtual-Y will play an integral part of this post-pandemic world for YMCA, creating a seamlessly integrated tool that complements traditional bricks-and-mortar facilities with the unlimited features that an online platform provides.
About NOW Digital
NOW Digital is an award-winning digital agency providing strategic thought leadership and UX-led digital transformation services.
