The Service

Gumbo is only available as a full service. We will build and maintain your student website on your behalf - you provide the content, and manage the day-to-day running of your website using the built-in administration tools - we keep the pipes clean, carry out upgrades, monitor the security and do all the boring technical stuff.

Physical website hosting is provided through us at high capacity datacentres in London, and we will manage all of the technical administration of your website, including taking nightly backups, and ensuring that your service remains secure and reliable.

As well as the actual website, the Gumbo service also includes:

Regular Updates

Gumbo is continuously evolving in response to user feedback. We're committed to constantly adding new features, enhancing existing ones, and ensuring that your service remains vibrant and exciting for your members.

Once you're a Gumbo subscriber, you'll be able to log in to our secure clients message board where we pre-announce new features that we're working on. You'll be able to suggest features, discuss them with us in advance, and watch as they evolve to the point where they're ready to be included into your website. All this is included as part of our service to you.

Documentation and Training

Gumbo has been designed to be extremely easy to use. Generally we find that if you can get your head around Hotmail, you can drive a Gumbo website. But as part of your package we include printable documentation, which takes you step by step through using each feature of your website.

We also provide a specific 'Clubs and Societies' guide, which can be downloaded from within your own website. This explains all of the features of the Clubs and Socs services.

As well as the technical stuff, we also provide you with access to a number of online best-practice guides covering issues like marketing your website, effective forum moderation, and other general advice to help you get the very best experience. These guides are based on real-world experience, and are continually updated.

Finally, since there's nothing like face-to-face contact; when your Gumbo site is first delivered, our staff can come to your institution and provide your key union staff with on-site training in how to get the best out of the system.

Technical Support

Gumbo has already undergone several years of testing, and proven extremely robust and reliable. Through our secure client service you'll have access to our online fault reporting service, where you can instantly alert us to any problems with your website, and we'll chase them up immediately.

We also operate a daytime callback service for advice and support, and our team are always happy to talk you through any aspect of using your site, and advise you on any issues around it.

Active Monitoring

As part of managing your website, we can also provide an active monitoring service where our staff will invisibly keep an eye on your website on your behalf. We will endeavour to pre-emptively deal with any technical issues, and provide you with advice on how to deal with emerging situations and questions from your membership. The exact nature of this relationship can be discussed with us as part of developing your website.

Next: The Cost