Beta. Those four little letters that say so much.

Quietly at the end of December 2006 Anderson Toomey Limited removed the letters Beta from Community in a Box (CIAB). The product, which is designed as a communications and file-sharing platform for friends and family groups, had been in its Beta version for only six months. The company believed that there were strong business imperatives for keeping CIAB in Beta for as short a time as possible.

“To most customers those four little letters mean that your product is under development, that it is not finished”, says Alistair Toomey the Managing Director. “From a business perspective it made sense to have a set date by which time CIAB would be out of its Beta version”. Alistair adds.

George Anderson the technical director at Anderson Toomey Limited also recognised the importance of getting Beta removed from the product.
“Beta implied that the company was not taking responsibility for the reliability of its own software. It’s like saying to Community in a Box members: use it at your own risk - it might not work. That is not acceptable for a customer focused company such as ours”, says George.

There is no doubt that in any software development a very close eye needs to be kept on the schedule. The setting of targets and getting software engineers to accept responsibility for meeting those targets is essential for any successful product launch. Removing the letters Beta made those developers take responsibility for the software they had written. Psychologically it was a big milestone and change in mindset for the development team.

So has there been a commercial benefit from moving on from the Beta version? “Yes”, says Alistair. “Very quickly we saw a greater take up of the product in the United States where the majority of our marketing activity is presently taking place. Customers obviously feel more secure using a product that is not in Beta. I feel that there are too many companies that find themselves in a comfort zone by keeping their software in its Beta version. I have heard of some occasions where Beta has been in use for two years or more. What message does that send to the customer?” asks Alistair.

The software was heavily tested by focus groups (test communities) over several months before a public launch in July 2006. This undoubtedly enabled for a shorter Beta period. The removing of the letters Beta does not however mean that the company has run out of ideas for further developments for Community in a Box. This year text messaging (SMS) is being enabled on the platform and the company believes that it is acceptable for the product to continue evolving even though those four little letters have been removed.