Roundarch continues to revolutionize solutions for their clients by leveraging and extending Web 2.0.  Site Extensions, a concept created by Roundarch, packages key elements of a company’s web functionality into a joy-to-use user experience and a simple technology integration.  This “package” can then be seamlessly distributed by the client to their partners, affiliates, or other sites while maintaining the integrity and security of the client’s brand.  Unlike interactive banner Ads or similar advertising media, these packages extend a site’s reach and allow the clients customers to fully transact with the client.

As an example, Roundarch has developed the first of its kind car reservation Site Extension for Avis.  The main goal of Avis.com is to allow their customers to easily add or modify car reservations.  Building upon existing web services from Avis, Roundarch was able to quickly design the interaction model and develop the code to allow a user to complete all steps necessary to book a reservation within a single screen. Secondly, the use of Adobe FLEX allowed the code to be distributed with ease – Avis’ partners would need only a small snippet of HTML code to have a fully functioning transactional reservation extension on their site. Furthermore, Roundarch also created an admin module to allow partners or individuals to change the look & feel of the reservation extension (within Avis brand guidelines).
Finally, not only can Avis distribute the reservation extension but partners and individuals can “share” their version of the extension with other partners and individuals; increasing the reach of Avis.

The premise for Avis was simple but powerful: the partner keeps the user traffic while Avis gets the transaction and extended reach. The reception has been tremendous.

Within just a few months of our initial launch on www.rentacar.com, the potential was further realized when Avis Australia/NZ positioned the site extension on Air New Zealand’s own website as a central negotiating point of a multi-year partnership between the brands. For Air New Zealand, they were able to further their own travel offering with the inclusion of discounted rates with Avis (and Budget) cars. For Avis, it represents millions of dollars in expected revenue over the next few years – they now have the ability to grow their customer base with the inclusion of Air New Zealand customers. Roundarch customized the existing USA version, which is now live for Air New Zealand.

Site Extensions are the natural evolution of Web 2.0; allowing companies to extend their reach with targeted functionality and interacting with customers at the time and place most convenient to the customer.