Two Hull businesses are looking to hit new heights globally after collaborating on a new app for the active leisure industry.
Developer February and Rockcity have brought forward Rock IT Climbing. Custom-designed, it aims to simplify booking, legal waivers and the hiring and buying of equipment for centres around the world.
It will be launched in the US at the Climbing Wall Association Summit in Pittsburgh in May as it looks to secure a significant footing in a lucrative North American market, having just gone live in the UK. And it builds on a passion of February founders, brothers Tom and Ash Lewis, and a chance climb with the city venue’s managing director, Mark English.
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It is not only a climbing and skate park operation, closing in on 30 years of provision, but the Hawthorn Avenue business also manufactures and markets elements that make up the popular features. It sells to Europe, Japan, the US and China, and also provided climbing walls for the 2020 Olympics.
Tom, chief operating officer at well-backed February, said: “We have developed and launched the Rock IT Climbing app to make it easier for climbers to check in to their favourite climbing gyms.
“Rock IT streamlines the check-in process, improving the climbing experience, making it more about the climbing and less about the check in.
“With the current booking systems that climbing walls typically use, there can often be long queues to book and to sign in, to sign the waiver forms, and to rent or buy equipment, especially on a weekend. Rock IT should go someway to removing those delays, not only reducing or eradicating the frustration felt by customers and staff, but also reducing costs for climbing gyms and their customers while radically improving the customer experience.”
Having gone live on platforms Google and IOS, it has been pre-sold into Belgium and Germany too.
Matt Robinson, a Rock IT product owner at Rockcity, said: “Rock IT will finally help climbing gyms manage their customers the way they want to.
“In recent years climbing gyms have grown into much more complicated facilities that require complex membership systems which Rock IT has addressed by creating an efficient customer experience from booking online to climbing at the gym.”
Climbers can link their existing accounts to Rock IT, letting them transfer waivers, sessions and existing details. The design and functionality was developed entirely in-house by February, with Rockcity, over the past 18 months since that initial meet, when the “unwieldy, difficult and expensive” nature of the previous system was highlighted.
The help of 30 UK climbing centres was also sought, with a comprehensive survey of owners, staff and customers undertaken.
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