Published Works,  Technology Column

Tech 42

Tech 9810
March 9, 1998

Bob Chauncey runs a small business across the street from the 700 club in Virginia Beach.  Maybe all that technology from across the street zapped him, but Chauncey told me an interesting story the other day about the internet. “It’s still with the web master, but within a few days I’m going to host a world wide network of support oriented Internet sites for Christian singles.” Chauncey told me. “My internet guy really opened my eyes to the possibilities of the world wide web as a fountain of resources to our customers. I’m part of a group of just over 30 franchise owners around the country. Each office is very local and very independent of the others. For the last 11 years, the company’s customers have been  meeting each other from within a relatively short drive time in distance. There’s really never been a need to link the activities of one office to another except broad marketing plans like logo design and printed materials.” According to Chauncey. 

“I was seeking a way to use technology to build my business. I now believe the Internet and a private intranet is the answer. Over the public Internet we’ll offer free resources to single people everywhere. Our focus is on providing information to people interested in meeting other people with similar morals and beliefs. So, from our offices around the country we’ll share resources on an intranet available only to our customers. Of course they’ll also be able to access this information from home over the world wide web with the proper i.d. and passwords.” Chauncey explained.

“Everyone wins.” Chauncey added. “Locally we’ll be finding other business owners with similar values and offering them ways to partner with us, and other owners from all over the country. On a national level we’ll be able to provide better service to our customers right in their own home town. As a bonus we’re making all of this available on the Internet for anyone who’s interested.”