For the same reason multi-million dollar companies with huge financial and technological resources do not develop their own internal software applications and systems (ERP, CRM etc), preferring to outsource to market leaders in IT development such as Microsoft, Oracle, SAP, Siebel, & PeopleSoft.

Developing a system from scratch is very expensive, time consuming, and risky. Studies indicate that 70% of "custom" application development fail to meet extreme challenges. Frustration over time and money invested in a new systems that neither work properly nor meet company expectations. Besides core software development costs, there are other hidden costs related to acquisition of additional software and hardware infrastructure.

It is also very important to mention that while a new self-implemented system is being developed, your company will still be incurring the expense of processing and distributing student applications using the traditional, costly, inefficient paper-based method!

Your company will benefit from a Zapp system that is already developed, fully operational, and being constantly updated. In most cases, when the client does not require customization, Zapp can be up and running for the organization in a week! Subscribing Zapp will immediately begin generating a return on investment through gains in operational efficiency and savings made possible through the system's paperless features.

Of course! That is the beauty of the Internet. Your organization will run Zapp on our infrastructure and servers, but with your brand!!! Whether your clients are students, agents, host families, schools, or local coordinators, you will be able to offer them a robust system delivered right from your own web site! All of this with no risk or need for capital investment. Better yet - the Zapp system can be up and running with your logo in a week, if no other major customization is required. Please contact us for a free test drive!

Since Zapp is an integrated paperless system that brings together students and sending/receiving organizations, it eliminates the fragmentation and redundancies of working with paper applications. What does that mean for a Sending organization? The minute the completed application is received from the student, it can be delivered to the overseas placing organization in a few clicks! The student application can be delivered individually. You do not have to delay and wait for the arrival of other applications to fill a courier packet, as with paper applications!!!

What does that mean for a Receiving organization? The minute the application is received, it can be processed and delivered online to one or many local coordinators in a fraction of the time it would take to make copies, prepare envelopes, and mail applications to the field. Local Coordinators will have faster access to the student inventory. Local Coordinators will not have to wait for student profiles to be produced and mailed or for student information data to be entered in an existing system/website. With Zapp, Applications can be processed and distributed as soon as they are received; specific student data can be imported into existing Databases.

And more...

You only have to train your staff to use ONE system, and this ONE system will handle (sending and receiving) applications online from more than one partner! This means:

If you are a Sending organization: Your students will fill out applications in one system, but you will able to deliver/distribute the applications to ALL of your receiving organization partners, provided they have joined Zapp. No need to setup separate distribution systems, as with paper applications!

If you are a Receiving organization: Applications will arrive already sorted by sending organization within the system. There will no longer be a pile of envelopes to sort!

You probably have read "How Zapp can save time?"... If Zapp can save you time, it obviously can save you money!!!

Even knowing that the above is simply true, we would like to introduce the only criteria by which we believe the money-saving issue can be evaluated: the cost to process a single paper-based application vs the cost of processing a single application using Zapp! Most organizations have never considered calculating such costs! How much paper, printer toner, copies, express mailings, phone calls, and faxes are needed to process a single app? How much staff time (cost!!!) is dedicated to opening and preparing envelopes, making copies, sending faxes, entering data for a single app? If you consolidate all of these costs, you will be astonished by the figure! Our studies indicate a cost of US$180 (average) per application!!!

Zapp will cost a fraction of this amount to process a single application! Moreover, Zapp subscription fees are based on your production. Which means you do not have to worry about budget provisions for Zapp subscription as you will only pay in proportion to the number of applications you send/receive through Zapp. Zapp literally pays for itself!!! The fee per application will depend on the number of applications per year and the length of your contract with TGM. Please ask for an estimate.

The Zapp licensing structure is, for the most part, pay-per-use! This means that Your company is guaranteed to spend based only on what it has used! Your expenditure on Zapp will be based on the applications sent or received through the system.

Since the program will be offered on as Software-As-Service basis, your company will always run tested and updated Zapp software versions. You will not have to update or purchase new software and or hardware infrastructure.

Yes, any application can be scanned and stored as a digital file, BUT it will be a "dumb" file, since it will be stored as an image that cannot be edited or manipulated. For example, it will not be possible to perform searches on scanned/imaged applications. A student application on the Zapp system is an object can be fully manipulated in a way that scanned/imaged files cannot.

Although you will be able to attach a scanned application to an e-mail message, the excessively large size of these files will force you to send many individual e-mails in order to transmit one application. And once you get the digital "dumb" file you will have few options to facilitate your placement cycle; for example, (i) print out the application and fax/mail it to local coordinators or (ii) keep resending e-mails with attachments to local coordinators, resulting in very little saving of time and money or (iii) setup your own system that will usually require considerable time spent in entering data and scanning and uploading applications to your organization website.

When an application is submitted via Zapp, it can be made instantly available to local coordinators and host families using Zapp's simple management and distribution features. Zapp can also generate various kinds of reports; for example, numbers of students filling out applications, numbers of students placed.

In other words, a digital "dumb" file cannot offer you valuable business intelligence or other management advantages, since there is no data but the scanned/imaged file itself!

Remember the greater value offered by Zapp is related to significant gains in efficiency by speeding up and streamlining the student placement cycle and managing the placement Workflow as an integrated whole.

Zapp has a feature that will generate an XML file (or Microsoft® compatible such as txt, doc, xls etc) that can be easily imported into your organization Database. This can be run at anytime! We will be glad to develop a customized feature to transfer selected information to your Database, if your IT department cannot do it for you.

First: It is the market leader! This integrated, vertical e-business solution was conceived specifically for the student exchange industry. It was developed to solve real industry problems.

Second: It is a very reliable, flexible and robust solution and is ready to serve your company!

Third: The people behind the research & development of Zapp have extensive experience in both the technology arena and the student exchange industry. We understand the challenges you face, we understand what your needs are, and we "speak your language".

And last but not least: we are committed to generating results and providing unequaled service. Try us! We will be glad to place a test drive version on the web for your company. For more information please contact us.