Syncrony a long-time Web partner for ATKV

The partnership between ATKV and Syncrony dates back to 2014 with the development house ensuring all 13 Web sites of the association are kept up to date with relevant content and use the latest technologies. Read about the journey here.

Syncrony Digital, one of South Africa’s premier Magento Ecommerce and Umbraco CMS developers, has been working with the Afrikaans Language and Culture Association (ATKV) since 2014. Syncrony works hard to ensure the ATKV’s 13 multi-lingual Web sites are continually updated with the latest content and most relevant technologies to provide a consistent and user-friendly browsing experience, especially on smartphones.

Syncrony is responsible for all content across the ATKV Web site portfolio. This includes updating the tariff cards on resort pages, updating promotional content, keeping galleries and images up to date, ensuring all links are easily accessible by site visitors, creating new pages with different functionality, and redoing pages to keep them in line with current trends.

“The ATKV spends a lot of time on its content making sure it is fresh, relevant, and that it adheres to current protocols and happenings. It is my responsibility to ensure these updates are done on the Web sites. I also assist the ATKV with page layouts and styling on the sites,” says Mareli Wandrag, Graphic Designer at Syncrony Digital.

The ATKV Web site portfolio consists of:

• https://atkvresorts.co.za/
• https://atkv.org.za/
• https://hartenbos.co.za/
• https://natalia.co.za/
• https://eilandspa.co.za/
• https://goudinispa.co.za/
• https://buffelspoort.co.za/
• https://klein-kariba.co.za/
• https://drakensville.co.za/
• https://negester.co.za/
• https://klein-kariba.negester.co.za/
• https://onrusrivier.negester.co.za/
• https://atkvbusinessevents.co.za/

“Fortunately, as Afrikaans is my home language, the content was not a challenge. I enjoy communicating with the client in their preferred language as well. Being bilingual is also a significant advantage as we can upload content in both Afrikaans and English,” she says.

The challenges around the COVID-19 pandemic meant that the focus was on ensuring the content was in line with health protocols and keeping guests of the ATKV resorts informed.

“However, with things normalizing now, we have a few big projects in the pipeline. The ATKV is planning several significant functionality and interactive projects for the main Web site that will result in an even better user experience than what is currently available,” Wandrag.

Additionally, the Negester Lifestyle Retirement Village Estate sites are in the process of being rebuilt to provide them with a technology refresh and to feature a more updated look and feel.

“Our partnership with Syncrony has added a lot of value over the last seven years. They do great work in keeping the sites updated from a technological standpoint, while also ensuring 99%+ uptime and performing regular maintenance to keep the sites efficient. We look forward to working with Syncrony on the new projects we have lined up for 2022 and beyond," says Reinard du Plessis, General Manager for Marketing at ATKV.

Throughout this period, Syncrony has updated the ATKV sites with significantly enhanced functionality. For example, on the resorts sites, there is an integrated online booking platform, a feature where vouchers can be generated, as well as a 3D camp-view virtual tour.

“All these new technologies have been integrated with the existing sites to ensure better functionality for users and guests. On the main site, we have been updating and re-doing pages to look more modern and to showcase their beautiful content and imagery,” says Wandrag.