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Background: REVIEW SHOP QA - WEB BASED APPLICATION FOR ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT /SHOP LOCAL INITIATIVES By: Aaron Backman, Economic Development/Marketing Manager The following links will take you to the Buffalo and Cottage Grove Shop QA pages. Case #2 ShopQA is a new application developed by a company called Gov QA. Gov QA is a customer request management (CRM) application used broadly by cities and counties throughout the country This new application, Shop QA, is a pilot application that they are introducing to cities for shop local and economic development purposes. The idea is to help connect citizens with local businesses. The goal is to make it fast and easy for the public to find the products and services needed from local businesses, whether they are retailers, service providers or professionals. Currently, ShopQA is working with the cities of Buffalo and Cottage Grove in Minnesota as pilot cities. They are seeking a third pilot city in Minnesota and have offered the opportunity to Ramsey. This offer expires on November 30, 2010. With the pilot program, they are offering reduced pricing for the application of a one -time start-up fee of $1,500 and a monthly hosting fee of $250 guaranteed for three years with indexed increases after three years; the standard rates for non -pilot cities will be a $5,000 start-up fee with monthly hosting fees of $595. In late September, an on -line demo of the application was conducted with a broad group of city staff and EDA Vice -Chair Jim Steffen to gauge the level of interest in the Shop QA application. Feedback was positive with regard to the value of this type of an economic development tool for Ramsey. Staff has coordinated an on -line demo of the application for EDA members at the October 14 meeting. The service would provide local businesses with a link to the City of Ramsey's website that directs citizens to individual webpages designed and updated by each local business. Small merchants have limited time and resources to undertake online marketing. This service provides one central location to search for local businesses And ShopQA provides potential customers a direct platform to communicate with local businesses. I talked with the Merton Auger, City Administrator for the City of Buffalo regarding Shop QA. He is pleased with the. service. Merton indicates that he has received positive feedback from both customers and businesses (particularly those stores who normally do not get a lot of publicity). 7