HIGHLY CUSTOMIZED FUNCTIONALITY
Each ATHENA system has an individual code base, allowing for faster development and customization than SASSIE™ systems, which share a common code base. Changes to the SASSIE™ system affect all SASSIE™ subscribers, which greatly restricts our ability to accommodate individual feature requests. In contrast, ATHENA systems can be quickly customized to include the most unusual features.

HIGH VOLUME CAPACITY
ATHENA systems can be configured to accommodate high volume mystery shopping (typically 5000 – 10000 shops/month) with options unavailable to SASSIE™ subscribers. For example, most SASSIE™ systems exist on shared servers, meaning that server performance can be affected by other subscribers’ usage. ATHENA systems allow for servers dedicated to individual ATHENA systems and configured to each account’s specific needs.

ADVANCED SERVICE/SUPPORT OPTIONS
Owners of an ATHENA system have a variety of service/support options that are not available to SASSIE™ subscribers. SASSIE™ was originally conceived as a one-size-fits-all product with a “low-touch” support model. Since each ATHENA system is a unique creation, a higher level of support is required, and plans range from high-priority email support to phone support to dedicated customer service managers.

RE-BRANDING
SurfMerchants LLC actively promotes SASSIE™ as a highly recognizable and valued brand in mystery shopping software and therefore does not permit re-branding of SASSIE™ systems. However, individualized ATHENA systems can be re-branded as software developed by the ATHENA owner.

TECHNICAL EXPERTISE AND FAMILIARITY
As SASSIE and ATHENA are 100% developed “from scratch”, with the original programmers and product managers permanently devoted to the project, we have as deeply intimate a knowledge of our system’s capabilities and behaviors as is possible for any developer with any system.

INDUSTRY KNOWLEDGE
As the leading developer for commercial mystery shopping software with a wide client base for the last three years, we have encountered a variety of support situations, created customized utilities and mastered techniques that allow to support our clients in ways that even an in-house development team will not.

PROACTIVE SUPPORT
The best kind of support is to reduce the need for support in the first place! By working collaboratively to develop a customized system, and planning for training well in advance, we can avoid many support issues that might otherwise become urgent issues. Furthermore, working closely together to train your company's staff to perform such tasks such as form creation and location uploading can also allow your company to grow quickly without being directly reliant on SurfMerchants support.

Typically, the greatest demands on support occur within the first four months of system usage and greatly tapers off once the system has been configured to the (needs of the MSP Mystery Shopping Provider), the MSP’s staff has become familiarized with the system. Once expectations, work styles, methods of communication and common terminology have been established, there is uniformly a period of greater efficiency.

FOCUS AND MOTIVATION
SurfMerchants is fiercely committed to the ATHENA concept as the future of mystery shopping, so we will place extraordinarily high priority in ensuring that the early adopters are extremely successful.

SUCCESSFUL PRECEDENT FOR DEDICATED SUPPORT
There is a successful precedent for this support model. Another SASSIE subscriber, also doing a high volume of shops, with 40+ clients and forms of highly complex reporting and scoring needs hired a SASSIE-trained dedicated customer service manager and has experienced a tremendous increase in productivity. SASSIE support has had a much lower volume of support calls for this subscriber, even as they have doubled the number of clients on their system in he last year. We would expect a similar success story with your company with a dedicated customer service manager, even as your company’ client base grew quickly.

SUPPORT SCALABILITY
If your company’s client base were to grow at a phenomenal rate, support is easily scalable, assuming that the dedicated customer service manager option was opted for. Rather than requiring that SurfMerchant’s entire support and development team grow in direct proportion to your company’s needs, we could easily dedicate additional part-time or full time CSM’s or programmers to your company to accommodate the additional workload.

FEATURE EXCLUSIVITY
Certain customizations constructed by the SASSIE development team for your company that are sufficiently singular and proprietary in nature may be eligible for exclusivity for a specified period of time for an additional fee.
Customizations that do not meet these criteria will still enjoy a higher level of exclusivity than is the case with SASSIE. Since each ATHENA system is unique and incompatible with each other, your company's customizations cannot be distributed to other ATHENA clients without significant reprogramming and will not be distributed to other ATHENA clients for free (as was the case in SASSIE’s collaborative development model).
With the implementation of a CSM/P (Customer Service Manager/Programmer), Bare will have the ability to create custom reports, custom displays…etc without having to involve the SASSIE development team, thus increasing the level of exclusivity for these customizations.