TRC11 DRIVING SCHOOL
  • Lessons
    • Diary
  • Prices
    • Hire
    • Terms
  • Drive!
    • Life
    • Logic
    • Topics
  • Tests
    • Ready
    • Theory
    • Hazards
    • Practical >
      • Centres
      • Routes
      • Advice
      • Car
  • Aids
    • Art
    • Sound
    • Words
    • Sayings
    • Numbers
  • You
    • Your car
    • Your space
    • Your queries
    • Your progress
    • Your comments
    • Your subscription
  • Me
    • My car >
      • Ancillary controls
      • Engine-bay
    • My way
    • My news
    • My photos
    • My vehicles
    • My learning
    • My interests

Demise of MiDrive—article for "Intelligent Instructor" magazine

9/2/2020

0 Comments

 
In truth, it wasn’t a bad run [from 2013]. But what stopped them [the find-an-instructor / track-your-progress app]? I think the answer's relatively simple: over-extension.

In the (über-)competitive global market fuelled by the internet, customer choice is king, so the real skill is to help busy buyers ‘cut through the noise’.

The DVSA’s own Pacenotes sounded a death-knell for MiDrive. Yes, Pacenotes was poorly received, but it showed the future: the testing agency itself offering a professional, smartphone solution, free. Both DVSA and MiDrive paid third-party designers for the interface. That’s a pricey and potholed road, but DVSA aren't looking for even a slim profit margin here. Staff are expensive and PaceNotes has none, and it sits well in partnership with gov.uk's ‘Find an Instructor’ service. So, why go elsewhere?

Perhaps another big clue is the reception seen with PaceNotes; while ADIs initially carped, no-one seems to have bothered leaving any online comment much after it launched in August.

As a cohort, ADIs are more set in their ways than most. We join this industry not as budding youthful entrepreneurs, but after “regular jobs” have worn us out or let us down. We loathe our admin chores, but dislike someone else’s way of doing it even more. Whether free or subscription, the only app that’ll last is the one you write for yourself and keep tweaking as your own needs change. Fun, if you like that sort of thing, which mostly we don’t. I know, I’ve tried before … and probably will again, but very much simpler.

Lest we forget, the original and ubiquitous BSM almost went under after a century. Times changes, client wants and whims change even faster. Delivery platforms must outpace them all, offer a “one-stop pit-stop” with the emphasis on succinct, quality training rather than route- or progress-tracking.

​MiDrive were lovely to deal with, but the app was over-detailed, with margins too thin in the face of state competition. However good or clever, if you can’t convince more than 10% of us 40,000 ADIs to climb aboard, I seriously doubt any commercial ‘Find An Instructor’ scheme will endure.
0 Comments

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    Archives

    January 2021
    December 2020
    November 2020
    October 2020
    September 2020
    August 2020
    July 2020
    June 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    January 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    October 2019
    September 2019
    July 2019
    June 2019
    May 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    January 2019
    December 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    September 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    July 2016
    May 2016
    February 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    December 2013
    November 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    October 2012
    August 2012

    RSS Feed

    Categories

    All
    Fun
    Grumbles
    Ideas
    Info
    News

    RSS Feed

© 2021 by Tim  (see latest MY NEWS).

Photo used under Creative Commons from loop_oh
  • Lessons
    • Diary
  • Prices
    • Hire
    • Terms
  • Drive!
    • Life
    • Logic
    • Topics
  • Tests
    • Ready
    • Theory
    • Hazards
    • Practical >
      • Centres
      • Routes
      • Advice
      • Car
  • Aids
    • Art
    • Sound
    • Words
    • Sayings
    • Numbers
  • You
    • Your car
    • Your space
    • Your queries
    • Your progress
    • Your comments
    • Your subscription
  • Me
    • My car >
      • Ancillary controls
      • Engine-bay
    • My way
    • My news
    • My photos
    • My vehicles
    • My learning
    • My interests