Columbus, Texas, a town of 3,600 people goes mobile with an iPhone and Android app developed by BarZ Mobile Development.

 

Columbus, Texas is a gem of a small town. The downtown area has beautiful late 1800 buildings that the Columbus Historical Preservation Trust is dedicated to preserve.  In the 1800’s this was a wealth ranching community.

 

The Preservation Trust and the Chamber had a problem. They had a broken driving tour using outdated FM transmitters. The equipment was failing and there wasn’t a replacement in the market. They needed another way to tell their story of these graceful old buildings.

 

Billy Kahn, Executive Director of the Columbus Chamber and Visitors Bureau, proposed using a mobile app as an alternative to the current system. He took his idea to his board, then to city council and received approval. Bar Z Mobile Development was selected to be his mobile development vendor.

 

The immediate objective was to replace a broken driving tour but the end product does so much more.  BarZ Mobile worked directly with the Chamber’s CRM vendor, Chamber Master, to create an API which allows for real time update of chamber members, events and news.  This mobile solution has a robust driving tour, all of the city events, and nearly 350 chamber members listed in a directory. You will find where to eat, drink, stay and things to do all on this wonderful app.  All chamber members are listed with a business listing.

 

One nice feature is that with the BarZ system you can update and change your content whenever you want.

 

Tourists coming to Columbus are older and some are reluctant to download an app. “We urge tourists to use the app and we created a rack card with a QR code so that downloading the app is simple and easy.  We also created a short link that takes the user directly to the Apple App Store and the Google Play store and put these links on our web site to make it easy for people to load.  “We have had a lot of positive feedback from the tourists using the app.”  “We are pleased with the end product” said Mr. Kahn.

 

So if you find yourself on I10 and Highway 71, pull off the highway and visit Columbus, TX. You will see an Opera House built in 1886, the County Courthouse, the Stafford House. the Santa Claus Museum home to over 4,000 figurines and a whole lot more in historic downtown Columbus, TX.

 

 

Billy Kahn, Executive Director

Columbus Chamber Commerce

execdir@columbustexas.org

 

 

 

Lee Little, CEO

BarZ Mobile Development

512-970-9566

lee.little@bar-z.com