We are making it even easier to get a license. From September 23rd through October 31st, we will be transitioning to a new software system. While the new system will make an even better customer experience, we may hit a couple of speed bumps along the way. We appreciate your patience while we make these upgrades. We will do our best to make the transition smooth and seamless. Here’s a note from our CEO about the changes:
18 years ago, my dad and I launched The Next Street Driving School.
My family has been in the transportation business for three generations, and in 2009 we had the opportunity to expand into driver education. I was 24 at the time, and the school we took over was operating in just a couple of Connecticut locations and didn’t know much about anything. But our philosophy was simple from the start: do right by our customers, do right by our staff, and the rest will sort itself out.
I’m 42 now, bald, getting fatter, and still don’t know a ton about a lot. But I am especially proud of the company that we have built here. Today, The Next Street operates in more than 80 locations from Greenwich, Connecticut to Greater Boston. Our team has grown to nearly 200 people across the region. We are a wildly diverse group, but we are all connected by a passion for education and a genuine belief that we can make the roads safer by teaching people the right way.
Over the next six weeks, we will go through the biggest technology overhaul of my career.
For years, we have relied on an outside system to manage our shopping cart, scheduling, student records, and day-to-day operations. That system helped us grow, but it has not kept up with who we are today or the level of service we expect to provide. Our brand promise is to make it easy to get a license, and the truth is that our technology has too often made that harder than it should be.
That is what we are changing.
This new system is not just a fresh look or a minor upgrade. It is a complete overhaul of the way we operate behind the scenes, and it is designed to help us serve our customers better across the entire organization.
I also fully realize that a driving school technology launch is exciting to exactly four people, and they all work here. But what should matter to our customers is what this system will allow us to improve, especially around scheduling.
We hear you. We know scheduling has been the biggest pain point for many of our students and families. This new system gives us the foundation to build smarter, stronger, more flexible scheduling tools so that we can better match students with the appointments they need, in the places and times that work for them.
There is a lot of nerd-level work behind this: data, automation, optimization, testing, security, and plenty of code-level nonsense that no customer should ever have to care about. So I will spare you all of that and say this instead: we know what needs to get better, and this launch is a major step toward making it happen.
This has been a carefully planned technology launch, supported by our team and outside professionals focused on functionality, security, and stability. We want it to go flawlessly. We also know that with any launch of this size, there will likely be bumps, bruises, and a few surprises along the way.
When issues come up, our team will be all hands on deck. We will fix problems quickly, communicate as clearly as we can, and keep moving forward.
We are grateful for your patience, your trust, and your feedback. Most of all, we are grateful that you have chosen The Next Street to be part of such an important milestone.
This is a big turning of the page for our company, and I truly believe the next chapter will be our best one yet.
With gratitude,
Brandon Dufour
Founder & CEO
The Next Street
