Engageware announced the acquisition of Aivo, a provider of conversational and generative AI technology. According to Engageware, the acquisition will extend their platform capabilities to help financial institutions, wealth and asset management firms, insurance brokers…
Yelp Guest Manager now supports Reserve with Google, which allows diners to make a reservation or join a waitlist online with restaurants in Yelp’s network directly from Google Search and Google Maps. Reserve with Google…
Topline Pro, a Generative AI platform enabling home services professionals to manage and scale their businesses online, announced $12 million in new Series A capital. Forerunner Ventures led the investment along with support from Bonfire…
The U.S. Government’s Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced more available appointments for noncitizens through their CBP One app to 1,450 per day, a 45% increase from May 2023. The CBP One App is positioned…
Zocdoc, an online service that allows people to find and book in-person or telemedicine appointments, has announced its partnership with Elation Health, a clinical-first healthcare technology company powering innovation in primary care. According to the…
Engageware announced the launch of Peer Analytics for bank and credit union customers, allowing their customers to do benchmarking against similar-sized financial institutions. Engageware’s solution will use appointment scheduling historical data such as: Pre-scheduled appointments…
- Credit card holds with customizable policies: Restaurant owners can set credit card holds with policies for weekends, holidays, or special events, as well as customize what and when customers are charged for no shows or late cancellations.
- Advanced reservation planning updates: Enables customized reservation settings, from diner reminders to host notifications, and allows staff to easily search for upcoming reservations by guest’s name or phone number, making it easy to view, update or edit the reservation stat. Hosts can also now more easily plan upcoming reservations with Reservation Timeline, allowing them to smoothly accommodate walk-ins and reservation guests during service.
- Improved table and floor management: New Table Suggestions ease FOH staff workload by auto-assigning each reservation based on party requirements, table size, and availability. It also warns hosts of scheduling conflicts, to prevent overbooking. Updated easy drag-and-drop features allow hosts to easily seat parties, combine, or change tables without extra taps.
- Shift management improvements: New shift management features enable team leads to better prepare FOH staff based on the daily needs of the restaurant. New functionality includes the ability to build weekly recurring schedules, create one-off shifts for special days, and manage cover flow in advance to prepare for guests before their arrival.
The TASBIA™ Bottom Line
Yelp is now increasing their work with third parties to give their restaurant customers access to a larger consumer network. This is in contrast to their early strategy of being a standalone network that competed both directly and indirectly with Google and other reservation systems. In 2020, Yelp showed it's first decline in annual net revenue, seeing a 14 percent decrease from 2019. Since that time, the company has worked to increase revenue through both new features, and moving beyond the "go it alone" strategic approach that had made it successful early on. See Blog entry What’s new with Yelp for Business [post_title] => Yelp for Restaurants adds Reserve With Google Support [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => yelp-for-restaurants-adds-reserve-with-google-support [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2023-08-12 10:37:26 [post_modified_gmt] => 2023-08-12 14:37:26 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://tasbia.com/?p=2822 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [2] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 2827 [post_author] => 2 [post_date] => 2023-07-31 08:03:18 [post_date_gmt] => 2023-07-31 12:03:18 [post_content] => Topline Pro, a Generative AI platform enabling home services professionals to manage and scale their businesses online, announced $12 million in new Series A capital. Forerunner Ventures led the investment along with support from Bonfire Ventures, TMV and BBG Ventures. In all, the company has raised $17 million. The Topline solution provide tools and resources for businesses to build an online presence via websites, including the ability to offer customers online scheduling and payment options. The solution also provides support for social media and advertisements, reviews and photos. The new cash infusion will enable Topline to increase headcount in the areas of engineering, product, customer success, marketing and sales from now to the end of 2023; expand on its generative AI capabilities; and continue product development. Nick Ornitz, co-founder and CEO stated “We will continue to focus on our mission to help the more than 5 million home service small businesses in the U.S. succeed by democratizing the key building blocks of running a home service business. Ultimately, by operationalizing the overhead and back end, we enable pros to focus more on their craft, which is why they got into the industry in the first place. In the next year, we are racing toward our first $1 billion in job value generated for home services businesses via Topline Pro.”The TASBIA™ Bottom Line
Topline is competing in an increasingly crowded space. For example, Honey Homes raised capital in June for a subscription-based handyman-on-demand service. Finli, a mobile-first payment management provider and Zuper, a provider of productivity tools for field service management and customer engagement, also compete in the space. In addition, Fuzey offers a “digital one-stop shop” for small businesses and independent contractors, while Puls Technologies, provides a mobile app connecting tradespeople with on-demand home repair services. All of these companies attracted venture capital in recent years. The home services category grew 18% in 2021 and another 10% in 2022 due to homeowners spending more time at home during the pandemic See Topline Pro grabs $12M in new capital to help home service businesses get discovered [post_title] => Topline Pro raises $12M in new capital in home service businesses market [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => topline-pro-raises-12m-in-new-capital-in-home-service-businesses-market [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2023-08-15 08:22:03 [post_modified_gmt] => 2023-08-15 12:22:03 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://tasbia.com/?p=2827 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [3] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 2870 [post_author] => 2 [post_date] => 2023-06-30 05:30:01 [post_date_gmt] => 2023-06-30 09:30:01 [post_content] => The U.S. Government's Customs and Border Protection (CBP) announced more available appointments for noncitizens through their CBP One app to 1,450 per day, a 45% increase from May 2023. [caption id="attachment_2815" align="alignleft" width="164"] CBP One App[/caption] The CBP One App is positioned as a “safe, orderly, and humane lawful process” for noncitizens noncitizens to access ports of entry, where CBP Officers receive advance information for screening and vetting. However, the app has been criticized as being complicated, and not consistently opening or freezing. Migrant rights activists also say the app is still rife with problems, including its lack of language options. Users have also complained about the facial recognition technology, with some users with darker complexions saying that the app does not capture their facial image, blocking them from even being able to register through the app. According to CBP, from May 12 through June 23 more than 49,000 noncitizens entered border ports of entry through scheduled CBP One™ appointments, while unlawful entries between ports of entry declined by 64 percent. Noncitizens can schedule appointments CBP One™ using a two-step process: they first request appointments at any point during a 23-hour period each day and, if allocated an appointment, have another 23-hour period to confirm that appointment. The app allocates the majority of appointments randomly to those who requested an appointment at each port of entry. The remainder are allocated to the requestors with the oldest accounts who have been waiting the longest for an appointment.The TASBIA™ Bottom Line
On October 28, 2020, U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) launched the CBP One™ mobile application on the Apple App and Google Play stores. The app is now the mandatory method to apply for asylum, which puts significant pressure on the system to work well under challenging circumstances. Although the goal of the app is to provide a streamlined and fairer system, the app has raised privacy, discrimination and surveillance concerns. Amnesty International is concerned that facial recognition and GPS technologies, along with cloud storage, are used to collect data on asylum seekers before they enter the US. The use of appointment scheduling technology is generally a positive trend for many governmental agencies, but combining this with Personally Identifiable Information (PII) puts the onus on the government to use this information responsibly. See Press Release "CBP One Appointments Increased to 1,450 Per Day" [post_title] => CBP Expands Appointment Scheduling Program [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => cbp-expands-appointment-scheduling-program [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2024-04-02 05:44:07 [post_modified_gmt] => 2024-04-02 09:44:07 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://tasbia.com/?p=2870 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [4] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 2805 [post_author] => 2 [post_date] => 2023-06-22 12:39:31 [post_date_gmt] => 2023-06-22 16:39:31 [post_content] => Zocdoc, an online service that allows people to find and book in-person or telemedicine appointments, has announced its partnership with Elation Health, a clinical-first healthcare technology company powering innovation in primary care. According to the press announcement, healthcare practices using Elation EHR can seamlessly integrate their calendar with Zocdoc to surface real-time appointment availability. This leverages the Zocdoc portal so that when a patient books an appointment through Zocdoc with a provider using Elation, Zocdoc adds the appointment to the provider's schedule in Elation. "We are supporting a primary care led future where providers have the choice to maintain their independence, and Zocdoc is an important tool for improving patient access, allowing practices to efficiently reach new patients and maintain schedule density," said Kyna Fong, Ph.D., Co-founder and CEO of Elation Health. "We have already seen tremendous enthusiasm from our customers, and momentum among new practices about our partnership with Zocdoc." "At Zocdoc, we are unifiers at our core, and we are proud to partner with Elation to offer our shared customers and the patients they serve a seamless, fully integrated scheduling experience," said Zocdoc founder and CEO Oliver Kharraz, MD. "At a time when demands on primary care providers are greater than ever, we look forward to helping the tens of thousands of clinicians that use Elation more efficiently reach new patients and more effectively manage their patient flow."The TASBIA™ Bottom Line
Elation is the most recent EHR platform to partner with Zocdoc with a portfolio of 24,000 practices serving 12 million patients. Zocdoc's partnership with Elation is critical to expanding their network as they strive to become the single connection to multiple EHR systems. Zocdoc has raised over $375 million as of February 2023, and continues to use its growth financing—including $150 million from Francisco Partners—to complete more integrations. The company claims to have more than 150 calendar integrations that aggregate real-time appointment availability for their marketplace. The Zocdoc app also manages reviews from verified users, and provides reminders for upcoming appointments and preventive checkups. See Press Release [post_title] => Zocdoc Announces Online Scheduling Partnership with Elation Health EHR [post_excerpt] => [post_status] => publish [comment_status] => closed [ping_status] => closed [post_password] => [post_name] => zocdoc-announces-online-scheduling-partnership-with-elation-health-ehr [to_ping] => [pinged] => [post_modified] => 2023-06-23 12:45:56 [post_modified_gmt] => 2023-06-23 16:45:56 [post_content_filtered] => [post_parent] => 0 [guid] => https://tasbia.com/?p=2805 [menu_order] => 0 [post_type] => post [post_mime_type] => [comment_count] => 0 [filter] => raw ) [5] => WP_Post Object ( [ID] => 2800 [post_author] => 2 [post_date] => 2023-03-07 09:39:17 [post_date_gmt] => 2023-03-07 14:39:17 [post_content] => Engageware announced the launch of Peer Analytics for bank and credit union customers, allowing their customers to do benchmarking against similar-sized financial institutions. Engageware’s solution will use appointment scheduling historical data such as:- Pre-scheduled appointments per location vs. peer average
- Walk-in appointments per location vs. peer average
- Total appointment volume per location vs. peer average