US ‘virtual receptionists’ give booking firm a call
APPOINTEDD, an online booking system for meetings, appointments and resources such as meeting rooms, has announced a deal with the world’s biggest network of serviced offices, Alliance Business Centers Network.
Founder Leah Hutcheon said the deal is potentially worth ‘multi-millions’ as US-based Alliance, which has 700 serviced offices globally, will use Appointedd’s technology for its ‘virtual receptionists’ as well as market it to its 500,000 clients.
Hutcheon, who has a team of 12 in Edinburgh, claimed Appointedd is ‘the world’s only multi-time zone online booking platform’. She said: ‘Cross-time zone booking feels like the final frontier in terms of things that have not yet been revolutionised by technology. People are still Googling time zones and working out time differences. In the US, doing domestic business is often across time zones.’
She described the deal as a ‘step change’ for the firm, which was launched in 2014, and said it could lift sales by up to £20million over three years.
She said: ‘It is something we have been working towards. It feels like a coming of age to have a large global player actively search for this technology.’
Appointedd customers can plug the booking app into their website or Facebook page and customers can see availability in their own time zone.
She said: ‘Small firms can also send text messages. A salon, for example, could see their daily percentage occupancy and could arrange to text everyone who has not come in for more than two months with an offer.’