If you own a business which relies on a steady stream of customer appointments, such as a hair salon, auto body shop, or pet groomer, you know that scheduling these appointments can take up an inordinate amount of valuable time. While the process of sending emails, playing phone tag and reminding customers of their appointments is necessary to keep your business going, it can also take you away from doing the day-to-day work of growing your business.
To streamline and simplify the booking process for your staff and your customers, Microsoft Bookings was developed. Unveiled in 2016, Bookings is an online and mobile app available with Office 365. This powerful scheduling tool was made specifically to assist in day to day operations for businesses whose operations involve scheduling customer appointments.
What is Microsoft 365?
Microsoft Office 365, with over 100 million subscribers, is one of the most trusted cloud-based services available. The products offered in Office 365 are based on the subscription purchased. Microsoft Bookings is included as part of the Microsoft Office 365 Business Premium subscription plan, which offers an email account, Microsoft Office apps for PCs, tablets, and phones as well as a variety of additional features and products.
Do I Already Have Microsoft Bookings?
Customers who have Office 365 Business Premium, Office 365 A3 or Office 365 A5 subscriptions will see Bookings automatically. Customers who have Office 365 Enterprise E3 and E5 have Bookings but it must be activated by the user in order to be utilized.
What Can Microsoft Bookings Do For Me?
*Customers schedule appointments on a unique bookings page, which looks professional on both larger screens and mobile devices. This page can reside on your own website or on your Facebook page, allowing clients to directly book appointments 24 hours a day. The web page is simple and intuitive for the user. First, the customer selects the service they need. Then, based on the availability provided by the business, the customer chooses an available day and time, provides their contact information and completes the appointment booking. In the event an appointment needs to be canceled or rescheduled, the app offers self-service changes as well.
* To help to minimize no- shows, the Bookings app will send an email confirmation to the customer upon booking, and will also add the appointment to their calendar. Bookings will also give business owners the opportunity to set up a reminder email, which is sent to the client at a set time prior to the appointment.
* There are a series of web-based pages which are solely business facing. On these pages, business owners can record customer preferences, manage personnel rosters and schedules, define services and pricing schedules and set business hours. These pages may be customized to the business needs.
* Business owners can also see and access all of their bookings, lists and customer information via a business facing mobile app. All customer bookings are visible in a centralized calendar, giving the business owner a comprehensive view of upcoming appointments. They can reschedule, cancel or re-assign any existing booking, as well as manually enter a new booking.
When running a small business, streamlining repetitive tasks can make a huge difference in the productivity and efficiency of your operation. If you are looking for ways to save time and make your business run more smoothly, Microsoft Bookings may be just the tool you were waiting for.
For more information on this and other great tools and services for your network and infrastructure, contact Alliance IT. We are proud to help Sarasota and Venice area businesses become faster, safer and more efficient.
