Product & Feature
How online appointment booking is set to transform entire industries in 2021
18 January, 2021
In 2020, over 30 million appointments were booked using TIMIFY.
TIMIFY
TIMIFY is an appointment scheduling and resource management software for teams and enterprises
In 2020, over 30 million appointments were booked using TIMIFY.
Of course, a key factor in this huge number is the COVID-19 pandemic. Many businesses have been forced to switch their service model to appointment-only in order to survive.
But we believe a majority of customers will never look back after the pandemic, finding an online appointment booking system becomes a core feature of an efficient and forward-thinking business.
Even those who have not embraced an online booking system, or plan to return to traditional booking methods after COVID, may find that their industry as a whole has changed for good.
Industries revolutionised by online booking
Rapid change has happened before, where a combination of factors has driven an industry to reinvent itself based on online appointment booking.
- Travel – vastly increased accessibility to the internet and the arrival of low-cost airlines made foreign travel viable to all, resulting in an explosion of demand. The industry is now built almost entirely on online booking, and the only survivors of the traditional travel agencies have been those who embraced the change
- Hospitality – widespread internet access made every hotel, B&B, campsite and spare room discoverable by consumers across the globe. Instant online reservations soon followed and, with the evolution of secure online payments and consumer reviews, the industry has been revolutionised
- Entertainment events – easy travel booking no doubt shifted expectations around waiting in line to book tickets for cinemas, concerts and theatre shows, and the industry quickly transitioned to online booking
- Online shopping – it may not be typical appointment booking, but when considered as a form of online resource management with a purchase as a type of booking, (including a delivery time or in-store pick up), online shopping may be the biggest online booking revolution of them all.
What is happening now?
Some of the most visible transformations currently occurring are where online booking is being used for services based on face-to-face appointments and consultations, to reduce queues.
- Healthcare:
One of TIMIFY’s biggest projects for 2021 is providing online appointment booking to assist in the safe roll out of Coronavirus vaccines to millions of people across multiple countries.
As well as national vaccination programmes, our software will be used by GPs and private practices for localised vaccinations and fast testing projects.
This is indicative of change occurring across the healthcare sector, with medical practices increasingly switching to online appointment management to improve efficiency and reduce the risk of infection in busy waiting rooms.
- Public sector:
Likewise, governmental departments in numerous countries are shedding reputations for long wait times and disorganised, outdated booking methods in favour of digital systems.
As the retail industry, the public sector is benefitting from TIMIFY’s digital queuing feature, which allows both pre-booked appointments and drop-in visitors to be managed in one simple and fair system.
- Retail:
- High Street retailers are using pre-booked appointments to deliver personalised shopping services, adding unique, in-store experiences to sit alongside e-commerce strategies.
- Finance:
The financial sector, particularly those areas providing advice, are offering greater convenience with online booking for face-to-face appointments, but also by adding video conferencing to consultations. During the pandemic this has proven valuable to such an extent, it will likely remain as an option for many businesses.
- Smaller organisations
For smaller organisations – everything from barbers and therapists to gyms, restaurants and even booking a visit to Santa or the Three Kings – a simple and accessible online booking system has been a factor in staying operational during COVID, but may well improve their business model long-term.
What will work for my business?
A common factor in transforming all the industries above is when the adoption of reliable and effective technology becomes affordable and accessible for everyone from sole traders to multinational corporations.
This is the key role of TIMIFY.
Our three levels of usage, from the free-of-charge TIMIFY Classic to the multi-featured TIMIFY Enterprise, make powerful, scalable and reliable online appointment management viable for any business.
Our software has evolved to include the scheduling of video conferencing, bookings for group events, full resource management, smart synchronisation across devices and business locations and a huge library of features built around specific business requirements.
As the boost in usage of TIMIFY in 2020 shows, while online appointment booking is becoming crucial to a much wider variety of industries, our software has the solutions for any kind of enterprise.
Try TIMIFY today
Visit our website to try out any of our TIMIFY plans free of charge and test the benefits for your business. Contact our team for help on how best to get an edge over competitors or which features will enhance your customer experience.
