Stats Show Complexity of Scheduling, Need for Home Service Providers for Online Scheduling Option

June 5, 2012 - PRLog -- Scottsdale, AZ – Appointment-Plus, the worldwide expert in online scheduling software solutions and creator of the scheduling industry’s most flexible and feature-rich application, has announced the findings of a recently-released analysis that shows over 25 different time slot durations utilized by its 5,000-plus clientele base. This fact demonstrates the complexity of scheduling appointments and reservations and affirms the need for home service providers to adopt a configurable scheduling solution that lets them determine their own time-slot increments, not just select them from a small offering of pre-determined times.

The findings show that 15-minute time slots are utilized the most, followed by 30-minute, 60-minute, 10-minute and five-minute. The length of time slots utilized by Appointment-Plus http://www.appointment-plus.com) clients ranges from one minute all the way up to 360 minutes, showcasing the need businesses and organizations have for time-management solutions.

Businesses that especially benefit from customizable time slots include appliance repair, handyman services and landscaping services.

“Not every business schedules 15-minute or 30-minute appointments,” says Bob La Loggia, CEO of Appointment-Plus. “Some may schedule one-minute appointments, while others may have a need to schedule 120-minute blocks of time.

“The ‘One-Size-Fits-All’ model simply does not work when it comes to appointment-scheduling, as these stats clearly show.”

As recently reported by the International Franchise Association, the franchise industry is performing stronger than it did a year ago. That’s good news for home-service franchises such as Spring-Green, Handyman Connection and Mr. Appliance. But as these businesses expand and service appointments continue to increase, so too does the need for a proven scheduling solution that can accommodate their specific and oftentimes varied appointment time durations.

Appointment-Plus business scheduling software gives home service providers the ability to tailor the perfect booking solution by enabling them to select the exact, specific time-slot duration for their appointments and reservations.  This option allows them to keep existing scheduling procedures in place without having to change or comprise them when implementing an online scheduling solution.

Additionally, home service technicians benefit from the software’s instant accessibility from any Internet-connected smartphone, tablet, laptop or other device, which enables them to view and manage their schedules while “on the go”, on-site with their customers, or from any other locale outside their home or office.  

As the best online scheduling solution for all-sized businesses and organizations, Appointment-Plus provides the scheduling industry’s most proven and dependable features and functionality to automate, streamline and simplify the entire scheduling process from start to finish. This includes online self-scheduling, whereby individuals can book their own appointments and reservations from any Internet connection—including mobile scheduling on smartphones and tablets such as the iPad—at any hour of the day; automated e-mail and text message reminders sent prior to a scheduled appointment or reservation time; and robust reporting and record-keeping capabilities.

Especially well-suited for enterprises, franchises, corporations and large and medium-sized businesses, Appointment-Plus offers the most advanced suite of services designed to enhance the unique scheduling needs of these groups. Included in its Scheduling Cloud™ Enterprise Solution are:

• Application programming interface (API) functionality and Web services that allow for seamless integration with existing software systems.
• A highly scalable system that allows organizations to easily accommodate increases in workload, users and growth across numerous locations.
• The most configurable scheduling software system available.
• 24-hour support from its headquarters in Scottsdale, Ariz.
• Dedicated business and support contacts.
• “Turnkey”, existing solutions that are instantly ready to go live.
• Custom graphic user interface (GUI) development.   

In addition to its premier functionality, features, services and customer support, Appointment-Plus also provides the scheduling industry’s most complete collection of plug-ins, integrations and modules to help franchises operate more efficiently and effectively. Among the items featured in its Marketplace are syncs with QuickBooks, Google Calendar and e-marketing service providers Constant Contact, iContact, MailChimp and Vertical Response.

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About Appointment-Plus: Appointment-Plus (http://www.appointment-plus.com) is the worldwide leader in online scheduling solutions for growing businesses, enterprises, higher education, government and logistics.  With over 15 million end-users and 80 million appointments booked since its inception in 2001, Appointment-Plus is one of the fastest growing cloud-based services in the world. Headquartered in Scottsdale, Ariz., organizations ranging in size from Fortune 500 companies to small businesses use Appointment-Plus to book an average of 3 million appointments monthly.