7shifts is a restaurant workforce and scheduling management application, which also features collaboration features, from the Canadian company of the same name.
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Calendly
Score 9.0 out of 10
N/A
Calendly is appointment scheduling software from the company of the same name in Atlanta, Georgia. Calendly is available via a free plan that allows users to book unlimited 1:1 appointments. Paid plans, starting at $8 per month enable meetings with multiple invitees, a customizable appointment page, and more advanced integrations than those available on the free plan. The Pro plan includes appointment reminders, and follow up workflows. Calendly's more recently launched enterprise plan (launched…
7Shifts is ideal for a broad number of restaurant clients, whether it is a single unit, independent location or multi-unit, multi-jurisdiction group like ours. Pricing is very reasonable, and as mentioned earlier, a lightweight and intuitive platform makes it easy to implement and maintain, and scalable for growth
Calendly is perfect for anyone scheduling appointments. We use this for sales appointments, but I see it fitting very well for service industries such as massage, hair, and even coaching. Calendly integrates with any and all calendars and gives you the freedom to set your schedule and let your clients pick their times. You can set up custom meeting times, names, descriptions etc. The range of possibilities is very wide and is extremely user-friendly.
Automation - With Calendly, everything is automated. I do not need to be informed before a meeting is scheduled with me, neither do I need to put calls across or send emails to cancel appointments. Calendly simply does the running around for me.
Reminders - In a business environment, it’s so easy for one to forget scheduled activity. However, Calendly ensures this doesn’t happen with me . Thanks to its notification reminders, which ensures I am always abreast with what I need to do next.
Re-scheduling - Calendly makes it so easy for myself or the other party to cancel scheduled appointments and postpone to a more convenient date.
When creating schedules I wish there was a way to remember the last schedule you were on instead of ordering them in alphabetical order.
When working on a schedule, again when you revisit it, it alphabetizes the employees instead of keeping them in the order you add them. This is pertinent for our business because we're reservation-based and work off of a rotating schedule where the lowest ones are called off if there are not enough reservations.
I mentioned collaborative events. You can only set this up for people who are all users inside your account. So even if I have a partner who uses Calendly under his own company account, I don't think I can make a shared event with him.
Also mentioned already, this isn't a con of the product but a user issue: If you make openings, people will book. So you HAVE TO be disciplined and get everything on your calendar or someone will slip in a booking when you were planning to go to lunch, etc.
I gave Calendly an 8 because overall I think it is very much user friendly even for someone who has never used anything similar. The only issue I have had with usability is what I already stated about how the settings are in sub categories making some things difficult to find at first.
I would say everyone at our store really appreciates the fact that we have 7shifts. We would be lost with out it. It would be hard to find anyone that does not support the software.
I only reached out to Support once but they were very prompt and easy to work with. I had some questions about setting up the follow-up emails for after people would do the interview. They were very helpful and gave assistance and we solved the issue very fast. I would definitely recommend.
For me, 7Shifts has the same amount of functionality, but for a much better price. The app functionality of 7shifts was easier to navigate and allowed me to do more than HotSchedules. I've recommended it to several other local businesses who have implemented it as well and had great luck.
Square Appointments I like it as well it just doesn't have the robust ability that Calendly does. Personally, if there were an ability to do that, Square Appointments could give Calendly a run for their money for their own customers. I don't see how they could move the compete with customers that aren't theirs. Not only do I personally use Calendly but I see it all the time in my business email. It is literally few seconds to schedule. When I see Calendly, I am relieved immediately. That is how easy it is to understand their platform.
Positive: Less call outs/ and missed communication due to internal conversations that were never communicated. For example, employees tell manager A they are not coming but Manager A does not tell manage B and C.
Positive: Manager log book has helped multiple departments stay in touch and on the pulse of the floor operation. Departments like HR, events, reservations, AP/ AR, etc. are not empowered to be more proactive
Labor and sales are tracked and can be forecasted which has helps us schedule SMARTER
