> View this now

Published on: June 10, 2009
Type of content: WHITE PAPER
Format: Unknown
Length: 16 pages
Price: FREE

Overview:
Scheduling appointments is nothing new. According to the U.S. Department of State, the service economy represents nearly 70% of U.S. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and many of these services begin with an appointment. What is new is how large organizations are leveraging the Internet to offer online self-service appointment scheduling to their customers.

Organizations are using specialized enterprise software designed exclusively for scheduling and managing thousands, even millions, of appointments per year. A new class of software from companies such as TimeTrade Systems applies the latest Web and IVR (Interactive Voice Response) technology to transform appointment scheduling into a real-time process with central control, sophisticated rules-based resource allocation, and customer self-service.

Organizations deploying Enterprise Appointment Scheduling (EAS) software are able to book more appointments through their existing resources, thereby increasing customer throughput without increasing service staff. In addition, EAS software is significantly reducing costs associated with legacy methods of taking appointments, particularly paper-based methods and live-agent call centers.

This document is designed for a project leader or business consultant tasked with developing the business case for customer self-service appointment scheduling using EAS software.