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Name: SkedgeMe
Quick Pitch: SkedgeMe lets other people see your calendar and schedule appointments with you online.
Genius Idea: Small businesses, consultants, freelancers, busy parents, public figures, harried journalists — everyone could use a good scheduling application. A slew of personal calendar apps exist, but when it comes to simply and quickly letting other people automate scheduling meetings with you, it can be difficult to find a truly user-friendly application.
Here’s a demo video showing how to use the app:
SkedgeMe has a colorful, simple interface that’s intuitive enough for even novice Internet users. The company has also set up tiered pricing for businesses of any size, from personal use to enterprise. Businesses can select plans with any number of calendars, and most plans can be previewed in a free 30-day trial. Education and nonprofit groups can get special discounts, too.
We test drove the personal system, and we were impressed with the app. SkedgeMe can sync Google and Outlook calendars with the SkedgeMe calendar. It also provides certain kinds of intelligence, such as team members’ hours or a business’s most popular services.
An option to connect the calendar to Facebook is coming within the week, we’ve been told by the app’s creators. In the era of social media marketing, small businesses are doing more and more outreach and customer loyalty initiatives on Facebook; connecting the app to Facebook friends, fans and events is a smart idea.
Another cool coming-soon feature is the ability to embed the SkedgeMe calendar directly onto your website; at that point, customers of your business will not have to individually and independently sign up for SkedgeMe to use the calendar to set appointments with you.
We can see this app working very well for doctors’ offices, small consultancies, beauty salons or spas, distributed teams and many other kinds of small businesses, especially once the new features roll out and the contact import system becomes easier to use; we look forward to seeing the features SkedgeMe will release later this month.
What do you think of this app so far? If you’re a small business owner, would you use it to help manage your schedule?
Sponsored by Microsoft BizSpark
BizSpark is a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.
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Reviews: Facebook, Google, Internet, PHP, Twitter
Tags: calendar, scheduling, small business
