Insights

Like most of us, Dan Moore and his team at Vaporware have spent the last few weeks attending the numerous virtual events that have popped up replacing traditional in-person and networking events. However, one in particular stands out. 

At the Raleigh Chamber of Commerce’s small business roundtable, their team heard concerns from fellow small business owners about how to keep both their employees and customers safe during the state’s phased re-opening. Dan had personally experienced a streamlined process at a larger, local organization where he was able to wait in his car until notified by an appointment scheduling system that he could enter. Which sparked an idea: what if that system could be scaled and improved upon for small businesses?

Enter Awaiting.

Awaiting is a wait-list for businesses that allows you to manage your building capacity limits, protect your teams from crowds, and provide a safe experience for your customers. 

Vaporware’s two goals in the creation of Awaiting were simplicity and accessibility.  

Simplicity — customers text your unique phone number with their name alerting you of their arrival. Their name and number are added to your business’s digital queue. When you’re ready for them to enter, simply press a button and they’ll receive an automatic text message letting them know. 

Accessibility — there’s no app download required of customers. They can simply text a phone number to be added to the list, meaning a smart phone is not required.

This simplicity and accessibility applies to the businesses using Awaiting as well. Thanks to their partnership with other local company, Bandwidth, you can go to Awaiting’s website, enter your area code and business name, and be up and running with a unique phone number within 15 minutes.

Awaiting officially launched on June 5th and already has five customers using the product including medical offices, restaurants, and food service locations. But Awaiting’s purpose goes beyond the functionality goals.

“We thankfully received the PPP grant, so wanted to spend some of our time focused on creating something that would continue to help other businesses that are hurting,” Dan said.

“Thanks to our lean mindset and local connections we were able to do a lot in a short amount of time. From an initial idea to actual customers in just two weeks is always a challenge, but we’re energized by initial interest that this is solving a real global challenge.”

“We’d love to expand the system or build another that can help in different ways. Share your challenges with us and we can try to find a way to solve them!”        

Keep your staff and customers safe with Awaiting by going to their website and signing up for a free 14-day trial: https://awaiting.app/