- The wait list management system is very manual, inefficient, and time consuming. All the centers used a number of large binders with individual sheets for each kid on the wait list. Assistant Directors spent a lot of time on a regular basis shifting sheets within binders to update the age and wait list for each age range, and making phone calls to several parents to see who is still waiting for a spot once one opens up.
- The wait list is longest for infants because of the very limited number of babies that each center can accommodate.
- Most, but not all daycare centers, charge a fee to enter the wait list (about $150).
- While most of the employees in charge of managing the wait list agree that the process is cumbersome, time-consuming and far from optimal, we anticipate resistance to change because they have always worked this way and they feel they have it under control.
- While wait list managers would appreciate a more automated system and better communication with parents, they want to remain in full control of what the parents can see about their wait list.
- To persuade daycare owners and top executives of the value of automating the wait list process, it will be necessary to quantify the time and resources that are currently being wasted due to the inefficiency of the process.
A disappointing surprise:
- We had focused on interviews mainly and had limited time to do research online. Once we searched for current CRM and wait list solutions for daycare centers, we easily found dozens of CRM solutions and at least 3 of them included wait list solutions.
What's next then?
- It was still interesting and intriguing that none of the daycare centers we interviewed is currently using the available software for wait lists. We need to find out why that is, what we can do differently to make our product successful, if it is still viable at all.
- If the reason is that decision-makers don't see the value of automated wait list management, we need to quantify such value
No comments:
Post a Comment