Communico Founder & CEO Paul Quelch hosted our first webinar of the year, sharing details about the product road map and some previews of work already in development.
This town hall style approach was introduced to supplement the in-person visits we've been unable to have as a result of the pandemic cancelling conferences and curtailing travel. These opportunities to meet with customers to get feedback, learn about their upcoming plans and discuss how Communico could support them was always a valued part of our conference experience.
To help offset this, the webinar included a lengthy Q&A session with customers in attendance as well as a number of comments submitted in advance. There was a great range of questions submitted, covering the updates shared during the webinar as well as other functionalities across the entire platform and enhancement requests.
We've compiled Paul's responses along with some added input from our CTO, Chris Hobden, below after the replay. As always, we'll be posting to the blog as they are completed and are live on the platform. Be sure to subscribe for updates using the field at the top right of this post.
Fortunately webinar attendees enjoyed themselves as much as we did as feedback about the session has been overwhelmingly positive. We look forward to hosting another virtual open house in April.
Webinar recorded: Wednesday, 1/20/2021
Q&A
SCHEDULE
Q. Is it possible to change an appointment for a patron to another day and not just another time on the same day?
A. Not currently but we’re looking into how patrons may do that. We’ve added the ability for patrons to cancel their appointments and are now looking into letting them modify their appointments however I cannot share details about when that may be available.
Q. Enhancement Request: Is it possible to include a way for patrons to easily notify the library when they arrive?
A. Yes, we’re exploring push notifications in the app at the moment and if we have that in the app, how it can also be done in the reverse. We explored this when we initially launched Schedule but did not get a universal answer or consensus on the preferred approach though we continue to evaluate it. For example, we can have a digital signage product or channel internal in the branch that tells you when patrons arrive, integrate a notification feature within Roam or for patrons that don’t have the app, use text messages with a library card number of reference number to trigger the notification. So as you can tell we’ve looked into it and are continuing to look into it and just want to determine what approach or use case will work best for our libraries.
Q. Enhancement Request: Can you add an “Add to Calendar” link in the confirmation emails?
A. Yes, we will add this to the dev queue.
Q. Enhancement Request: We’re hoping for a way to let staff delete appointments without triggering an email to the customer.
A. We're currently doing work to allow custom workflows and the changes there will give you more ability to manage an appointment as it moves between stages and do what we call “Action Plans”. Additionally, you’ll be able to skip functionality, so for this example when you delete an appointment the action would be flagged to not notify a patron.
ATTEND
Q. Enhancement Request – Can you add a feature that allows staff to switch from the default confirmation or reminder email to a custom one?
A. This is something we’ve looked at, though it wouldn’t necessarily override the template but instead let you add to it. You’d create a standard template and then within Attend, Reserve and Schedule there’d be a section for you to add additional text. I do not have an ETA on this as it is currently under discussion.
Q. Enhancement Request – Can you add a feature in the Event Detail so the patron can tell, just from looking at the calendar, if the event is part of a series?
A. Yes, that is something we can look into. We should be able to let them know if there is a series and potentially also if they need to sign up for the full series or not.
ENGAGE
Q. Can you give any sense of when the new app design will be ready? How can our library get it implemented?
A. We expect to start working with our first beta customer shortly. Beta testing will be conducted with libraries across multiple ILS providers and take roughly four weeks from their start, though that is dependent on the outcome of testing. Once we’ve completed beta testing, we’ll do a webinar entirely focused on the app and the new features as well as your options for building your next version and the onboarding process. This webinar will tentatively take place in late March. There will be much more choice and availability from a design perspective as well as new features. There will be an implementation questionnaire made available and we’ll build it on a first-come first-served basis. It will be built in TestFlight so you can test the app and share with stakeholders and then only once you have approved and signed off will it be put in the app store..
Q. Do we have to change to the new app?
A. No. As part of the new process we’re actually updating onto a new platform with updated versions of the technology already in place. Everyone will be migrated onto the new platform, but you can keep the app looking the same way as it currently is and without turning on any new features if you choose to do so. Or you can turn on some of those new features while keeping the app looking the same.
Q. Will the multiple account view allow us to see a merged view of all items checked out (such as a parent seeing all the items their child has checked out) or will we need to toggle between the accounts?
A. At present you would toggle between the accounts. You’ll have a main account and then be able to swipe to see the other account(s) and make actions within that account. At present there is not a plan for a merged view.
Q. Is there a limit to how many languages can get added to the app?
A. There is no limit though there will be a price for each additional language.
Q. Will libraries be able to put in their own Spanish language content, or will we need to use an automatic translation provided by Communico?
A. This would be powered by a translation that you provide to us.
Q. For Communico Classics, is there any additional fee to add the new titles?
A. No. Communico Classics was added to the app at no charge, and these additional 6,000 books will not have a charge either. We could turn them all on immediately however we know libraries want the ability to select which titles are added so we are currently building an interface to support that. You’ll then be able to add as many of the 6,000 titles as you’d like at no charge. And just like the original release, these titles will be available for unlimited, simultaneous use copies that may be downloaded and read within the app’s native eReader so the reading experience is within the library's app and there is no need to download something else to read.
Q. Will changing the design of my app cause any service interruptions to our patrons?
A. No. We will build a separate version of your app within TestFlight so you can experience and test it yourself, very similar to how we built your app in the first instance. Once you’re happy with the look and feel we will then upload it to the app store and the patron will get a notification that there is an update and once they update they will get the new version of the app. Depending on their settings, the update may happen for them automatically.
Q. Is there a cost to change to the new app?
A. There is no cost involved in the migration to the new look and feel itself. There is a cost only if you wish to add other languages.
Q. Enhancement Request: Can you add a “Renew All” option when looking at My Account?
A. Yes, this will be in the new app. This is currently live in our self-check products so you can renew all so we should be able to add this into Engage. This function would prevent them from renewing if you’ve set rules such as a newer title not being eligible for renewal and the patrons would easily know if an item was not renewed too.
Q. Enhancement Request: Can the app or new app support fine payments?
A. Yes. We’ve looked into this and the first version of this which will launch will use the Apple or Android wallet and then we’re looking to create a version where the library patron can essentially load a credit card payment securely to the app and have it available to apply to fine payment. To be frank, because of COVID a lot of libraries went fine-free so we moved this item down the roadmap because there was not an immediate need for it, so I don’t have an ETA for it but it is on the roadmap.
ZOOM
Q. Will there be more information or training available for the Zoom integration?
A. Yes, we have additional webinars schedule about the Zoom integration, including one focused on how to use Attend, Reserve and Schedule with the integration.
Q. Will the Zoom Webinar product be supported?
A. Yes. This is next on our list so you can use Zoom Webinars with Attend, Reserve and Schedule.
Q. Is it possible to enable Zoom so it is only available within a particular module in our account??
A. You can decide which module you would like it to be available for and even within the modules you can decide which categories or rooms it is available for.
MISC
Q. Discover – You touched on this module, can you go into detail about what it will include and what the features will be?
A. This will be a full discovery product, what I like to describe as if Google and Apple came together to create a discovery level. It will have amazing, intuitive search with natural language programming so results one first two pages are what you’re interested in seeing, though you can use faceted searching. It will be built for touch and mobile, aesthetically beautiful and work like a corkscrew. When you go to Netflix you get brought in by genre and then drill down deeper into related content and that is what we want to do with discovery.
Q. Diacritical marks – Can you give us an update on where things stand with diacritical marks?
A. This question was submitted during the webinar and taken offline so we could look into it in detail. The library’s Customer Success Manager confirmed a support ticket submitted about accented characters had been addressed to their satisfaction and that there were no additional questions or support requests.
Q. Broadcast – Is there a way to use Communico to create a digital bulletin board within the library with real-time data such as the date, time, weather etc?
A. Yes, we are looking into this. It is something we know would be helpful to keep information automatically updated and we’re exploring this currently for Broadcast.
Q. Tiny Library – Can we sign up to have you come visit us with the Tiny Library?
A. Yes! We’re looking forward to coming back out on the road and want it to be a fun event. We’ll plan a pathway to visit libraries and perhaps any in-person events if any take place this year. Once we know the path, we’ll let you all know.
Q. You mentioned Asset booking. Is that something that would let us schedule and distribute items like book discussion kits?
A. Yes. You’d be able to book items independently as well as part of other bookings/services within Communico. For example, if your book discussion kits are available at a central location and you’d like some for an event taking place at a different branch, you’d create the event in Attend and the system would make sure those kits are reserved for the event and then not available to be booked again until after the event is done and the kits are returned to the central location.
