Find Answers to Most Commonly Asked Questions About the WelcomeWare Platform and Kiosks
What is WelcomeWare?
- – WelcomeWare® is a live-stream receptionist platform. WelcomeWare empowers one of your receptionists to cover multiple locations, so you can eliminate staffing headaches and reduce headcount. WelcomeWare provides businesses with an integrated web-based platform that harnesses hardware and software to deliver an all-in-one virtual front desk solution.
Where is WelcomeWare available?
- – We can deploy our services to most companies worldwide.
How does WelcomeWare work?
- – Customers engage with your receptionist via the WelcomeWare-provided touch-screen kiosk at the front desk of the business. The virtual receptionist facilitates the check-in process by providing the forms and instructions. The customers complete the process by interacting with the touch-screen and showing required IDs to be captured by the receptionist via the built-in camera.
Why is WelcomeWare needed?
- – Hiring receptionists has become difficult and costly for businesses. An unattended front desk can lead to customer dissatisfaction and loss of money for the company. WelcomeWare solves this problem with a virtual receptionist solution that ensures a cost-efficient front desk that is always ready.
Where can WelcomeWare be used?
- – WelcomeWare can be used anywhere for your team to remotely interact with your clients, visitors, or patients.
What hardware do I get when I use WelcomeWare?
- – When you become a WelcomeWare client, you get all the hardware that you need delivered right to you. The WelcomeWare hardware is a touch screen kiosk or computer with an integrated webcam and mic, as well as a document scanner. IT support for the hardware is also included.
In what ways is WelcomeWare unique?
- – WelcomeWare is part of an established global company, Civicom, with over twenty years of experience in facilitating technology-related solutions, all designed to meet specific needs that we have identified by being tuned in to people’s needs which drive every product we create. We have been told repeatedly that we are unique in our industry because of our customer-centric philosophy where we always put our clients’ expectations above our own. Our diligence and dedication to client satisfaction are second to none. We are a privately held company that sets our own high standards for how we do business.
What is innovative about WelcomeWare and its technology?
- – WelcomeWare provides solutions that are custom-tailored for every client, regardless of location. Our software and hardware are all very flexible and can attune to the needs of each of our clients.
What inspired WelcomeWare to create their technology?
- – A physical therapy practice needed a safe way for their receptionists to work remotely at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. We realized the enormous potential to offer a virtual front desk solution to businesses that are struggling with front desk hiring, staffing, and coverage, so we created WelcomeWare as a result.
What led to the creation of WelcomeWare?
- – The front desk experience creates a lasting impression on customers. The impact of COVID and its variants, combined with limited workforce availability in the United States and employee preferences for working from home, confluxed to create a perfect storm of needs for remote front desk and check-in solutions. At Civicom, we realized we have the knowledge of how to use technology to solve these front desk problems, so we developed a solution to meet them.
Can I use my existing forms?
- – Yes! Our team will convert all of your existing forms to digital forms.
Does WelcomeWare integrate with my CRM, EMR…?
- – WelcomeWare works side by side with your internal current 3rd party systems so that there is no need for technical integrations. This allows you to use WelcomeWare on day 1 “out of the box”.
Does WelcomeWare support e-signatures?
- – Yes! Your visitors can use their finger to sign any forms that require a signature.
Is WelcomeWare HIPAA compliant?
- – Yes! We take security incredibly seriously. If you require a HIPAA compliant platform, let us know and we’d be happy to sign a BAA.
Does WelcomeWare have multiple language options?
- – Yes! Our platform has multi-lingual support to match your business needs.
What does the Platform do?
- – Our “Platform” allows YOUR receptionists to work remotely via our live-streaming technology. We provide the hardware and software which enable your customers to perform check-ins.
What services can a remote receptionist provide?
- – Remote receptionists can do virtually everything an in-person receptionist can do (other than give your visitors a cup of coffee). Our platform enables them to do check-ins or check-outs, but they are also able to help with other administrative tasks such as scheduling appointments, data entry, and answering phone calls and emails.
How much can a company save by using WelcomeWare?
- – Companies can save over 65% on front desk costs yearly when they use the WelcomeWare platform. One receptionist can cover multiple locations, saving on salaries and benefits.
Does your software and hardware conform to HIPAA and established privacy protocols? How does WelcomeWare ensure data security?
- – WelcomeWare is HIPAA-compliant. WelcomeWare ensures privacy and security of health information in all forms, with particular care in controlling the confidentiality, storage and access to electronic Protected Health Information. We have achieved this by implementing security standards, administrative, technical, and physical safeguards, organizational requirements, and requirements for documentation, policies and procedures. Our standards are maintained and improved by continuous review and audit of internal processes and business agreements, with the aid of external consultants and specialized staff dedicated to data privacy.
Where does WelcomeWare store personal information?
- – Your personal information and files are stored in our servers hosted by our authorized third-party storage providers. We secure Personally Identifiable Information (PII) on computer servers in a controlled, secure environment, protected from unauthorized access, use, or disclosure.
What industries will benefit from WelcomeWare the most?
- – WelcomeWare is applicable to any industry including medical, hospitality, industrial, physical therapy, gyms, hotels, professional service organizations, warehousing and storage facilities, office buildings, retail, and any business that needs front desk services.
How did WelcomeWare get involved in the customer service industry?
- – Civicom, the parent company of WelcomeWare, realized the need to provide businesses with a virtual solution to their hiring and turnover problems in front desk employment. COVID accelerated this opportunity, which eventually led to the creation of WelcomeWare.
How has the customer service industry changed in the past 5 years?
- – Before COVID, there were few options to transition the front desk to a virtual setup. Businesses had remained almost unanimously inclined towards in-person receptionists until the pandemic struck, which is when ideas of a virtual front desk – and WelcomeWare – eventually came to fruition.
How does WelcomeWare assist the customer service industry amidst the pandemic?
- – COVID drastically affected the customer service industry because it made face-to-face interactions highly unsafe due to the risk of transmitting the virus. This led companies to struggle in finding long-term receptionists to attend their front desks. WelcomeWare’s primary goal is to solve their problems by turning the front desk virtual, making customer service safe while retaining the functionality of receptionists.
How does WelcomeWare believe the customer service industry will change in the future?
- – We firmly believe that the customer service industry will make the virtual front desk ubiquitous in business. Companies and organizations will look to having virtual receptionists as the key to a successful front office, and being a virtual receptionist will become a viable career choice for anyone across the globe.