Let me start out by saying 2018 was the best year for HootBoard so far! We have many stories and success to share so I will try to be a bit succinct.
HootBoard’s Kiosk First Strategy
From our conversations with customers like you, late in 2017, we assessed that our customers had multiple ways to engage their audiences online. However, for most of these, HootBoard’s touch screen concierges were the only effective way to showcase their achievements and their story in their own space. With that, we made a bet on what we called the Kiosk First strategy. This called for making HootBoard’s concierge platform our flagship product while our digital signage, mobile app, web, and embedded web properties become complimentary to the touch screen concierges.
This called for a significant investment in and focus on our touch screen-based products. With 2018 being the first full year of the Kiosk First approach, we invested heavily on kiosk development and in Q1 started testing HootBoard screen apps with some of our early adopter clients. Fast forward to today, HootBoard screen apps are the best way to organize the content and applications that organizations already have and to share them with users in their spaces.
Name Brand Clients
2018 quite literally put all of us in great company. HootBoard’s easy to deploy, highly configurable platform appealed to a wide variety of clients in a variety of ways. Here are some of the HootBoard clients that joined the family in 2018: GE Hyclone, DHL, City of Hobbs, Gurnsey Post, Govberg Watches, Atomic Data, Texas A&M, Accor Vacations.
Adding Key Integrations
ICYMI, we also announced a partnership with Zapier which provides a way for you to automate posting of content from over 1000 tools and platforms directly to your HootBoard. Whether it’s an RSS feed on your blog, posts from social media, or posting from a host of other cloud services you might already be using, our Zapier integration makes it all super easy.
Here are some key integrations that can be helpful:
RSS Feeds
Google Calendar
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Instagram
Vimeo
If you are looking for a particular integration and need help, reach out to us at support@hootboard.com.
Kiosk Applications
2018 was also instrumental in building out the wider HootBoard eco-system. Our vision is for our customers to keep accruing value from their HootBoard Kiosk and we are continually striving to add applications, tools, and resources to drive that value.
Apart from Zapier based integrations, we have been testing a variety of applications for the Kiosk platform. Here are a few key integrations that might come in handy:
Survey Monkey (for simple surveys)
Google Maps (for map services)
Transit Screen (for local transit information)
Waitwhile (for queue ticketing)
Locus labs (for indoor wayfinding)
Unbounce (for building landing pages)
However, don’t think you are limited to these. Take any URL and test it out for yourself. Our amazing (shout-out to our developers) HootBoard technology can take any URL and package it as an app for your HootBoard concierge (and soon your HootBoard mobile app).
Ben Franklin Tech Partners
And last but not the least, late last year we announced a meaningful investment from BenFranklin Technology Partners of Northeastern PA. The Ben Franklin Technology Partners of Northeastern Pennsylvania (BFTP/NEP) creates and retains highly paid, sustainable jobs by investing in and linking companies with experts, universities, follow-on funding, and other resources to help them prosper through innovation. It is part of a four-center economic development initiative of the Pennsylvania Department of Community and Economic Development and is funded by the Ben Franklin Technology Development Authority.
HootBoard now has its offices within BenFranklin Techventures which is a designated Keystone Innovation Zone by the state of Pennsylvania.
As you can see, 2018 was a huge year for the HootBoard team but we see even greater things for 2019 and we’re excited to have you along for the ride. Please continue to share your feedback and ideas with us and to share HootBoard with your colleagues, friends, families, and customers. We couldn’t do this without you!
