Vancouver’s Yocale partners with Google on scheduling product

Online users looking for beauty and wellness services are now able to book appointments through the Google Search and Maps results page.

Yocale, formed in Vancouver, is a popular online scheduling software for appointment-based businesses and their consumers through a cloud-based system.

This partnership with Google benefits both business owners and individuals, says the upstart company.

Co-founder and CEO of Yocale, Arash Asli, told Cantech Letter, “For the service providers it gives them exposure to the world’s largest search engine; they have access to people who are ready to buy and book a service, and they get new customers.”

Asli said on the other hand for example, someone looking to book a haircut, whether that day or in the future, will now see services and availability in real time directly through Google Search and Google Maps to finish the booking without any hassle, rather than just being shown the business’s contact information.

After that, the appointment will be updated in that business’s calendar.

“It’s convenient,” said Asli. “You can do it around the clock. You will be sent reminders and you can manage your appointment.” He adds this collaboration brings the company closer to its “vision of empowering people to manage and book their appointments online within a single global marketplace.”

“This has always been something that the service industry has lacked, where unlike the Expedias or Hotels.coms of the world, there was never a single marketplace for services,” Asli says.

Businesses can take advantage of this service free of charge through Yocale’s integrated online scheduling system. By signing up and using Yocale’s scheduling software they will open up their doors to new opportunities, says Yocale.

Asli says the company’s name is a reference to an individual’s neighborhood.

Businesses with online booking will be seen as better than those that don’t due to the convenience of no scheduling headaches, Asli adds. “People are starting to talk about it. It’s something that’s brand new, but in a short time people will be used to it because it’s the new way of doing things, and people will expect it.”

This recent initial launch is currently only available to Yocale’s U.S. subscribers, though Asli said the company is aiming to have it in Canada by next year, adding that it is the sole Canadian partner.