Scout

Looks great, very modern, and easy to use. It keeps getting better and better with time. I tried many others and no one matched SCOUT.

I appreciate the simplicity and clean interface. As well as the ease of billing and converting leads to clients.

Where to start... As a small business owner I feel the cost of the app combined with the Braintree fees is pushing me to not renew. I also am frustrated that I do not get direct alerts to my iPhone when new appointment requests come through. Instead it goes to email. As a busy dog walker I often don't check my email until the evening & early morning. This has lead to missing those last minute pet sitting requests. Lastly, I don't like how there are certain functions as a business owner I can't do. Instead I have to contact support. For example, deleting clients that have dropped off.

I really like the email feature of Scout. I like how I can send certain emails to all my clients at the same time, or to certain ones as needed. The emails sent from Scout to my clients look very professional with my company colors and logo. I also love how you upload your service agreement and Scout keeps track of who signed / agreed and when. Unlike other pet service apps Scout allows you to write notes for the owner throughout the service rather than only after the service has been completed, and we can upload multiple photos for the owner to view. I find the "file vault" feature of Scout to be extremely helpful by keeping important documents organized, and it is easy to upload documents into each client's profile. Customer service has always been quick to respond and eager to help or answer any questions.

There are a few features from Scout that I would like to see improve. It would be extremely helpful if there was a scout admin app so that we could approve / alter walks via an app rather than a link through safari. It would also be helpful to get push notifications on our phone for appointment requests in addition to receiving an email. I've also had trouble with the billing process. As the administrator I would like to see exactly what my client is going to be billed as soon as the service is scheduled. I would like to be able to bill them before the service is over because as a pet sitter I require 50% payment ahead of time for certain services. At a meet and greet a client also tried to input their payment information and kept getting an error message. I had to allow for an alternate payment method just so the client could sign into Scout and I could show them how to schedule an appointment, etc. One last suggestion would be to have a website that allows clients to make appoints because several older clients prefer to use a computer rather than a smart phone. As of right now those without smart phones have to contact the administrator via phone or email and the administrator has to go into Scout and create the appointment for the client.

This software seems like it was built for us. We have been doing sitting/walking since 2001, so have learned some lesson along the way. Most experienced companies are learning the same lessons and then mitigating them in one of a few ways. Scout is great because it's clear they have learned these same lessons and take you right to the solutions that matter.

Here are the heavy hitters for us that Scout "just does".
Employee issues (scheduling/availability, payroll/commissions, accountability/quality assurance). Logistics (home access details, workflow, job assignment).
Customer (auto-invoicing, auto-billing, walk status, walker location, request appointments, electronic agreements, etc).

What this means is that we can reduce manual effort which both increases accuracy as well as free up time to focus ON the business instead of IN the business.

In addition to these awesome software features, it is dead simple to use and the support team is spectacular. New releases are happening constantly and they come directly from customer feedback.

Right now it requires two apps (one for customers and one for walkers) while only allowing administrative access via webpage. It would be nice to have a web interface for customers and administrative duties, and then consolidate to a single app (while also adding administrative functions).

From our communications with the dev team, this is going to be a part of one of their big releases, so I guess this "Con" will be short-lived anyway.