Microsoft launches Bookings to make easy online appointments

Microsoft is expanding its Office 365 suite with a new service called Bookings, that will let users schedule appointments with a business using online software. Bookings is a wholesome tool that will take care of all aspects of appointment management, including sending out confirmations and reminders, handling rescheduling and cancellations, updating the business staff’s calendar, and more; a boon for businesses used to running that process through a series of emails, phone calls, or text messages.

Customers will be able to look at a list of prices, and then schedule time for an appointment with a list of employees. Bookings will then email the customers a confirmation including an invitation they can put on their calendars.

On the back end of the system, business owners will be able to see a calendar with all of the appointments scheduled through Bookings, across all of the employees that they manage. It’s also possible to reschedule, cancel, or re-assign appointments from that screen as well. Also, businesses can avoid last-minute cancellations by controlling how much-advanced notice is required to cancel an appointment, says Microsoft.

A special feature called “split view” will show which staff are booked at which times by letting you view their schedules side-by-side. These appointments are also synced over to staff calendars, including those in Outlook in Office 365, Outlook.com or even Google Calendar.

While appointment management is the primary goal with Bookings, the system can also be used to build the company’s customer list. Every customer who schedules an appointment through Bookings automatically gets into a list of contacts so that business owners will be able to follow up with them about their appointments.

Microsoft also plans to make a Bookings mobile app available so that it’s easier to manage the system while away from a computer.

Right now, Bookings is only available to users of Office 365 Business Premium, Microsoft’s high-end offering for small business users and those who are in the First Release program, with a worldwide rollout planned in the “coming months.” It will be available in the Office 365 app launcher, once available.