Kindyhub refreshed, “Ask Iris” launched as benefits of Zenith partnership start to flow

Child care management software provider Smart Central has confirmed a series of new initiatives have either been launched or are soon to launch, just months after the group’s partnership with Zenith Payments was finalised.

 

At the top of the list is a complete refresh of Kindyhub, the well known learning, documentation and communication platform that was acquired by Smart Central in 2021, and due for release in the coming days. 

 

In addition, the team at Smart Central have launched an innovative new prospective parent engagement and lead capture platform called “Ask Iris” that leverages artificial intelligence smarts to support families in their early education and care service search. 

 

“We are thrilled to be able to confirm that the reboot and refresh of Kindyhub is now approaching completion and that “Ask Iris” is in the market actively supporting parents right now.”

 

“Both of these projects mark a new chapter for Smart Central and their completion are a testimony to the resources, belief and support our new owners, Zenith Payments, have brought to our organisation.”

 

“It’s an exciting time for us at Smart Central, for our community and also for the sector at large.”

 

Kindyhub refresh brings new modern look, feel and functionality to platform

 

Since launching in 2013 Kindyhub has been an important driver in the evolution of how educators capture and track children’s learning and development and share this information with parents. 

 

The platform currently supports thousands of educators in their day to day documentation tasks and is an important part of the ECEC ecosystem with a loyal and engaged user community that have readily engaged with the Smart Central team to inform the platform’s refresh. 

 

“There are very few platforms in Australia that command such a loyal user community as Kindyhub does,” Darryl Winder CEO said, “This has been extremely important to us as we identified opportunities through consultation and feedback to refresh and upgrade the platform.”  

 

The new version of Kindyhub will sit within a next generation micro service architecture that facilitates a fast, responsive user experience as well as a modern aesthetic more aligned with contemporary expectations. 

 

“The refreshed Kindyhub is an excellent example of what can be done by listening and executing. We have always been huge advocates of high quality customer service and this also extends into maintaining strong relationships with our users to ensure that we build precisely what they need,” Mr Winder added. 

 

As launch date approaches the team at Smart Central have indicated that their user community will have complete control over their organisations transition to the new Kindyhub platform, another decision consistent with the groups customer centric culture. 

 

“Looking ahead we are excited to see Kindyhub emerge as a best in class stand alone product or one that can be fully integrated into any one of our partner CCMS platforms or our own Smart Central All-in-One solution.” 

 

New “Ask Iris” enrolment lead generation engine sees A.I. harnessed for use in ECEC

 

Alongside the Kindyhub refresh the team at Smart Central have been working on a unique and progressive project that has for the first time embedded machine learning and A.I. technology into an enrolment service customised for the ECEC sector. 

 

Dubbed as Australia’s first conversational AI solution specifically for ECEC service “Ask Iris” is a parent facing web site plug-in that has been programmed to answer a full range of enrolment related questions posed by an enquiring family member. 

 

It is interactive, real time, intelligent and provides another tool for ECEC services to employ as they seek to optimise parent engagement at the lead generation stage.

 

“Ask Iris is the type of project and initiative that we at Smart Central excel at,” Mr Winder said. 

 

“We know how important lead generation is to ECEC services. We also know how challenging it can be for service leaders to manage new enrolment queries on top of their day-to-day responsibilities, and importantly we know that in any case most prospective parents enter the discovery phase of the enrolment journey at night, after they’ve put their child to bed,”

 

“If we take these factors and consider solutions to optimise for them, then “Ask Iris” is the natural result. Ask Iris helps ensure services don’t miss out on enrolment opportunities because they’re too busy or not available to chat. Ask Iris is available 24/7” 

 

Since launch “Ask Iris” has received broad interest from across settings and governance types in the ECEC sector. Given its independent and programmable personality, it serves as a useful tool for all services. 

 

To learn more about Kindyhub, Smart Central and Ask Iris visit their websites.