November 2016 Product Update
Once again, we’re here to present the latest Cobot’s updates!
We have a couple of important announcements regarding our Netbox integration and our Holiday Support times, but first off, let’s see what’s new this month:
November System Improvements:
- Customer numbers are generated as soon as a member signs up
- Set multiple time frames for specific week days for Time Passes and Bookings.
Customer numbers are generated as soon as a member signs up
Before, a member’s customer number would only be generated after the membership was confirmed, now they are generated as soon as they sign up.
This feature was requested by some spaces so they could draft contracts using the member number before the membership was confirmed. It is a small change but many spaces will benefit from this extra perk to help them organize themselves and welcome new members.
Set multiple time frames for specific week days for Time Passes and Bookings.
This is a major update that follows up from September’s update, Booking Times.
Now it works for all timespan fields, for example, Bookings and Time Passes and you can specify the weekday as well.
With this feature, you can set it so that a meeting room has one time schedule for Monday to Friday, and a different one for Saturday & Sunday; or create discounted Time Passes that are only valid during low-peak times — let’s say Friday afternoon, for example.
Spaces that are open 7 days a week but have different opening hours during the weekend or on Sundays will also benefit from this improvement.
All you have to do is enter the first 2 letter of the weekday and hours. For example, “mo — fr 10–18” or “sa 10–12”, or “mo — fr 10–18, sa 10–12 ” to combine multiple times.
Now for our announcements:
Netbox becomes a legacy service.
We have seen tremendous growth in the number of our customers and within Cobot in 2016. Coming to that point has only been possible through reliable partners since the very beginning. In that regard, Linewize has provided infrastructure and know-how through their unique system, Netbox, a simple and cost effective plug’n’play attendance tracking solution for coworking spaces. We have come to a point where we have outgrown our partnership with Linewize as they have shifted their strategic focus to educational institutes, and away from coworking spaces.
To ensure the quality and support you expect from us, we have decided to stop offering Netbox to new customers. We are now making it a legacy service for existing members as we seek out the possibility of providing a new alternative.
If you want to use a current service for attendance tracking you can switch to our RADIUS service. Our RADIUS offering does not require a hardware appliance and is also cloud managed. If you just signed up for the Netbox within the last 6 months you can return the hardware for a full refund (excluding shipping) by reaching out to Linewize.
For those Netbox users that would rather not make any changes to your existing Wifi attendance, you don’t have to worry! Your netbox shall continue to work as before with all the same features, without any changes and you will still receive support from us, as well as from Linewize. You can always transition to one of our new alternative systems whenever you are ready. The process is very simple and we will offer instructions and support at every step.
Thanks for trusting in and expanding with us. We apologise for these growing pains and will keep on working towards making cobot better and smarter for you.
Holiday limited technical support.
The holiday season is upon us! Like many of our spaces — the Cobot team is taking the holidays as an opportunity to relax and recharge. But fear not, we know some spaces run 24/7 365 days a year and we will be there for you in case anything happens.
From the 23rd of December on, most of our team will be off but we will offer emergency support for those in need of urgent help. Getting started sessions, demos and general questions regarding our product, however, will have to wait.
On Monday 2 January 2017 we will be back to our regular support hours, between 10am and 7pm CET.
Additionally, as a Christmas gift for those who are still trying out Cobot, we will extend the trial period until the first week of the new year.
Our next post will be on our thoughts about the Coworking Europe Conference in Brussels, so keep an eye on our blog next week!
Until then, Happy Coworking!
