At Daily Connect, we’re constantly working to improve our platform, making it easier than ever for childcare and daycare providers around the world to communicate with parents, manage their child development, and run their business.
This month, we’re excited to announce several new features that are now live on the Daily Connect app and web app. These features add significant improvements to features like Parent Billing and Incident Reports, and also address several issues our users have flagged in recent months.
Related: New Features on Daily Connect (December 2021)
If you’ve got an idea for a new feature that would make a big difference in the day-to-day operations of your childcare business, we’d love to hear from you. After all, many of our most popular features to date have been inspired by our users. Reach out to the team today to support@dailyconnect.com with your idea!
Here are the six new features that are now live on Daily Connect:
- Parent Billing: Faster ACH Transfers
- Message & Incident Report Approval
- Ability to Disable Video Uploads
- Share Photos in Push Notifications
- Combining Entries Saved for Multiple Children
- Text/SMS Messaging Available Globally
Let’s take a look at each new feature in a little more detail:
1. Parent Billing: ACH Transfers Now Deposited in Two Days
Since the launch of our Parent Billing Features last year, we’ve been working hard with our payment processing partner to improve the tools available to our users. We’re excited to report that Daily Connect now supports faster payment transfers.
For ACH Transfers, funds will now take two days to arrive in your account, compared to five days previously. This is above industry standards. Credit Card payments are also deposited to your account after two business days.
What does this mean for you? You’ll get paid faster than before, boosting your cash flow and enabling you to run your business more efficiently.
Don’t use our Parent Billing Features yet? Visit our Parent Billing page to learn more about them – we’re happy to provide a demo and answer any questions you have. Parent Billing is currently only available in the US.
2. Message & Incident Report Approval
Approving photos, videos, and other communications before they’re sent to parents is an important part of any childcare center director’s role. After all, mistakes do happen, and it’s important to ensure that you catch small errors before they’re sent to parents.
Now, the approval tools that were already existing for photos and videos have been added to messages and incident reports. When this feature is activated, all messages and incident reports must be reviewed by a director, or other administrator, before they are sent to parents.
This feature is only available to accounts with a Professional+ subscription. It can be activated in Settings > Childcare Settings > Approvals on the Daily Connect web application.
Thinking about upgrading your subscription? Get in touch with the team at support@dailyconnect.com
3. Ability to Disable Video Uploads
Accounts with a Professional+ subscription can now disable the video upload feature for your staff. Disabling this feature is helpful for childcare centers who are dealing with issues related to privacy and regulation.
When this feature is disabled, only directors and administrators are allowed to upload videos. This can be done in the Settings > Childcare Settings > Approvals > Photo/Video Approval page.
4. Share Photos in Push Notifications
We’ve updated the way that notifications are sent to parents to make it easier for them to quickly get a snapshot of their child’s day, without even opening the Daily Connect app.
The push notifications that parents receive when your childcare center adds a photo of their child are now ‘rich’ notifications. This means that the notification shown on the parent’s device will directly show a preview of the photo, without the need to open the Daily Connect app.
We believe this new feature will boost parent engagement, both with the Daily Connect app and with your childcare center. By making it easier for parents to get a snapshot of their child’s day, parent satisfaction will grow, and a closer bond will be formed between parents and your childcare business.
5. Combining Entries Saved for Multiple Children
When an entry, such as a photo or video, is saved for multiple children, the Daily Connect app will no longer list each duplicated entry on the web application. Instead, only one entry will be shown, with a small overlay image
We’re confident that this will greatly simplify the web application, reducing the need for multiple entries that essentially contain the same information and making the information easier to read for both teachers and directors.
6. Text/SMS Messaging Available Globally
Until now, the ability to send emergency text messages and SMS messages to parents has been limited to users in the United States. However, we’re pleased to announce that this feature is now available to all Premium+ and Professional+ subscriptions globally. You can access these features in Settings > Childcare Settings > Send Email/Text.
Text messages should only be used in case of emergency, or for urgent updates. One example use case would be the sudden closure of your childcare center due to sickness or bad weather.
Get Started with Daily Connect Today
We’re continuing to work on improvements to existing features, as well as completely new features, and we’re always open to hearing your feedback.
If you’ve got an idea for a new feature, or even a slight tweak, that would make your life as a childcare director, teacher, or provider much easier, we’d love to hear from you. Just get in touch with the team by emailing support@dailyconnect.com
Don’t have a Daily Connect account yet? We offer a free 14 day trial for new users to try out all of our features and determine whether Daily Connect is a good fit for their childcare center. Start your free trial today, or set up a product demonstration to learn more.