McCarthy’s Pharmacy, a leading community pharmacy and healthcare provider in County Cork, was facing significant challenges in managing their workforce across nine locations. The team was spending hours each week creating and adjusting weekly schedules, a process that was not only time-consuming but also prone to errors and miscommunications. The use of spreadsheets for employee scheduling was becoming increasingly unfeasible. After the schedules were manually created, they were distributed to staff via email, Whatsapp, or printed and hung in the staff room. This process was inefficient and led to issues such as staff forgetting to record hours worked, shifts being switched without the manager's knowledge, and staff not showing up due to changes in the published schedules.

Dingle Hospitality Group, a hotel group located in Ireland, was facing significant operational challenges with their existing employee management software. The software was difficult to use and did not integrate with their payroll provider, Sage, causing inefficiencies and complications in payroll management. The scheduling feature of the software was also problematic, often leading to confusion due to the increasing number of staff. The software did not provide visibility over projected wage spend, and schedules were approved based on the number of hours scheduled rather than commercial factors like labour cost or wage percentage. Additionally, there was no formal process for staff to request time off, leading to miscommunications and wasted time as managers had to sift through text messages to track who had requested time off.

NICCE, a retail brand, was facing challenges in managing its expanding operations. The Director, Mansoor, was finding it increasingly difficult to keep track of multiple locations and employees. The company lacked a formal process for staff to request time off, leading to miscommunications and inefficiencies in scheduling. Staff would either inform their manager verbally or write down their request on a paper, which often got overlooked. Consequently, employees were sometimes scheduled for shifts on their requested off-days, necessitating last-minute changes and wasting time. As the business grew, Mansoor also found it challenging to control labour costs and forecast demand accurately. He was in search of a software solution that could provide comprehensive reports on sales and labour costs to facilitate smarter business decisions.

Pioneers UK Limited, a Costa Coffee franchisee with 21 stores in the West Midlands and Birmingham, faced a significant challenge in managing its workforce. The company employs approximately 180 staff, with a team of between four and ten individuals working in each store, including a manager. The baristas are a mix of full-time and part-time employees, predominantly young people, often in their first jobs who would be between school and college. There are more mature baristas, too, but with so many young workers, there is significant staff turnover. Consequently, workplace management was extremely time-consuming and challenging so long as store managers and Pioneers headquarters were reliant on paper-based rostering, recording of attendance and calculation of wages. The competitive environment and economic uncertainty also meant reduced footfall in most stores and less spending by customers.

Joseph, the owner of Raleigh's Centra, a convenience retail group in Ireland, was seeking ways to enhance the operational side of his business. Despite the manual processes being functional, he felt the need to implement more efficient systems rather than improving the existing ones. The lack of digitalization meant that managers were unable to be as active on the shop floor as required. They struggled to focus on their team, ensure proper training, and efficiently handle customer queries. Furthermore, the business was facing challenges with data management. Managers had little control over data collection, accuracy, price changes, or actual gross margins, leading to inconsistencies. The absence of a centralized documentation management system resulted in errors in pricing and actual gross profit calculations.

Banagher totalhealth Pharmacy, an independently owned pharmacy based in Banagher, faced significant challenges in managing its workforce. The owner, Joan Hennessy, struggled with scheduling, time tracking, and payroll management. The Time and Attendance data was often inconsistent, leading to manual filling of timesheets and high labour costs due to inaccuracies in overtime or holiday rate calculations. The scheduling process was also cumbersome, involving a combination of Excel spreadsheets and WhatsApp messages to organize, publish, and share the rotas. This often led to staff missing their shifts due to missed notifications or misreading the rota, leading to rising frustrations.

Bayley & Sage, a retail company with 13 locations and over 200 employees, faced significant challenges in managing their operations. The previous solution they had implemented was not fit for purpose, creating more work than needed. They needed a system where they could have detailed customer support from the very beginning and an easy to use solution not only for employees but also management, payroll, HR and other departments. The main wants from the new solution were; support and training while rolling out, efficient and effective roll out and a complete overview of the entire business in one location. With 13 locations to manage, it was difficult to keep track of employees hours, payroll, time off requests, scheduling, labour costs, and good customer service. One of the main problems they encountered was managing staff across different locations. They had no way of accurately tracking the hours they had clocked in for and when they had clocked in onsite.

Centra, Ireland's leading convenience retail group, faced significant operational challenges in managing its stores. The owner of Centra stores in Dublin, James Ryan, admitted that before implementing IoT solutions, all store operations were manually handled. Managers used Excel to create weekly rotas, which were then printed and pinned up in the store and shared in the work group chat. The absence of a formal system for time off and unavailability often led to last-minute adjustments to the schedule, finding staff to cover shifts when others were unavailable or had booked off. Furthermore, James and his managers lacked full awareness of labour costs across the stores, which negatively impacted store performance.

Ellen Chew, a leading restaurateur in London, and her team at the Chew On This Group, faced significant operational challenges in managing their expanding collection of restaurants. They were previously using a software that failed to efficiently fulfill their operational duties or improve employee engagement and customer service. Consequently, they reverted to manual operations. Managers used Excel to create weekly rotas, and all employee time and attendance were tracked manually. Employees recorded their hours on a sheet of paper, which then had to be manually entered into payroll, consuming a significant amount of time. Often, employees would forget to record their hours, leading to further delays and communication issues to ascertain the correct hours. Manual calculations also led to error-prone payroll and a lot of frustrations.

Base Wood Fired Pizza, a thriving pizzeria chain in Dublin, was facing significant operational challenges despite its success. The company, which prides itself on offering artisanal, fresh, and authentic pizzas, was struggling with back-office administration, employee scheduling, attendance, and reporting issues. One of the biggest challenges was ensuring compliance with all relevant legislations, including staff working hours, break times, wage calculations, and holiday pay. The lack of a formal process to manage these legislations was a significant issue. The manual clock-in system for staff and timesheets was ineffective and often overlooked. Staff would forget to record their hours or break times, leading to inaccurate labor costs and error-prone calculations for holiday and overtime hours. Additionally, the physical storage of documents such as employee contracts, working visas, and supplier information was time-consuming and messy, indicating a need for digital transformation.

Polbeth Service Station, a 24-hour food, drink, and convenience store with a Subway franchise, was struggling with outdated, paper-based employee scheduling and payroll systems. The daily rotas only included the employee's name and assigned shifts, with scribbled notes indicating actual hours worked. This approach was not only time-consuming and laborious but also prone to errors and lacked real-time visibility. The management had to manually enter these hours into the payroll system, a task that took an entire day and often resulted in errors. The station also faced challenges in scheduling staff for the shop floor and the Subway department due to a lack of clarity. Furthermore, the absence of an accurate system to track staff arrival and departure times led to overestimated wages and a lack of accountability.

Cool Running Events (CRE), an event management company, faced significant challenges as it expanded its operations. The company, which specializes in the production, management, and marketing of pop-up events, had grown to manage multiple events across various locations. This expansion led to an increase in the size of their team, which in turn, created a need for a reliable scheduling and timekeeping system. One of the main concerns was the scheduling of employees. Given the unpredictable nature of events, assigning shifts was a complex task. Some shifts required full-time staff, while others needed part-time or on-call employees. Managing this across several locations was becoming increasingly difficult. Additionally, tracking the hours that staff clocked in and out was challenging. The lack of a formal process for staff to submit their working hours led to inaccurate records, which in turn, resulted in higher labor costs. The process of gathering data from multiple sources in inconsistent formats for payroll was also a significant challenge.

Crêpeaffaire, a rapidly expanding crêpe shop chain, was facing challenges in managing its growing workforce and expanding locations. The software they were previously using was not fulfilling operational duties efficiently, nor was it improving employee engagement and customer service. The team lacked visibility over crucial aspects of the business such as sales and labour costs, employee performance, and inventory. They were keen to identify more opportunities for growth and realized that a deeper insight into their sales and labour costs would be greatly beneficial. The People Manager, Marta, admitted that the general management of the workforce had become increasingly difficult due to the team's growth and location expansion.

Firehouse Pizza, a popular pizza chain in Dublin, Ireland, was facing significant operational challenges. The Operations Manager, Wanda Okibede, was initially using Excel to manage staffing, which seemed like the easiest option at the time. However, the team was struggling with accurately and consistently getting rosters out to staff. This lack of efficient scheduling was impacting the productivity of the team and their ability to plan for social activities outside of work. Additionally, the company had a lack of insight into their forecast management. They only had a rough estimate of their expenditure on labour costs, which was negatively impacting the revenue of the business. The need for a more efficient and accurate system for managing staff schedules and monitoring labour costs was evident.

Fitzsimons Temple Bar, a popular nightlife venue in Dublin, was facing significant challenges with their existing employee management software. The system was not user-friendly and was often neglected due to its awkward interface. This led to many features being outdated and tasks like payroll processing becoming time-consuming. The General Manager, Krisztina Hegedus, reported spending 3-4 hours every Monday just to process payroll. Additionally, the system was not accurately recording staff clock-in and clock-out times, leading to incorrect calculations and additional costs for the business. This lack of accuracy and efficiency was a major concern for the management, who knew that this could not continue without negatively impacting the business.

Follow Leisure Group, a multi-venue hospitality operator in Northern Ireland, was grappling with the challenges of managing daily operations across its various brands. The founder, Gary McIldowney, was well aware of the time-consuming tasks involved in running the business, such as creating schedules, reviewing employee time cards, and running payroll. These tasks were being managed using outdated methods like pen and paper, clunky machines, and multiple spreadsheets. Additionally, staff could only check their rota schedules on a printout at work, leading to confusion and clashes due to multiple forms of communication like Whatsapp, email, and phone calls. The company was in dire need of a software solution that could streamline these processes, save time, and reduce costs.

Kevin, who runs a Gala store in Straffan, was facing several operational challenges before implementing Bizimply. The store's rostering process was inefficient and unstructured, often leading to budget overruns. The rosters were either handwritten or created on an excel sheet without proper cost analysis. This lack of structure and planning often resulted in the store exceeding its budget. Additionally, the store had no formal system for recording the accurate times that staff worked, leading to overspending on labor. Another significant challenge was managing time off requests. The process for recording holidays was unclear and confusing, especially when determining what was owed to staff members who were leaving.

Kerala Kitchen, a thriving family business serving authentic Indian food, faced significant challenges with staff scheduling and communication as they expanded from a single food truck to two restaurant locations. The traditional method of using Excel spreadsheets for creating weekly rotas was proving inefficient and error-prone. Staff often forgot to check their hours, leading to confusion and miscommunication about shifts. The manual timesheet system for tracking attendance was not only devoid of any insight into labour sales percentage data but also lacked compliance proof. This led to further complications during payroll processing and holiday requests, with the process being prone to human errors and inaccuracies due to illegible handwriting.

Lucia Wine Bar, a popular hospitality establishment with locations in York, Harrogate, and Beverly, was facing significant challenges in managing its workforce. The Operations Manager, Darioush Shahidi, was particularly concerned about the inefficiencies in the payroll process and the inaccuracies in recording staff hours. The absence of a formal clock-in process meant that staff had to manually write down their working hours, which were then manually entered into the system. This process was not only time-consuming but also prone to errors, leading to discrepancies between the actual and scheduled labour hours. These errors were proving costly for the business.

Romantic Castles of Ireland, a collection of luxury castles owned by the Corscaddens family, faced significant operational challenges. Despite their commitment to providing a unique, high-quality guest experience, the company struggled with back-office, scheduling, attendance, and reporting issues. Each castle operated relatively independently, leading to inconsistencies in administrative processes. The Operations Manager at Markree Castle, for example, relied on Excel for creating schedules, with each Head of Department (HOD) developing schedules in their own style. This lack of standardization resulted in unclear labor costs for each department. Additionally, time and attendance were tracked manually via timesheets, a process that was not only time-consuming but also lacked compliance-proofing. The company had no clear understanding of their labor-sales percentage by department. These challenges extended to all the castles, with each manager using different processes, making it difficult to benchmark and report using the same data.

N11 Ashford House, a popular bar and restaurant in Wicklow, was facing significant challenges in managing the time and attendance of its employees. The owner, Jane, found that the lack of control over employee timekeeping was becoming a major concern. The existing system was manual, with staff clocking in and out on paper, leading to inaccuracies and uncertainty over whether staff were taking the correct break times. This lack of control was not only stressful but also led to a significant amount of time being wasted on correcting wage issues and managing payroll. Jane was keen to ensure compliance and efficient operations, and she recognized the need to replace the manual processes with a more efficient system that could better manage her team and save business time.

Rearden's Bar, a popular entertainment venue in Cork City, Ireland, faced several operational challenges despite its success. With over 400 employees across nine locations, the management found scheduling to be a laborious task. The use of Excel for creating schedules was inefficient and time-consuming, especially with shared staff across different locations. Additionally, when staff booked time off, finding suitable replacements with the necessary experience was a significant challenge. The management also wanted to monitor staff time more accurately for better accountability and compliance. They needed a centralized system for storing all necessary documents for easy access when required. Furthermore, the manual entry of data for payroll often led to errors, causing recurring problems and dissatisfaction among employees due to incorrect pay.

Rooster's Café & Farmshop, a farmer-owned business in Ireland, was facing significant challenges in managing its workforce. Mary, who was responsible for various business operations including sales, inventory management, payroll processing, and employee management, was struggling with scheduling and tracking the time and attendance of staff across three departments. This led to complications in payroll processing and unnecessary expenditure on labor costs. The manual processes were time-consuming and inefficient, often leading to inaccuracies in employee hours and payroll. The process of communicating weekly schedules to staff was also cumbersome, involving physical communication, pinning rosters on location, or sending them through a work Whatsapp group. Additionally, the process of recording time-off requests was informal and disorganized, often leading to lost requests.

The Athenian, an award-winning gyros restaurant chain, faced significant challenges with their previous software system. The software had limited customization options and was often difficult to use, leading to frustration among staff. The system would frequently crash, particularly when scheduling staff shifts, which was not up to the high standards set by the business. The Athenian team decided it was time to switch to a software with a better user interface and improved operational experience. They needed a solution that would allow them to monitor staff time with increased accuracy, provide a centralized platform for storing employee documentation, and save time on labor-intensive tasks such as payroll.

The Briar Rose Bar & Grill, a renowned hospitality establishment in County Cork, Ireland, faced significant operational challenges as it expanded over its 50 years of existence. The management, led by Peter Fahey, recognized the need to automate and streamline their manual processes to maintain their high-quality service. The primary challenge was the time-consuming and inefficient method of managing staff schedules and attendance. Employees would sign in and out on paper, and administrative staff would manually input this data into their systems. This process was not only laborious but also prevented the business from gaining insights into historical data, making demand planning difficult.

Yamamori, a chain of restaurants and bars in Dublin, was facing a significant challenge in managing its expanding workforce across multiple locations. The business was thriving, but the management of time and attendance for staff was becoming increasingly difficult. The existing manual processes were not only time-consuming but also prone to errors, leading to inaccuracies in recording hours. This lack of precision was causing an overspend on wages every week, which was eating into the business's profits. The management was in search of a software solution that could streamline their workforce management and address these issues effectively.

YATAY, a hospitality business located in Soho’s Chinatown, was facing challenges in managing their growing team. Initially, they were using manual methods such as Excel spreadsheets for scheduling tasks. However, as the team expanded, this method became increasingly complicated and time-consuming. Additionally, the management of employees' holiday and unavailability requests was also a challenge. These requests were often overlooked or forgotten, leading to scheduling conflicts and dissatisfaction among the staff. The company was in dire need of a solution that could automate these tasks, reduce administrative time, and allow them to focus more on their customers.

Yeah!Burgr, a popular restaurant chain, was facing significant operational challenges as it expanded. Co-owner Stephen Moran initially introduced the concept to boost sales at an existing bar, but the concept quickly gained popularity and expanded to multiple locations. With the opening of two more locations, Stephen was faced with the challenge of managing a larger team across different locations. The initial method of scheduling using Excel spreadsheets was time-consuming and often led to errors as staff availability was not accurately tracked. Stephen was also constantly driving between locations or making phone calls to ensure smooth operations and proper staff scheduling. The lack of a formal leave management system led to accidental scheduling of unavailable staff. The need for a more efficient scheduling and time and attendance system was evident.