BeHive Product Bulletin

Task management is among the biggest challenges the industry faces today.  In larger hotels with hundreds of staff on board, task management is critical to ensure that all the daily “to-do” list items that keep the hotel running smoothly are completed efficiently and in a timely manner to maximize customer satisfaction.  Even in smaller hotels or B&Bs, task management remains the top priority for managers.  Without the right tools, it is very easy to lose track of time and forget important tasks.  Our research shows that most organizations use separate tools just to keep ahead of task management. However, managers have found that although the common tools available in the market are strong when it comes to basic task management in creating, assigning, and setting deadlines, they fall short in other aspects, such as allowing the employees to decline tasks because of higher priorities and reassign the tasks to other personnel.  BeHive excels in task management by filling the feature gaps where other task management applications fall short.

In the Tasks tab, you can create new tasks, assign them to workspaces and individuals, add pictures, add locations and set due dates and priority levels.

There are two methods for creating tasks: Quick Adding and Standard Task Creation. See Figure 1.

To Quick Add a task, simply click on the Quick Add box and enter the description for your task. After pressing the blue Done/Go button, the task will be published with no assignees and a medium priority level. To edit the parameters of a task, just tap on that task and you will be taken to the Edit Task screen. Quick adding tasks is very useful when creating many tasks in a short period of time.

To create a fleshed-out task, tap the “+” icon on the top right of the screen. This will bring up the Create Task screen where you will then be able to edit all the task’s parameters and add task locations. You can also edit the parameters of existing quick added tasks by simply tapping on them.

The Messages tab is the hub for all text, audio, and picture messaging.  This screen is a powerful tool for communicating with your team; not only with instant texting, but also real-time push-to-talk, which allows sending an audio file that team members can listen to at any time. You can even send picture messages to help convey the message.  For example, the hotel manager spots debris next to the elevators. Using BeHive, he can take a picture of the debris with his iPhone and send the picture message to one of the cleaning crew.  The cleaning person, who uses an iPod to run BeHive, can quickly see the type of debris and bring the appropriate cleaning utility to efficiently clean it.

The hotel manager can also use the push-to-talk feature to send immediate audio to a member of the cleaning crew.  As soon as the hotel manager presses the push-to-talk button, BeHive starts sending a live broadcast of his voice to the target recipient.  As soon as the hotel manager lets go of the push-to-talk button, an audio message is sent in chat.  For liability purposes, all push-to-talk conversations are recorded and saved for later playback.

At the Workspace screen is where you can create and manage groups.  The point of the workspace is to break up staff and management into individual teams.  For example, in the case of a hotel, the Housekeeping team would have their own workspace, as would the Front Desk, Concierge and Engineering. Creating separate workspaces for each team makes sharing and communication more efficient.  Rather than broadcast a message meant for the Housekeeping team to the entire hotel staff, a private message can be sent to just the Housekeeping group instead. There is no limit to the number of workspaces you can create, and there are no limits to the number of users that can be assigned to each workspace.

In a brand new company, the only workspace added by default will be Emergency.  Admins can add and customize any Workspace after the creation of the company.

The Contacts screen holds all the employee contact information for the hotel.  In order to add an employee to a Workspace or be able to send a message to an employee, the employee must first be added to the Contacts screen.  In a newly created company, the Contacts screen will be blank.

1. Tap the “Invite Member” icon on the top bar of Contacts page.
2. Enter the email you want to send an invitation to.
3. Choose a user role: Decide whether the new contact should be an Admin or a User.
4. Choose which Workspaces the new contact will have access to.
5. Tap Send Invitation.
6. The recipient will receive the email notification below. When the recipient clicks on the Join team link to accept the invitation, the recipient is added to the list of Contacts. See Figures 1 and 2.

In the unfortunate case of an emergency, finding out which staff members are safe and which need assistance can be a daunting task, especially for larger organizations. Using the safety feature integrated in BeHive, admins can quickly log into the online dashboard, see which members have marked themselves as being either “Safe,” “Moderate Emergency,” or “Extreme Emergency,” and view their locations. It’s a quick and easy way to take company-wide roll call, which can take up to a few weeks in some disaster scenarios.

Setting Individual Safety

1. Navigate to the main menu by either swiping left to right from the left edge of the screen or pressing the hamburger icon (3 horizontal lines) on the top left of the screen.
2. Press on the “Safety” option.
3. Choose your safety level. See Figure 1.
4. If in a Moderate or Extreme Emergency, you will have the option to share your location.

At the heart of the BeHive app is the Push-to-Talk functionality.  Push-to-Talk is perhaps the most powerful feature in the BeHive arsenal for bringing your team closer together and jumpstarting productivity. You can use PTT to start live conversations with your team members, whether they be individual members or an entire group. See Figure 1.

Instant live voice messaging is more efficient than texting in certain situations. In scenarios where security is a concern, live voice messaging can mean the difference between a safe situation and a situation that becomes a liability.

The Push-to-Talk feature works over the company’s WiFi and internet presence.  As long as BeHive has an internet connection, a hotel employee can send a voice message to another employee or group of employees, regardless of their geographic location.

When you first tap the push-to-talk button, its menu will be displayed with five similar buttons around it.  All of the buttons hold a “+” icon, which acts as a quick-access to an individual employee or an entire group. When you click on one of the five quick-access buttons, you are immediately taken to their specific Messaging page to start a conversation.  From that user’s messaging page, you can send a text message, or if you hold down the push-to-talk button, you can immediately create a live voice channel to that user. When you start speaking, the recipient will hear you talk in real-time. When you release the push-to-talk button, your recording will be instantly sent as a voice message for the recipient to play back at any time  just in case they didn’t receive or hear the original live message.

The BeHive experience flows seamlessly from your phone to your desktop! Start a conversation on your phone and continue managing tasks and messages when at your desk. BeHive is equipped to tackle heavy task management and swift staff communications, no matter which platform you’re on.