What is WokiDoki?

WokiDoki is an application on the internet through which the end users can interact with multiple businesses on a single page. On the other hand for businesses, it is an application to let them setup own business centers and interact with the customers.

People may not want to provide any information about them when interacting with businesses, especially in the early stages. Therefore we allow users to register using arbitrary screen names of their choice. It is like using a phone without caller ID.

Why WokiDoki?

All of us deal with many businesses. We interact with large businesses by accessing their WEB sites. Whereas the interaction with small businesses is still by phone or email at the best. On the other hand, the main priority for a business is to attract customers, remain connected with them and keep them happy. In this regard, an interactive WEB site (WEB 2.0) helps both parties. But it is not cost effective for each small business to build an interactive WEB site. Even if all of them have built interactive sites, it would be impractical for the end users to manage interactions through different sites.

WokiDoki delivers a business center and people-business collaboration tool in a single application. On WokiDoki, businesses can setup an online center with ad publishing, collaboration and task management functions. People, who are customers, can interact with multiple businesses using a single WEB application.

What is WokiDoki?

We started with a simple goal of enabling work-related-collaboration using task oriented messages. The central idea of WokiDoki is simple. A user sends another user a message which could be a short inquiry, a more detailed message or a request to do some task. They eventually follow the conversation with more messages back and forth. As a part of the message they may create pages, add photos or documents. It is analogous to email except that it is even simpler and tuned to work-related interactions. The interacting users may be friends, project team members or a business and consumer. A user can use the most common functions from a single page. The interaction is also simultaneously organized on different pages in case user needs to look for some past information. Users can start using other pages once they become familiar with the application.

WokiDoki for People

People sign up with WokiDoki using a simple screen name. No email, no phone number or even your name is needed. This gives the user a private page where user can see all interactions with any business. A user can send message to other users they are friend with using their screen names.

Facebook users’ can login using their Facebook accounts. These users automatically have their private pages setup on WokiDoki.

To begin interaction with a business, a user looks up for a business in the directory using “Search a Business” link. A user can get an overview of the business on the search page and click on “Send a Message” link to begin a new interaction. When the business responds, the user sees it on own private page. The user can interact with many businesses, schools, doctor’s office, any other organization or institution from the single page. All messages are nicely listed with choices to hide finished interaction, reply etc.

WokiDoki for a Business User

The term business has a broader meaning in WokiDoki and not limited to registered businesses. A business means an entity or individual providing services to many people. It could be a person advising on natural care, a school, a non-profit organization, a shop in the town or a corporation.

Any entity or person delivering any kind of services can have a presence on the WEB and interact with its customers using WokiDoki. Registering with WokiDoki is real simple. If you are a registered business, it is very likely that your information is there in our directory. You can access it by your phone number on the registration page. Once you register, simply provide few lines of information on a simple form that tells people what you do. If you have a business logo image then you can upload it. Following that, simply choose a template that you like to use for advertising your business on WokiDoki. This gives you your own business center on the WEB.

When a customer sends you messages it will be delivered to your business center. You can respond to the customer’s message and begin interaction. It is as like answering a phone call but now you have WEB presence to interact with the users who are moving towards new ways of doing things.

WokiDoki also provides advanced functions that allow a business to manage its internal work items. For example, an inquiry can be assigned to an employee as a task or work item. A business can also maintain internal document flow using WokiDoki. Each employee of the business can create his/her own account to interact with colleagues.

Example Applications of WokiDoki

WokiDoki is very generic and enable all kinds of interaction. Here are a few examples, how people are using WokiDoki.

A teacher delivers education related services to kids and their families. She signs up as a business user. The parents of kids follow her (interact with her) using WokiDoki. The teacher can control who has permission to interact. This builds a secure message board for them to interact.

A contractor and suppliers register with WokiDoki. The customer, contractor and suppliers can interact with each other, say for a kitchen remodelling project.

A doctor’s office registers with WokiDoki. The patients can send inquiries to set up appointment or remind to call pharmacy to confirm refill orders.

WokiDoki v/s Yellow Pages?

We are always asked one question, is WokiDoki similar to an online Yellow Pages? The answer is “No”. Although we have an inbuilt business directory, we go much beyond finding a business. A business uses the directory to register itself and build its own business center. An end user uses the directory to find a business. Beyond that the application is all about letting them interact and track the information. A business does not have to be in the Yellow Pages directory in order to use WokiDoki. They can create an entry for themselves even if they are not in the Yellow Pages.

Is WokiDoki free?

WokiDoki is free for the end user. The basic services which include listing, one page advertisement of the business and all collaboration functions are free for businesses. Eventually we will provide value added services for the businesses such as lead generation, publishing more marketing material. We will charge for these enhanced services.

Technology behind WokiDoki

WokiDoki is built using J2EE technology and AJAX. We use AJAX extensively. This allows us to deliver a user experience similar to native applications. Our core platform has been tested in few real life applications in last three years. It is robust and quite smooth. The data driven architecture allows us to incorporate new features quickly.

Tags: AJAX, Beyond Yellow Pages, Business interaction, Interactive Business Directory, Interactive WEB, People-Business collaboration, WokiDoki

This entry was posted on Wednesday, February 25th, 2009 at 7:57 am and is filed under WokiDoki. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Responses are currently closed, but you can trackback from your own site.