Kevin Nair and his team were servicing a large beauty service provider client in Malaysia with network VPN services when its owners began asking several times, “Do you know how to write a software to help us with operations?”
While not something Kevin was doing at the time, he thought about it and found that there was actually a void for systems catered towards the beauty services industry.
“There were many POS systems at the time, but mainly for F&B use cases which differs greatly from the beauty and wellness industry,” he recalled to Vulcan Post.
Seeing such an opportunity, he knew he and his team at Aoikumo had to take it.
Catering To Underserved Industries
“One of the biggest hurdles for businesses at that time was the limitation in accessing their customer’s data in a centralised manner.”
Kevin further explained, “Meaning if a customer purchased a package from Branch A and wanted to go to Branch B to redeem, there was no way they could do so. Cloud adoption was also low at that time and we were the first Malaysian provider for the industry with a full cloud service.”
Now, with the pandemic, pain points have changed a little. During COVID-19, Kevin identified that businesses that provided in-person services were struggling to sell online.
Launching their B2C module, Webstore, in March just before MCO was a timely move then. Webstore allows businesses to sell their services from their own website while Aoikumo handles the invoicing, package control, reports, etc.
“At the same time, there were pain points post-MCO like social distancing. Within a few days, we launched the Automated Customer Registration which allows businesses to send registration links to new customers through WhatsApp,” Kevin said.
“Customers will be able to register themselves from home and on their device, reducing crowds and touching at the front desk.”
Moving Into The Medical Sphere
Aoikumo’s system wasn’t primed for the medical industry since it had been more focused on the beauty one. Curiously, they began noticing that a large number of medical related clients had begun using their system anyway.
“After much research, we found that their pain points were similar to what the beauty centres were facing and we were the only system that were able to address the pain points even though we lacked other features,” Kevin said.
“Since then, we started researching on dental and GP clinic related systems and found that our features were 80% ready for the industry. As the first step, we linked up our system with WHO’s International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) and launched the telehealth feature.”
Soon, Aoikumo will be launching its dental and periodontal charting modules along with dispensary and medication ones.
One way it’s aided its medical clients is by allowing doctors to set virtual appointments through its Scheduling menu, whereby the patient will simply have to click on a link via SMS or email to access the video.
“Imagine having to e-consult a doctor but you would need to download an app, register, etc.,” Kevin pointed out the inefficiencies. Aoikumo’s method makes their clients more accessible to customers.
From what I found, Aoikumo isn’t the only POS system provider in the medical space, with one other name being ClinicPlus.
But Kevin isn’t concerned about competition, saying, “We are confident of our current standing as the only Malaysian provider that is full cloud running on Web, Android and iOS which provides an easy-to-use, fast to implement, prompt and excellent support.” These, he feels, are enough to set Aoikumo apart.
Now, with their entry into the medical industry, Kevin is first targeting for 300 dental clinic subscriptions to Aoikumo in 2021.
Featured Image Credit: Kevin Nair, founder and technical lead at Aoikumo
