Little Web appointment maker wins huge Sprint deal

TimeTrade Systems Inc., which puts out a nice Web-based appointment scheduler called TimeDriver, said its software engine is supporting Sprint's new ReadyNow customer service program.

Basically, people who buy a Sprint phone can schedule through the Web a time for them to come in and get customized phone setup and instruction on all of its features.

The Bedford, Mass.-based seems to be on a bit of a roll. The number of appointments its SaaS service handled in Q3 rose 75% year-over-year. Customers range from Petco to Target to the Department of Homeland Security.

I got a demonstration of the individual/SME version of its service, TimeDriver, back in August from founder and chairman, Marco Peterson, and came away impressed.

Basically, TimeDriver automates the process of setting up appointments, letting you bypass the time-consuming back-and-forth of e-mail, phone or IM.

Your contacts come to a page at TimeDriver's site that shows your hours of availability for meetings, which can be set via rules or imported from your Outlook or Google Calendar, without showing them your entire schedule, as conventional calendar-sharing requires.

Once appointments are made, they are automatically transferred to your Outlook, Google or Lotus Notes calendar, and viewable on most smartphones.

Ultimately, the service doesn't quite work for me, since who I meet with and when varies too much story by story. Peterson said other services in the 'meeting and negotiation space' might work better for me. They include TimeBridge, or Tungle, TimeToMeet, etc.

But for people in sales, marketing or customer service, or people such as professors, probation officers, or pastors, who keep regular office hours with the same group of constituents, TimeDriver seems great.

Services that compete with TimeDriver include Hourtown and Lattiss Online Scheduling.

Back in August, Peterson said TimeDriver was going to come in several flavors, including a free, ad-supported one. Nowadays, users can test the service for 90 days before paying $29.95 per year. For the right time-pressed person or small business, this could be a bargain.