Last year, 10.7 million appointments were made in Kitomba and we helped our customers look after 2.7 million clients. Our support team had a massive year spending over 2,875 hours helping our customers on the phone, handled 11,854 incoming and outgoing emails and a massive 4,817 web chats!
There were so many more highlights for Kitomba! Here’s our top 7 from 2017:
1. Kitomba turned 15
2017 marked 15 years since Kitomba was founded. From a humble start-up with two people working out of a bedroom to a team of over 50 people, we’ve moved offices, gone international, developed hundreds of features, and thousands of salons and spas have joined us.
What a journey it’s been! Check out the video we created to reflect on 15 years of Kitomba:
2. We got a new CEO
In 2017 Kitomba appointed it’s co-founder Al Quinn as the company’s new CEO. Having worked across every area of the Kitomba business, Al’s thorough understanding of the company and strong appreciation of our customers has guided him through a natural and successful transition to the role of CEO. You can read more about Al becoming our CEO in our blog post.
We can’t wait to see where Al takes the company in 2018!
3. A year of big features
We added some big features in 2017! Here’s what was brought to Kitomba and Kitomba 1:
4. Improved support with callback
We launched a new callback feature to better serve our customers!
If you’ve called our support team recently you might have noticed we now offer callbacks. If we’re unable to answer your call right away, you can choose to be called back and get on with your busy day. Your place will be held in the queue and as soon as you reach the front, we’ll call you back!
5. Returned to our Wellington office
It was a very exciting time moving back into our office after 6 months of displacement following the New Zealand earthquake in 2016.
Now that we’re back, we’ve got tons of space for our growing team, plenty of meeting rooms to plan new features and of course a big kitchen with unlimited coffee to keep the team fueled so we can continue improving Kitomba and supporting our customers.
6. Celebrated our industry’s success!
The Industry Awards is an annual celebration of the Kitomba NZARH Business Awards and HITO Next Generation Talent Awards.
And what an incredible night it was! We’re so glad to be part of an event that celebrates our amazing industry and the best in business.
Congratulations again to the 2017 Kitomba NZARH Business Awards winners:
- Kitomba NZARH New Zealand Salon of the Year: Buoy Salon & Spa
- L’Oreal Grand Salon of the Year: Buoy Salon & Spa
- Boutique Salon of the Year: So You Hair
- Excellence in Marketing: Buoy Salon & Spa
- Employer of Choice: La Villa Hairdressing and Extensions
- Salon Business Coach Fastest Growing Salon: Ross and Co Hair Design
- Wella Sustainable Salon of the Year: The Powder Room
- Business Stylist of the Year: Chinney Yeap – Buoy Salon & Spa
- Comfortel Best Salon Design: ASC Salon
- Best New Entrant: Buoy Salon & Spa
Check out our blog for more on the 2017 Industry Awards and winners.
7. Connected with amazing people and businesses at expos!
In 2017 we attended Beauty Expo Melbourne, BarberCraft, Hair Expo Australia, Brisbane Hair & Beauty Expo, New Zealand Hair & Beauty Expo and Beauty Expo Sydney.
We absolutely loved meeting so many amazing people and businesses at these events! We hope to see even more of you at these expos in 2018.
2017 was an amazing year full of lots of exciting activities and milestones. Bring on 2018!
