Riding on the wave of the “self-care” movement, Lay Bare has established itself as a pioneer in waxing services, offering hair removal from brow-to-toe. “All companies need to be tech companies,” Lay Bare’s co-founder and president, Paolo Hilario said — an unlikely statement from a specialized hair removal company head. But Lay Bare proves to be committed in leveraging technological innovation to better serve their clients.
Lay Bare opened its first branch in 2006, after recognizing the lack of companies offering specialized hair removal. Twelve years later, the company has expanded its operations to 109 branches nationwide, and has aggressively undertaken digital transformation by digitizing their processes through Microsoft’s cloud computing service that runs its website and mobile application.
“At 109 branches, the company goes through a lot of traffic in terms of reservations and client information,” Hilario said. “We needed a more efficient way of handling our data and making our systems more reliable and stable to improve both our business processes as well as our customer service.”
Recognizing the need for advanced solutions to improve their business operations, Lay Bare partnered with Microsoft to incorporate advanced cloud technology in handling their data. Currently, Microsoft’s cloud computing platform, Azure, runs the company’s mobile application and website.
Prior to its Microsoft partnership, Lay Bare had to manually track customer information and booking details. Customers could only book over the phone or in person. Through Azure, Lay Bare is now able to provide its customers a seamless booking experience, where they can book their schedule, desired service, and even preferred technician all through the mobile application. By digitizing how they managed their customer queues, Lay Bare was able to reduce booking time, cancellation rate, and waiting periods, which effectively improved overall customer experience at their branches.
For Hilario, the deciding factor in choosing a cloud computing service provider was scalability. Azure not only runs the app, but also scales when necessary, by easily adapting to changes in the amount of traffic or workload in its mobile application. “Azure enables us to understand our operations and the depth of our business,” Hilario said. “At the end of the day, these are necessary tools for us to be able to evaluate our clients’ needs and demands, which then enable us to run a robust business.”
Microsoft’s thrust in helping businesses succeed is grounded on its mission to help every person and organization in the planet to achieve more. Through its current initiatives for small businesses, Microsoft highlights how successful SMBs not only benefit business owners through improved productivity, performance, and profits, but also the larger portion of society through difference made in the lives of employees, customers, and the community.
“Digital transformation is the great equalizer between small and large companies,” Christian Lim, Microsoft’s Chief Operating Officer said. “Lay Bare remains a testament to the fact that transforming your business processes through technology is not limited to top multinational firms, and can be adapted by niche businesses to drive better client servicing. Lay Bare is an excellent example of how Microsoft can enable small businesses to flourish through the power of technology.”