DALLAS—UniFocus, a workforce management systems provider, acquired Knowcross, a global leader in task management and operational optimization software for the hospitality industry. The merging of the two organizations’ technologies under the UniFocus umbrella will provide service business operators a single solution for determining the real-time labor needs of their business while ensuring timely service completion for operational efficiency across each of their various departments.
In addition to bringing together two platforms, UniFocus and Knowcross will be infused with capital via Riverside to build an ecosystem that meets industry needs in a post-pandemic world.
The Knowcross platform positions UniFocus and Knowcross to serve the joint customer bases of the hotel industry and healthcare. Additionally, joining forces will bring Knowcross’s task management and operations tools into the service industries UniFocus serves, such as the restaurant space. Beyond improving operational performance, operators in all industries served will be able to streamline health and safety and quality with integrated inspections while replacing and digitizing logbooks.
“UniFocus’ roots are in labor scheduling, demand forecasting and time and attendance. Expanding our platform further into operations management was the natural next step,” said Mark Heymann, CEO of UniFocus. “Knowcross has a best-in-class suite of task management tools, and we are excited by the power and insights that will come from the countless opportunities to integrate our technologies. Together, our platforms will boost managers’ decision making by integrating data from forecasting, scheduling, task execution, as well as guest and employee satisfaction in one ecosystem.”
UniFocus and Knowcross share a vision and see the merger as a way to accelerate plans for innovation and reaching new markets. With complementary geographic presences, the combined result is a global presence to deliver solutions around the world.
In the labor crisis, scheduling the right people at the right time and having them perform the right tasks are imperative as service industries seek out operational efficiencies. The integrations between the UniFocus and Knowcross platforms combine scheduling and task communication within an accessible mobile app that keeps employees engaged.
The demand-based scheduling from UniFocus’ labor management tool will use KNOW Housekeeping, KNOW Service, and Know Maintenance tasks, which have created improvements in staff productivity. KNOW Glitch and the UniFocus Guest Scope survey tool will resolve guests’ issues.
“Our roadmap and customer requests were leading us into the labor management and time and attendance space,” said Nikhil Nath, CEO and founder of Knowcross. “As we explored our opportunities, the merits of joining forces with an industry leading platform was so compelling that it was an obvious choice to integrate the UniFocus and Knowcross platforms. The opportunities afforded by combined entities are quite phenomenal. We are looking forward to delivering a comprehensive workforce management system that was specifically designed for the service industry to our clients.”
