"The other options are dial-up internet." That’s how Abney Harper at Prima Apres, describes workforc

"The other options are dial-up internet." That’s how Abney Harper at Prima Apres, describes workforce planning without Ando.

She told me that Ando is helping build the future of work for team members, managers, and owners alike, delivering real savings today while uncovering new sales opportunities and creating schedules that better reflect employee preferences.

None of those outcomes started with labor savings. It started with visibility. Most operators think of forecasting and scheduling as labor management tools. But accurate demand forecasting often gives operators something even more valuable: a clearer view of what's actually happening in their business.

We saw this firsthand at Prima Apres. Across multiple locations operating around the greater New Orleans' holiday-driven demand cycles, scheduling had historically been built around employee preferences and manager intuition. Each week looked a lot like the one before it. Managers would pull prior sales, make a few adjustments from memory, and build schedules as best they could.

When Ando was implemented, the first improvements were operational. More importantly, the data started highlighting patterns that had gone unnoticed for years.

Results:

Chronic overtime reduced to zero across all locations

~35 labor hours recovered per week, per location

~$26,000 in annual labor savings per location

Demand forecasting identified cannibalization between two nearby stores

Scheduling decisions shifted from intuition-based to demand-driven planning

Ando’s forecasts also brought to light something nobody had flagged. Multiple locations were actually cannibalizing each other's demand. You only catch that when someone – or something – is finally paying close attention to the daily numbers. Prima Apres’ co-owner told me that Ando put rigor around scheduling they'd never had the time to do themselves, with there finally being attention paid to getting it right.

You can find more of Prima Apres products and shop online at Williams-Sonoma, Inc.