Amazon Brings Alexa to Senior Living Communities and Healthcare Systems with Alexa Smart Properties

Alexa Smart Properties simplifies deploying and managing Alexa-enabled devices at scale, and allows properties to easily customize their customer experience.

SEATTLE–Oct. 25, 2021– (NASDAQ:AMZN)— Today, Amazon announced two new solutions as part of Alexa Smart Properties that will enable senior living and healthcare providers to integrate Alexa into their properties and empower residents and patients to stay connected, informed and entertained, just by asking Alexa. Designed specifically for the needs of senior living communities and healthcare facilities, Alexa Smart Properties simplifies deploying and managing Alexa-enabled devices at scale, helping properties offer customized Alexa experiences for residents and patients, and increase care team productivity and operational efficiency.

Empowering Connection in Senior Living Communities

Alexa Smart Properties enables senior living residents to keep in touch with their loved ones, connect with their community, access community news, and more, using the Amazon Echo device in their room. Family members and friends outside the property get peace of mind knowing they can easily get in touch with residents through Alexa calling.

Administrators can offer access to tens of thousands of Alexa skills, and tailor resident experiences by customizing community information like activity schedules and meal menus. Care team members can communicate more efficiently with residents using Alexa communication features, which enable them to make announcements, voice and video calls, or send direct audio messages to other Alexa-enabled devices throughout the community. Alexa can also help communities streamline activities like check-ins, field requests for maintenance, and administrative tasks—enabling associates to save time and increase productivity. Senior living communities like Atria and Eskaton will integrate with Alexa Smart Properties at select locations to provide a better experience for residents, while creating empowered and more connected communities.

Deploying Solutions at Scale with Alexa Smart Properties

In addition to support for senior living and healthcare, Alexa Smart Properties offers a set of vertical solutions that enable Alexa experiences in properties such as hotels, vacation rentals, apartments, offices, and more. Alexa Smart Properties tools and APIs make it fast and easy for solution providers to manage and service a fleet of Alexa-enabled devices quickly, remotely, and at scale. By working with solution providers like K4Connect, Lifeline Senior Living, Aiva, and Vocera, senior living and healthcare properties can use Alexa Smart Properties to easily deploy and customize large numbers of Alexa-enabled devices.

With the help of solution providers, administrators can build, publish and enable skills to answer property-specific questions and integrate with other property management systems, so residents and patients can request property information like, “Alexa, what time does yoga start?” and perform property-specific actions like, “Alexa, could you ask for my mail to be delivered?” Hospitals and senior living communities can also build and enable HIPAA-eligible skills, like medication tracking, to connect care providers with residents and patients in an environment designed to protect their health information.

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Last month K4Connect announced the expansion of K4Community Voice to include a new multimodal experience with their Amazon Echo Show integration. K4Connect is a leading provider of enterprise technologies designed for senior living community residents and staff teams. For more information about K4Community Voice and other K4Connect solutions for senior living, visit www.K4Connect.com.

Click here to read the full Amazon press release.

K4Connect Expands Voice Leadership for Older Adults to Multimodal with Amazon Echo Show Integration

Leading senior living technology company continues commitment to voice-first innovation for senior living residents and staff

 

RALEIGH, N.C., September 14, 2021K4Connect, a mission-driven company integrating the best in technology to serve and empower older adults and individuals living with disabilities, today announced the upcoming release of its enterprise-managed integration with the Amazon Echo Show. The K4Community Alexa skill for Echo Show leverages newly released Alexa Management APIs to deliver an enhanced multimodal experience for senior living residents and staff and will be available to all K4Connect customers in late 2021.

This expansion into multimodal comes at a time when voice-first technology is rapidly growing in popularity with the older adult demographic. Earlier this year, K4Connect worked with Amazon and the North Carolina Assisted Living Association to bring over 1,400 Echo Show devices to senior living communities throughout North Carolina to help curb COVID-19 impacts on older adults including social isolation, mental wellbeing and communication with loved ones. This initiative validated that residents prefer engaging with Alexa to stay informed on community news and information, enjoy entertainment experiences and stay connected to family and friends. As the pandemic challenges continue, enabling senior living communities to provide these types of experiences and resources to residents at scale is especially critical.

K4Community Echo Show

The K4Community Echo Show skill will deliver a number of new and exciting features that focus on keeping residents engaged, providing new means of communication with family and friends and increasing access to their living communities.

 

Key features include:

  • Two-way secure video calling
  • Rotating ambient home screen content (community-specific information displayed on digital cards)
  • Smart home controls including lighting, temperature and ceiling fans
  • Community communications, events and daily menus
  • Entertainment and amenities (music, Q&A, games)

“We are thrilled to expand our voice offering to include our multimodal skill. We were among the first to deploy Amazon Alexa across senior living communities and recognized early on that the natural interface of voice would empower older adults to live more independent and comfortable lives. Now to combine both voice and touch into a single device, we’re able to serve even more residents using K4Community in ways that suit them best,” said K4Connect CEO and Co-Founder, Scott Moody.

K4Connect’s enterprise management approach to voice assistance enables communities to deliver voice experiences at scale, centrally managing, supporting and deploying hundreds of devices without burdening community teams and daily operations. User data is completely anonymized, creating a safe and secure environment for residents to confidently explore all that voice has to offer.

K4Connect is a leading provider of enterprise technologies designed for senior living community residents and staff teams. For more information about K4Community Voice and other K4Connect solutions for senior living, visit www.K4Connect.com.


 

About K4Connect:

K4Connect is a mission-driven technology company that integrates the best in technology to serve and empower older adults and individuals living with disabilities, together with the people, communities and organizations that also serve them. We believe that meaningful technologies have the power to make the lives of older adults simpler, healthier and happier. Our premier solution, K4Community, provides smart products and features that solve the challenges senior living residents and staff are facing today, focusing on the core categories of home, engagement and communication for residents, and productivity, services and data-driven insights for staff and operators. The entire experience is powered by our patented operating system built specifically for senior living, enabling our community partners to unlock the true value of enterprise data.

Based in Raleigh, N.C. K4Connect is currently serving thousands of senior living residents and staff at over 800 continuing care, independent living and assisted living communities across the nation. For more information, please visit www.K4Connect.com.

K4Connect Report Reveals Technology is Key to Enriching Resident Life, Optimizing Staffing and Driving Community Occupancy in Senior Living

Insights report demonstrates the rising importance of technologies that keep older adult residents and community staff connected, engaged and informed. 

 

RALEIGH, N.C., June 29, 2021 – In its first quarterly insights report released today by K4Connect, senior living residents and staff from across the nation reveal how technology is positively impacting their daily life and work post-pandemic. As COVID-19 shut the doors of communities and those living and working inside were met with near immeasurable challenges, technology quickly transformed from an amenity to a  necessity. The report explores the evolving role of technology beyond the pandemic and features insights into how operators can meet the new expectations of senior living residents and staff.

“We have long recognized the need for technologies that support older adults in their daily lives — it is the foundation for everything that we do. The pandemic challenges senior living faced undoubtedly accelerated that need,” said K4Connect CEO and Chief Mission Officer, Scott Moody. “Technology provided relief in critical areas of family connections, crisis communications, curbing resident social isolation, resident well-being and much more. We’re committed to helping senior living communities continue to leverage technology to provide great experiences for residents, as well as staff, both today and into the future.” 

In the report K4Connect Summer 2021 Insights Report: Trending Technologies To Navigate Life and Work in Senior Living During and Post-Pandemic, data and survey responses strongly point to technology as a universal tool for both residents and staff members to maintain and expand personal connections, better manage daily life in a community setting and increase operational efficiencies. The findings uncovered several notable themes:

  • Residents are not only open to using technology, but are eager to expand how they are using it to assist with and simplify daily activities such as receiving and sharing information, enjoying diverse content experiences (events, video), managing their lifestyles/schedules, and as a means of staying connected with friends, family and fellow residents. 
  • Staff value technologies that automate and accelerate redundant tasks, scale communications and help to curb resident social isolation.
  • Technology is a leading differentiator for communities and a critical sales and marketing tool. 

Insights Report Highlights:

  • Senior living operators are investing in technology to overcome challenges during and after the pandemic. Over 33% of communities implemented a resident engagement app and 31% launched a companion engagement app for friends and family outside of the community. Moreover, a fourth of communities deployed new voice technologies over the course of 2020.
  • Staff burnout and high turnover rates remain high priority issues for senior living communities. Technology can increase retention by creating a more efficient and productive workplace that reduces operational burdens on staff. Over 40% of staff estimate they saved over 50% of their time per month using automated features in the K4Community Team Hub digital staff tool to provide community-wide communications and event scheduling. 
  • Virtual experiences provided a dependable and scalable way to curb resident social isolation during quarantine. While residents are eager to return to socializing in-person, a hybrid offering of both virtual and in-person events will meet the new expectations for residents who want to maintain that connection to community programming from their apartments. Even late in the pandemic from November of 2020 to March 2021, the number of virtual events created by staff increased by 134%. Over 81% of residents attended live virtual events and 70% viewed pre-recorded content via the K4Community Plus resident app or K4Community Direct Broadcast in-room TV Channel. 
  • Community staff recognize technology as a driver of improving occupancy. 83% of staff indicated that offering technology as an amenity improves community occupancy. Respondents revealed the top three desired technologies to positively impact occupancy as: a resident engagement app, a resident well-check system and a companion app for friends and family.

This report includes usage and adoption trends of K4Connect’s premier senior living solution, K4Community, in addition to anonymous national survey responses from senior living communities representing diverse locations, sizes and care settings. Visit the website to download the full K4Connect Summer 2021 Insights Report.


 

About K4Connect:

K4Connect is a mission-driven technology company that integrates the best in technology to serve and empower older adults and individuals living with disabilities, together with the people, communities and organizations that also serve them. We believe that meaningful technologies have the power to make the lives of older adults simpler, healthier and happier. Our premier solution, K4Community, provides smart products and features that solve the challenges senior living residents and staff are facing today, focusing on the core categories of home, engagement and communication for residents, and productivity, services and data-driven insights for staff and operators. The entire experience is powered by our patented operating system built specifically for senior living, enabling our community partners to unlock the true value of enterprise data.

Based in Raleigh, N.C., K4Connect is currently serving tens of thousands of senior living residents and staff at over 800 continuing care, independent living and assisted living communities across the nation. For more information, please visit www.K4Connect.com

 

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K4Connect and Acts Retirement-Life Communities Partner to Deliver the Ultimate Integrated Senior Living Community Experience for Older Adults

Nation’s largest non-profit senior living CCRC operator and leading senior living technology innovator team up to launch advanced tech solution to thousands of residents and staff over 2021 

 

RALEIGH, N.C., March 25, 2021 K4Connect, a mission-driven technology company that integrates the best in technology to serve and empower older adults and those living with disabilities, today announced a strategic technology partnership with Acts Retirement-Life Communities (Acts), one of the nation’s largest not-for-profit senior living organizations. Acts launched K4Connect’s premier senior living solution, K4Community, across several of its communities in 2020 with plans to continue the roll out to additional Acts campuses potentially reaching over 8,500 residents and staff throughout 2021. Key to the partnership is K4Connect’s  underlying FusionOS technology–the Company’s patented operating system that will unlock a truly integrated, company-wide technology experience for Acts. 

 Acts is the owner, operator and developer of 26 resort-style senior living continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) with campuses across nine states. The organization elected K4Connect to help lead its resident and staff-focused innovation strategy through the implementation of K4Community, an ecosystem of value-driven technology modules and experiences designed for senior living community residents, staff and operators. K4Community is powered by FusionOS, the operating system that enables the seamless integration of tools and systems communities need today, with the flexibility to expand as resident, staff and operational needs evolve over time.

“We are committed to bringing our residents and staff the latest in innovation-driven experiences that provide both utility and amenity value. We are a tech-forward organization and partnering with K4Connect means we are investing in a relationship that establishes an open, scalable foundation for continued smart innovation across all of our campuses,” said Acts Retirement-Life Communities Senior Vice President and Chief Information Officer, Peter Kress.

 In 2021, Acts’ K4Community deployment will include several modules:  

  • K4Community Resident Check-In (RCI): Acts first deployed RCI across several communities in 2020; a reinvention of the traditionally manual morning check-in process leveraging motion-enabled smart home devices to trigger automated staff alerts that confirm a resident is up and active for the day. This noninvasive, passive monitoring is a complete departure from the traditional method of administering this critical daily task, often relying on in-room resident pull cords or meal check-ins. 
  • K4Community Smart Home: Building on RCI, is the industry’s leading enterprise smart home solution for older adults. Residents can utilize smart home devices through a variety of controls (touch, voice, remote control, automation) to create a more responsive at-home environment, including automated lighting, fan controls and smart thermostats. 
  • K4Community Plus: A resident-facing app that keeps residents effortlessly connected to family and friends, as well as their living community, by bringing everything they need to their fingertips in an older adult-friendly mobile application (communication, engagement content, work orders, meal information). A free Friends & Family companion app is also available to all K4Community Plus users.
  • K4Community Voice: Voice-first experiences with K4Connect’s enterprise Amazon Alexa integration delivers endless experiences for residents of all ages and acuity to keep them constantly informed, engaged and connected. Residents can ask Alexa for important daily news such as events or meal information, control their smart home environments, call the front desk, set reminders, access entertainment features and much more.

 The venture aligns two mission-oriented and innovation-driven organizations committed to making technology for older adults a reality for the entire senior living industry. “Acts is an ideal community partner for us as an organization dedicated to a resident-focused mission and advancing innovation in senior living. When it comes to technology, there is no doubt that Acts is a leader and we are excited about the opportunity to work with them and learn from them. We are committed to leveraging this partnership as an avenue to pioneer groundbreaking innovation in senior living for years to come,” said K4Connect Co-Founder and CEO, Scott Moody.  

To learn more about K4Connect and its K4Community solution, please visit www.K4Connect.com  


 

About K4Connect

K4Connect is a mission-driven technology company that integrates the best in technology to serve and empower older adults and individuals living with disabilities, together with the people, communities and organizations that also serve them. We believe that meaningful technologies have the power to make the lives of older adults simpler, healthier and happier. Our premier solution, K4Community, provides smart products and features that solve the challenges senior living residents and staff are facing today. K4Community focuses on core categories of home, engagement and communication for residents, and productivity, services and data-driven insights for staff and operators.

Based in Raleigh, N.C., K4Connect is currently serving thousands of senior living residents and staff at over 800 continuing care, independent living, assisted living and memory care communities across the nation. For more information, please visit www.K4Connect.com

About Acts
Based in suburban Philadelphia, Acts Retirement-Life Communities is the largest not-for-profit owner, operator and developer of senior living continuing care retirement communities (CCRCs) in the United States. Acts has a family of 26 CCRCs in nine states, which provide housing and services to approximately 10,000 residents. The Acts communities provide a full range of personalized senior services including independent living, assisted living and skilled nursing care residences on the same campus to accommodate a variety of retirement lifestyle needs. For more information please visit: ActsRetirement.org. 

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K4Connect Launches Content Suite for Older Adults, Partners with Industry Leaders Coro Health, CuriosityStream and Spiro100

Senior living technology innovator brings new engagement experiences in wellness, mindfulness and entertainment to senior living communities across the nation

RALEIGH, N.C., Jan. 26, 2021K4Connect, a mission-driven technology company that integrates the best in technology to serve and empower older adults and individuals living with disabilities, today announced partnerships with three leading content creators – Coro Health, CuriosityStream and Spiro100. All K4Connect customers will have access to these curated offerings delivered through K4Community Plus, the company’s advanced mobile and web application. For the first time, K4Connect is bringing award-winning factual entertainment to senior living through its partnership with CuriosityStream, a global leader in documentary streaming and on-demand entertainment. 

Thoughtfully developed and curated for older adults, this on-demand programming suite transforms resident life at home with access to thousands of new activities and amenities including fitness, mindfulness, faith and spirituality, entertainment, education and more. At a time when curbing social isolation while maintaining resident engagement and activities is so critical, digital content provides safe ways for residents to stay stimulated, active and inspired. Residents indicated this need in a 2020 K4Connect Member (resident) survey, reporting the need for at-home access to more fitness/wellness, documentary and technology “how-to” content accounting for over 54% of resident top interests. 

These integrations bring an extensive library of new digital experiences to K4Connect senior living residents of all ages, acuity and interests. Available through K4Connect’s mobile and web application, residents can access these digital experiences any time, from anywhere. 

  • Coro Health, a digital therapeutics company, is the leading provider of therapeutic music and spiritual support within the healthcare industry. K4Connect will offer the company’s flagship programs, MusicFirst™ and CoroFaith™. MusicFirst™ is a therapeutic audio platform with more than 1,500 music programs curated by renowned music therapists, music designers and neuroscientists, clinically proven to reduce agitation and depression. CoroFaith™ has the largest database of spiritual, religious, and wellness content addressing inter-faith needs within the healthcare community. 
  • CuriosityStream brings award-winning documentary streaming with over 3,000 features and series covering topics from space exploration and adventure to nature and lifestyle. With CuriosityStream’s focus on every genre of factual content, residents can explore their passions and find new ones like diving into aviation, revisiting medieval history or traveling somewhere new around the globe. With access to exclusive, original films and series, communities can offer senior living residents unique and enlightening experiences that can’t be found anywhere else. 
  • Spiro100 is an innovative video streaming exercise and wellness program for seniors designed to improve their quality of life, as well as their caregivers, by offering state of the art exercise programming. With the largest original content library available, courses focus on mind, body and spirit activities that are safe, appropriate and outcome-based. Spiro100’s approach addresses the greatest needs in senior wellbeing, from fall risk reduction to engagement for those living with Alzheimer’s. 

K4Connect’s patented operating system, called FusionOS, enables the seamless enterprise deployment, delivery and management of digital content. Community teams now have a near endless library of engaging programming to simply select, schedule and share with residents, saving them valuable time while bringing new and exciting opportunities to their communities. 

“This pandemic has caused everyone in the senior living industry to rethink what it means to serve older adults and the caregivers supporting them. We are committed to finding new ways to improve the lives of our resident Members and community staff with dynamic and scalable resources that make their lives easier and more enjoyable. These content partners are leading the way in curated, on-demand experiences for older adults that do just that. We are incredibly excited about these new offerings and about the opportunity to partner with like-minded, mission-oriented technology organizations,” said K4Connect CEO and Co-Founder, Scott Moody. 

K4Connect is the leading provider of enterprise-grade technologies for senior living communities, currently serving thousands of residents at over 800 premier continuing care, independent living, assisted living and memory care communities across the nation. The company’s flagship solution, K4Community, brings together the best in technology to serve residents, staff and operators alike. Visit our integrations and partners website to learn more www.K4Connect.com/integrations-partners.


 

About Coro Health:

Coro Health, a digital therapeutics company, is the leading provider of therapeutic music and spiritual support within the healthcare industry. The company reaches over 1M customers in a wide range of healthcare settings through their flagship offerings MusicFirst™ and CoroFaith™.  Coro Health is the industry pioneer and has created the only therapeutic audio streaming service (400M streams) that has been clinically proven to reduce agitation, depression, and incident rates. Coro Health was started in 2009 and is based in Austin, Texas.  

About CuriosityStream:

Launched by Discovery Communications founder and media visionary John Hendricks, CuriosityStream is the award-winning documentary streaming and on-demand service where viewers of all ages can fuel their passions and explore new ones. With thousands of titles, from science and history to travel and tech, CuriosityStream is available worldwide to watch at CuriosityStream.com plus on our own TV and mobile apps — as well as through partners across the globe who deliver CuriosityStream as additional value to their customers, members and audiences.

About Spiro100:

Spiro100 is an innovative video streaming fitness & wellness program for seniors. Developed by a national award-winning program director for retirement communities, Spiro100 boasts the largest original library of senior wellness classes in the world and adds new classes every month. Our 100+ classes are categorized by mind, body, and spirit, and are searchable by activity level, ranging from fully seated to advanced. Over 30 classes are appropriate for use in Memory Care.

About K4Connect:

K4Connect is a mission-driven technology company that integrates the best in technology to serve and empower older adults and individuals living with disabilities, together with the people, communities and organizations that also serve them. We believe that meaningful technologies have the power to make the lives of older adults simpler, healthier and happier. Our premier solution, K4Community, provides smart products and features that solve the challenges senior living residents and staff are facing today. K4Community focuses on core categories of home, engagement and communication for residents, and productivity, services and data-driven insights for staff and operators.

Based in Raleigh, N.C., K4Connect is currently serving tens of thousands of senior living residents and staff at over 800 continuing care, independent living, assisted living and memory care communities across the nation. For more information, please visit www.K4Connect.com.

 

NCALA Receives Technology Grant; Teams with K4Connect to Outfit All Assisted Living Communities in North Carolina with Voice and Visual Technology

Hundreds of assisted living communities and family care homes across the state to receive free Amazon Echo Show 8

RALEIGH, N.C., Jan. 6, 2021North Carolina Assisted Living Association (NCALA), a North Carolina non-profit trade association supporting quality assisted living, and K4Connect, a mission-driven technology company that integrates the best in technology to serve and empower older adults and individuals living with disabilities, today announced a partnership to provide technology relief to communities across the state. In September 2020, the General Assembly of North Carolina passed House Bill 1105/SL 2020-97 granting North Carolina organizations in need access to funds of the federal Coronavirus Relief Fund. NCALA was awarded grant funds to help statewide assisted living communities curb resident social isolation, and facilitate safe visitation and communication between residents and family members through technology. In partnership with K4Connect, the organization is bringing the power of voice and visual technology experiences to every assisted living and family care home community in North Carolina. By January 31, 2021, more than 1,400 Amazon Echo Show devices will be delivered to participating senior living communities.

Senior living has been hit hard by the coronavirus impacting millions of vulnerable older adults living at home and in care communities across the nation. This year, technology emerged as a valuable resource for older adult residents to maintain connections to family and community staff, while staying informed during quarantine. This statewide grant initiative recognizes the need for technology-based resources that can help senior living communities overcome challenges brought on by this type of crisis. The grant objective is to provide senior living residents and community staff with technology that assists in three key areas: mental wellbeing, social isolation and virtual visitation.

“NCALA is honored to have received this grant and confident it will bring value to our assisted living communities throughout the state. Partnering with K4Connect allows us to seamlessly scale the delivery and deployment of over 1,400 Amazon Echo Show devices to communities in need. It is incredibly exciting to bring these resources to assisted living communities that continue to work so hard to provide the best care possible for the thousands of older adults in North Carolina,” said NCALA President & CEO, Frances Messer.

K4Connect is a leading provider of enterprise technologies designed for senior living community residents and staff teams. In recent years, the company has worked closely with Amazon to bring valuable voice experiences to older adults throughout the nation with Amazon Alexa devices. With the Echo Show, residents can easily video chat with family and friends, stay engaged through a myriad of voice and touch-accessible entertainment options, and have a whole new way of engaging with technologies that provide real utility to daily life.

“We’re incredibly thankful for our continued relationship with Amazon that allowed us to move quickly on this initiative,” said K4Connect Chief Growth Officer, Keith Stewart. “Our enterprise management capabilities enable us to safely deliver, deploy and support these devices at scale, getting them into the hands of communities quickly with absolute minimal impact on staff to manage set-up and onboarding. We’re excited to work with NCALA on this program to provide much-needed relief as communities continue to manage through the impacts of COVID-19.”

With each community receiving a device(s), the Echo Shows are a useful common area tool that can be accessed by residents and staff at any time. Spring Arbor Senior Living will be receiving devices across its North Carolina communities, as Senior Vice President of Senior Living, Rich Williams, said, “This past year we were thrilled to launch voice capabilities with the Amazon Echo Dots at a number of our communities. Having an Echo Show in the wellness areas and cafes in all of our North Carolina communities is an incredibly valuable tool.”

Do you represent an assisted living community or family care home located in North Carolina? Reach out to our team at NCALA@K4Connect.com to learn more and confirm eligibility by January 15, 2021. To learn more about NCALA programs and training, visit www.ncala.org. To learn more about K4Connect and its technologies, visit www.K4Connect.com.


About NCALA

NCALA is a non-profit trade association representing the interests of seniors in North Carolina through more than 250 Provider Members (assisted living community operators) and over 75 business Partner Members serving more than 15,000 assisted living residents in Adult Care Homes and Family Care Homes across the state. The core of NCALA’s mission is to support quality assisted living by working to create a business environment that respects the needs of both assisted living providers and the consumers who utilize their services. NCALA focuses on four primary areas: political advocacy, regulatory support, communication of issues, and education and training.

As the official North Carolina state partner of Argentum, NCALA is one of the largest providers of state-approved Assisted Living Administrator Certification training. Learn more at www.ncala.org.

About K4Connect

K4Connect is a mission-driven technology company that integrates the best in technology to serve and empower older adults and individuals living with disabilities together with the people, communities and organizations that also serve them. We believe the future of senior living is in enabling Smart Senior Living Communities through tech-based solutions that truly impact the lives of older adults, wherever they live. Its premier solution, K4Community, provides smart products and features across Home, Wellness and Engagement for residents and Productivity, Building and Insight for staff and operators.

Based in Raleigh, N.C., K4Connect currently serves tens of thousands of senior living residents and staff at over 800 continuing care, independent living, assisted living and memory care communities across the nation. For more information, please visit www.K4Connect.com. 

K4Connect and GlobalLogic Partner to Accelerate Engagement Technology for Residents in Senior Living Communities During COVID-19 Pandemic

Digital Product Engineering Company Donates Development Support to Help Launch Smart Applications for Older Adults and Senior Living Communities Ahead of Schedule

SAN JOSE, Calif.—July 29, 2020GlobalLogic Inc., a leader in Digital Product Engineering, announced its collaboration with K4Connect, a mission-driven technology company that integrates the best in technology to serve and empower older adults and those living with disabilities. GlobalLogic initially partnered with K4Connect’s in-house app team in 2019 to support development of its new K4Community Plus resident-facing application that is part of the company’s holistic Smart Senior Living Community solution. K4Community Plus helps community residents and staff use technology to stay connected, enhance overall engagement, stay informed and improve wellness. The partnership quickly evolved in March 2020 when, responding to COVID-19, GlobalLogic invested additional engineering capacity in kind to speed project completion. As a result, K4Connect was able to launch critical features of the K4Community Plus resident and guest app two months ahead of schedule.

Unique Technology Solutions for an Underserved Community

K4Community Plus offers user interfaces and feature sets tailored to the comfort levels and specific needs of older adults such as:  

  • Smart Home: temperature, lighting, voice-activation, remote controls.
  • Wellness: event reminders, meal services, connected health, family connection.
  • Communication: messaging, video calling (resident to guest, resident to resident), voice-activated dialing.
  • Community Engagement: concierge services, group games, community directories.

Responsive, Reliable Engineering Services

COVID-19’s onset as well as its significant health and social impact on senior living community residents caused K4Connect to reprioritize features and dramatically shorten K4Community Plus’ development schedule. This would bring a wealth of new features to people that needed them most at a crucial time.

“The pandemic really underscores the importance of our technologies as the communities we serve immediately went into strict lockdown and continue to experience those challenges,” said Scott Moody, CEO and Co-founder, K4Connect. “We understood K4Community Plus’ critical role in helping people safely maintain their physical and mental health. We aligned with GlobalLogic on revised, aggressive roadmaps that cut more than two months from our original release plans and got to work. Supplementing our engineering team with GlobalLogic’s engineering talent, who demonstrated commitment to our cause, has been an incredible experience. We deeply value this partnership and the capabilities we were able to bring to our customers.”

GlobalLogic worked with K4Connect’s Bay Area and Salt Lake City, Utah teams to deliver important timely K4Community Plus COVID response functions such as:

  • Friends & Family App: keeping friends and family connected to residents, especially while under lockdown.
  • Community Social Feed: keeping residents constantly informed of community news, updates, and activities in the style of popular social media feeds.
  • Video Calling: seamlessly connecting residents to family members and other residents through video.
  • Video Streaming: simplifying access to entertainment via YouTube content.
  • Advanced Amazon Alexa Integration: introducing new and expanded capabilities and controls.

“GlobalLogic’s mission aligns well with K4Connect’s. Both companies understand the transformative impact digital solutions can have when designed to the inherent nature of its end users,” said Nitesh Banga, COO, GlobalLogic. “We felt it our duty to contribute the best we have to offer to quicken the delivery of the K4Community apps as they can make a tremendous difference in fragile time. Given the project scope, we quickly ramped our Argentina team and were able to meet K4Connect’s new launch objectives—demonstrating that different time zones and distance are no challenges for our engineers. We were honored to receive this opportunity and look forward to our continued partnership.”

K4Community Plus (www.k4connect.com/k4community-plus) is now available and has been deployed to communities nationwide.


 

About K4Connect

K4Connect is a mission-driven technology company that integrates the best in technology to serve and empower older adults and individuals living with disabilities together with the people, communities and organizations that also serve them. We believe the future of senior living is in enabling Smart Senior Living Communities through tech-based solutions that truly impact the lives of older adults, wherever they live. Its premier solution, K4Community, provides smart products and features across Home, Wellness and Engagement for residents and Productivity, Building and Insight for staff and operators.

Based in Raleigh, N.C., K4Connect currently serves tens of thousands of senior living residents and staff at over 800 continuing care, independent living, assisted living and memory care communities across the nation. For more information, please visit www.k4connect.com.

About GlobalLogic

GlobalLogic (www.globallogic.com) is a leader in digital product engineering. We help our clients design and build innovative products, platforms, and digital experiences for the modern world. By integrating strategic design, complex engineering, and vertical industry expertise—we help our clients imagine what’s possible and accelerate their transition into tomorrow’s digital businesses. Headquartered in Silicon Valley, GlobalLogic operates design studios and engineering centers around the world, extending our deep expertise to customers in the communications, financial services, automotive, healthcare, technology, media and entertainment, manufacturing, and semiconductor industries.

GlobalLogic is a trademark of GlobalLogic. All other brands, products or service names are or may be trademarks or service marks of their respective owners.

Allbridge and K4Connect Announce Strategic Channel Partnership to Improve Senior Living Resident Communications

Industry innovators partner to deliver an unmatched digital experience for senior living residents and staff

RALEIGH, N.C. July 28, 2020Allbridge, the leading provider of data, video, and voice solutions for hospitality, senior living, and healthcare properties, and K4Connect, today announced a partnership to bring seamless digital experiences to thousands of senior living communities across the nation. Allbridge will deliver K4Connect’s flagship solution, K4Community, to senior living operators to better connect residents with family, friends, and care providers through advanced digital communication and information tools. Allbridge customers will also have access to K4Community Team Hub, the comprehensive community management tool for staff teams. 

There are over two million older adults living in senior care communities throughout the U.S. The technology needs of this demographic are rising in smartphone adoption, social media use, and more. Recently, the COVID-19 pandemic has further accelerated the need to reach seniors with digital tools that keep them informed, connected, and engaged while experiencing longer periods of isolation during quarantine. Allbridge and K4Connect are delivering these resources to communities of all sizes and care settings through information, communication, and engagement tools for residents, and mass community management tools for staff. 

“Together with K4Connect, we are able to reach senior living communities with dynamic digital solutions that empower residents and transform the work day for staff teams. Combining the K4Community senior living resident and staff solutions alongside our industry-leading data network, video, and voice products, makes for a seamless package of enterprise digital solutions these communities need now,” said Craig Snelgrove, EVP of sales for Allbridge.

Allbridge is an end-to-end provider who can support all in-room resident technologies for data, video and voice, scaling to meet changing needs and reducing capital expenditures while freeing staff to focus on other internal IT priorities. In partnership with K4Connect, Allbridge will be reselling three core K4Community products specifically designed for senior living residents and staff:

  • Digital Signage: Community digital signs displayed throughout campus deliver quality experiences and content, keeping residents, staff and visitors constantly informed. 
  • Insertion TV Channel: Reaching residents directly in their homes through the community TV channel, residents stay up to date on the latest community news, daily information such as menus and activities, as well as critical communications during emergency scenarios.
  • K4Community Plus (Mobile App): Available for iOS and Android devices, K4Community Plus is a robust resident application, including features for communication (e.g., video calling for both residents and families), engagement (e.g., event sign-ups), information (e.g., community news and a Community Social Feed tool), and more.
  • K4Community Team Hub: The comprehensive community management staff tool that supports the K4Community solutions through content creation and publishing, resident and family communication, and a variety of productivity tools.

“This is a powerhouse partnership. Joining our K4Community solutions with Allbridge’s network expertise ensures the highest quality digital experiences for the senior living communities we serve. We are now able to reach even more communities with these technologies with the added value of their established success in the hospitality and senior living  markets. We’re excited to introduce Allbridge as our first official channel and infrastructure partner, and honored to work with such a talented team of experienced digital innovators,” said K4Connect Vice President of Business Development, Ian Sanders. 

To learn more about Allbridge and K4Community, please visit www.allbridge.com/k4community

About Allbridge:

Allbridge delivers one connected experience with all data, video, and voice technologies for hospitality, senior living, and healthcare organizations. Currently serving more than one million rooms nationally, Allbridge positions properties for the future by integrating technologies to exceed guest and resident expectations. The company is headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina with additional offices in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.  For more information please visit www.allbridge.com.

About K4Connect:

K4Connect is a mission-driven technology company that integrates the best in technology to serve and empower older adults and individuals living with disabilities, together with the people, communities and organizations that also serve them. We believe the future of senior living is in enabling Smart Senior Living Communities through tech-based solutions that truly impact the lives of older adults, wherever they live. Our premier solution, K4Community, provides smart products and features across Home, Wellness, and Engagement for residents, and Productivity, Building, and Insight for staff and operators. 

Based in Raleigh, N.C., K4Connect is currently serving tens of thousands of senior living residents and staff at over 800 continuing care, independent living, assisted living and memory care communities across the nation. For more information, please visit www.K4Connect.com.

K4Connect Raises Additional Capital to Close Series B Funding of $21M; Brings Forte Ventures on as New Investor

Mission-aligned company and investors move to make big impact with technology in senior living.

RALEIGH, N.C., July 8, 2020K4Connect, a mission-driven technology company that integrates the best in technology to serve and empower older adults and those living with disabilities, today announced a financing raise of $7.7 million led by Forte Ventures. This financing officially closes K4Connect’s Series B round at $21 million, bringing the company’s total outside venture funding to-date to $31 million. K4Connect is the leading provider of enterprise connected-life technologies for senior living communities, currently serving thousands of residents at over 800 premier continuing care, independent living and assisted living communities across the nation. This financing round will further accelerate the development and deployment of solutions that support today’s most vulnerable population during COVID-19 and beyond – older adults.  

The challenges brought on by COVID-19 have had far-reaching implications for senior living, but have magnified opportunities where technology can have an immediate and long-lasting impact on the daily lives of residents and working environments for community staff. K4Connect brings cutting-edge enterprise technologies to this industry, which innovation has long ignored. The company tailors a variety of technologies to benefit the residents, staff, and resident families of senior living communities through its flagship solution, K4Community. 

“We are thrilled to lead this round of funding to support all that K4Connect is doing to serve the older adult community and the senior living industry,” said Louis Rajczi, partner at Forte Ventures. “This is a particularly exciting partnership for us as we are passionately behind K4Connect’s vision of improving the lives of the nation’s older adults through innovation. Forte Ventures focuses on opportunities where strategic investment will push industries forward, and K4Connect is clearly leading the innovation movement in the senior living segment.” 

K4Community is built upon K4Connect’s patented operating system, FusionOS, an advanced multi-modal edge-cloud architecture and the only of its kind in the senior living industry. A comprehensive suite of solutions integrating the best in technology, K4Community enhances daily life for residents, augments the workday for staff, and enables community operators to operate more efficient and data-driven businesses. Residents stay connected to each other and their families through digital communications (e.g., voice, video, messaging), informed on the latest community news (e.g., COVID-19 updates, visitation policies, daily menus), engaged and stimulated during quarantine (e.g., content, virtual engagement, voice-first experiences) and more independent through features such as home automation and Resident Check-in. Community staff benefit from creation, productivity, and awareness tools via the K4Community Team Hub, and key features including automated family/guest communications and Hotline for critical communications. Ultimately, the goal is to enable communities to rapidly transform into Smart Senior Living Communities, creating a more connected living and working environment driven by a foundation of technology. 

“We are incredibly fortunate in our investor relationships in that they not only believe in our vision but equally value our mission. Forte Ventures is a prime example of that relationship and we’re proud to welcome them to the bench of our valued investors. With their support, and all of our investors, we’re continuing to accelerate to serve as many older adults through technology as possible,” said K4Connect CEO and Co-Founder, Scott Moody. 

Additional investors taking part in the round include existing K4Connect investors Sierra Ventures, Intel Capital, AXA Venture Partners, the Ziegler Link•Age Fund, Revolution’s Rise of the Rest, Topmark Partners (formerly Stonehenge Growth Equity Partners) and Traverse. As part of the investment by Forte Ventures, Louis Rajczi will join the K4Connect Board of Directors. K4Connect was founded in 2013 and is headquartered in Raleigh, N.C. To learn more about K4Connect and its current and future technologies, please visit www.K4Connect.com.


About Forte Ventures:

Forte Ventures is a multi-stage venture capital firm that collaborates and co-invests with corporate strategic partners in technology companies across diversified industry sectors throughout North America. Focus areas include Information Technology, Insurance Tech, Financial Tech, Mobility, On-Demand Tech/Services, Cybersecurity, IoT and Industrial Tech. Initial investments generally range between $1-3 million and typically include participation from leading corporate strategic partners as co-investors. Forte Ventures has offices in Atlanta and Silicon Valley. For more information please visit www.forteventures.com.

About K4Connect:

K4Connect is a mission-driven technology company that integrates the best in technology to serve and empower older adults and individuals living with disabilities, together with the people, communities and organizations that also serve them. We believe the future of senior living is in enabling Smart Senior Living Communities through tech-based solutions that truly impact the lives of older adults, wherever they live. Our premier solution, K4Community, provides smart products and features across Home, Wellness, and Engagement for residents, and Productivity, Building, and Insight for staff and operators. 

Based in Raleigh, N.C., K4Connect is currently serving tens of thousands of senior living residents and staff at over 800 continuing care, independent living, assisted living and memory care communities across the nation. For more information, please visit www.K4Connect.com.

K4Connect and Pryon Bring the Power of AI to the Senior Living Industry to Improve the Lives of Residents and Empower Caregivers During the COVID-19 Pandemic and Beyond

K4Connect’s Staff Assistant Built On Pryon Answers Delivers Knowledge to Caregivers So They Can Spend More Time Caring for Residents and Less Time Finding Answers to Important Questions

 

RALEIGH, N.C., June 29, 2020—COVID-19 continues to put older adults at unprecedented risk. To improve the lives of seniors by empowering caregivers with answers to important questions, K4Connect, a mission-driven technology company that integrates the best in technology to serve and empower older adults and individuals living with disabilities, is partnering with Pryon, an AI company focused on augmented intelligence for the enterprise, to bring the power of AI to the senior living industry. K4Connect’s Staff Assistant powered by Pryon Answers enables senior living operators to provide each caregiver with an AI assistant that augments their knowledge, helps them make better decisions, and frees time to spend with residents.

“The pandemic has greatly impacted the most vulnerable people—older adults—and those who care for them. It’s also created an environment in which policies and operational practices are changing rapidly,” said Scott Moody, CEO and co-founder of K4Connect. “Our Pryon Answers-based Staff Assistant is designed to enable caregivers to stay up-to-date with the latest COVID data, treatments, regulations and more, so they can deliver the safest, highest quality care to their residents. Our vision is to harness the power of AI to better serve and care for older adults; Pryon is the perfect partner to begin this journey with.”

AI Answers for Caregivers

With K4Connect’s Staff Assistant, caregivers simply ask their AI assistant questions about company policies and procedures, government regulations, and best practices from the latest medical reports and research. To always deliver the best answers, Pryon Answers ingests documents, links, and other data sources selected by senior living operators, then creates a sophisticated AI model based on that information. Operators can update the answers delivered to caregivers by having Pryon Answers ingest new or replacement documents.

“Dedicated caregivers for older adults were already heroes. With COVID-19, these frontline workers have proven to be superhuman,” said Igor Jablokov, CEO of Pryon. “Even so, they are being impacted by the tremendous workloads, risks to their own health, and lack of fast and accurate answers to new and important questions. This is the perfect opportunity for AI to augment people so they can thrive and do their jobs better than ever before. By partnering with K4Connect, I’m proud that our augmented intelligence solution is being used to improve the lives of older adults and the caregivers that look after them.”

The Staff Assistant beta program, slated to run through the end of July, is available to all K4Connect customers currently using its staff tool suite, K4Community Team Hub. Currently, beta users are leveraging Staff Assistant to deliver timely COVID-19 information. Post-beta, K4Connect plans to expand the Staff Assistant solution to encompass more data and capabilities.

For more information about Pryon Answers, send an email to info@pryon.com or visit pryon.com. To learn more about K4Connect’s technologies, visit K4Connect.com.


About Pryon

Pryon is an AI company focused on augmented intelligence for the enterprise. Its core AI platform enables companies to reimagine knowledge so employees can effortlessly tame data overload, intelligently apply answers and insights to their work, and continuously learn from new data, users, and feedback. Because Pryon believes everyone should benefit from AI, the company has automated many of the processes that require experts, coding, and data preparation so no technical expertise is required. For more information, please visit www.pryon.com or follow us on LinkedIn and Twitter @Pryon.

About K4Connect
K4Connect is a mission-driven technology company that integrates the best in technology to serve and empower older adults and individuals living with disabilities, together with the people, communities and organizations that also serve them. We believe the future of senior living is in enabling Smart Senior Living Communities through tech-based solutions that truly impact the lives of older adults, wherever they live. Our premier solution, K4Community, provides smart products and features across Home, Wellness, and Engagement for residents, and Productivity, Building, and Insight for staff and operators.

Based in Raleigh, N.C., K4Connect is currently serving tens of thousands of senior living residents and staff at over 800 continuing care, independent living, assisted living and memory care communities across the nation. For more information, please visit www.K4Connect.com