The Youngs were instrumental in providing feedback on versions of the product and helping guide their community’s partnership decision. K4Connect VP of Business Development, Ian Sanders, catches up with The Youngs to discuss their experiences using our trial pilot program.
By: Ian Sanders
VP of Business Development at K4Connect
At K4Connect, we are always excited to see ever-increasing pace of technology adoption across the industry and the growing focus of executive and board leadership on establishing a long-term strategy. As a result, we have grown to more than 28,000 residents served (our Members) and 120+ communities on the platform – after launching K4Community just four years ago. However, the true focus in all that we do is not on growth, but rather on the people we serve.
Building strong relationships with our customers and members is embedded into everything that we do, from busing residents to our office for a day of product testing and Lunch & Learns with our engineers, to hands-on ongoing support and education with our Customer Success Team. And while we’ve grown significantly over the years, we are very much still at the beginning of the tremendous benefit technology has to offer the lives of older adults.
So, how far have we come? What better way to help tell that story and shed light on the “why” behind what we do, than hearing from one of our very first members.
Rewinding four years from today, fewer than 10 residents had ever used K4Community, our flagship technology solution designed for senior living. One Member of that very small group were Tom and Pat Young, residents at Magnolia Glen – a Kisco community just 10 miles away from our offices in Raleigh, NC offering independent and assisted living. Tom and and Pat volunteered to join a pilot program of five participants to trial our new product and provide feedback to the K4Connect product team.
Little did we know when we started, that this trial would begin a multi-year relationship that would go far beyond simply testing the initial product. Instead, the Youngs were instrumental in providing feedback on versions of the product, helping guide their community’s partnership decision, and even hosting our lead Series A investors from Intel at their home.
As Tom shared with our team just last week, “It was fun for us to be a part of the K4Community journey! We had the K4Connect team sitting right at our dining table making adjustments as we tried the new technology throughout our home. To now see how far the technology has come over the years — and to know we played some part in that — is very exciting.”
The Youngs have found their use of technology has changed, as time has gone by, and the value they see from features they requested in the early days of the trial have become an integral part of daily life. “We have loved the connection to our family through the app, to just pop open our tablet and video chat is such a joy. And we still have the very first tablet from when we started with K4Connect!”
As Ian Sanders, K4Connect VP of Business Development shared with us: “I can’t thank the Youngs enough for their enthusiastic feedback in the early days of our company. To be honest, not all of the feedback in the early trial was positive, but I can’t tell you how valuable it was for our team to come and hear directly from a resident using our platform every day. It made us better, and that same feedback drove a great experience for thousands of their peers around the country.”
In looking back at the last few years, we can always attribute our growth as a company to some great partners, supportive investors, and smart Advocates (our team). Ultimately, however, we can actually trace much of our success back to a few key resident Members, and the Youngs are certainly on that short list. We wouldn’t be where we are today without them. So, Thank You!