An easy way to schedule meetings, events, and daily workflows has been needed for ages. However, the creation of a simple-to-use, secure, plug-and-play scheduling platform has vexed developers, product teams, and entrepreneurs for ages.

“While working on a project with another developer, we found there was nothing out there for calendar scheduling,” said Bailey Pumfleet, Co-founder and Co-CEO of Cal.com. “As our work scaled, and the need for multifaceted scheduling grew, we discovered that thousands of others had the same problem. Developing a scheduling solution that could integrate seamlessly into workflows started out as more about solving our own problem.”

This initial need inspired the launch of Cal.com: the world's first open-source, developer-friendly scheduling platform. Cal.com offers the tools businesses, governments, nonprofits, and consumers need to easily manage their appointments.

“We've built an incredible product that today is used by over 100,000 people,” said Pumfleet.

As Cal.com's product began to take flight, one specific demand from users quickly emerged: video conferencing.

“We had to offer the next level of service — beyond just scheduling a call or meeting — and give users the ability to instantly move a meeting to video with the least friction possible,” said Pumfleet.

However, the time, labor, and distraction involved in creating a video conferencing solution internally posed serious drawbacks.

“We were lukewarm on building a video service from scratch, estimating it would take one to two months and detract from our focus on continuing to enhance our core calendaring product,” said Pumfleet.

After deciding to stay focused on Cal.com's core product, instead of building an in-house video solution, the search for a video partner with the right platform, tools, and scalability began. They sought to design a seamless user experience that scaled with the user as they grew.

“We didn't want an individual or enterprise to have to have a Zoom subscription to go to video because that's not always practical,” said Pumfleet. “Our goal was to find a really lightweight, easy way to move a Cal.com meeting to a video conference from a vendor that could also support the next iterations of our business.”

Cal.com sought the following in a video platform:

• Ease of use for end-users
• Secure and HIPAA-compliant
• Easy-to-use APIs
• Seamless integration into existing user workflows
• Quick implementation

Cal.com reviewed market options and chose Daily to launch its new Cal Video service.

Daily allowed Cal.com to easily add a customized video solution to their product in a matter of days.

“The number one thing that stood out about Daily is its ease of implementation,” said Pumfleet. “Daily Prebuilt was so easy, and their APIs are incredibly user-friendly too, which made adjustments and modifications simple. This kept us from getting sidetracked so we could stay laser-focused on further innovation for our scheduling product.”

The flexibility of Daily's APIs allowed cal.com developers to rapidly deploy an array of features for Cal Video including:

• Mobile-friendly UI
• Customizable layout
• Support for large calls
• Recording options
• Downloadable text chat
• Screen sharing
• Moderation controls for hosts
• A pre-call “lobby” where participants can test their mics and cameras

“We wanted to re-engineer the customer experience.  The dexterity of Daily's APIs made that process really straightforward and easy to do,” said Pumfleet.

The nimbleness of Daily's solution helps Cal.com meet the myriad needs of its customers. “A one-size fits all approach to our product isn't viable,” said Pumfleet. “I love how easily Daily fits and works within our product to give a diverse user base what they want. Customers tell us they love getting video out-of-the-box and that they don't have to research or learn to set up something complex, and that it works with mobile data across different devices. Daily is simple and just works, especially compared to big platforms like Zoom.”

HIPAA compliance is especially important for Cal.com's telehealth users. “Customers feel very reassured when they're given a product stack like Daily's with HIPAA-compliant privacy baked in across the board,” said Pumfleet.

By implementing Daily's video platform, Cal.com created a competitive advantage, improved customer satisfaction, sparked growth in users, and realized savings by not having to build its own video client.

“People are saying they selected us because Daily is a core part of our offering, so it is the perfect pairing for Cal.com,” said Pumfleet. “Daily also contributes to higher levels of customer satisfaction.”

Cal.com is especially pleased it did not have to invest time or money to build Cal Video. “That would have taken a couple of months of development and meant putting several people on it from our team of only four people at the time,” said Pumfleet. “When you consider paying the salaries of two to three developers, and completely waylaying a small team, to spend months building a video client, that's tens of thousands of dollars in cost. Plus, it doesn't even include trying to put a dollar number on the effect of not being able to develop the rest of your core product too.”

Support and maintenance for Daily video have been a breeze. “The last thing you want is to feel lost when it comes to documentation,” said Pumfleet. “The product really requires no ongoing support or maintenance; the documentation is excellent.”

The out-of-the-box plug-and-play video service from Daily has created a superior experience for Cal.com customers and a competitive advantage that is paying real dividends. “Cal Video, powered by Daily, is ideal both for enterprise-level self-hosted users and individuals who prefer the ‘no assembly required' Cal.com experience,” said Pumfleet. “To make a long story short, video conferencing platforms powered by Daily are great for people who want a reliable, minimalistic, and customizable experience that's HIPAA-compliant and ties in with their brand.”

Future product enhancements are in the works at Cal.com.

“We envision using Daily's APIs to further customize the customer experience,” said Pumfleet. “We're looking forward to adding our own styling and features to the video UI without having to worry about what's going on under the hood.”

In addition, Cal.com plans to leverage the success of Cal Video to go after bigger fish. “We will target larger enterprises where video from Daily, and HIPAA compliance, are huge differentiators,” said Pumfleet.