AI that generates human interaction not hype
CALGARY, AB, CANADA, January 21, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ — WaitWell, the enterprise queue and service operations platform used by 1,700+ government offices, universities, healthcare clinics, and service-based businesses across North America, announced today Waillo, an AI service assistant designed to supercharge WaitWell’s queuing, booking, and end-to-end service flow.
While many AI solutions today aim to replace humans, WaitWell’s newest addition, Waillo, is built to route people to other people for service—not trap them in a chatbot vortex. Waillo is designed for high-volume service environments where speed, accuracy, and human interaction matter.
“There’s a lot of hype around generative AI and removing people from the service layer right now—and that’s exciting for organizations looking to streamline operations,” said Steven Vander Meulen, CEO and Co-Founder of WaitWell. “AI for the sake of AI can end up adding layers between people and the help they actually need. We use AI to connect humans to other humans, information, and services faster.”
For the businesses and public offices using WaitWell, it means their teams get easy-to-interpret data that helps them build, grow, and understand their client needs faster than ever before. “The crux is using AI to keep humans working together—not replacing them,” Vander Meulen added.
Waillo Chat: Plain Language, Faster Routing
WaitWell’s new AI chatbot removes the guesswork from accessing public services. Instead of forcing people to navigate complex organizational structures, people can describe what they need in their own words, instantly map requests to the correct service, queue, or appointment type. Unlike chatbots designed to avoid human contact, Waillo Chat invites customers to wayfind by asking plain language questions and move directly to the right service, freeing up staff to focus on providing meaningful human interactions that customers prefer.
– A citizen types “I need a birth certificate” → routed to vital records
– A student types “I need to add a class” → routed to registrar services
– A patient types “I sprained my ankle” → routed to urgent care intake
Waillo Insights: Operational Intelligence for Teams and Business Owners, Without the PhD
For staff and operations leaders, Waillo Insights turns existing reports into real-time answers. Rather than pulling and reconciling multiple reports, teams can ask questions in natural language—such as “Who were my best-performing staff last month?” or “Which locations are consistently overcrowded?”—and receive clear, actionable responses. This lowers the training burden, shortens time-to-value, and helps non-technical teams make data-driven decisions about staffing, hours of operation, service flows, and policy changes that reduce bottlenecks and improve visitor satisfaction.
“Frontline managers don’t have time to become analysts,” said Vander Meulen. “They need answers now so they can adjust operations in real time. Waillo gives them operational intelligence without the complexity. AI is a new world for many business owners and teams. We think AI should make gathering info and using that data to improve our services easy, not scary or more complex for hardworking entrepreurs and teams.”
Built by People Who Lived the Problem
WaitWell’s founders—Shannon Vander Meulen (CMO, frontline operations expert), Steven Vander Meulen (CEO, 27 years building enterprise software for Intuit, SMART Technologies, and Nureva), and Steve Drew (CTO, 45+ years architecting enterprise systems from mainframes to cloud)—built WaitWell because they lived the problem firsthand.
“We owned a registry office where customers abandoned 90-minute waits, staff burned out from chaos, and we had zero visibility into what was actually happening,” said Shannon Vander Meulen, CMO and Co-Founder. “We couldn’t find software that was flexible enough to adapt to our unique service environment, so we built it—and we’ve been ruthlessly focused on real outcomes ever since.”
A Commitment to Build on What Works (Not AI-Washing)
In an environment where many vendors are rebranding existing automation as “AI,” WaitWell’s approach has been deliberately conservative. The company chose not to market its existing machine learning features as “AI” until it could deliver clearly differentiated capabilities that people and staff can feel at the counter—not just see in headlines.
Building on WaitWell’s existing machine learning engine for accurate wait-time estimation, these new capabilities reflect growing demand from public sector and enterprise organizations for AI that delivers tangible operational outcomes rather than hype.
Proven at Scale: 30+ Million Customers, 8.67 Million Hours Saved
Since its founding, WaitWell has served more than 30 million customers and saved an estimated 8.67 million hours of wait time across 1,700+ locations in North America. The platform powers service delivery for organizations including:
– Nevada Department of Motor Vehicles (statewide deployment), which reduced appointment waits from months to days
– University at Buffalo, which cut registrar wait times from two hours to five minutes
– Dallas Animal Urgent Care, Pennington County, and healthcare organizations across North America
These AI capabilities are the first phase of WaitWell’s roadmap to make service operations more efficient, accessible, and human-centered across North America.
About Waillo
Waillo is WaitWell’s AI service assistant, built to extend and elevate how WaitWell manages queuing, booking, and end-to-end service flow in high-volume environments. It brings AI into service operations in a practical, human-centered way—removing friction where it slows people down and creating space for better interactions between customers, staff, and systems.
About WaitWell
WaitWell is an enterprise queue and service operations platform that helps government offices, universities, healthcare providers, and service-based businesses manage high-volume environments with less friction. Founded in 2020 by Steve Vander Meulen (CEO), Shannon Vander Meulen (CMO), and Steve Drew (CTO), WaitWell has served more than 30 million customers and saved 8.67 million hours of wait time across 1,700+ locations. Recognized as an A100 “One to Watch” and one of Calgary’s “Homegrown Startups to Watch,” WaitWell powers modern service delivery for organizations including Nevada DMV, University at Buffalo, UT Austin, Pennington County, Dallas Animal Urgent Care, and healthcare organizations across North America. The platform is SOC 2 compliant and integrates seamlessly with existing CRM, ERP, virtual meeting, and healthcare systems.
For more information, visit waitwellsoftware.com
High-resolution images, founder headshots, and product screenshots available upon request.
Theresa Tayler
Start Me Up PR inc.
theresatayler@startmeuppr.com
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