ufirst Chooses Vonage to Power its App Aimed at Improving the Way People Access Services in Cities following COVID-19

ufirst Provides Virtual Queues with Easy-to-use Technology that will Help People Adhere to New Social Distancing Guidelines in a Safe and Efficient Manner as Businesses Begin to Reopen

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Vonage

Jun 25, 2020, 08:30 ET

HOLMDEL, N.J., June 25, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- ufirst, an Italy-based innovative digital platform available via mobile app which offers a cloud queue management solution, chose Vonage (Nasdaq: VG), a global leader in cloud communications helping businesses accelerate their digital transformation, to power the development of its messaging features for the ufirst platform. This latest development builds upon ufirst's mission to improve the way people access essential services in the most congested areas of cities by creating virtual queues for these businesses. This is particularly important to adhere to the new social distancing guidelines dictated by the COVID-19 emergency.

ufirst designed the new messaging feature to allow all people, even the least technologically savvy, to safely navigate public queues, including those at local pharmacies and grocery stores. This feature offers consumers the ability to practice social distancing and reserve their physical place in the queue simply by providing their mobile phone number. With this technology, consumers do not need to wait in line and risk coming into close contact with others.

The ufirst platform, built using the Vonage Communications Services Platform, will send the ufirst user a text message with a ticket number, indicating their position in the virtual line. Users will also receive information about when their turn is approaching and, where available, specific time to go to the entrance of the retailer store or the facilities. With the ufirst virtual queue and text message alert system, people will no longer need to physically wait in line or risk standing too close to someone else.

"ufirst is particularly proud of the partnership with Vonage. Vonage was able to immediately understand our needs and that allowed ufirst to release, in a very short period of time, a new functionality and a useful service, even for those who are less inclined to use technology resources, but who may have the greatest need for safe and easy access to essential services like food shopping," said Matteo Lentini, Managing Director of ufirst.

"Due to our unique ability to power the remote delivery of essential services, we have seen a sharp increase in demand for solutions built on Vonage APIs since the start of the COVID-19 crisis," said Omar Javaid, President, Vonage API Platform Group. "In this new environment, Vonage is powering important solutions built to help people through this challenge, and we are proud to support ufirst as they allow even the least tech savvy among us to make their lives easier with a simple text message."

The Vonage Communications Services Platform provides communications technologies that enable businesses to embed contextual, programmable communications via messaging, chat, social media, video, voice and more into mobile apps, websites and business systems.

Leveraging the Vonage Platform, businesses can innovate the way they engage with their customers in real time, anywhere in the world, through their preferred channels. The platform even makes it easy for developers to integrate emerging technology including bots, artificial intelligence and deep data analysis into new and existing communication solutions so they can quickly build the personalised, immediate and intuitive communication experiences that today's customers expect.

About ufirst

Born in 2016, ufirst is the innovative platform, available via app, created with the specific intent of definitively changing the way people access the most congested services (provided by public and private structures) in the city, allowing significant and real-time savings. At the same time, ufirst supports partner companies in their digitalization process by allowing them to better manage internal workflows.

About Vonage

Vonage, (Nasdaq:VG) a global cloud communications leader, helps businesses accelerate their digital transformation. Vonage's Communications Services Platform is fully programmable and allows for the integration of Video, Voice, Chat, Messaging and Verification into existing products, workflows and systems. Vonage's fully programmable unified communications and contact center applications are built from the Vonage platform and enable companies to transform how they communicate and operate from the office or anywhere, providing enormous flexibility and ensuring business continuity.

Vonage Holdings Corp. is headquartered in New Jersey, with offices throughout the United States, Europe, Israel, Australia and Asia. To follow Vonage on Twitter, please visit www.twitter.com/vonage. To become a fan on Facebook, go to facebook.com/vonage. To subscribe on YouTube, visit youtube.com/vonage.

SOURCE Vonage