OWNA Reviews

Owna review

Comments: I guess the team is busy so accessing support can be a struggle at times.

Pros:

We like the reconciliation for the payments, the CCS management and attendance records.

Cons:

Staff discounts still have weaknesses and children's attendances

Alternatives Considered: Xplor Education

Reasons for Choosing OWNA: We were using CCS with Qikkids and basic OWNA, so we decided to use one system.

Reasons for Switching to OWNA: Better pricing and easier functions

New user to OWNA

Pros:

This software is so easy to use, it's a fantastic way to communicate with families and staff and it simply streamlines our entire day.

Cons:

There hasn't been anything yet that I could say is a negative to this software, I only wish we had have discovered it sooner.

Alternatives Considered: Storypark

Reasons for Choosing OWNA: XPlor was difficult to navigate and didn't provide everything we were looking for.

Switched From: Xplor Education

Reasons for Switching to OWNA: Because it covered everything in one product. It dealt with all staffing, admin and programming aspects which makes every day so much easier.

CCS, Billing, Direct Debit

Comments: Great tool for parents interaction. Horror tool for managing billing, charging parents and direct debit is extremely cumbersome, tedious taking my time away from working on my business and spending more time in my business. I do not have confidence with OWNA in using it do discuss billing issues with our parents.

Pros:

Parents interaction, parents communication

Cons:

Billing, Direct Debit, processes, lack of automation, lack of formal parent statement day by day

Alternatives Considered: Kidsoft and QikKids

Reasons for Choosing OWNA: We wanted to consolidate using 1 platform instead of 2 when the mandatory parent sign in/out was introduced to reduce our time spent in the system.

Switched From: QikKids

Reasons for Switching to OWNA: We had a good experience with the parents interaction and as we are customer focus we thought we should lead with this principal. In our belief, billing and CCS and direct debits are standard functions that should not be a concern but once we switched over there have been some nightmarish episodes which we discovered were substandard in operation and procedures specific to the childcare industry. We are still waiting for OWNA to improve its billing system and can't wait much longer. Parents are knocking on our door to exit the direct debit system and we have to try and convince them otherwise.

Smooth transition, will never go back

Comments: Extremely Positive! OWNA support have been kind, accessible and super helpful! OWNA aligned with our personal sustainability goals (paperless) and has every feature we need. Highly Recommend!

Pros:

OWNA is easy to navigate and is a one-stop shop! It honestly has it all! From planning and programming, linking learning stories and observations, sharing information amongst management and staff, and so much more. Our families love the 'cheat sheet', finding it easy to navigate with this assistance, and now engage with our content/documentation so much more than ever before. Everything is ONLINE! Going paperless is easy with OWNA.

Cons:

The only hiccup - transferring families from our old software left emergency contacts behind and only took primary caregivers. it took a lot of work to get those contacts all included in each child's profiles. Several years on, this isn't a problem as new families enter the details right into the system.

why we use OWNA

Comments: Overall we have had a very good experience with OWNA and have recommended it to lots of people. Thank you for the wonderful service that you supply.

Pros:

changing to OWNA has completely change the way we do paperwork at our centres. It has saved so much time in administration costs. Parents, Staff and Admin all love OWNA and how easy it is to use, the information they are able to produce and the open lines of communication between everyone. OWNA Support have always been excellent and we have never had to wait very long for an answer/resolution to our problems.

Cons:

Transition from other programs can take a little bit for staff/parents to get their heads around. But once they get to know the program and all the features they begin to really enjoy it. The QIP part of the program could be easier to use. It is a bit frustrating in its current format.

IF YOUR NOT USING OWNA YOUR MISSING OUT

Comments: heaps less admin time as normal daily tasks are simplified and completed in less than half the time with OWNA software compared to old school applications. enhanced programming capabilities, and Families LOVE the transparency of OWNA!

Pros:

This product is extremely user friendly and the software integration when we first swapped over was so simple the customer service team handled majority of it. our centre loves the transparency of the app, families love it, we are able to provide enhanced programming cycle compared to all other apps on the market.

Cons:

i would like to see some additional report features added. for example a 1.8% tool, and customisable booking sheets. however in saying this OWNA has shown a strong commitment to continuous improvement and every time we take a new idea to them they run with it and within weeks/months we see it implemented in the app. i hate Fat Zebra they are hard to work with compared to other direct debit companies.

Alternatives Considered: Xplor Education

Reasons for Choosing OWNA: Because OWNA has it all, it combines all features of running an early learning centre into one App. huge time save and to be honest its not overpriced compared to 'long standing applications'

Switched From: QikKids

Reasons for Switching to OWNA: Programming personalisation capabilities. OWNA also seemed to have such a passion for helping operators by providing an app that was committed to listening to their customers and continuous improvement rather then just selling a product. we wanted a company and app that was innovative and that would keep improving with time, and OWNA has lived up to this.

Best move ever!

Comments: We are just starting to realise many benefits - which include time saving features. We have also been able to move a lot of our paper based practices to OWNA, which works in well with our sustainability practices. I love that the support team are always on hand, and work hard to resolve any issues - including our user-knowledge, or lack thereof!

Pros:

Moving over to OWNA has been incredible. We are still not using all the features, but definitely moving towards this. OWNA has and will enable us to move all our processes into the same software, rather than using different platforms for different functions. It literally has just about all we need and more. The platform is simple, clean, and functional. The team at OWNA are so responsive to needs and suggestions, and seem to work around the clock to ensure that their program does everything we need (and want) it to do.

Cons:

There are definite issues with the accounts side of the software, and flaws that need to be ironed out.

Alternatives Considered: QikKids and Xplor Education

Reasons for Choosing OWNA: We were becoming ever frustrated with our provider, and had seen many positive comments around OWNA - and when we checked it out for ourselves, we were definitely impressed! We did not come in eyes closed - we knew we were dealing with a team new to some aspects (Child Care Subsidy) - but we also watched as they moved quickly to make improvements and iron out issues.

Switched From: Storypark and QikKids

Reasons for Switching to OWNA: OWNA is definitely a superior product, AND the team seem to be committed to making the best software on the market, and not losing their vision of this, and their responsiveness to us as customers as they grow.

Supporting OWNA

Comments: Overall, I will still happy with OWNA. Though we are still learning how to utilise the app, we are now bit organise compare before. It provides us a system in our organisation

Pros:

I like that it is a software where the admin and educators can use together. Also, I love that they are actively developing it to cater the current changes of the childcare industry. I can see their passion to the childcare industry and I love that they have weekly training.

Cons:

Their immunisation record does not cover the additional vaccine required for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait children. Since it is a national legal requirement, I suggested to them to add it. But their response was that at this stage they could not do that. I just hope that they will align things in their software to the national legal requirement.

The Hills Little Learners Review

Comments: Amazing.

Pros:

In my many years in the ECEC Industry and using a many different apps for the indurty, OWNA has by far exceeded my expectations as it offers so much. Not just fr the educators documenting but also for Admin and enrolments. Having everything on one app makes it so much easier to stay on top of things and also for families which can see everything from their child's day to our QIP, centre poilcies etc. It has been a very welcomed change to our service and the eudcators and myself really love using this daily

Cons:

It can be glitchy at times and we may have to close the app, re open for it to work. Sometimes the educators lose their work if the app glitches if they are in the middle of writing an observation and it stops working, it doesnt automatically save to draft.

Alternatives Considered: QikKids

Reasons for Choosing OWNA: Seesaw is more for primary school teachers. Did not offer what OWNA has to offer

Switched From: Seesaw

Reasons for Switching to OWNA: Owna seemed to offer more and the value was great for our small service.

My views on owna

Comments: - i think when we first began with OWNA the app/portal was more stable, we now constantly have issues with the app/portal and girls losing written work. -

Pros:

- it allows our centre to be paperless - app is easy to use - families are able to view their child's day easily - communication via families/educators and educators/educators is simple and effective

Cons:

- feel like i have suggested several ways that the app can be improved but its always placed on a waiting list such as making the linking of goals to posts via the app - we have several issues with girls losing their work via the app and portal - that only 20 photos can be uploaded at any one time

Perfect all-in- one solution

Comments: Exceptional

Pros:

OWNA offers a perfect product! The app and admin portal combine for ease of use for management, staff and families. Developers are continuously adding benefits and value and respond immediately to ideas and requests.

Cons:

Can’t fault this product. Streamlined all our day to day requirements and activities.

Easily the best choice

Comments: The team are really responsive and make it easy to be an advocate. [SENSITIVE CONTENT HIDDEN] is a great role model for developers, I really appreciate his accessibility and commitment.

Pros:

One stop shop for compliance and programming makes life so much easier.

Cons:

Rostering and payroll integration is my pet hate. It is too far from the relative ease of competitors such as Deputy.

Alternatives Considered: Xplor Education

Reasons for Choosing OWNA: Too old and too many systems.

Switched From: QikKids

Reasons for Switching to OWNA: Best combination of features, very reasonable price, consistent positive feedback

Owna review

Comments: Owna have helped us with saving cost by having the ability to upload paperwork and observations rather than printing.
We have found families provide more communication via the app than we previously had as the app is user friendly

Pros:

Very user friendly and love that the OWNA team continuously add and update new things to the app.

Cons:

The programming side can be tricky when wanting to link an experience to a specific child but also want to maintain child's privacy.

Industry Leader. Innovative and Always Improving.

Comments: We were one of the first during the pilot and have been a dedicated customer ever since.
Relationship with Owna goes up to management level.
Feedback and response to issues or improvement requests are dealt with on a personal level.
Always adding community requested feature or even custom features for our specific needs.

Pros:

Real-time updates on attendance and ratios. Privacy and security-aware. Meets regulations and tight policies in the industry. Intuitive and easy to use interface. Platform independent and customised apps for Android/Apple devices.

Cons:

The product is great but there are still areas/processes that we believe can be integrated to reduce paperwork and improve efficiencies in our industry. We're sure these will come in time but would be good to have now.

Alternatives Considered: QikKids

Reasons for Choosing OWNA: Cost savings. One app vs multiple apps. Platform independent. Can use on a mobile device via the app or via a web browser. New functionality improved efficiency of business. One dashboard for a birds-eye view of everything.

Reasons for Switching to OWNA: Cost savings. Additional features.

OWNA Review

Comments: Easy, meets high standard requirements, allows for parent input in all areas and showcases the focus of the children learning.

Pros:

Being able to log children's daily information, compliance checklist, easy to use, excellent customer service.

Cons:

The children aren't able to revisit their learning like they are able to when using a paper-based programming. This issue could be solved by enabling by ises selection specific posts to play on a slideshow-like feature.

We love OWNA

Comments: Ever since coming on board with OWNA the team have been helpful and responsive to our needs. This has been amazing.

Pros:

OWNA is easy to set up, implement and use - our educators quickly become familiar with this app and implement it to reflect our compliance - I love that I can view our observations, daily information and all information from anywhere and check on our service. Our families love having access to the information about their child and our educators are confident using this as a tool for recording the aspects of paperwork and compliance requirements

Cons:

I would like to see continued adding of more features that we use to monitor and record compliance for our service. The QIP tool is something that I would like to see improved - separating each element / standard in each quality area. This is something we don't use because of this reason.

Happy Customer

Comments: My experience has been very positive. I have used several digital platforms and this is by far the best platform for programming i have used so far.

Pros:

I love that i can put everything in the one place and have everything stored digitally. The ease of use for staff to access programming, follow up and other ideas. Capturing parent comments and having everything in real time to share with parents makes it a wonderful tool. The ease of use for parents has made my life easier. Updating policies for feedback and sending out correspondence is now just a click of a button.

Cons:

Some changes are not communicated to us and this causes an issue when staff go to program, but we sort it out in the end. it may just be as simple as a button to press or a feature changed to admin only.

Absolutely love it!!

Comments: It has changed my life!!! it makes my job so easy and so helpful when I need to get something and you only need to go to one area to find it. It is very easy to follow and I absolutely love the team at OWNA...with all there help throughout. I would recommend this product to so many people and the staff love it also. Great work OWNA!!!

Pros:

I love this software as it helps me run the day to day care for the children and families. It has all the things you need in one place. It is so easy to use both on our computers and phones. There are so many areas that you can document for the families and I just love how honest OWNA and the team are when things go bang they let you know.

Cons:

I guess when the software drops out but that's not there fault

OWNA review

Comments: Having everything in one place is great and not over various apps and software.

Pros:

There are plenty of tutorials, customer service is very quick and enquiries answered well and concise. The reporting and viewing of data is great.

Cons:

It isn't user friendly for parents. Staff who are also parents are having consistent glitches or being logged out for extended periods. The children learning documentation and sharing with parents isn't straight forward. There aren't tutorials to explain some of the details. There is a lot on the app and it is great to have it all in one place, however at the moment nothing on the app is streamline. There is alot of going in and out of tabs to finish for eg: adding a new enrolment and tagging parents for posts.

Function well for operation of a centre

Comments: Great to support the operation of a centre.

Pros:

Post function is very satisfied for families and centre. Communication platform among staff is very good. The auto submission is bringing huge convenience for the team. The QIP available in OWNA is great. Waiver of gap fees function is easier than other software. OWNA helpdesk provides very worthwhile support for the cases we encounter the problems. The online tutorial is helpful for the new users.

Cons:

NONE area is identified from our experiences.

Reveiw

Comments: Customer service was terrible and the attitude toward us as a customer was shocking!

Pros:

The idea behind OWNA is great and they really have thought of a lot functions that are needed in the childcare industry.

Cons:

The site would glitch and loose all the data. When discussed with customer support we were told there was nothing they could do. We started in the beginning to get a customised program and it was all promises and no action.

Owna onboarding experience

Comments: So far it has been more than I expected, the support has been amazing

Pros:

The software seems complicated at first but once you complete the videos and see how much you can complete on the program it is amazing. Love that all checklist's, Incident reports, family communication can be completed in the software. I thought invoices would be hard, but i actually think it will be easier than a running balance as parents can view an invoice and see exactly what they have been charged for.

Cons:

Few things on the app have turn off notifications that are not on the web version. Would also like to see a tag button on the app for logs and incident reports. Our staff leave things in draft form for supervisors to view. I understand that you can attach and email address for notifications but then they are notified on everything. Would love to have a way I could attach and email address for supervisors to be notified of maintenance or incident reports but not have to receive emails that relate to the accounts side.

Awesome Software

Pros:

OWNA is a friendly-user App/Website version. We can easily to check all details we need through OWNA App eg CCS, Family Details, Attendances, etc...

Cons:

We expect the DDR Form will be integrated as a mandatory part during the enrolment form and our team memders does not need to upload it manually.

The easy to use system "OWNA"

Pros:

This system was very easy to be able to roll out across our centre's as it is very self explanatory and requires minimal teaching.

Cons:

There is nothing that comes to mind. Anything we have needed to add, Owna has been very helpful in customizing this for us.

Excellent!

Comments: Communicating with parents effectively. Easy to use and customer service on the whole is pretty good when we contact them.

Pros:

Great way to communicate with parents. Good for keeping all records and files electronically. Ease of use. New updates and improved features released regularly.

Cons:

Some personalisation for individual centres would be good. Some information about how to use new features emailed through.