Nearly 11,000 businesses now listed on ZoomBusiness

It's been just one month since we launched our innovative new ZoomBusiness tool, a GIS data map directory to list businesses open during the recovery from COVID-19 - and beyond. The intuitive, mobile-responsive directory lets consumers find businesses that are open, with details about their opening hours, specific conditions (such as curb-side pickup, delivery, contactless payment), website URL and more.

It's a simple, elegant way to support the small and medium-sized businesses that have been hit hard by the shutdowns and decreased businesses related to this pandemic. FEMA estimates 40% of these businesses don't survive a disaster, and we know that up to 90% of a region's jobs comes from these small businesses. We simply cannot afford to let them fail.

ZoomBusiness is the fastest, easiest way to connect area residents with their beloved local restaurants, stores, service providers and more. No one wants to see shuttered storefronts. You can act quickly to protect them and drive more dollars their way. 

Economic developers, chambers of commerce, cities, counties and states across the US and Canada sprang into action. In the four short weeks since we launched ZoomBusiness, more than 60 economic developers have implemented this tool. Between them, over 11,000 businesses are now listed so consumers can find them. 

That's 11,000 bakeries, restaurants, bars, main street stores, pharmacies, hair salons. Auto repair shops. Grocery stores. Veterinary clinics and hotels. They can be searched by business type or category, visualized on a map, saved to custom folders, shared on social media or with custom links, and much more.

Behind each one of those businesses are the people who live in your community, who run and work at those businesses. They need us more than ever.  

In the few weeks since this new GIS data tool was launched, we've implemented a wide variety of changes and updates based on suggestions from clients. Here are some of the ones that have proven popular:

• Business can add themselves with no login required (by clicking on the Add a Business button in the top right)
• Businesses can edit their listings
• Businesses can add photos and videos
• Economic developers can batch add businesses with the spreadsheet template found in the Admin
• New categories or business types have been added based on demand
• Favorite businesses can be saved to custom-named folders
• COVID-19 data for the region can be viewed by clicking on Map Layers
• EDOs and chambers can dd their own custom map layers

That's a pretty impressive level of responsiveness for product that came to market only one month ago. This commitment to R&D is typical at GIS Planning. Because all our developers and and programmers work in house and because we know economic development so well, we can quickly pivot to respond to new conditions and requirements. No other GIS software vendor for economic development can match this speed and level of customer service.

We are proud to offer ZoomBusiness at no additional charge to our full-edition ZoomProspector clients. For everyone else, it's extremely affordable (price is indexed to population so every region, from small towns to big states, can benefit). Best of all, we can have your ZoomBusiness tool ready to go in just one business day. We offer marketing support, a press release template and examples of ways to promote the new tool to businesses and area residents. 

Interested in setting up ZoomBusiness for your community? Schedule a quick demo by clicking on the link below. We can have you up and running within one business day.