CASE STUDY
How The Children In The Shoe Used Daily Connect to Supercharge Operations
Finding an All-In-One Childcare Center Management Solution
When the leadership team at The Children In The Shoe found themselves juggling multiple software platforms that added more complexity than clarity, they knew something had to change. Their network of five thriving childcare centers across Maryland had a reputation for excellence in early childhood education—but behind the scenes, their fragmented management systems created daily headaches for everyone involved.
This all changed when The Children In The Shoe began consolidating various scattered tools into Daily Connect's comprehensive platform. Instead of using several different systems, none of which talked to each other, they’re now using just one: Daily Connect, a unified childcare management software.
The Challenge: A Tangled Web of Childcare Software Tools
For years, The Children In The Shoe operated like many childcare organizations—managing their business across fragmented systems that created inefficiencies and frustration. While they had been using Daily Connect's parent communication tools successfully for several years, they relied on other providers for critical functions including parent billing and immunization tracking.
This divided approach created significant operational challenges. Staff members were forced to constantly switch between different platforms throughout their day, disrupting their workflow and increasing the potential for errors. Parents experienced a disjointed journey when interacting with the center, having to navigate different interfaces for communications versus payments.
The team at The Children In The Shoe was looking for a more streamlined approach to billing—something that would simplify operations for their staff while also making it easier for parents to manage payments. They wanted a single solution where families could access billing information in the same app they already used for daily communication, creating a more seamless and transparent experience for everyone.
“Before we consolidated everything into Daily Connect, we were constantly jumping between different systems—one for communication, another for billing, another for immunization tracking. It was disjointed, time-consuming, and honestly pretty frustrating for both our staff and our families. Parents were confused about where to go for what, and our team spent way too much time on manual data entry and reconciling payments from different sources. It just wasn’t sustainable for a business our size."
Tina Cusack, Executive Director,
The Children In The Shoe
Expanding The Partnership with Daily Connect
The Children In The Shoe made the strategic decision to centralize all their operations in Daily Connect, but what makes this implementation particularly noteworthy is the collaborative nature of the relationship. Daily Connect worked hand-in-hand with The Children In The Shoe to develop functionality tailored to their specific operational needs.
Daily Connect’s parent billing tools, now used by thousands of users each week, were built with direct input from the team at The Children In The Shoe. The new system made payment tracking intuitive for parents, providing clear visibility into their account status. Parents now have clear visibility into what they're being charged and why. And thanks to feedback from The Children In The Shoe’s team, our billing platform incorporates subsidy management—a critical feature for many families that rely on assistance programs to afford quality childcare.
With Daily Connect's support, The Children In The Shoe has begun moving toward accepting 100% online payments, dramatically reducing the administrative burden of processing cash and checks. This shift has simplified accounting processes through automatic reconciliation with bank transactions, reducing manual data entry and the potential for errors. It’s a new approach that’s unlocked significant time savings and more accurate financial records.
But we didn’t just work together with The Children In The Shoe on our parent billing tools: we also partnered closely with them to build our immunization tracking feature. The Children In The Shoe played an instrumental role in designing this functionality to ensure it met the real-world needs of childcare providers. With the help of The Children In The Shoe, we’ve created a new feature that eliminates the need for our users to pay for a separate system while ensuring that businesses like The Children In The Shoe remain compliant with health regulations.
Looking to the future, The Children In The Shoe is preparing to implement Daily Connect's enrollment system, replacing time-consuming paper-based forms with digital processes. This will create a more professional application experience while streamlining the enrollment workflow for both families and administrative staff.
Xavier Launay, CEO
Daily Connect
"Children in the Shoe didn't just tell us what they needed—they gave us direct feedback as we built it. By collaborating directly with their team on features like immunization tracking and parent billing, we created solutions that work in the real world, not just on paper. This approach is core to how we innovate at Daily Connect, turning customer challenges into platform enhancements that benefit our entire childcare community."
Unpacking the Benefits of a Successful Partnership
Unifying all of their operations into Daily Connect's unified platform has delivered substantial benefits across multiple dimensions of The Children In The Shoe's business.
By eliminating subscriptions to multiple software tools, the organization has realized immediate cost savings. Plus, the streamlining of operations has reduced labor costs associated with managing several systems and transferring data between them. With all information now centralized in Daily Connect, the team spends less time managing their data, and more time on activities that enhance their business.
The transition to Daily Connect’s parent billing tools has proven particularly important. The Children In The Shoe’s system now automatically records and categorizes payments. Subsidy management has been made much easier thanks to Daily Connect’s simplified compliance reporting and reimbursement processing. The convenience of having all interactions with the center—from daily activity updates to billing and payment processing—in a single platform has simplified life for busy families.
Parents have experienced equally meaningful improvements in their interactions with the centers. The enhanced transparency in billing has eliminated surprises and built trust between families and The Children In The Shoe. This consistent experience across all touchpoints with the center has strengthened parent relationships and improved satisfaction levels.
Staff members are experiencing improvements in their day-to-day roles too. Employees no longer waste precious time switching between systems or duplicating data entry. The integrated workflows—from enrollment through attendance tracking and billing—have created more efficient processes that free up time for what matters most: caring for children.
“Since switching to Daily Connect, everything runs more smoothly. Billing is transparent, payments are easier to track, and our staff isn’t bogged down by manual tasks anymore. Parents love having everything in one place, and we’ve saved both time and money by consolidating our systems.”
Looking Forward: Expanding Our Partnership
The Children In The Shoe continues to expand its use of Daily Connect, with the digital enrollment system implementation representing the next phase in their digital transformation journey. It’s a move the team is excited about: eliminating paper forms and creating a more professional, efficient application process will be a huge positive for new families.
The success of our partnership with The Children In The Shoe shows the value of uniting all your childcare operations into a central platform like Daily Connect. By partnering with a responsive technology provider willing to develop features based on real-world operational needs, The Children In The Shoe has created a more efficient operation for staff, a better experience for families, and a stronger foundation for future growth.
“We’re excited to keep growing with Daily Connect. The enrollment system is the next big step for us, and we know it’s going to make things even more efficient for our team and more convenient for families. What we really value is that Daily Connect listens—they’ve built features based on our real needs, and we’re confident they’ll continue to evolve with us as we grow.”
— Tina Cusack, Executive Director, The Children in the Shoe
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