Meet Asta: A Deeper Dive

Most questions that reach your front desk are small ones. What does this client still owe? Do we have anything open next week? None of them are hard, but each one means opening a client record, then the calendar, then maybe a third screen, all while someone waits on the line.

Asta is built for those moments. You ask in plain words, “What does Jane Smith owe us?” and “What do we have open next Tuesday afternoon?”, and Asta answers with her balance and your open times. When she picks 2:00, you type Book her for 2:00. Asta shows you exactly what it’s about to create, and nothing happens until you confirm. Jane is on the calendar before the call ends.

First, Where Asta Lives

Asta is built into Stratus Online. In the new admin portal, it’s a panel on the side of every page ready to assist at all times.

Asta also runs in your browser. If you spend your day in the Stratus desktop app, keep Asta open in a browser window next to it and switch back and forth as you need it.

Ask Asta How Anything Works

Have you ever wanted your own full-time StudioPlus guru? Asta has read about a thousand of our help articles and training-video transcripts, and it answers from them.

• How do I stop clients from booking less than a day ahead?
• Give me step-by-step instructions to create an SMS reminder the day before an appointment.

Every answer shows where it came from, so you can always check the source for yourself.

Ask Asta About Your Business

This is where Asta stops being a help system. It works with your live data, so you can ask about your own clients, your schedule, and your numbers.

• What’s my schedule tomorrow?
• Does Jane Smith have an outstanding balance?
• Show me everything we’ve sent to Sarah Johnson.

And if you’d rather talk than type, hold the microphone button on the chat page and say it. Your words land in the message box for you to review. Nothing is sent until you send it.

Ask Asta to Do the Work

Asta can also make changes for you. Today it can create a client, book a session or appointment, log a call, add notes, create and complete tasks, and update statuses.

• Create a new client named Sarah Johnson, 555-0142.
• Log a call with Jane Smith. She’s going to confirm by Monday.
• Create a task for me to follow up with her on Tuesday.

I want to be very clear about one thing:

Asta never changes your data without your OK.

Every action appears first as a preview card that shows exactly what Asta is about to do. Nothing happens until you click confirm. And Asta follows the same permissions as the person using it. If a team member doesn’t have permission to do something on their own, they can’t ask Asta to do it for them.

A Helping Hand in the Admin Portal

Inside the admin portal, Asta knows which page you’re on and what’s set on it. Ask “What does this setting do?” and you get an answer about that setting, not a general overview. You’ll also find an explain button next to the trickier settings and on every chart in your dashboards. Click it, and Asta explains those numbers, with the filters you have set.

Asta can build things for you, too.

• Email templates. Build me a welcome email for new clients using my company branding.
• Forms. Describe the form you need and Asta drafts it in the form builder.
• Branding. Point Asta at your website and it suggests your logo, colors and business name.

When Asta makes a change on a page, it’s saved the same way your own changes are: with the page’s Save button. You stay in control.

Let It Keep an Eye on Things

You can’t watch everything. Asta can.

Out of the box, Asta checks for the things that cost you money when nobody notices: a confirmed booking whose payment never came through, a spike in failed payments, a session starting soon with nobody assigned. Each one is marked Needs you now, Worth a look or FYI.

You can also set up your own watch in a single sentence.

• Email me at 3pm if we have fewer than 3 new bookings today.

Asta tells you what it’s going to measure and shows you today’s answer before you confirm. Every alert comes with the numbers behind it and a button that takes you straight to the place to fix it.

Urgent problems are emailed right away. Everything else is rolled into a weekly summary. And if it was a quiet week, Asta doesn’t email you at all.

Teach It Once

Every business has its own rules. Tell Asta yours.

Remember that a current client is anyone with a status of Active or VIP.

From then on, Asta uses that rule for everyone on your team. Each person can also teach Asta their own preferences, like the way they want their tasks written.

Asta only remembers what you ask it to remember. Everything it has learned is listed on one page, where you can change or remove any of it.

A Work in Progress

Asta is in preview. It may be a little rough around the edges at times, and you’ll occasionally get an answer that misses the mark. When that happens, give it a thumbs down. We read that feedback, and we’re improving Asta every week.

While Asta is in preview, it’s free for everyone to use.