Idle, the AI operating system built for hair, beauty and wellness operators, has rolled out across more than 700 stores in Singapore, founder and CEO Kritika Seth has confirmed.

The platform grew out of an on-campus services concept at Nanyang Technological University (NTU) and now plugs into salons, spas and barbershops, handling bookings, stock control and back-office administration that operators say eats into client-facing hours.

"What we made is a complete end-to-end system, where everything is connected," Seth told Her World. "You don't need two to three softwares, which is easier, especially for people who aren't tech-savvy in the first place."

What gap does Idle target?

Co-founders Seth and Alisha Wadkar originally designed Idle as an app to send spa therapists into campus housing. The pivot came after the pair walked into more than 200 salons across the city.

"After speaking to even just 10 or 15 of them, we realised that this wasn't going to work because their main issue is internal operations," Seth said.

She frames the salon, beauty and wellness trade as more reliant on manual workflows than comparable service industries. F&B operators have largely moved to proper POS systems and accounting software, she argues. Many salons still run scheduling, commission tracking and inventory checks by hand.

How does the AI layer work?

Idle deploys AI agents across the back office rather than a single booking widget. The stack covers:

• Staff availability
• Commission logic
• Room allocation
• Upsell tracking
• Inventory
• Customer messaging

"Is this staff available? How much commission are they getting? Is their commission based on certain services? Are they getting commission based on what they're selling or upselling? Are there rooms available?" Seth said. "There's a lot of bits and pieces that can get quite confusing."

The end-to-end build is deliberate. Seth and Wadkar initially planned to focus on a single operational pain point but found salons wanted an integrated suite rather than another third-party add-on.

Where does the WhatsApp agent fit?

The most visible automation is a WhatsApp agent that fields client enquiries and bookings, including messages sent after closing time.

"It saves on someone having to literally stand there and reply to messages, and it ensures that if someone sends a message outside working hours, they will still get a reply," Seth said.

For multi-chair operations with thin front-desk cover, an automated messaging layer addresses a chronic source of missed appointments and lost retail revenue.

Why is a female founder framing it around relationships?

Seth, who operates across both tech and the spa industry, points to both sectors as male-run at leadership level. She has pushed for an AI model that does not reduce staff to output targets.

In her experience, salon staff will frequently accommodate late arrivals, walk-ins or discounted visits. Decisions an algorithm trained only on revenue or customer volume might penalise.

"In the end that customer is probably going to come back because of that specific staff, so it's good relationship building and this industry is built completely on human relationships," Seth said.

Seth received the Her World Hello Possibilities award, run in collaboration with Singtel, recognising women founders using technology to improve outcomes for women and broader communities.

What's next for Idle?

A fully autonomous store is the company's stated target, Seth says, with the WhatsApp agent already cutting front-desk workload. Manual staff log-ins at the start of each shift remain.

"Right now there are still a lot of touch points, where staff have to log in manually," she said. "We want to make it as hands-free as possible."

Stripping out those touch points is the next milestone on a roadmap that points to a fully autonomous salon, the path now under active development.