Healthcare clinics face an ongoing challenge keeping patients engaged and preventing lost business. Ottawa-based General Magic Inc. aims to address that with its acquisition of Latch AI, whose technology uses artificial intelligence to identify at-risk client relationships.

“When we think about Latch, they do that re-engagement. They catch the drift before it happens. It’s about flagging things in the system for people to look at and take action on,” Parm Gill, founder and chief executive officer of General Magic, told TechNX during an interview.

“If we can get ahead through this acquisition, it just made sense. We saw that opportunity here, so we jumped on it.”

AI for the back office

The Ottawa-based firm offers software for healthcare clinics that are often overly busy considering Canada’s ongoing challenges delivering healthcare.

“They’ve got to run their business, they’ve got to manage everything. Their supply chain, their staff, or staff not showing up; therapists, etc. and then patients who are not showing up. There’s just so much for them to do on a daily basis. They don’t really have time to figure this out,” he said.

“So just making all of those things simple, whether it's front desk or the back office, to identify an action and get done: less admin, more business. That’s kind of our tagline.”

Its flagship product, gema, was developed in-house in September 2025 to “augment the front desk in terms of booking,” Gill said.

“We’ve taken that, applied to voice, to SMS; a web-based chatbot, and to email. You can have full conversations with our system to book and reschedule appointments.”

General Magic plans to integrate Latch's technology into gema within 60 days, according to Gill.

“We built Latch AI around a simple idea: businesses should know when valuable relationships are at risk and have the tools to do something about it,” Alisha Esmail, founder of Latch AI, said in the release.

The technology is designed to help clinics retain clients in an increasingly competitive market.

“These types of tools can help reengage those customers; make sure they’re still engaged, and pull out pieces of information from them to understand where their concerns may be, whether it’s the person they used to deal with is no longer with the company, and they’re not getting the attention that they used to get, and they’re feeling a little bit left out of the conversation.”

In one case, the platform helped a client avoid more than $650,000 in potential lost revenue in a single quarter, according to the company.

‘Action’ plan for client retention

Latch analyzes data from client interaction and uses AI to suggest ways clinics can re-engage customers and retain their business, Gill explained.

“Being able to provide that to clinics and other businesses on Main Street to help understand what’s happening with their customers, what they should action with respect to those customers, who needs a touchpoint; who hasn’t had a call in a while, or a point of contact in a while, and to just engage with those folks.”

It offers an “action” plan for clinic staff. “Here are some areas you might want to consider. Here’s some new services we offer. Have a meaningful conversation with your clients on a regular basis. Have those touch points laid out, and hear what those customers are saying,” Gill said.

Founded earlier this year by Saskatoon-based Esmail, Latch AI was part of the Martell Ventures portfolio, backed by Kelowna, B.C.-based investor Dan Martell.

By automating time-consuming administrative tasks, gema allows clinic employees to focus on more human-centred work and provide patients with “a more personal connection, a more human approach.”

To illustrate its effectiveness in managing back-office details, the company offered some numbers from its existing clients:

• 52 per cent of online bookings occur outside traditional 9-to-5 hours;
• 99 per cent of bookings automatically go into the system of record; and
• More than 10,000 bookings have been processed by gema over the past 90 days.

Solution for Main Street

For Gill, when he first founded General Magic, it was a way to help what he calls the “backbone of our great nation,” through its technology.

“When you look at AI, the one thing that became evident in the last few years is that Main Street is really getting left behind. Everyone is hearing the doom and gloom about AI: jobs are going to be replaced.”

“We don’t believe it’s about replacing jobs or any of that. It’s about augmenting your current roles,” he said.

Although General Magic currently focuses on healthcare, Gill said its technology could be adapted for virtually any service-based business.

“So when you ask how big is that market, there are millions and millions of service-based businesses globally. Millions and millions. So the opportunity is endless.”

“But there’s enough room for everyone. At the end of the day, we’re all helping small businesses thrive and survive.”