The money will go towards ushering in a new dawn of transparency, safety and security features for the trade and home development sector
Benjamin Dyer, CEO of Powered Now, comments on the revolutionary technology and discusses how it will streamline communication while reducing possible risks
Powered Now, a UK-based mobile-based billing, invoicing and quotation application for trade businesses, has been awarded a £166k grant from Innovate UK to revolutionise the offering of tradespeople.
Close contact services such as Deliveroo and Uber reassure the comfort and safety of their customers by providing them with background information, photos and reviews of the worker that they will be encountering. However, these elements are lacking considerably in the trade and construction market. As a sector that requires customers to expose the privacy of their homes to workers who are strangers, there is an undeniable need to provide consumers with the safety, security and transparency that come with similar workers.
As a service dedicated to streamlining the administrative tasks for tradespeople, Powered Now claims its app is the first of its kind that will allow customers to track their workperson in an Uber-esque style, allowing customers to not only photographically verify their chosen tradesperson, but also have access to background information including past reviews and employer contact information.
This revolutionary portal feature is specifically designed to improve the safety, security and communication between micro-SMEs and their customers. With further features including appointment booking, and all correspondence and paperwork being recorded in one place, customers could feel significantly safer and secure, while businesses will be able to compete on the same playing field as larger corporations.
CEO of Powered Now, Benjamin Dyer comments on the grant win, and what this means for the trade sector in the future:
“We are very excited to be starting this new project. When it is finished, we will be able to offer to trade businesses with up to ten employees the sort of powerful capabilities that were previously only affordable to larger companies. This should really help these smaller businesses to compete on a level playing field.”
Powered Now has unveiled research undertaken across their customer base, analysing the most common worries customers feel towards tradespeople coming into their homes.
Most common customer worries:
- 56% agreed that their biggest worry about having tradespeople in their homes is catching COVID-19
- 46% agreed that knowing the workperson’s name and seeing a picture of them before they arrive would help offset their future concerns
- 29% agreed that being able to feed back to the workperson’s boss, with the worker being aware of this, would help offset their future concerns
“These findings clearly showcase how direct contact and transparency around these appointments is integral for the development and evolution of the trade sector,” according to Powered Now.
“Not only will it ensure the safety of customers, but it will also allow micro-SMEs to efficiently adapt to a COVID-19 landscape and compete with larger companies.”
