smallbusiness.co.uk: Helping your business think big

Ollie McGovern launched personnel management company Simeio in January and looks to turn over £400,000 in his first year of trading.

What is the product?

We offer a product that enables businesses to increase efficiency through the accurate management of site personnel. Our handset uses a combination of finger print scanning, electronic signature and mobile GPS technology to verify a person’s identity and location, enabling the management of movement of the workforce on sites and ensuring that they adhere to site health and safety regulations.

What is the revenue model?

We sell it like a mobile phone contract. You can order a certain number of handsets for a minimum one-year contract and we lease them out on a monthly basis. The costs vary depending on the duration of hire and the volume of handsets. We’re charging around £200 a month per handset and the customer will see a measurable return on investment of around 500 per cent. This is due to efficiency savings such as management not needing to look at paper records and correlating them against timesheets, as well as controlling absenteeism.

How was it financed?

I funded the entire thing myself. I was managing a construction company when the recession hit and when development slowed I used my time and financial resources to invest in Simeio instead. So far I have put around £350,000 into the business. At least £250,000 was on the initial R&D. It’s a unique mobile solution that needed a R&D time developing the software to interact with the mobile and web-hosted solution.

How did you market it?

We’ve gone direct B2B using cold calling. We’ve done some very light PR, case studies with existing customers, and e-blasts. We’re not really doing trade shows but rather focusing more on using references from existing customers for leverage with potential new ones.

What next?

In terms of the technical roadmap we’re looking to advance the hardware so we’ll have launched a lone worker app early next year, we’re looking to develop a software application that will go onto any PDA. We’re also looking to move into the rail and mining sectors. We’ve also got some international interest as well.

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