Entrepreneur Whistance sees succcess with mobile workforce app
A NORTH West technology entrepreneur is reporting dramatic growth in his latest business venture – a mobile workforce software application.
Graham Whistance, 37, says revenues at Momote, a Newton-le-Willows based software developer are on track to climb 40% to £1.8m on the back of launching a tool to help small businesses save time and money.
Since launching the MyMobileWorkers application in November 2011, Momote, which has just increased its workforce from 22 to 25, has saved customers almost £4m.
The app, the first of its kind in the UK to be available on a pay-as-you-go basis, allows workers to accurately log any kind of job information on a mobile phone device which is then fed into a back office system.
It also saves the environment as it eliminates the need for paper job sheets, and saves time for both engineers out on the road as the firm’s admin staff.
Mr Whistance, whose sister Jennie Johnson runs the successful Kids Allowed nursery chain, cut his teeth with Manchester-based Knowledge Management Software with his father, Stuart.
The pair floated KMS on OFEX in 1999 and then on the main Stock Market in 2000 at the height of the dot-com bubble.
He said: “The share price rose from 20p to around £20 – it was crazy days – but we’re back to reality now and I’m excited about the response to MyMobileWorkers.
“Momote was initially focused on the large corporate market – it’s an enabler for office and field based workers to communicate and operate better.
“Last year we decided to take the experience we built up over the last nine years and create a product for the SME market. We recognise that small firms don’t have the budget for bespoke software, but essentially have the same issues for field-based staff as large businesses.
“SME owners are very, very risk averse in this market and that is why we have introduced the pay as you go model – we are saying: “use it today’ and see that there will be a return on investment from day one.”
“Mobile apps such as ours allow small businesses to get more time out of their day and spend it on higher value work.
The app has saved more than 280,000 hours for its customers, breaking down to £3,455,611 in field service hours and £292,782 in administration time.
It has also saved customers £8,393 on the 1.7 million sheets of paper they didn’t need to use, equating to nearly a tonne. Every tonne of recycled paper saves around 17 trees.
The app is being used by companies across a variety of sectors including waste recycling, property maintenance and engineering.
