As a Co-Founding Director of SafetyIQ, I am extremely proud that SafetyIQ is continually being recognised as best practice in the technology innovation space. For SafetyIQ to be selected by the Queensland Premier as a case study for the upcoming North Queensland Economic Summit in Cairns Australia, is testimony to the face that innovative technology is being acknowledged by our political leaders as a rapidly growing industry that not only has significant economic benefits but positions us on a global stage.

I was recently asked ‘What are the things SafetyIQ has done well?’  In short this may sound easy… we identified a problem, validated the solution, developed a market entry strategy, executed and delivered – text book really.  However the real success factors is within the strength of our SafetyIQ team.

My co-founding partner Matthew Tebble and I have been on the SafetyIQ journey for nearly 4 years. Our Executive Project Manager, Kathy Wilson has been with us for nearly 3 years, and during this time we have experienced and overcome significant challenges.  Our team has expanded over time and we have attracted a core group who not only bring areas of expertise, but other characteristics that include resilience, willingness to go beyond expectations and most of all, the ability to challenge what’s normal.

As a SaaS enterprise solution, SafetyIQ has in a very short time developed a business model that extends beyond the borders of Queensland or even Australia.  We can on-board a client anywhere in the world and in some instances we don’t meet our clients face to face.

So what were some of the challenges that we needed to overcome to establish a regional technology company that had all the ingredients to accelerate and scale globally?  There were a few to include:

• Local awareness of investment in early stage start ups,
• Perception of investing in technology vs property and infrastructure
• Traditional professional advice (old vs new)
• Limited examples to draw from,
• Finding technical talent,
• The cost of doing business (e.g. travel to CBD locations)

Over the SafetyIQ journey, we have been able to attract and secure early seed funding, which in the world of traditional business particularly in Australia is unique and we are proud to say that all our founding investors are not only Queensland based, but for the most part North Queenslanders.  Without investment SafetyIQ would not have been in a position to achieve the success that we have to date.  SafetyIQ is currently in the process of attracting another round of investment and anticipate this will close by the end of Dec 2015.

The outlook for SafetyIQ is exciting and we are now poised to accelerate and scale globally at an exponential rate. With the involvement this year of Dale Rankine and the Future Now Ventures group, and access to world-class resources, SafetyIQ’s forecasted growth is realistically achievable.  Dale brings to the SafetyIQ team a wealth of experience and leadership that has and will continue to add significant value to the ongoing maturity of the SafetyIQ product, business model and rapidly increase market traction and our company’s market value.

We would like to thank the Queensland Premier and her team for the opportunity to showcase SafetyIQ and demonstrate that investment into innovative technology is not only extremely attractive, but is also a fast-growing economic opportunity with global ramifications.

Watch SafetyIQ Demo

The SafetyIQ Demo highlights:

• How travel processes are followed
• How travellers check-in when they arrive at a checkpoint
• How escalations are handled if a traveller fails to check-in
• How managers can monitor the safety of travellers