Leading workplace management solution Deputy, recently announced its expansion into the US as it looks to accelerate global growth. The international expansion, which will see the opening of two US offices in LA and Atlanta, was driven by strong demand and client wins in the US healthcare industry.
Deputy’s unique all-in-one employee management platform has resonated with users in many different industries and business verticals looking for a simple solution to tackle time consuming staff management tasks.
Since launching in 2008, Deputy has consistently demonstrated 200 per cent year-on-year growth and currently has more than 10,000 clients in 73 countries.
Deputy has helped businesses of all sizes successfully manage their employees and workplace communication. Clients include Gelato Messina, Aesop, Queensland Rail and San Churro.
Giro Maurici the Founder of San Churro said that Deputy gave them more control over their business.
“Deputy has delivered a powerful return on investment and has become more than a scheduling tool by providing tight visibility into daily business operations, and clear communication lines between our managers and their teams. With Deputy, we have more control over our business and have seen profit growth as a direct result,” said Giro.
Why is Deputy expanding into the US?
Investing in key markets such as the US, with offices and teams to localise its offering and strengthen its competitive position, is a key feature of Deputy’s growth strategy, says co-founder Steve Shelley.
“The employment market in the US is huge, there are 77.2 million hourly workers aged 16 and up, which is roughly 56.7 per cent of the workforce. This segment alone is growing at a rate one million additional workers per year,” said Mr Shelley.
“We’ve been looking at global expansion for some time now; with many new customers in franchising, hospitality and retail, and the onboarding of two major US healthcare companies. We have enjoyed 1100 per cent growth in this market in the last 12 months, the time was right to make the move.
“The healthcare industry in the US is a massive opportunity for Deputy; worth an estimated $3 trillion, it is by far the largest in the world. With one in eight people working in healthcare, our goal is to bring healthcare workplace management into the cloud,” he said.
What next for Deputy?
Whilst the company is looking to grow its global market share in international markets and is already discussing the company’s next move into the UK, Deputy co-founder and Chief Technology Officer Ashik Ahmed says product development and R&D will remain in Australia.
“From day one we’ve focused on our product and the technology behind it, we knew that success would follow if we got that right and so far our approach has worked. We’ve got a world-class team of developers and engineers locally and we’ve made the decision to keep all development in our Australian office,” said Mr Ahmed.
“We are a product driven company and we’re constantly looking at new ways we can leverage emerging technologies to continuously improve our offer and revolutionise workplace management. We invest heavily in our R&D to ensure Deputy remains a market leading platform.”
How does Deputy work?
Deputy is a SaaS application for the SME space, offering an affordable solution to the everyday issues of workplace management and designed to be a truly mobile solution for today’s mobile workspace.
It is suitable for any industry and is particularly powerful for businesses that have a high proportion of hourly paid workers and where wages are typically the highest cost to the business.
Some of the platforms features include:
- Facial verification for starting and stopping a shift, creating greater HR compliance, payroll accuracy and insight into workforce productivity
- Scheduling rosters including costing, leave entitlements, fatigue and overtime management and real time POS data
- Payroll integration across dozens of platforms including NetSuite, Xero and MYOB
“Deputy automates tasks, provides real time feedback and improves staff management. Our customers often report significant improvements in productivity and cost savings far beyond their expectations,” said Shelley.
What is the story behind behind Deputy?
Steve Shelley is an Australian businessman and aviation entrepreneur. In 1992, he created Aero-Care, an airline ground services company, to provide ground-handling services to small domestic and private airlines predominately around aircraft cleaning and other support and ground handling services.
As Aero-Care continued to grow, Steve faced the challenges of managing hundreds of staff at multiple airports – like most business owners, he struggled with real-time staff management across numerous locations.
He brought on tech expert Ashik Ahmed to create an in-house management system that focused on scheduling staff and reducing time and costs associated with wages and administration.
This program helped make Aero-Care an immensely successful company, saving millions of dollars in wages and administration overheads.
“It was during this peak growth time that the idea for a stand alone product was first discussed,” Steve told Anthill. “With the rise of the Internet and mobile communications, we saw an opportunity in the market.”
Recognising the potential this software had, Steve and Ashik looked to create a stand-alone product that could be applied to any industry.
In 2008, they officially launched cloud based management solution Deputy. “We want Deputy to be a business owner’s dependable 2nd-in-charge,” says Steve.
Graduating from the University of Melbourne with a BCS in Computer Science, Ashik has over 10 years experience in Software Application Architecture roles in various industries, ranging from Aviation, Online Merchant and SaaS.
Ashik’s extensive skills and experience was a natural fit to co-found Deputy.com alongside Steve Shelley. Together they conceptualized and created the workplace management solution in Sydney.
