When you think of technology startups, you might imagine a small team of developers huddled in a garage working on code.
While that may be the case for some, those scenes are becoming less common.
Low-code and no-code platforms have made innovation more accessible. No matter what your background is, the right team and platform can go from idea to product faster than ever. And when an idea can make communities safer, the ability to bring it to life can create a massive impact.
That was the case with Safety Matters, a startup that makes it far easier for organizations – from youth centers and schools to rental properties and healthcare facilities – to perform and track safety management tasks with an intuitive mobile application.
Because Safety Matters: The Birth of an Idea with an Impact
John Vidovich, Founder of Safety Matters, has dedicated his career to public safety.
In his 36-year career with the City of Los Angeles and the Los Angeles City Fire Department, he gained unique insight into what it takes to keep people safe and what it takes to manage those efforts. During much of that time, John also volunteered with the Boys and Girls Club. After attending their annual conference in 2019, he began to think about how his experience could be put to good use to improve safety for the organization and others like it.
The Boys and Girls Club where John served depended on paper-based safety inspections that were slow and difficult to manage. When he reflected on the City of Los Angeles’ transformation from manual processes to streamlined digital tools, he realized the same could be done for organizations across the country.
He landed on a concept in which the people leading these organizations – who are not professional inspectors – could easily manage safety inspections, safety incidents, and related service requests from a single mobile app. The idea was straightforward. But to truly make an impact for organizations across the country, it would need to be accessible, affordable, and extremely easy to use.
If he could pull it off, it would be a game-changer. With powerful safety management tools in the palm of their hands, staff and volunteers could truly keep organizations far safer with far less work.
John knew this idea would require a technology partner to help him fulfill his vision. He knew exactly who to call first.
Outcome: Rapid Deployment of a Powerful Solution
With decades of experience working with 3Di Systems’ software solutions for the City of Los Angeles, John believed 3Di could deploy a similar solution to help take his idea from concept to reality.
John connected with the 3Di leadership team to share his concept for Safety Matters and quickly realized the 3Di Engage platform could serve as the perfect foundation for the app. The platform’s ideal combination of powerful technology and rapid deployment capabilities meant John could bring his app to fruition quickly, packed full of features that would truly make a difference for his future customers.
Some of those key features included:
- A fully mobile solution. Users are empowered to use the full power of Safety Matters products without being tied to a desk or office.
- Robust data analytics. Replacing notes on stacks of paper, digital data collected in the app can easily be analyzed, visualized, reported on, and used to drive decisions based on sound insights and trends.
- GIS mapping. Map-based views of assets make the app even easier to use.
- A role-based portal. Various stakeholders can access the information, features, and communication tools they need from anywhere at any time with an intuitive mobile and web portal
- Case management. Organizations can easily track and process cases, incidents, and service requests.
- Workflow automation. From inspections to incident management to processing service requests, organizations manage a wide variety of processes. Automation keeps things moving quickly and efficiently without letting any safety issues slip through the cracks.
- Management oversight tools. Organization leadership can easily stay informed with at-a-glance views of important information such as the status of inspections.
- Ease of integration. Safety Matters can easily integrate with other systems and databases to seamlessly pull in and share information across the organization.
- As new use cases arise or customer needs change, the 3Di Engage platform makes it easy for Safety Matters to update, modify, or add to the app’s capabilities.
John was surprised to learn that, not only could 3Di provide this extensive list of capabilities, but they could also get him a working prototype of the app in just about a month. Being used to vendors offering timelines of months or even years, John was thrilled to be able to get an early version of the product in users’ hands so quickly.
"My first impression of the prototype was how intuitive it was,” John said. “With very little instruction, the 3Di team was able to bring my ideas to life with precision and simplicity.”
Safety Matters was first implemented in several youth centers operated by the Boys and Girls Club of America. These initial implementations used tablets and were free for non-profit organizations in exchange for them providing user feedback.
In just a few short months, he had valuable feedback from real pilot customers and was working with 3Di to quickly refine the features and user experience for the app’s first commercially available version, which has seen considerable growth in users since its launch on smartphone app stores.
The technology that made these aggressive timelines possible – a robust platform foundation that already included most of the core features the app needed – also allowed John significant cost savings. He explains: “Having the app built on 3Di Engage provided cost savings without a doubt because the backend was already there on the platform and just needed to be customized. Based on my past experience with software vendors, I probably saved 50% or more.”
3Di’s unique level of ongoing support also continues to help save valuable resources for this young startup. With access to 24/7, 365 support from 3Di and a bank of support hours John can pull from whenever he needs, 3Di serves the role of at least one full-time employee John would’ve needed to hire otherwise.
“3Di is a partner beyond the tech,” John says. “Their word means something. They care about my company and feel like a true extension of my team”
The benefits of this partnership are being felt most by the wide variety of organizations that now use Safety Matters to keep everyone they work with safer. Some of Safety Matters’ users include:
- Youth organizations. A thoughtful, comprehensive, and consistent Facility Safety Inspection will help staff identify hazards and potential accidents to reduce the risk of injuries to youth, staff, and volunteers.
- A majority of schools are required to do an annual self-maintenance check. Using the application will document the school’s overall condition and ensure that needed maintenance is completed.
- High-rise buildings. Regular inspection and maintenance of high-rise buildings will keep them efficient and minimize costly repairs.
- Rental properties. Multi-family inspections usually focus on individual units within a property. Our application identifies the most common issues found during the inspection process and will ensure that your building is ready for inspection.
- Industrial and commercial properties. Providing a visual inspection and identifying safety issues, fire hazards, and other potential hazards will allow you to correct these hazards in a timely manner.
- Healthcare facilities. As employees conduct routine inspections, surveys or investigate complaints, our application allows providers the ability to evaluate compliance, document findings, and correct hazards.
From a user perspective, the app itself is wildly easy to use. There’s no long onboarding process required and no long-term contracts or rigid terms. Organizations simply download the app, sign up for a subscription, and they’re off to managing safety inspections, incidents, and requests far more easily and effectively than ever before.
Making Impact Easier with No-Code Software Platforms
Going from idea to product isn’t easy, but it’s now far simpler than many people think with powerful no-code platforms like 3Di Engage. The rapid development timelines and significant cost savings these platforms provide drastically improve a product’s chances of successful development – putting more impactful solutions within reach.
John encourages anyone with an idea that can make the world safer to pursue their vision and passion. You could be one technology partner away from launching a world-improving company like Safety Matters.
If you have a concept you’re ready to pursue, schedule a no-strings-attached consultation with our team to learn more about how 3Di Engage could help you make your idea a reality.
“I have full confidence in the 3Di team,” John said. “I truly believe they are capable of solving anything.”
