NZBUSINESS.CO.NZ 29
INSPIRATION
Verisafe app, which she likens to a bike
helmet or vehicle safety belt.
“You hope you don’t need them, but they’re
there in a worst case situation.”
Employers also have an obligation under
the Health and Safety legislation to do
everything they can to maintain a robust
communication pathway and keep their
personnel safe.
Phil Milward, her father, agreed to help
produce the app and lined up a developer to
produce a beta version. There were initially
challenges around requests for new features
and customer needs. ‘On-boarding’ for large
groups and linking different team members to
different emergency contacts has also been
challenging, says Hannah.
Educating and supporting new users
has been “interesting” too, she says. “It’s
taught me a great deal about presenting
information in a way that can be digested
easily by many different groups of people,
some who’ve never used a smartphone
before.”
A close neighbour, Craig Shepherd, who
owns Harbour City Security and works as
a volunteer with the Wellington ambulance
service, liked the look of Verisafe and came on
board as the third shareholder. He’s in charge
of project management and development.
7KHDSSZDVRI¿FLDOO\ODXQFKHGLQ
$W¿UVWLWZDVMXVWDKHOSEXWWRQDQGVDIHW\
check messages, explains Hannah.
“But it became clear very quickly that we
needed to add the ‘at risk’ button to provide
the proactive background tracking features
for situations when vulnerable people in
the community or at-risk workers would not
actually pick up their mobile phones.
“I had been in many situations where
taking my phone out would have either
made my situation worse, or it wouldn’t
have been possible.”
She also explains that the 'at risk' feature
triggers a remote timer based on Verisafe’s
secure server. That way a user’s phone could
break and the timer would still ‘run down’
and escalate to alert contact people.
“We then added the 'safety vault' so that
emergency contacts would not only have
access to GPS details, but any additional
information that could aid in an emergency
response.”
Marketing to date, while successful, has
been relatively low-key and low-budget, and
the business self-funded. However, with the
new “disruptive” hardware-based product
planned, Hannah says they’ll be looking
for serious investment in the near future,
and more staff. There have already been
expressions of interest from investors.Resilience and goals
Developing the Verisafe platform has been
an exercise in resilience for Hannah – and
not just because the whole exercise took
much longer than anticipated.
“Working with technology has been a
huge learning curve, and I’ve had to push
myself to get out there, despite being
naturally shy.
“Constant learning on the go has been
challenging too – but I do love a challenge.”
Looking ahead, within two years Hannah
is aiming to have resellers and distributors
in the UK and Australia.
The goal is to hire people to run
‘Recognise, Respond, Report, Refer’
workshops and training sessions around
violence, bullying and harassment
prevention.
In line with its values-driven philosophy
Verisafe will continue to sponsor more NFPs
and organisations that have workers or
volunteers at risk.
Hannah also wants to partner with a
postal distribution company who can assist
with the collection and redistribution of old
EXWVWLOOXVDEOH VPDUWSKRQHVWRGHOLYHUWR
organisations that work with people with
disabilities in Cambodia.
Long term the plan is to set up a trust
to support more community projects,
especially around violence prevention and
support agencies.
“We’d like to provide more employment
opportunities to those who may otherwise be
marginalised in the community,” says Hannah.
Meanwhile, she feels “blessed” to have
worked with the likes of Victim Support
and the many “wonderful” volunteers out
there, and know that Verisafe is making
a difference in keeping
people safe.
“That’s what makes it
all worthwhile.”Hardware is now being developed that
will be monitored by Harbour City Security’s
24/7 monitoring service and will take
Verisafe to the next level.
“This hardware will allow for geo-fencing,
two way communication channels, real-time
tracking and fall detection, among other
things,” says Hannah, “and will run on 3G
and 4G networks globally.”
All mobile customers will soon have the
ability to opt in for a 24/7 monitoring service
too, removing the need to have an 'in house'
emergency contact.
Hannah is keen to put her technology to
work in Southeast Asia where it can make a
real difference and has formed a partnership
ZLWK$,76&DPERGLDZKLFKFRQGXFWV¿UVWDLG
and medic training.“There are no trained ambulance people in
Cambodia, or ambulance services, so we will
provide a communication pathway between
workers (many NGO teams, hotel and travel
VHFWRUVWDII FRPPXQLW\PHPEHUVDQG
the AITS team who can be a designated
response team,” she says.
Verisafe works everywhere there’s a
mobile phone service, and has clients in
Australia, the UK and Asia. The service
has also been adopted by a range of
organisations in New Zealand, including
Restorative Justice, Wellington HELP, NZ
Victim Support, and Life Unlimited, to name
just a few, and is currently being considered
by VisionStream and Auscott Australia.
Hannah describes working with organisations
like Victim Support as “huge”. “Especially
given the testing process and feedback we
received. It really validated the quality of our
product and the need,” she says.GLENN BAKER
IS EDITOR OF
NZBUSINESS.