Innovative 10x has soft-launched its Activity Management Solution (AMS), a new software that revolutionises operational efficiency for small and medium-sized businesses in Jamaica through digitisation.

AMS is described as a one-stop mobile and desktop-friendly application that allows businesses to create, prioritise and manage their tasks. It features high-tech geolocation that allows businesses to have complete visibility of their assets in the warehouse as well as their staff in the field.

The system also has a customer portal that allows clients to make requests, share details and images from anywhere in the world, and track the progress of their requests in real-time through client notifications.

While speaking at the soft launch on Wednesday, CEO of Innovative 10x Sheldon Powe shared that while larger companies can afford to purchase one system for everything that they do, small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) do not have that luxury.

“Most Jamaican businesses right now might have invoicing systems, but they don’t have any utilising technology to help them conduct the work. People, when they come to your house to perform services, they’re still using a lot of manual forms, so the aim is to change that,” said Powe.

He shared that the system will make it easier for SMEs to keep track of tasks and employees by digitising their operations.

AMS features an activity template and checklist that allows business owners to automatically assign tasks to their employers and track their progress. It also keeps track of equipment and notifies when they need to be serviced.

“We have a scheduler where you can see all the work that you have, and who is assigned to do what. On top of that, you might have some activities that are scheduled, and you are running behind. We will show you that on a map based on the location where your work is scheduled. Those that are late are shown in red. Those that are to be done today, but are not yet complete will be shown in amber, and those due tomorrow or next week will be shown in green. This helps you to know exactly what is going on in your business,” he explained.

“We do the same thing for assets as well. If you maintain assets for customers, you get the same colour code, so you know what assets need to be maintained and when,” added the Innovative 10X CEO.

Powe shared that AMS stands out because it is cloud-native, meaning it was built on the cloud, not on premise.

“This allows the system to be very flexible and allows it to scale, meaning that anywhere in the world you can get access to AMS. If you need more processing power because your business is growing, it will scale upward very easily,” he said.

According to the CEO, the pilot project for the system is ongoing, with five companies already enrolled. The system will launch pending the completion of the pilot by early next year.

Powe urged SMEs to partake in the pilot, stressing that it would benefit their businesses.

AMS was fuelled by a recent grant of J$20 million from the Development Bank of Jamaica (DBJ) Innovative Grant Fund, through the DBJ’s Boosting Innovation Growth and Entrepreneurship Ecosystem (BIGEE) programme.

The grant is awarded to entrepreneurs who apply to be a part of the programme and present innovative ideas that are new to the market and have a high success rate.

“There is nothing else [like AMS] that really exists at the moment, so that would have ticked that box. Also, how they described how this could be utilised by all of the SMEs in Jamaica within itself shows the marketability and the potential of the product,” said Christopher Brown, BIGEE programme manager at the DBJ.