Birmingham-based Spica Technologies have been awarded over £200,000 in funding to develop a plug and play workplace experience app.
Workplace experience software provider Spica won the grant in November 2020. They will see the project through to completion in October this year. The UK Research & Innovation (UKRI) organisation makes these grants available. Spica’s application was one of those selected from thousands of applications to make advancements in their fields.
The case for funding cites industry experts and statistics on the gap between the importance of employee experience and the lack of digital tools to help improve this.
- 88% of business leaders rate the employee’s experience of their workplace as either important or very important. However only 22% report that they are using Digital tools to create differentiated employee experiences.
- “Employees look at everything that happens at work as an integrated experience that impacts life in and out of the workplace. They expect a better-designed experience where their experience can be accessible and easy to use on their mobile device.”
(Deloitte Insights)
Spica’s original workplace experience app, GemEx App, was initially launched in 2019 as Luna. There was a strong focus on a bespoke and customised nature. Spica worked closely with their customers on design and development activities for new modules.
Global clients have praised the firm for this approach with Clament Lijoy, Global Real Estate Technology & Innovation at EY stating “The digital workplace transformation journey with Spica through the last 3 years have been extraordinary. The team was able to rise to the challenge and provide industry leading smart building capabilities tailored to the unique requirements that we had.”
However Spica realised they could take their wealth of experience in delivering employee experience apps out to a wider market. They wanted to provide an “off-the-shelf” version of the app with standardised modules and customisation controls built in. The application cited “a need for solutions to this problem that are available to companies of all shapes and sizes”. This new approach reduces initial setup and maintenance costs and offers employee experience benefits to a wider audience.
This project will look to incorporate technologies like indoor positioning, IOT sensors, gamification, and machine learning to deliver an exceptional digital workplace experience. So outcomes for users within the winning application were an improvement for productivity and removing workplace frictions. This includes finding assets and resources, reporting workplace issues and accessing amenities. Ultimately culminating in enhancing employee wellbeing and sustainability goals of the built environment in which the business operates.
Project Manager and Spica Chief Technical Officer Paul Collins said “The support of Innovate UK (UKRI) has helped us significantly accelerate our research and product development plans in this area. With post-COVID return to work at the top of the agenda, there is a surge in demand for digital tools like Luna [now GemEx App] to help businesses of all shapes and sizes provide a safe, healthy, productive, collaborative and enjoyable working environment. A major focus of the project has been on reducing the time it takes to get tools like these installed and up and running, as we recognise that businesses need help right now in preparing for people coming back into the workplace.”
