Sending real-time nudges to get work done

STARTUP showcase

Security guards sleeping on duty was one problem addressed by a customer that Pazo, which was founded in 2016 committed to solve with the help of technology.

Pazo is a task management software to help the non-desk workers (Workers without a desktop) carry out their day-to-day tasks effectively. It was jointly founded by Hasan Ali Kanba, who currently leads the Sales & Marketing; Zoeb Itarsiwala, who leads the Product Management & Customer Experience and Sharjeel Ahmed, who leads the Technology team at Pazo.

“This idea was developed five years ago when a customer said that we have a lot of security guards but they all sleep at night and asked if we can bring in some kind of technology where we could keep them awake or at least ensure that they are awake. We started from there and realised that these challenges were present across the entire workforce that does not have desktops,” says co-founder Hasan Ali Kanba.

Kanba says that it’s not like CCTV where you have to sit and keep watching, the system sends automated alerts. It is the day to day communication where the start-up helps non-desk workers, who contribute to almost 80% of the workforce.

It digitises all the manual paper-based processes, says Kanba, making Pazo a single app for communication, task delegation, and other routine activities.

Explaining how the system works, he says, like a checklist behind washrooms ensures that the tasks of a house-keeper are finished and if you take it out, you cannot make out if the right guy came and did their task, In any organisation, there are operations that involve daily manual paper-based work.

“With Pazo, a person gets notifications on his phone, for instance, ‘it’s 9 am, go to the first floor’. Instead of a paper checklist, he sees a QR code stuck by the door. When he scans the code, a similar checklist shows up on his phone to make sure he’s going at the right time and at the right place. If he goes late, automatically escalations would have gone to his higher-ups. He doesn’t have to just click tick-mark but also take live-images. These live images get uploaded for the supervisor to get an overview of the work that just happened.”

The co-founder is of the idea that people need real-time nudges. We ensure that the right person is at the right place doing the right work.

Currently, the start-up is live in 10 countries. In India, the start-up functions across retail chains, shopping malls, corporate tech parks, and AirPorts and has a presence in 40+ cities.

The start-up is also working on gamification. Kanba says, “When we talk about the desk-less workforce, these are people who aren’t directly recognised. So what we are trying to do, is when they accomplish a task, we want to give them points, which would help boost the workers’ morale.” Pazo has raised two rounds of funding -- one from an angel investor based out of Mumbai and second being a part of the Metro Cash & Carry accelerator in Germany. The company so far has raised a total capital of around $220k.

Their clientele includes Metro Cash & Carry, Future group, Tata realty among others.

Retail chains and large facilities are the start-up’s target industries. The co-founder mentions that there’s also a sustainability angle to the whole process as all the paperwork gets eliminated. “We have saved almost 8 million sheets of paper so far,” he says.