RedKnight is delighted to announce a successful application to Innovate UK Smart Grants on behalf of Futuresoft Ltd. The cutting-edge software-as-a-service (SaaS) company will receive £347,449 to develop its next-generation hybrid office visualiser platform, Focos-HOV.
The successful application means RedKnight has secured more than £10.5 million since launching in 2015. Mr Dayne Hodgson, Director at RedKnight said:
“We are thrilled that Futuresoft have secured this funding to support a game-changing innovation that will help address challenges we have all experienced over the past two years. We look forward to seeing how this exciting technology develops over the next 18 months and where Futuresoft can take it.”
The Problem
When the pandemic began in 2020, the tools and technologies that workplaces needed to operate remotely already existed. The main challenge was adopting them quickly and updating longstanding processes.
For some, remote work has created new job opportunities, offered more family time, and provided options for whether or when to commute. These benefits have made many organisations recognise that hybrid working is here to stay as we emerge from the pandemic.
However, the transition to a hybrid workplace is proving more disruptive than the move to remote work, with many organisations greatly underestimating the challenge. One crucial factor is that the technology needed to create a seamless hybrid office experience remains largely nascent, meaning there is a significant technology gap in the Digital Workplace market.
Immersive technology remains costly and impractical as it requires the use of hardware, such as headsets. While non-immersive technology provides virtual environments with no hardware requirement, current solutions only offer basic collaboration functionality. None currently harness the power of big data analytics, artificial intelligence (AI), and machine learning (ML).
The Solution
Futuresoft’s first-generation product, Focos, enables businesses to operate all their SaaS applications via one single cloud platform, reducing the user’s need to switch between various tabs and windows.
Focos-HOV will build on this technology, harnessing the data collated by Focos and integrating other data sources and AI/ML techniques. The platform will provide an on-screen virtual office environment, showing company members, location, and availability to one another for enhanced remote and office worker awareness. It will enable vital ‘unscheduled’ interactions between workers to foster creativity and collaboration and reduce unnecessary context switching and interruptions.
Testimonial
Futuresoft said of their Innovate UK Smart Grants success:
“We are excited for the future and how we may positively affect workplace productivity at a time when there has been so much change with working from home. It is great to see Innovate UK acknowledge our ambition and capabilities as a cutting-edge, innovative technology company by awarding us this grant.”
Helping companies access innovation grant funding is RedKnight’s core mission. Please get in touch in order to discuss a potential application.
