New Innovator: Taskmaestro

If Gabriel Bradley, founder of Taskmaestro, gets his way, the days of paper checklists on clipboards are numbered. Bradley has a background in the food industry and is well used to daily checklists recording everything, from fridge and food temperatures to hygiene routines.

The problem with paper checklists, he says, is that they are only as accurate and reliable as the people filling them in. Paper systems leave room for genuine human error and also abuse, as sheets can be filled in retrospectively.

Taskmaestro is an electronic version of the traditional to-do list that schedules all of the tasks that need doing in a day. An alarm goes off if the task is not completed on time.

All of the information is recorded by a wall-mounted tablet and reports are generated on-line, which dispenses with paper completely. The system is aimed at environments where staff are moving about, such as restaurants, kitchens, creches and production units.

The user interacts with the device by swiping his or her finger on a fingerprint sensor. All of the data about each task, such as the start time and who completed it, is stored via wifi in the cloud, where it can be remotely viewed by management.

“The beauty of the system is that all records are stored in one easy-to-find place which saves time and the cost of printing. We can also can attach a training video to each task which shows staff the correct way to do it,” Bradley says.

Bradley came up with the idea for Taskmaestro when he was in hospital and found himself constantly on the phone to make sure everything was being done as it should be in his pizza business. “It is electronic peace of mind for managers as it can be programmed to include all the boxes a business needs to tick to meet legislative and compliance requirements,” he says.

“Apart from the routine tasks, it can also be used for other purposes such as staff notices and shift handover procedures. If a procedure changes the new information can be easily uploaded. This would be of particular benefit to a chain of stores as each outlet is updated information automatically.”

Between applying for and receiving a patent on the technology, sourcing the hardware and commissioning the necessary software, it took Bradley roughly three years to develop Taskmaestro.

The product was launched last year and the Co Down-based business now employs three people. The company has been backed by seed capital investors Halo; Bradley estimates the cost of bringing the product to market at close to €400,000.

Taskmaestro costs €1,800 for a single unit with an annual fee of €450 to cover the cost of upgrades and data storage.