UtilizeCore

UtilizeCore is a New York-based service automation software platform built for service management companies — the intermediaries that sit between property managers or landlords and the subcontractors (janitors, plumbers, electricians, snow-removal crews) who perform the work. The platform digitizes the full service lifecycle, from service request and dispatch through service capture, invoicing and payment, replacing the call-center-style workflow of phone calls, Rolodexes, spreadsheets and fax machines that the company says characterizes the sector.

The product is organized into five modules: Operations (task management and work-order processing), Accounts Receivable, Accounts Payable, Onboarding & Compliance for contractors, and Proposals. It is delivered as a cloud-based web and mobile system with three portals — a client portal for real-time visibility into work performed on a customer's behalf, an internal operating portal for the service management company, and a vendor portal for subcontractors. Capabilities described by the company include bulk dispatch and auto-generation of work orders via a weather-integrated map module, rate tables that automatically apply client, site, vendor or service rates to proposals and invoices, bulk invoice generation grouped by client, vendor, site or work order, a compliance dashboard for capturing vendor documents, and bulk data upload templates. Mobile app releases have added asset inspection and repair forms, offline data capture and sync, geofencing exit notifications, technician check-in/check-out reminders and asset grouping.

The company markets the platform as industry-agnostic for subcontracted service delivery, citing use in snow removal and ice management, repair and maintenance, landscaping, fire and life safety, asphalt and paving, restoration, disaster clean-up, original equipment manufacturing and installations.

Founding story

The founding team's lineage in service technology dates to 1983, when Steven Gottfried founded Service Technology, a self-perform service automation system that the company says became the preferred system for more than 500 US companies; Gottfried went on to found ServiceChannel in 1999 to address the gap between vendors and facility managers. Ryan Gottfried founded UtilizeCore after working at ServiceChannel and identifying recurring problems faced by service providers. The team initially built technology tools for one of the largest snow-removal companies before concluding that the greater opportunity lay in software for the service management companies themselves.

Business model

Software-as-a-service sold to service management companies, which pay for access to the platform. Landlords, property managers and subcontractors invited into a customer's network can use the web and mobile applications free of charge, which the company positions as a driver of network adoption: when a service management company adopts UtilizeCore, it typically requires its service providers to follow.

Subscription SaaS fees charged to the service management company; free access for clients and vendors in the customer's network. The company has also said it would launch a digital wallet and payments via Stripe.

Traction

As of the June 2021 funding announcement, the company reported more than 50,000 companies buying and selling on the platform, more than 2 million work orders processed and approximately $1.3 billion of services managed. The iOS app holds a 4.7 average rating from 68 ratings.

Latest developments

Mobile app releases through version 3.5.0 have introduced partial saving of inspection and repair forms, cumulative inspections carried across trips, smart asset grouping, direct-to-cloud photo sync, improved offline reliability, faster data syncing, geofence exit notifications and technician reminders for uncompleted checkouts or pending syncs.