I’ve been asked many times on how Notifi came about so here is the backstory! Comfy? OK, let’s get started…
A couple of years ago, as an employee I was ‘told off’ by the CFO for submitting in expenses outside of the accounting period, this also coincided with various missed opt ins to HQ initiatives. Now you see this wasn’t entirely my fault. I was based at client sites and my inbox was blasted with comms from clients and colleagues.
This meant that when an email from HQ turned up it would simply be flagged and moved to the ever growing “Important TO DO for HQ” folder. None of this was intentional, it was always about priority and clients came first. That’s when I had my eureka moment, I needed an app that I could easily check-in on, whilst travelling between sites that kept me informed of important stuff like “get your expenses in before year end!” However, I realised it was impossible to tell any organisation that they needed such an app, they already had processes in place and change is not easy. So I parked the idea to the back of my mind.
Then something happened that changed things. I missed an email to enrol my kids into the swimming club. So I searched for a better way of being informed of such important updates. I didn’t find what I was looking for. This coincided with how my Pilates instructor struggled to communicate with her members. One wet day she individually text everyone informing them that the class was cancelled – she had lost the keys to the venue. I received nothing so turned up to find a despondent and soggy teacher. We took ourselves off to a cosy inn & whilst ordering a warming tonic I asked why she hadn’t “just group text” everyone and her reply surprised me, “I can’t share contact details, I have a duty to protect my clients” and the eureka moment came to the forefront. That night my mind raced ahead to create the foundations of Notifi…
However I was no app developer, I come from a generation of IT consultants that have put brands live on the internet for the 1st time but that is very different to mobile app design & development. The constraints of the device has created a generation of smart designers and developers that have to think “inside the device”
I searched on and offshore for a development team. I found one immediately but they were ‘out of my league’. So, I looked some more, tested a few and then decided to go back to my original find as they simply would not leave my mind and therein lies the start of the journey with Tappable. They ‘got’ me and Notifi from the very start and to make things easier they too were based just outside of London.
Together we went on a journey. It had its ups, some downs and a few side-way challenges. There was a moment where I almost wrote off the app, I had made a fundamental design assumption, one that was core to the app’s success. I asked for the feature to be pulled knowing that it rendered the app useless. As I wallowed in self-pity the development team sat on and thought about it. Weeks later they had re-designed the problem away. This was a pivotal moment, the relationship changed from being a client supplier to that of a ‘team’, they too were vested in the app. So now when things don’t go to plan I remind myself of that moment and smile knowing the team will overcome it. The development team will of course have a different perspective as they sit on the cutting edge of the project, but for me it has been an awesome implementation!
So after months of development and testing – and then some more development and testing, Notifi was ready. Our passion and commitment is showcased in every feature, from the images to the journeys that make complicated tasks look easy. Notifi is built on a robust, secure, well designed layer of logic that serves every interaction. The data is housed safely and bought back in a timely and well organised way. The whole thing looks simple, trust me, it’s not!
We, (now known as the Notifi dream team) agreed on a version of the app that could be released to the public. It is impossible to release a defect free product but I must confess Notifi is near on perfect AND this is only the start. For now, we must watch and learn on how it is used, what works and what doesn’t. It’s actually our users that decides on what happens next!
As the backstory ends we enter a new phase of the project. Notifi is now globally available on the Apple and Google app stores. It’s early days but we already have a base of enthusiastic customers and an array of future features. And my Pilates instructor and the kids swimming teacher? Well, they too are hooked, after all, they are the reason it works the way it does…
Try it, it’s free… https://smarturl.it/mynotifiapp
