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This start-up wants blue collar workers to keep their trade papers in the cloud

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Sydney-based start-up TradePapers recently launched its Android and IOS application for blue collar and industrial workers to keep their qualifications in one accessible cloud-based location.

The app is the first of its kind combining both a document sharing platform and a reminder system that can let users and their employers know when tickets are coming up for renewal.

TradePapers co-founder Amy Athar, who grew up working in her family’s road transport business, has seen the need for the TradePapers app for years.

“I could see a frustrating flaw in the industry which was that there was no relevant way to keep qualifications in order,” Amy said.

“My husband, who works in industrial recruitment and also had some background in the transport industry, also recognised the gap in the market for a cloud-based solution that workers could access and share using their smartphones,” she shared.

Amy’s husband said his first hand experiences were a driving force in creating the app.

“Working in recruitment I was constantly chasing up, or waiting on people to send me their qualifications so I could process the next steps in their applications,” he said.

“TradePapers allows the workers to have their qualifications accessible at all times so they can be easily shared and reminded of renewal terms.”

What problem is TradePapers solving?

Previously workers have at best kept their information on USB drives that are easily lost and often the qualifications out of date without the workers realising. Many workers still carry paper photocopies of tickets with them to provide proof of licences and qualifications.

TradePapers also saves employers money by not having to retrain staff that are already qualified.

“It will often happen that tradies turn up on site and need to go through a costly and time consuming site induction because they don’t have evidence of being inducted previously,” Amy said.

TradePapers is being made available worldwide and the founders are aware there is a global need.

“TradePapers applications are for industrial-based work sites anywhere in the world and can also be used in other industries where contract workers need to provide proof of current qualifications and tickets such as nursing, child care and security,” Amy said.

TradePapers is available on all iOS and Android mobile devices for AUD$2.99 (USD1.99) for up to 10 documents and 10 additional reminders, with the option to purchase more as required.

A premium version will be released in the coming weeks that will allow users to upload documents and images directly from their computer into the app.

Founder and CEO of TradePapers, Amy Athar (Photo by Sarah Keayes, The Photo Pitch www.thephotopitch.com)
Founder and CEO of TradePapers, Amy Athar (Photo by Sarah Keayes, The Photo Pitch www.thephotopitch.com)

We briefly interviewed Amy about her brainchild, she shares more about TradePapers below.

How exactly does TradePapers work?

The app has been designed to take minimal steps possible to upload any trade documentation required and ease to be able to email them to anyone once they are in the app.

It has also been designed to be used whilst mobile or on the move hence the reason for designing an app rather than a computer system that is available only on the web.

Once the user has taken images of the desired documents and set the desired reminders (such as inductions that don’t require images), it is designed that they are basically in the app and available at high resolution to access or email whenever required.

You can take images of your licenses, tickets, documents, etc. straight into the app. The images are stored as high resolution so that when they are emailed they can be clearly viewed. The images can be cropped, brightness adjusted by the user and then information is entered.

The notifications are sent as automatic push messages from three months out. At three months it will be fortnightly till one month out when it is weekly then the last week it will be daily. When the three months begins the message will turn red and a marker is clearly seen on the icon of the app on the home screen.

Who is the target market for TradePapers?

We designed the app with industrial and trade industries in mind but the app can be used by any worker in a regulated field that requires access to their trade documents such as nursing, health and fitness and security.

We have launched the app globally on both the App Store and Google Play. Our reasoning for this is our experience in the LNG and construction market that once the construction faze of several projects we have been a part of were completed these workers heading to all parts of the globe.

If we limited the app to just Australia these workers would not be able to access there trade documents via our app. Research showed this is a global problem in industrial fields and the simplicity of this app makes it universal for everyone to use.