We’re Amanda Chan and Mike Miller, the cofounders of OSIMple (https://www.osimple.co/). We automate data entry for inspectors by replacing stacks of paper with tablets and by generating completed inspection forms, saving them almost half of their inspection time.
Through conversations with friends and professors in the civil engineering department at our university, we discovered that data entry and report writing can be quite a time sink for bridge inspectors. Bridges need to be inspected regularly but a great deal of inspectors are using pen, paper, and camera on site and manually entering data back at the office. Those who do use software use old, clunky applications that often require persistent internet connection in the field.
We figured we could build something better so we created OSIMple. There are two parts to the software. First is a mobile application that inspectors use to complete their inspections. It essentially digitizes the inspection form and keeps all the photos and notes organized. The second part is a website. Once an inspector finishes an inspection, they upload their data from the mobile app to the website where they may review and edit the inspection data and finally generate a completed inspection form as a PDF.
We started started selling to bridge inspectors and now our software is being used on over 400 bridges. It’s become clear that other types of inspection could benefit from our software as well. So now we’re expanding to include home inspectors. Like bridge inspectors, home inspectors often have nothing or inelegant software to help them complete their job. We aim to change that, for home inspectors and beyond.
Thanks for reading! We’d love to hear feedback from the HN community and any ideas or experiences you've had in this space.
by Andrey
Azimov