Fiduzia: full confidence in building a custom security platform around clevergig

When planning case studies, we didn't just want to showcase our clients operating in the most common staffing sectors: Healthcare, Education, and Construction. We also wanted to highlight other mediation niches, and Fiduzia was perfect for this. In a beautiful office building in Amsterdam, near Vondelpark, we met with Ranjeet Gajadhar, the owner of Fiduzia, so he could tell us more about how the company is growing and their experience working with clevergig.

About Fiduzia

Fiduzia is a staffing agency specialized in security. Initially, they mainly outsourced security guards, but the company has since expanded to cover all related roles. Fiduzia now also mediates for security guard trainees, supervisors, hosts, hostesses, service staff, etc. The agency is particularly strong in the events industry. There is hardly any event in the Netherlands where Fiduzia doesn't provide staff. We asked the owner, Ranjeet, a few questions about his work and company:

How was planning done before you started working with clevergig?

In the past, we worked with parties where the detachment resembled more of recruitment and selection. I took some time off. I had kids and followed a different path for a while. So I placed a temp with a party, and they took over the full-time planning. When I resumed in 2017, I worked a lot with phone, WhatsApp, Excel. That's fine when you're working with 6 people, but as soon as it becomes 10 or more, it takes more and more time. The big advantage of clevergig is its simplicity, ease of use, and it's 'plug and play.' You can have someone create an account, and 9 out of 10 people figure it out themselves, without questions. When you keep track of everything via phone, WhatsApp, and Excel, you really struggle with administration. Especially when you're growing fast. You want to be able to quickly find everything in one place, and I notice that I'm quite sloppy myself. Sometimes, even with clevergig, it's chaotic, but once you've processed everything in the software, you have one system to work with. We were quite early adopters of clevergig, back when the software didn't have all the features it has now. Generating reports and logging hours retrospectively were real enhancements, for example. These were all things we needed, and clevergig responded well to that. It was already a good product, but it has become an even better product. For us, it means that we can work more efficiently and have less chaos.

What did clevergig do for the company in terms of growth in the first few years?

We've been using clevergig since 2018. It makes you more efficient. If we were to use clevergig in its entirety, including with clients who would accept and use clevergig (they don't yet), it would be even easier. Because I still get called, WhatsApped, or emailed very often. We then pick it up and put it in clevergig. Meanwhile, clevergig has already thought about this, because clients can also access the system. With that access, they can also directly assign services. Unfortunately, this happens too little, but clients work with many subcontractors and don't want to work with a different system for each subcontractor. I do aim to start doing it soon. We're getting bigger, so who knows, maybe it will happen soon.

How will you manage to get them on board?

In addition to Fiduzia, we are now working on a platform within security to match supply and demand. I've been thinking about this since 2006, but back then, many people didn't understand what I meant. I didn't know how to apply it technically either, until Uber, for example, came around. Then people began to understand what I meant. You just want a platform where supply and demand come together. Over the past few years, I've been looking for a party that could build it for me. I noticed that I took the ease of use I experienced with clevergig as the starting point for my platform. It had to be as simple as possible. If you still have to go through a whole manual, most people give up. It has to be user-friendly.

clevergig keeps evolving in the meantime. You have a vision and trust in the product, which I always respect. Ultimately, I see that features that would make clevergig better are eventually picked up. So I built my platform in such a way that it could work around clevergig. When people finish work and the hours are logged in clevergig, an invoice is automatically sent out. These are things that clevergig makes possible, allowing me to test if my platform is viable.

You've built your company around clevergig, among other things. That's great. That's how strong clevergig is for your company.

Even stronger. I'm actually a hands-on guy. I'm not technically inclined, and certainly not behind computers. That's not my game, but it is for clevergig. Because clevergig sometimes even solves problems before I encounter them, I have a lot of confidence in the software. That's why I also like the setting as it is. I know we experienced a malfunction once, and it was resolved in no time.

How often do you still work with the software yourself?

I recently concluded that I actually shouldn't do it anymore because every time I get involved, things go wrong. I used to do the planning all by myself, and it's still most efficient when planning is done by one person. I'm happy with clevergig because you can also work with multiple people simultaneously in the product. I often need reports, for example, so I still use it a lot. I still use it actively, but I do less active planning myself.

Have you recommended clevergig to other companies?

Absolutely. I always promote clevergig wherever I go. I work with quite large parties, and I see clevergig heading in that direction. But they often want to create various layers in a project, which is possible in principle, but then you have to work with roles. Also, that it can be linked to subcontractors and things like that. Those functions don't exist yet. They often ask for slightly broader applications, but I think clevergig will eventually meet that need. It's moving more and more in that direction, making it possible for even larger parties to join. For anyone dealing with personnel management, it's truly the ideal solution. I don't have much comparison material, so my observation is limited, but 'never change your winning team.' So if you're already doing well, why change it? I haven't heard anyone else as enthusiastic about their planning system as I am about clevergig.

It's a dream for any software company to hear that a customer is so satisfied with their software. Thank you, Ranjeet, for your time and honesty. We can't wait to see how your second company progresses and all the successes Fiduzia will achieve in the future. We're always striving to improve so that we can hear more feedback like this. We are not yet big enough to need security personnel, but if that changes, Fiduzia is at the top of our list.

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