In 2020 Tim Riefke teamed up with serial entrepreneur Mike Mudd to turn an innovative field services idea into the company CloudWork Pro. When Riefke first spoke with Mudd about his vision, he knew immediately that he was interested in being a foundational part of its future. When the chance to help build CloudWork Pro from the ground up presented itself, he didn’t hesitate. “For me, CloudWork Pro represents an intersection of my professional career building software companies and my personal connection to field services teams,” says Riefke.

Riefke’s experience in field services has come full circle. His family has operated small field services companies for most of his life, and he now, somewhat serendipitously, finds himself at the forefront of a technology that helps service tech businesses just like the one his family operate. He adds, “CloudWork Pro helps small field service companies market their services to global brands, quickly scale operations and gain access to a marketplace of nationwide projects that they might have otherwise been precluded from given their relatively small size.”

With major technology companies like Uber and Lyft providing smooth, on-demand bookings for services, an increasing number of tech companies are implementing similar models to immediately connect products and services to customers. CloudWork Pro’s efficiency and competitiveness in the field services marketplace directly correlates to their ability to connect customers with qualified technicians on-demand.

We sat down with Riefke to learn more about CloudWork Pro and his visions for the future of the company.

What is CloudWork Pro and what is the mission?
TR: CloudWork Pro represents the evolution of the field services business and how the landscape is shifting towards automation and contingent labor forces. We are building the future of on-demand field services with CloudWork Pro and focusing on our roots in deploying technologies and IoT devices at scale for global brands. We have heard time and again from our customers that there is the need for a hybrid model of both self-service dispatching and full-service turnkey project management solutions. At CloudWork Pro our customers appreciate the option to run all their projects under one platform.

We have also created a unique process for recruiting, screening, and onboarding our technicians to ensure the techs can deliver great outcomes for our customers, whether their projects have one or one thousand locations.

One of our goals from the very beginning was to build a company that benefits technicians, and that is exactly what we have done with CloudWork Pro.

Could you delve into what field service automation is for those that might not know?
TR: Our intelligent, automated work order management system is combined with an exclusive technician marketplace with access to the best talent in the industry. With CloudWork Pro, clients can quickly roll out large scale nationwide technology projects and deploy the best technicians to job sites with just a few clicks. The core feature of the platform is called “Your On Demand Workforce” which uses a proprietary algorithm to recommend the best qualified technician for each job. The introduction of sophisticated Artificial Intelligence and machine learning algorithms enables CWP to easily match projects to the appropriate technician. This is based on a variety of factors such as skill set, the complexity of the job, availability, and geography. Our sophisticated scheduling algorithms guarantee that the most suitable technician is allocated to the work based on these factors.

How is your team uniquely qualified to solve some of these challenges in field services?
TR: As a company, our primary goals are to wow customers with intuitive technology, attract and retain the highest quality technicians, and provide seamless customer experiences. I believe we’ll be able to accomplish these goals because our founding team has spent their carriers recruiting and dispatching techs around the country and has used their knowledge and industry experience to create a truly unique platform. All of the core features for CloudWork Pro stem from solving the day-to-day challenges our founder, Mike Mudd, had experienced while running a national field service organization. In addition, the executive team is comprised of startup veterans, field service experts, and technologists who understand the needs of both our clients and technicians.

You mentioned wanting to build a company that benefits technicians. Can you explain exactly how CWP accomplishes this goal?
TR: For starters, it’s free for technicians to create a profile and accept work from the marketplace. We have intentionally set the bar high when it comes to which technicians are accepted into the marketplace. This is a major differentiator between us and other national field service marketplaces. Beyond the financial advantages, our mobile app is designed with the small service tech companies in mind. From feedback we’ve received from hundreds of technicians, we’ve found that most of these small business owners are getting bogged down with administrative and HR tasks like taxes, compliance issues and staffing. CloudWork Pro’s Mobile Tech Platform addresses all these back-office burdens.

As a marketplace solution we have two customers–those that are looking for on-demand service providers and the tech teams providing services. We ultimately built this platform for the technicians because we know all too well if our technicians win, CloudWork Pro wins.

You mentioned it’s a priority for the company to be an inclusive marketplace with a team from different backgrounds. Why is this important to you and what steps is the company taking to ensure a more diverse workplace?

Inclusivity starts with ensuring we reflect the diversity we want within our leadership first then across our teams and network of service providers. Cultivating an open and transparent culture, as well as ensuring company communications set an inclusive tone are priorities for us as a company. Doing the work of proactively seeking diverse and non-traditional candidates, service providers and vendors rather than waiting for them to come to us is also something that we are focusing on.

We want to create an inclusive marketplace that welcomes technicians from all backgrounds, cultures, and walks of life. I genuinely believe that organizations benefit when people from different backgrounds bring their perspectives and genuine selves to the table in order to solve real world problems. If you are a talented technician that is diligent and reliable, we want you on the CloudWork Pro platform.

How do you and your team ensure that CWP continually stands out from your competition?
TR: There are several important differentiators that set us apart from the competition with the first being our curated network of service technicians. Every tech company is required to meet minimum standards and go through an interview process to be accepted onto our platform, whereas our competitors will allow anyone with an email address to join their network.

Another differentiating factor is with our founder who has been operating an on-demand field services business for over 20 years. You cannot buy or replicate that sort of “in the trenches” industry expertise from Silicon Valley. We also spent a lot of time on the front end talking with customers, technicians, project managers, and field service veterans to design an intuitive platform with comprehensive project management tools that enable rapid and efficient nationwide technology deployments at scale.

CloudWork Pro will offer very straightforward and competitive pricing options. We want to provide the best technology with the strongest network of techs for the lowest total overall cost. It’s really just that simple.

Keep your eye on this innovative solution as they are planning to launch in Q1 2022. Please fill out the contact form and you’ll be notified of new updates along the way.