Thought Leaders in Artificial Intelligence: Workiz CEO Didi Azaria (Part 3)

Sramana Mitra: How do you acquire your locksmith customers?

Didi Azaria: Word of mouth is big. We believe that once somebody is successful, they’re going to brag about it. This is actually the case. We believe that if we provide great service and show them 20% to 50% growth on the same effort, they become our advocates. We started from San Diego and on to LA and then to San Francisco. This is where most of our locksmiths are from. Then we spread to the entire US.

Sramana Mitra: What is the average deal size? This is SaaS?

Didi Azaria: We have three different segments. One is SaaS. The other one is fintech. We provide them with the ability to charge credit cards in the field. The other one is a phone system. All together, it’s a few thousand dollars a year.

Sramana Mitra: How big is just the locksmith market?

Didi Azaria: Locksmiths are considerably smaller than other businesses in the US. The leading markets in the US are HVAC, plumbing, electricians, handymen, and cleaning companies. Obviously, we’re not in a rush. We’re just conquering another segment. Right now, we’re the leading junk removal software in the US. We’re number one in that. Most of the junk removal companies are using Workiz today.

Sramana Mitra: What are the touch points in your system where you are applying AI extensively?

Didi Azaria: It starts with identifying the chances of job cancellation. When you’re in a high-velocity business, you will find yourself in traffic just to find out that the client is not there because they found a cheaper solution or fixed the problem on their own. This can cost you hundreds of dollars. It averages around $400 just on cancellation.

We have 85% success rate if a job is going to be cancelled. This is flagged to the dispatcher. In many cases, the dispatcher is going to take credit card over the phone, ensuring that the client is going to be there. But this is not the secret. The secret is to send the client a notification and ask them to confirm the job. It’s easy as a click. By doing that, we reduce the amount of cancellation.

Sramana Mitra: Isn’t that workflow and not AI? AI is figuring out whom to send the job to.

Didi Azaria: Even whom to send the notification. Most of the high-velocity job is, “I’m on my way.” It has a lot of parameters. It has 200 parameters all together. After identifying the risky jobs, we alert and make sure that you’re going to be there. If you’re there, my client is going to be happy.

Sramana Mitra: How many customers do you have?

Didi Azaria: I can expose just the number of users. We have a lot of clients, but we have more than hundred thousand technicians working currently with the system.

Sramana Mitra: The way you price is by technician?

Didi Azaria: Right.

Sramana Mitra: Very interesting. Thank you for your time.

This segment is part 3 in the series : Thought Leaders in Artificial Intelligence: Workiz CEO Didi Azaria
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