Local tech company Bridge is preparing for its much-anticipated IPO later in Q1 FY22 with a powerful addition to its team.
Martin Hoffman, former Chief Executive of the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), will join Bridge’s board as a non-executive director.
Hoffman announced his retirement from the NDIA in June, with Bridge founder and chairman Rupert Taylor-Price describing his appointment as citing two major benefits for the company.
“First, it’s a tremendous validation of the market’s need for the software and its belief in the quality of the company, our software and how it can fill a market need,” said Taylor-Price.
“Second, Martin’s ability to strategize and steer the sector for us will be unparalleled.”
Taylor-Price founded the Bridge platform back in 2008 to streamline compliance and organizational tasks for providers in the recruitment market prior to their recent entry into the care market.
The software-as-a-service (SaaS) offering is one of five offerings to have Department of Education, Skills and Employment (DESE) accreditation and has now advanced to NDIS.
Navigating a behemoth, complex NDIS
The NDIS was launched in 2016 to support people with disabilities, their families and carers. It is administered and funded jointly by the federal, state and territory governments.
According to budget estimates, federal government NDIS spending is expected to provide US$33.9 billion for over 500,000 Australians with permanent and significant disabilities in 202223, growing to US$44.6 billion in four years and exceeding Medicare spending.
“Martin understands the nuances and complexities of the marketplace, which is made up of everything from support coordinators, plan managers, allied health professionals to people building accessible facilities for people to live in,” said Taylor-Price.
“Having the program’s former CEO stepping in and helping Bridge successfully navigate this environment will be of tremendous benefit.”
He said any company entering the mammoth NDIS must be making bets on where the biggest opportunities lie.
“The more capital you have, the more bets you can place and having someone like Martin on board means we can place fewer bets with greater accuracy,” he said.
Supporting inefficient sectors with bureaucracy
There are approximately 17,000 NDIS providers in Australia. The Bridge platform enables providers to manage their client appointments, tasks for the day and bureaucratic documentation for compliance with regulations and government demands.
Taylor-Price said the NDIS sector has significant opportunity to improve efficiency and has not had time to mature or refine.
“We have seen a high demand for software and automation for the NDIS, it’s a huge opportunity. The challenge is less of a sales challenge and more of a product customization challenge – we need to make sure customers see the efficiencies and revenue gains to help our customers grow with Bridge,” he said.
He said the challenge for Bridge is to build a platform that is synonymous with customer satisfaction.
“The real key to the company’s success is investment in customer service, simplicity of the software, and automation of onboarding,” he said.
Bridge makes money by billing its provider customers based on how many subscribers it supports.
With such a huge potential market, Bridge needs to feel like accounting software, according to Taylor-Price Xero (ASX:XRO).
“We have a long heritage in enterprise software, solving complex problems and making things simple, compliant and secure, and that’s probably the harder part to get it right,” he said.
“The challenge in the new market is serving such a large customer base, keeping them satisfied and showing them the value of our software.
“The value part is almost self-fulfilling because of the challenge the industry is facing.”
He said all Australians want the NDIS program to work well and taxpayers’ money to be used efficiently.
Well positioned to run businesses
Taylor-Price has a background in improving government efficiency. He founded the company after working for a group of non-profit organizations that ran social service programs.
He now has multiple roles focused on government efficiency, security and supporting Australian business growth.
His responsibilities include Co-Chair of the Data Sector Group for the Department of Home Affairs and he is a member of the Artificial Intelligence Think Tank for the CSIRO Government. He also has top secret security clearance for the Department of Defense.
“There are two big bets we’re making with Bridge, one is that compliance will increase because taxpayers want to see integrity in the system, and the other is the government’s focus on cybersecurity,” he said.
The federal government is increasingly concerned about security gaps in the handling of private individual data.
Bridge has already gone through the required massive security reviews and controls as part of its DESE accreditation.
Although the NDIS is a newer program and does not yet have full accreditation, Taylor-Price believes it gives Bridge an advantage as a proven, more secure platform with a lower risk of being hacked.
“A key competitor of ours had a serious cybersecurity breach and we believe this will result in the government accelerating cybersecurity regulation as observed by DESE,” he said.
“Because we are already at this high level of security, we think it will be very difficult for startups in the industry to succeed and compete with us.”
Bridge CEO Jamie Conyngham was appointed in 2020 with a growth mandate. Taylor-Price said the company is now planning an IPO in mid-September.
This article was developed in partnership with Bridge, a Stockhead advertiser at the time of publication.
This article does not constitute financial product advice. You should consider obtaining independent advice before making any financial decisions.
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