Invonto Devises $5 Million Program to Help Companies in Need of Tech, but Short of Funds During Coronavirus Crisis
If you have a company with a critical need for a tech solution or that’s running into hard times due to the COVID-19 crisis, Bridgewater-based tech-services company Invonto wants to help. The company has devoted $5 million in service credits to helping companies improve their technology operations.
Among the offerings are free cloud hosting for one year and consulting and development for new projects at fees reduced by 40 to 50 percent. In a move that’s unusual in the industry, Invonto will also provide hourly and on-demand services without requiring long-term contracts. Additionally, Invonto will defer payments for up to 60 days. This program will help companies that need technical assistance to support and enhance their existing systems and to create new digital solutions for improving employee and customer experiences.
Invonto is especially interested in offering technical assistance to biotech and pharma companies that are building tech solutions for the fight against COVID-19.
Invonto CEO Maulik Shah told us, “One thing that we saw in the market is that companies are being economically impacted by the COVID-19 crisis. And one of the things that they are giving up, which they should not do right now, is optimizing or working on their technology systems. I believe people are thinking that technology systems are nonessential. But if you think about it, if you’re the customer of a business that does not provide you a paperless way to manage your account through mobile or web systems, receive support easily through live chat or video chat options, or provide complimentary resources to help you through the crisis, you may not want to be their customer after this crisis is over. Only the companies providing the right support and tools in the crisis situation will be able to retain their customers and business after the crisis is over.”
The company decided to come up with a program to help companies about two weeks ago, but it took a while to determine what services it should offer. “You know, we’re not in the healthcare field ourselves. We can’t go to the hospital and treat the patients,” said Shah. “We didn’t want to just sit on sidelines and see other people take care of the situation. We wanted to do something. We asked ourselves, ‘How do we take some action and be part of the solution to help others? What can we do?’ Our tech assistance program is something that’s in our control, something that we can do, and it can potentially help the economy and the businesses.” And if some of the businesses taking Invonto up on the offer are in the biotech and pharma field, “we may even be able to assist them in finding some sort of response for coronavirus.”
Invonto wanted to offer a way for its customers to continue their tech projects and operations, even during the turndown. When we spoke to Shah, a few companies had already expressed an interest in the new program. To get the word out about the program, “we are reaching out to our existing customer base and to the prospects in our pipeline. We are also reaching out to a lot of the biotech companies that are researching a cure or some sort of digital solution relating to coronavirus, whether they are using [artificial intelligence]-based research with image recognition and machine learning or need mobile solutions for tracking and response. We have reached out to more than 350 biotech and pharma companies across the country to see if they could use our assistance.”
Invonto employs about 25 people in New Jersey, and Shah said that, if this initiative is successful, the company may be hiring more people. One of the problems he faces is that New Jersey isn’t branded as a tech innovation hub, and people across the country don’t think of New Jersey companies as being able to come to their rescue. “With this program, not only we are helping U.S. companies, but we are also getting the word out about the technology capabilities New Jersey has, which is the icing on the cake.”
Companies that are interested in Invonto’s tech-assistance program can apply here.
