Software specialist Company-X adds virtual reality capability
HAMILTON, NEW ZEALAND, August 2019:
Company-X has added augmented and virtual reality expertise to its offering with the recent acquisition of Pepper
Creative.
Pepper Creative’s is now operating under the Company-X brand.
Founded in Hamilton in December 2012 by directors David Hallett and Jeremy Hughes, Company-X immediately began growing
the business, winning work with a Silicon Valley-based multinational and New Zealand government agencies.
Company-X’s acquisition of Pepper Creative, also based in Hamilton, adds new, and highly specialised, capabilities to
Company-X’s offering and grows the team to more than 50.
Pepper Creative founder Lance Bauerfeind and his team have earned a reputation for their work using virtual and
augmented reality for advanced scenario-based industry training, real-time maintenance solutions and content for sales
and marketing. Since the company started 10 years ago, clients have included Fisher & Paykel, Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC) and Westpac, with international clients as far away as Sweden and the
USA.
Lance has joined David and Jeremy on the Company-X management team and is excited about the opportunities that this will
bring for his talented staff.
“Pepper Creative and Company-X share some fundamentals that really confirm to me that this decision is the right one,”
explains Lance. “We both listen to our client’s blue-sky ideas and help form them into a tangible project. And, just
like Company-X, we have been at the forefront of using advanced technologies to bring those ideas to life. Also, we both
foster innovative software experts keen to advance their careers, who have so much knowledge and commitment to share.”
A number of Pepper Creative’s recent projects that piqued Company-X’s interest have been in the training and education
space.
For e-learning business Workbright, Pepper Creative developed a game-like training exercise for fire wardens, guiding
them through how to clear spaces, teaching them to have outside inspections after a site is cleared and identifying all
sorts of risks and hazards.
A recent project that epitomised Pepper Creative’s expertise involved food safety and biosecurity firm, AsureQuality.
Recognising the rapid changes in the science and technology fields, AsureQuality decided, as part of their normal
research initiatives, to investigate technology options for both internal use and for customer solutions. Not only did
they consider what was needed but they also looked more broadly at what was possible.
With virtual reality, augmented reality and mixed reality already included in AsureQuality’s science and technology
plan, they wanted a proof of concept. After working together with Pepper Creative to investigate possibilities from both
user and customer experience views, AsureQuality elected to use their audit process for the project to see where
improvements could be made.
Audits and inspections can be complex and diverse in AsureQuality and are used in the many areas of their business
activity in the field, in processing, manufacture and distribution, and in their engineering and biosecurity services.
Focusing particularly on wearable computer headsets and voice recognition, it was clear to AsureQuality that there were
two areas where this technology could have immediate impact for their business, for staff training, and for improving
existing services and products.
Their vision was to see a tangible impact of the technology on productivity, efficiency and efficacy, as well as the
ability to process information faster, smarter and to be more mobile.
After crunching through seemingly endless possibilities, the starting point was to use a hands-free wearable computer
headset to enable AsureQuality’s people the freedom to perform their work and record comments, photos, videos for an
inspection by voice alone.
This development improves the client experience, which is crucial in what is a people-centric business. Clients can
still see the person they are talking to without the obstruction of heavy glasses or visors, and the inspector has clear
vision at all times, conforming to safety requirements.
The application of Pepper Creative’s solution was a great success with AsureQuality planning to roll it out as a tool in
their business.
“The work done for AsureQuality is a great example of how this evolving and highly specialised technology can add
amazing value to a business,” says Jeremy. “We can’t wait to get stuck into more projects together.”
“We’re very excited to be growing the Company-X team with exceedingly clever people enabling us to deliver a whole new
world of solutions” adds David.
About Company-X
Company-X is an innovative multi-award-winning software specialist based in Hamilton, New Zealand.
Clients range from large, multi-national, businesses headquartered overseas, to small and medium sized enterprises in
New Zealand.
Company-X’s world leading team design, develop and test bespoke software solutions for its clients.
Company-X was ranked at number 330 on the Deloitte Technology Fast 500 Asia Pacific 2017 index of the 500 fastest
growing technology companies in the Asia Pacific region. Rankings were based on percentage revenue growth over three
years.
Company-X won the Services Exporter of the Year category at the Air New Zealand Cargo ExportNZ Awards 2017.
Company-X also won the Homegrown Innovators Independent Software Vendor Award at the Reseller News ICT Awards 2017.
The Company-X developed One Network Road Classification Performance Measures Reporting Tool won the Roading Asset
Management Innovation Award at the Road Infrastructure Management Forum in 2017.
ends