Dayshape adds FreeAgent co-founder Roan Lavery to Board

Originally published in FutureScot.

A start-up whose AI-powered people planning and project management platform is helping global accounting firms has made two key appointments.

Edinburgh-based Dayshape has appointed FreeAgent co-founder and Chief Product Officer Roan Lavery to its board.

The appointment is in response to growing global demand for the company’s resource optimisation solution. Dayshape is an AI-powered people planning and project management platform for the professional services industry, currently used by two of the Big Four accountancy firms.

Dayshape was founded in 2013 by Andrew Bone and Alastair Andrew. Both were computer science graduates, with Bone becoming a Chartered Accountant, and Andrew earning a PhD in ‘combinatorial optimisation’.

Together they spotted an opportunity to take combinatorial optimisation technology out of academia and into businesses whose volume, complexity, and variability would tangibly benefit from its practical application. Having successfully developed and launched Dayshape as a unique solution for optimising professional service firms’ profitability, client satisfaction, and employee happiness, the business is now scaling to meet growing demand worldwide.

To support more than 10,000 users across four continents, the Dayshape team doubled in size in 2018, and looks set to double headcount again in 2019. As co-founder and Chief Product Officer of FreeAgent, one of Scotland’s most successful start-ups, Roan Lavery has over a decade’s experience implementing strategy, scaling operations, and building a world-class product organisation. Lavery said: “I’m excited to work with the talented team at Dayshape, helping them to scale their software, product already solving real customer problems with leading-edge technology.”

Andrew Bone, Dayshape co-founder and CEO said: “We’re delighted to have Roan join us. His expertise will be invaluable as we scale the business to meet and capitalise on the  growing demand we’re experiencing.”

Dayshape solves an increasingly high profile problem for leading accountancy firms. These firms have been coming under increased scrutiny for how they manage their audit operations and Dayshape solves this problem with its AI-powered planning and engagement management technology, providing real-time economics data to ensure utilisation and recovery rates are as they should be. Dayshape can analyse more than 40,000 scheduling options per second, instantly factoring in changes and disruptions to maintain optimal project and workforce plans at all times, no matter what happens.

Dayshape won the ScotlandIS 2019 Best New Product award, and the company is looking to double headcount for a third year running to meet growing global demand for its technology.