SkipsoLabs Innovation Management Platform
SkipsoLabs simplifies how you manage the entire lifecycle of all your innovation initiatives on one integrated innovation platform. Crowdsource solutions, foster collaboration to conceptualise ideas, maintain a community of innovators, and automate your innovation process. SkipsoLabs can help manage Accelerators, Tech Scouting, Hackathons, Open Challenges, Idea Crowdsourcing and other initiatives.
Features
- Submission Management
- Highly customisable workflow and permissions management
- Customisable innovation database of ideas, projects, users, organisations etc.
- Personalised user experience: Personalised dashboards, content recommendations and matchmaking
- Gamification
- Targeted messaging and community management
- Easily import and export data
- Idea and project collaboration features
- High level reporting and platform analytics
- Content management system, to create and share appropriate content
Benefits
- Keep track of all your partners, ideas, resources and initiatives
- Simplify the judging and evaluation process for innovation initiatives
- Avoid the need for multiple tools for different process stages
- Simplify the process of matching relevant platform users and ideas
- Keep users engaged with content such as events and resources
- Save your team time spent updating or adding to databases
- A platform tailored to your process and your design
- Streamline management of your community using targeted messaging
- Open specific elements of your innovation activities to defined users
- Allow users to collaborate and build connections across the platform
Pricing
£7,000 a unit a year
Service documents
Request an accessible format
Framework
G-Cloud 13
Service ID
2 1 0 2 2 5 6 7 2 1 0 3 3 6 0
Contact
SkipsoLabs
Carlo Soresina
Telephone: + 44 7796 276923
Email: carlo@skipso.com
Service scope
- Software add-on or extension
- No
- Cloud deployment model
-
- Public cloud
- Private cloud
- Hybrid cloud
- Service constraints
- Our platform is currently built using Amazon Web Services infrastructure, however our platform can be implemented on alternative cloud infrastructures.
- System requirements
-
- Access the platform using a web browser.
- These include Google Chrome, Microsoft Edge, Firefox and Opera
- Contact us to confirm compatibility with any other web browsers
User support
- Email or online ticketing support
- Email or online ticketing
- Support response times
- We use a solution called AirTable to allow users to send support tickets for bugs or minor change requests. When these are submitted they send emails to Customer Success Team members as well as a notification on their internal slack channel. Customer success team members will receive these notifications immediately. We endeavour to respond to queries within 24 hours of receiving them. This may take longer than 24 hours at weekends, depending on the urgency of the query.
- User can manage status and priority of support tickets
- Yes
- Online ticketing support accessibility
- None or don’t know
- Phone support
- Yes
- Phone support availability
- 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
- Web chat support
- Yes, at an extra cost
- Web chat support availability
- 9 to 5 (UK time), Monday to Friday
- Web chat support accessibility standard
- None or don’t know
- How the web chat support is accessible
-
SkipsoLabs utilises a third-party application called ZenDesk for web chat support. You can find details of how their "Support & Guide" product complies with WCAG 2.0 criteria using this link: https://www.zendesk.com/company/policies-procedures/accessibility/.
In summary the product provides the features below OR meets the WCAG 2.0 Level A requirements, as the features are not present on the product:
- Non-text content
- Info and Relationships
- Keyboard
- Bypass Blocks
- Focus Order
- Link Purpose (In Context)
- On Input
- Error Identification
- Labels or Instructions
- Name, Role, Value
The product partially supports the following features and constraints, (more details can be found using the link at the top of this answer):
- Audio-only and Video-only (Prerecorded)
- Captions (Prerecorded)
- Audio Description or Media Alternative (Prerecorded)
- Sensory Characteristics
- Use of Colour
- Audio Control
- No Keyboard Trap
- Character Key Shortcuts
- Timing Adjustable
- Pause, Stop, Hide
- Three Flashes or Below Threshold - Web chat accessibility testing
- Not applicable
- Onsite support
- Yes, at extra cost
- Support levels
-
Support Level 1 is free of charge and includes:
- Admin Training, so your team can manage the platform using our Back-end Admin Control panel on a day to day basis. We will provide admin users with training on how to use this over video conference before your go-live date.
- Access to support with your technical account manager via Email from Monday to Friday 9AM-5PM UK Time.
- Ticketing system for issues or change requests.
Support Level 2 is charged at a fee of £1 500 per month, it includes:
- All of the items listed above.
- Dedicated phone number for your technical account manager to be accessed from Monday to Friday 9AM to 5PM UK time.
- Zendesk support system
- Weekly calls with your technical account manager.
Support level 3 is outlined in the service definition document and pricing documents attached.
End-user support (Web chat for platform users) can be provided for end users on request by clients. The pricing of this will be determined by the size of the user base and the anticipated level of enquiries. - Support available to third parties
- Yes
Onboarding and offboarding
- Getting started
- We provide admin training via online web meetings in which we review the main functions that admin will be using within the backend control panel. We also provide training documentation that refers to these functions in detail (specific text, links & screenshots for reference).
- Service documentation
- Yes
- Documentation formats
-
- HTML
- End-of-contract data extraction
- Users can request their own data from their backend control panel at any time. We also provide complete platform data extraction upon request at the end of the contract. This can be provided in the client's chosen file format.
- End-of-contract process
- At the end of a contract, the client can request a proposal to extend the contract or request that SkipsoLabs participate in an RFP to extend the contract. If the client chooses to terminate the contract for whatever reason, data is transferred to the client and we move the platform offline. The client has the option to extend the contract to keep the platform live on a monthly basis during any transition period for an additional cost. Clients also have the option to pay an additional fee for our support in transferring data to any new platform, however the download of data in .csv , .xlsx or other common data file format is free of charge.
Using the service
- Web browser interface
- Yes
- Supported browsers
-
- Microsoft Edge
- Firefox
- Chrome
- Safari
- Opera
- Application to install
- No
- Designed for use on mobile devices
- Yes
- Differences between the mobile and desktop service
- Our web application is responsive for mobile devices, this means it is optimised so that navigation of the platform and its features adapt to narrower screens when necessary.
- Service interface
- Yes
- User support accessibility
- WCAG 2.1 AAA
- Description of service interface
- Our service interface is divided into an administrator interface which provides platform administrator users with the ability to manage user permissions, as well as different platform activities and access dashboards and management information relating to the platform. Our front-end service interface is made up of several modules each with their own interface to allow users to make submissions, manage their ideas or content, connect with each other and collaborate. The colour scheme, images and most of the text on the interface is completely customisable based on client requirements.
- Accessibility standards
- None or don’t know
- Description of accessibility
- We have implemented some enhancements to our platform to increase the level of accessibility as standard. An example is the ability to implement text alternatives for any images and buttons on the platform. As our colour schemes and platform design are largely customisable, clients are able to choose the content or design that offers users the highest level of accessibility. We are currently upgrading our platform to bring ourselves in line with a WCAG standard.
- Accessibility testing
- Interface testing of users with assistive technology is available on request.
- API
- Yes
- What users can and can't do using the API
- We have an API that is not publicly available. We are able to develop integrations with our platform on an ad-hoc basis.
- API documentation
- No
- API sandbox or test environment
- Yes
- Customisation available
- Yes
- Description of customisation
-
Users are able to customise the design, workflow, forms, taxonomy and user access permissions of the platform. These customisations apply to any directories of users or content, any open calls/challenges, any profile/entity pages and any user dashboards that are part of the platform.
Customisations are implemented by the SkipsoLabs team based on requirements, which SkipsoLabs collect at the beginning of any project. From that point Administrators will be trained on how to change certain customisations themselves, or they can request changes to the platform by their dedicated customer success manager on their behalf.
Scaling
- Independence of resources
- Our SaaS application is hosted on Amazon Web Services’s (AWS) Cloud Computing infrastructure. This allows us to allocate computing, bandwidth and storage automatically to sustain high end user demand when required.
Analytics
- Service usage metrics
- Yes
- Metrics types
- User data such as last login, registrations over time, users by status, geography, contact requests sent/received and challenge specific metrics are all accessible from the admin’s back-end control panel. For users navigation activity such as pages visited, links clicked and other actions taken on the platform, these are all tracked through Google Analytics and Google Tag Manager. Any additional information gathered on the platform e.g. number of ideas by type, startups by stage/category, applicants by age, can be combined with all other key metrics by SkipsoLabs into custom dashboards using Google Data Studio or Amazon QuickSight.
- Reporting types
-
- Real-time dashboards
- Reports on request
Resellers
- Supplier type
- Not a reseller
Staff security
- Staff security clearance
- Other security clearance
- Government security clearance
- Up to Security Clearance (SC)
Asset protection
- Knowledge of data storage and processing locations
- Yes
- Data storage and processing locations
- European Economic Area (EEA)
- User control over data storage and processing locations
- Yes
- Datacentre security standards
- Complies with a recognised standard (for example CSA CCM version 3.0)
- Penetration testing frequency
- At least every 6 months
- Penetration testing approach
- Another external penetration testing organisation
- Protecting data at rest
-
- Physical access control, complying with CSA CCM v3.0
- Encryption of all physical media
- Data sanitisation process
- Yes
- Data sanitisation type
- Deleted data can’t be directly accessed
- Equipment disposal approach
- In-house destruction process
Data importing and exporting
- Data export approach
- Users are able to export any data that is created or stored on the platform, including users, ideas, projects, organisations, events or resources using the back-end control panel. They can export this data into excel or csv formats. The platform also provides users with the ability to export profile data in pdf format for any ideas, members or organisations stored on the platform.
- Data export formats
-
- CSV
- Other
- Other data export formats
-
- Xls
- Data import formats
-
- CSV
- Other
- Other data import formats
- Xls
Data-in-transit protection
- Data protection between buyer and supplier networks
-
- Private network or public sector network
- Legacy SSL and TLS (under version 1.2)
- Data protection within supplier network
- Other
- Other protection within supplier network
- The data is stored encrypted and any connection requires HTTPS.
Availability and resilience
- Guaranteed availability
- SkipsoLabs will use commercially reasonable efforts to make the Site available with an Annual Uptime Percentage of at least 99.95% during the Service Year. In the event the SkipsoLabs does not meet the Annual Uptime Percentage commitment, you will be eligible to receive a Service Credit. Service Credit is equal to 10% of the client's bill (excluding one-time payments) for the Eligible Credit Period. To file a claim, the Customer does not have to wait 365 days from the day they started using the service or 365 days from their last successful claim. The Customer can file a claim any time their Annual Uptime Percentage over the trailing 365 days drops below 99.95%. Exclusions from this uptime percentage agreement are outlined in our Service Definition Document.
- Approach to resilience
- The production environment is deployed on at least two different servers in two different availability zones (data centres). We are able to provide more detail on request.
- Outage reporting
- We constantly monitor the AWS region status to ensure that there are no outages and receive automated alerts for any platform outage or code related bug. We receive notifications via email and our company's instant messaging solutions, slack if there is any outage. We will then proceed to contact the customer to notify them if they are not already aware and let them know of the steps we are taking to restore the service. We are also implementing a customer dashboard, so customers can check the status of their platform infrastructure in case they are experiencing issues.
Identity and authentication
- User authentication needed
- Yes
- User authentication
-
- 2-factor authentication
- Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
- Username or password
- Access restrictions in management interfaces and support channels
-
User access policies and procedures are documented, controlled and monitored. Only assigned users working on the application have access to confidential user data and access is monitored via very granular activity logs accessible any time from the dedicated admin console.
Whenever Single Sing-on (SSO) is enabled user details will be kept private and confidential and not visible to SkipsoLabs. Access rights are pre-defined with Client's team. - Access restriction testing frequency
- At least once a year
- Management access authentication
-
- 2-factor authentication
- Identity federation with existing provider (for example Google Apps)
- Username or password
Audit information for users
- Access to user activity audit information
- Users contact the support team to get audit information
- How long user audit data is stored for
- User-defined
- Access to supplier activity audit information
- Users contact the support team to get audit information
- How long supplier audit data is stored for
- User-defined
- How long system logs are stored for
- Between 1 month and 6 months
Standards and certifications
- ISO/IEC 27001 certification
- Yes
- Who accredited the ISO/IEC 27001
- Bureau Veritas
- ISO/IEC 27001 accreditation date
- 25/02/2022
- What the ISO/IEC 27001 doesn’t cover
- None
- ISO 28000:2007 certification
- No
- CSA STAR certification
- No
- PCI certification
- No
- Cyber essentials
- Yes
- Cyber essentials plus
- Yes
- Other security certifications
- No
Security governance
- Named board-level person responsible for service security
- Yes
- Security governance certified
- Yes
- Security governance standards
- ISO/IEC 27001
- Information security policies and processes
-
Skipsolabs operations are governed and applied by our ISO27001 Information Management System.
Our ISO27001 management system encompasses various policies including:
• Information security policy
• Access control policy
• Supply chain security policy
• Bring your own device (BYOD) policy
• Mobile device and teleworking policy
• Information classification policy
• Password policy
• Disposal and destruction policy
• Clear desk and clear screen policy
• Backup policy
• Information transfer policy
All SkipsoLabs policies are approved and endorses by the Managing Director and regularly reviewed for continual suitability and in-line with current SkipsoLabs objectives. Policies are communicated throughout SkipsoLabs and our supply chain by means of training, availability though our information management system documentation, posted on noticeboards and included in subcontractor conditions of contract.
SkipsoLabs verify our operation and people comply with our policies by means of a structured ISO audit program. Our audits are conducted by Brian King, IRCA ISO chartered Lead Auditor on a regular basis. Audit elements found noncompliant are required to be rectified by means of documented corrective actions that capture root cause analysis. All ISO audit reports are circulated to the Managing Director and the Senior Management Team.
Operational security
- Configuration and change management standard
- Supplier-defined controls
- Configuration and change management approach
- We currently hold ISO27001 certification, which ensures we have all these processes in place.
- Vulnerability management type
- Supplier-defined controls
- Vulnerability management approach
- We run a vulnerability scan once per month in order to identify and patch critical issues.
- Protective monitoring type
- Supplier-defined controls
- Protective monitoring approach
- We monitor our infrastructure with logs and metrics in order to identify possible issues. We do not follow any standard or have any standardized process.
- Incident management type
- Supplier-defined controls
- Incident management approach
-
SkipsoLabs has a fully automated incident management approach and process. We use Amazon CloudWatch for application and infrastructure monitoring. All alarms converge on a dedicated Slack channel where our technical team is notified. We are also currently implementing an automated notification system via SMS for urgent incidents causing platform downtimes.
Our clients report incidents via a dedicated Airtable channel or a dedicated telephone number for urgent incidents. They are also provided with a dedicated link to track downtime and maintenance schedule https://status.skipsolabs.com/.
Secure development
- Approach to secure software development best practice
- Independent review of processes (for example CESG CPA Build Standard, ISO/IEC 27034, ISO/IEC 27001 or CSA CCM v3.0)
Public sector networks
- Connection to public sector networks
- No
Social Value
- Equal opportunity
-
Equal opportunity
SkipsoLabs is an equal opportunity employer that is committed to
diversity and inclusion in the workplace. We prohibit discrimination and
harassment of any kind based on race, colour, sex, religion, sexual orientation, national origin, disability, genetic information, pregnancy, or any other protected characteristic as outlined by federal, state, or local laws. This policy applies to all employment practices within our
organisation, including hiring, recruiting, promotion, termination, layoff,
recall, leave of absence, compensation, benefits, training, and
apprenticeship. SkipsoLabs makes hiring decisions based solely on
qualifications, merit, and business needs at the time. If anyone feels they have been subjected to any form of discrimination, team members are encouraged to notify, either verbally or in writing, the CEO, their manager,
department head, or any member of SkipsoLabs’ management staff.
Pricing
- Price
- £7,000 a unit a year
- Discount for educational organisations
- No
- Free trial available
- No