The Power Behind Testreach
20th March 2018
Testreach, headquartered at NexusUCD, announced that they have signed a deal with the Chartered Institute of Procurement & Supply (CIPS) to transform how they deliver assessments to their membership base worldwide. The Enterprise Ireland backed technology company is an example of the calibre of Irish entrepreneurial female success stories.
Sheena Bailey and Louella Morton set up TestReach in response to the massive increase in demand for qualifications globally, a demand that cannot be met by running exams in a traditional manner. “While there have been huge advancements in the options for learning, such as gamification, immersive learning and virtual classrooms, very little has changed with the assessment process. Candidates still go to exam halls and sit exams via paper with essays and multiple choice questions. We set out to change that,” said Louella Morton, Executive Director, TestReach.
At an Enterprise Ireland event in London last week to mark St Patrick’s Day, Minister for Agriculture, Food and the Marine, Michael Creed, welcomed the success of TestReach, who were accompanied by one of their clients, the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply. “This is a very positive story and should be an encouragement to other female-founded tech companies,” he said. “As the worldwide authority on procurement, who run thousands of exams globally, I am sure the Chartered Institute of Procurement and Supply ran a rigorous selection process. It is a testament to the innovation and professionalism of Irish technology companies that they selected TestReach.”
While online assessment is not new, what is unique about TestReach is that it’s a single application to create exams and run them in a number of ways, including remote invigilation over the web. So a candidate can take an exam anywhere from Australia to Zaire, and be invigilated over the web by a trained TestReach supervisor, who monitors them continuously using audio, video and remote screen share, to make sure there is no cheating.
“The ability to run an exam anywhere, at any time, and have it professionally invigilated over the web by trained supervisors is a game changer for so many organisations,” said Sheena Bailey, CEO at TestReach. “Until this technology was created there was no way to provide professional online invigilation within a single assessment application. It means that our clients can move away from running exams on paper in test centres, which is cumbersome and difficult for both administrators and candidates, to a much more streamlined and flexible approach.”
The company has also strategically focused on technology that brings innovative solutions to manage the whole assessment lifecycle and that has given them a strong competitive edge. “Our technology certainly has a big ‘wow’ factor” commented Morton. “As a result, we work with a wide range of organisations from professional awarding bodies and educational institutes running high-stake exams, through to corporations who use us in areas such as certification, measuring training effectiveness and remote testing as part of talent acquisition,” she added.
Pictured ( L-R): Louella Morton, Executive Director, TestReach, Rachel Wilson, Head of Assessment Delivery, CIPS, Minister for Agriculture, Food & the Marine, Michael Creed TD, Sheena Bailey, CEO, TestReach, Marina Donohoe, Director of UK and Northern Europe at Enterprise Ireland.
