What started as a solution to one company’s staffing problems is now becoming a technology platform with the potential to transform workforce management across the hospitality, events and sports industries.

Developed by entrepreneur Craig Wilkinson who has a portfolio of businesses, iZERO was created to solve the real-world operational challenges faced by one of his companies, Coalition. The global business is a temporary staffing agency that manages teams for major events across the UK and internationally, including brands such as Google, Nvidia, Amazon, NFL, NBA.

Handling large temporary workforces across multiple venues, events and time zones exposed major weaknesses in traditional staffing systems. Existing software was often expensive, overly complicated or unable to cope with the fast-moving demands of temporary staffing, payroll and live event management.

Rather than accept inefficient systems, Craig invested in building a tech platform. As Craig’s business portfolio grew beyond event staffing, he continued to reinvest into the system, evolving beyond temporary staffing to full workforce management.

The result was iZERO, an all-in-one workforce management platform designed to simplify and streamline the way businesses manage staff. The platform handles onboarding, payroll, contracts, rotas, timesheets, workforce communication and clocking in and out through a QR-code based system that works across both full-time and temporary staff.

iZERO was not developed as a theoretical tech concept. It was built from direct operational experience, tested in live business environments and refined over five years through day-to-day use within Coalition’s global operations.

The platform already manages large workforces and processed more than £600,000 of staff payroll in 2025. It supports the coordination of hundreds of staff working across different sectors and helps reduce administration time, improve communication and increase operational efficiency.

After five years of successful in-house use iZERO is now preparing for commercial launch, with a newly developed mobile app helping expand its capabilities even further. The business is already in discussions with several football clubs and other organisations interested in adopting the platform, including working with Port Vale in 2025 to trial the system.

This next phase represents a major opportunity for a Staffordshire-developed innovation to scale nationally and internationally.

At its heart, iZERO demonstrates how innovation often comes from understanding problems first-hand. Craig Wilkinson identified a challenge within his own business, developed a solution tailored to real operational needs and created a platform with the potential to benefit businesses far beyond his own organisation.

By combining technology with practical business experience, iZERO has evolved from an internal management tool into a scalable innovation capable of transforming how companies manage their workforce. 2026 is where iZero now begins its journey as a Staffordshire based Software as a Service (SAAS) business.

iZero has entered the Innovation Award category of University of Staffordshire Business Awards.