We built the platform we needed when we worked in TIC.
Checkfirst was founded in Lisbon in 2021 by people who had spent years inside TIC operations — watching inspection firms burn 40% of their ops capacity on scheduling logistics that a purpose-built system should handle automatically. We built the platform we kept asking for and never found.
Make TIC scheduling invisible.
The testing, inspection, and certification industry performs critical work — ensuring products are safe, companies meet standards, and supply chains are reliable. But a surprising amount of TIC operations time goes into logistics: who is available, who is qualified, who is closest, who hasn't audited this client before.
Our mission is to automate those questions entirely — so TIC operations teams can focus on delivering quality audits and inspections, not building schedules.
Scheduling TIC operations is genuinely complex.
It's not just calendar management. TIC scheduling requires matching certification qualifications to job requirements, enforcing impartiality rules, validating expiring certifications, minimizing travel across geographic zones, and handling constant last-minute changes.
Generic scheduling tools — workforce management platforms, calendar SaaS, even field service software — were built for simpler constraints. None of them understand certification schemes, impartiality rules, or audit cycle cadences. We are not a horizontal scheduling tool adapted for TIC. We are a TIC scheduling platform. That distinction matters in every line of code we've written.
What we believe about building for niche verticals
Deep domain before product
We spent months inside certification bodies and inspection firms before writing a line of product code. We understand the constraints before we model them.
Configurable, not generic
Every TIC firm has different constraint rules. Checkfirst is built to encode your specific requirements, not force you into a generic workflow.
AI assists, ops approves
Checkfirst generates schedules; your ops team reviews and approves. The AI handles the heavy lifting — humans make the final call on exceptions.
Data privacy by design
Inspector personal data and certification records are handled under GDPR-compliant data processing agreements. EU-region hosting available for all customers.
Onboarding is part of the product
Every customer gets a dedicated implementation specialist. We configure Checkfirst for your exact constraint set — onboarding isn't a documentation PDF.
Outcomes over features
We measure success by scheduling hours saved and misassignment rate, not by feature count. Our roadmap is driven by customer outcome data.
Ben Lambert, CEO & Co-founder
"I spent six years in TIC operations roles before starting Checkfirst — first at a regional certification body in the UK running ISO 9001 and IATF 16949 audit programs, then consulting across inspection firms in France and Portugal. The scheduling problem was identical everywhere: ops managers spending Monday to Wednesday each week on auditor assignments, certification lookups, and availability calls. When something changed Thursday, they did it again."
"The tools that existed were either generic workforce schedulers that didn't understand certification schemes, or internal Excel models that broke every time the auditor pool changed. In 2021, I moved to Lisbon and started Checkfirst with one goal: build the scheduling engine TIC operations teams actually need."
"We're not trying to replace your audit management system or your work order platform. We schedule the right auditors to the right jobs. That's it — done well."
We'd like to understand your scheduling challenges.
Book a 30-minute conversation. No sales pitch — just a practical discussion about your inspector pool and what Checkfirst can do for it.