How a clear customer value proposition and AI helped Comtrac grow

A business idea built on firsthand experience

Founder and CEO, Craig Doran is a former police officer of 20 years. He knows the realities of investigative work and understands the frustrations.

Craig saw how much time investigators can lose to admin and manual paperwork. After an incident, they compile statements, data and other facts about a case. This process, called building a brief of evidence, can take hours of paperwork.

This first-hand experience shaped a mission: solving the problem of how long it takes to create briefs of evidence.

How customer insight creates opportunities

The idea of using software to build briefs of evidence automatically became the foundation for Comtrac. If teams can spend less time on paperwork as they progress an investigation, they have more time for actually investigating and delivering outcomes.

Comtrac’s offering was transformative for investigators from the start. Automated briefs of evidence, investigation reports, and court-ready documents helped them free up capacity to deliver more impact.

Why unfocused growth can slow your business down

As Comtrac grew, Craig and his team faced a common question. How do you keep your value proposition focused as opportunities expand?

Feature creep emerged as a business growth challenge. Early prototypes of their solution included full case management and business intelligence features. However, every customer worked differently. Different forms, workflows and reporting needs quickly added complexity.

Building bespoke features for each client slowed development and increased competition with global software providers.

Craig and the team identified that lack of focus was becoming a barrier to growth.

How a clear value proposition helps small businesses scale faster

The turning point in Comtrac’s journey was when the team chose to strip away functions and focus on their core customer value proposition.

Craig and the team interviewed customers and asked, ‘Why did you choose us?’.

Customers were clear. They chose Comtrac’s solution because it automatically builds briefs of evidence and speeds up investigations. It wasn’t for all their other case management features.

From feature creep to focus

Armed with this insight, Craig and his team narrowed their focus. They stopped trying to build every possible feature that every customer requested.

Comtrac’s customer base has nearly quadrupled since this turning point.

As soon as we doubled down on solving the core challenge, and stopped trying to build everything for everyone, our innovation became much better. It provided us with the opportunity to scale much faster.

Craig Doran – Founder and CEO, Comtrac

As Craig says, sometimes having limits can fuel growth. Discover more examples of how small businesses turn constraints into creativity to win.

Customer insight as a foundation of business strategy

The team at Comtrac continue to include customer feedback loops throughout operations. They regularly invite customers into their office so they can speak directly with the people building the product.

This helps them stay aligned to real use cases and not make assumptions. It helps them prioritise what matters.

Using customer feedback loops to scale without losing focus

In a niche market like investigations, reputation travels quickly. Comtrac often gains customers from referrals or when investigators move between agencies.

Comtrac’s deep domain knowledge is a critical advantage in building customer trust. As a team that includes former investigators, they understand the realities of the job and the challenges frontline teams face.

Their experience helps them speak their customers’ language, ask the right questions, and communicate effectively to deliver real impact.

Discover more insights on how communicating your value helps create business success.

Responsible AI adoption for small business productivity

Strong customer insight has also shaped the way Comtrac uses AI as a digital investigative assistant to help speed up the creation of evidence briefs.

Because Comtrac’s work is used in legal settings, accuracy is critical. To meet this customer need, they’ve set up tight guardrails to help ensure AI is working only with verified facts and always referencing source documents.

An AI framework to help maintain trust

To help maintain trust, Comtrac uses a strict AI framework using the ‘20-60-20’ model:

• clear instructions and pre-set limits to guide the AI and provide guardrails for AI behaviour (the first 20%)
• AI-supported document processing (the middle 60%)
• mandatory human review and approval (the final 20%).

Craig highlights how this approach helps improve productivity and accuracy, while maintaining trust in their system.

Read more about how AI can help boost small business productivity.

Small business growth lessons from Comtrac

Comtrac has created a successful business by focusing tightly on what they do best and what customers value most.

It’s really satisfying to know that our work is helping investigators, helping victims, and in many cases helping the courts and judicial officers make faster, better-informed decisions. That’s the purpose we’re here to serve.

Craig Doran – Founder and CEO, Comtrac

They’re clear on their purpose, keep customers close and avoid distractions that could slow them down.

Learn more about how successful businesses live their purpose to help them stay focused on what matters.

Tips small business leaders can think about today

Here are some tips to consider on your own business journey.

• Build capability around lived experience so you’re clear on where you can add value.
• Be clear about what customers value most about what you do.
• Create regular feedback loops to capture customer insights as things evolve.
• Leverage technology and innovations in a way that aligns with customer needs.
• Stay clear on your purpose so you can prioritise opportunities that align with your business strategy.

Today Comtrac is trusted globally by law enforcement, government agencies, and businesses. Their success shows that sustainable growth for small businesses doesn’t necessarily come from chasing every opportunity or innovation.

A clear value proposition helps you focus your decisions. It also helps you use technology to support your business strategy and serve your customers.

Ask your customers why they choose you. Use their answers to sharpen your positioning. Prioritise what aligns with your strategy. And let customer insight, not noise, guide your growth decisions.

Explore more ways technology can help drive business growth.