Digital acceleration: Is your project a priority for the CTO?

Companies have shifted their focus to digital acceleration, transforming their organisation using must-have technologies. According to a KPMG study of 900 technology executives in 2020, companies are looking to technologies such as AI, Cloud, Blockchain and Edge Computing to handle the volatility of these uncertain times.

But where will this software and tech advancement come from? Who will execute?

There’s an often-quoted line from venture capitalist Marc Andreesen: “In the future, every company will become a software company.”

But organisations usually have a long list of development projects, all of which are seen as urgent by different stakeholders. Without the time or resources to tackle them all at once, some projects get left behind for months (sometimes years!).

Starting your digital acceleration

It can be inefficient to wait for your project to start, with many different parties involved and competing priorities. However, you need the resources to get the work completed.

This is where we come in. Via our team augmentation service and as a development agency, we can provide specific technical talent committed to your project.

As a General Manager of a business unit, it’s important to leverage your relationships within the organisation; for instance, you could partner with another business unit using similar technology and get a joint budget to have more influence. Similarly, if you are a CTO struggling to meet the demands of the business, it’s time to look outside of your immediate resources. We can complement your existing team and ensure the business unit has a dedicated resource to complete the project.

How can a developer add value?

CEO and Founder of 4mation, Dane Eldridge, says, “While other business units do see value in developers, they sometimes constrain the value they get by seeing developers as people you hand a scope to and say “Build that!”. However, if you look at successful tech-enabled businesses across the world, it’s not how they do it, and for good reason.”

There is increasing demand for tools by different departments and business units to make sense and act on the enormous quantity of information that flows throughout a business. Engaging with developers earlier can lead to solutions that departments may not be even aware of or understand the full benefits. 

When a small project can accelerate your business unit

Recently we helped one of our clients’ finance departments improve their invoicing system.

Initially, they weren’t aware that there was a better solution available. “That’s just the way we do things” is often a line we hear, says developer Brian Park. Helping educate non-technical clients about what’s possible can really open up possibilities for their business. 

We noticed multiple points of failure in the old system including:

• Problems with double-handling and incompatibility with delivery partner systems
• The client’s delivery partners were receiving the same invoice twice
• Staff couldn’t clearly see the status of an invoice before processing
• Invoices were bouncing back into the client’s system because of character limits cutting off invoices.

According to our developer Brian, “It was a very straightforward project, that was pretty small compared to some of the other work we do”.

Yet, it directly impacted the department’s efficiency. In addition to improving processes, this small project also removed frustration for the staff. They now don’t have to call the delivery partner each time they send an invoice, just to make sure the invoice was sent correctly! We are continuing to work with the client to improve the system and transition all staff from their old processes. 

Integrating with their MYOB system, we utilised modern technology stacks to ensure maintainability and scalability. This is just one example of how developers can work with a department to improve their digital acceleration.

A dedicated resource can focus intensely on understanding the end-user and their challenges, and this can make all the difference.