Date: 27 April 2016
In 2015, Assurity celebrated its 10th Anniversary. Over those years, we evolved the business from a disruptive start-up which created the outsourced software testing market to a consulting and delivery practice with more than 220 people working across the whole software delivery pipeline. Our client list, the scope of our engagements and our own capabilities have grown dramatically in that time. But what about the future? How might we continue to deliver on our mission to make a difference for our clients?
Late last year, we got together as a team to think about just that. We looked at the rapidly transforming business landscape where every organisation is having to change its thinking, business model, organisation, methods, practices and delivery capabilities. This change is being driven by the new customer economy that increasingly wants technology across their many devices to provide experiences that make their lives simpler, faster and more engaging.
Quality and speed
If a company cannot respond to what its customers need now, those customers will switch to another provider with a tap and a swipe. Many of those providers, of course, will be the new disrupters who arrive – legacy-free – with a start-up mindset and compelling value propositions. Out of nowhere. The digital future is removing long-established, competitive barriers and allowing new competitors to thrive.
Quality of product and the ability to deliver it fast therefore, is the new battleground for organisations. It’s these outcomes that we’re focused on delivering for our clients, no matter which mode they operate in. Because it’s these outcomes that best allow our clients to stand up to existing competitors and incomers.
Quality, of course, is not just about assurance. It’s about developing the right innovation, the right features, the right products and the right user experience. Good data practices, the ability to derive insights early and getting users involved upfront in product development are as important in achieving quality as software testing. Which, by the way, will be in ever increasing demand as software ‘eats the world’.
Lean mindset. New practices
When it comes to pace of delivery, it’s clear that the way things have been done traditionally must, and is, changing. A Lean mindset and the adoption of new approaches, practices and technologies will likely determine the front runners in the race to remain relevant. For several years, we’ve been at the forefront in developing practices and approaches that move clients forward in any context or situation. To reflect the new Digital Age, we’ve built solutions to meet the biggest challenges of all – modernise the core, transformation and innovate to disrupt.
Empowering teams to deliver
Achieving better outcomes, of course, is more about people than anything else. And how people are organised is changing too. We’re moving away from IT talent being a shared resource across projects to self-organising, multi-disciplinary teams from across the business with end-to-end responsibility for entire service and product lines.
It’s these teams that truly care about what they’re working on, learn from customers and use that understanding to continuously deliver and continuously improve. How these teams are organised, engaged and empowered really matters, because no one else is actually delivering the software but them. At Assurity, we’ve been helping to create the new teams that can build your future for a couple of years now.
Shaping the future workforce
Education is critical and implicit in everything we do. Whether through sharing of practices and skills through delivery, via our extensive public and private Education programme or from sponsorship of groups such as WeTest. We also run New Zealand’s AgileNZ Conference for the benefit of the community. We care deeply about shaping New Zealand’s workforce.
The opportunity
For many years, we’ve been introducing the new approaches required for a successful digital future. Today, we offer new solutions and services to help you realise your future. The Digital Age is only just beginning – it’s full of opportunity for those who understand what customers want and how to deliver to them. It’s an incredibly exciting time.
