Waikato Business News February/March 2018
Waikato Business News has for a quarter of a century been the voice of the region’s business community, a business community with a very real commitment to innovation and an ethos of co-operation.
Waikato Business News has for a quarter of a century been the voice of the region’s business community, a business community with a very real commitment to innovation and an ethos of co-operation.
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WAIKATO BUSINESS NEWS <strong>February</strong>/<strong>March</strong> <strong>2018</strong><br />
9<br />
Turn business problems into opportunities<br />
Company-X deals with business<br />
problems using software.<br />
Software development<br />
always starts with a<br />
problem.<br />
“Some businesses have big<br />
problems but don’t realise that<br />
the answer is a software solution,”<br />
says Company-X director<br />
David Hallett.<br />
The Hamilton-based software<br />
specialist company has<br />
been designing, developing,<br />
testing and releasing software<br />
solutions for local and<br />
international clients since its<br />
inception in 2012. Every job<br />
has started with the prospective<br />
client speaking up about a<br />
problem of some kind.<br />
Company-X’s<br />
reputation for doing<br />
what it said it would<br />
do, on time and<br />
without a fuss, leads<br />
to many approaches<br />
from potential clients.<br />
“Many businesses, both<br />
here in New Zealand and overseas,<br />
come to us with brand<br />
new, recently discovered,<br />
business problems that they<br />
need to solve and ask if we<br />
can build a software solution<br />
that will make the problem go<br />
away,” David says.<br />
“They know that<br />
Company-X is the first place<br />
to come and explore their<br />
options.”<br />
The majority of<br />
Company-X projects start<br />
with this sort of conversation<br />
with either David or his fellow<br />
director Jeremy Hughes.<br />
Often both of them are in on<br />
the initial conversation. It can<br />
help, the directors say, if the<br />
prospective client has already<br />
defined the goal that the software<br />
solution will achieve in a<br />
clear and concise paragraph or<br />
two before they reach out to<br />
Company-X.<br />
A clear and concise outcome<br />
is easy to measure and<br />
is a good place to begin the<br />
conversation.<br />
The outcome may be an<br />
increase of profit margin, efficiency<br />
improvements, a bigger<br />
market share, better customer<br />
service, improved employee<br />
training or reduced carbon<br />
emissions.<br />
Not every conversation<br />
between Company-X and prospective<br />
clients starts the same<br />
way.<br />
“Sometimes prospective<br />
clients already know the solution<br />
to their problem, right<br />
down to the software specifications<br />
and user requirements,<br />
but don’t have the<br />
software development power<br />
that they need to make it fly,”<br />
Jeremy says.<br />
“Or they already have<br />
LISTENERS: Company-X directors David Hallett and Jeremy Hughes<br />
love hearing about business problems from prospective clients.<br />
custom software which is no<br />
longer supported by the developer<br />
that they need to update<br />
with new functionality in line<br />
with the changing business<br />
environment that their company<br />
is operating in.”<br />
Whatever the case, prospective<br />
clients can expect<br />
lots of questions when they<br />
start talking to Company-X.<br />
The software specialists need<br />
to hear a good description of<br />
the problem, understand the<br />
workflow at the business, and<br />
the different types of users<br />
who will be using the software<br />
solution. What is the problem<br />
this project needs to solve, the<br />
question it needs to answer,<br />
or the opportunity it needs to<br />
grab?<br />
“Theoretical physicist<br />
Albert Einstein once said ‘If<br />
I were given one hour to save<br />
the planet, I would spend 59<br />
minutes defining the problem<br />
and one minute resolving it’,”<br />
David says.<br />
“Only once the problem is<br />
fully defined can the problem<br />
be effectively resolved.”<br />
The next step is for David<br />
and Jeremy to put together a<br />
team headed by Company-X<br />
professional services manager<br />
Michael Hamid, a project manager,<br />
a business analyst, and a<br />
solutions architect to continue<br />
a more in-depth conversation.<br />
This whole initial phase can<br />
take up to the equivalent of<br />
a full day, and Company-X<br />
starts billing clients once the<br />
project gets underway.<br />
Company-X’s reputation<br />
for doing what it said it would<br />
do, on time and without a<br />
fuss, leads to many approaches<br />
from potential clients.<br />
Company-X is a multiaward<br />
winning, fast growing,<br />
software specialist with clients<br />
in both the small and medium<br />
enterprise space as well<br />
as multinationals like Cisco<br />
Systems Inc in Silicon Valley,<br />
California. Company-X ranked<br />
on the Deloitte Technology<br />
Fast 500 Asia Pacific 2017<br />
index, listed at number 330 of<br />
the 500 fastest growing technology<br />
companies in the Asia<br />
Pacific region.<br />
Software can solve your<br />
biggest problems and deliver<br />
on your brightest ideas.<br />
We can update, improve, add<br />
functionality to, or fix your<br />
existing software investment.<br />
Our software experts can<br />
join your team to help get<br />
your job or project done.
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