How to choose the agile project management tool to suit your practice

Written by AI Insider on June 21, 2021. Posted in Content & Resources, Guide, Knowledge.

Azure Boards vs. Jira

How to choose the agile project management tool to suit your practice

10 minute read

Image by Leon Oalh2MojUuk – Unsplash

by Karla Merza,
Certified Scrum Master (PSM I)

Is there an agile project management tool more suitable than another? How to get the most value from such a tool? What are the assets and the constraints to consider? Here is an analysis of Azure Boards and Jira.

The following article is a post by our colleague, Karla Merza. Karla is a Certified Scrum Master (PSM I), working in the IT field for over seven years. She is a promoter of the continuous learning process, and she is driven by supporting others in their agile journeys.

AI Insider’s note: This article is part 2 of a 3-part series on agile project management. You may also want to read our first article in the series, How are you enabling agility in your organization?

Do you know why your organization or team needs an agile project management tool and what you need to consider to ensure you get the value you expect for your money from it?

I will be explaining what a project management tool is, some questions to raise in your journey to find the best that fits your needs, a head-to-head comparison of the two most popular choices used in the teams I worked with, and when I recommend you select each of them, so read on.

What is a project management tool?

A project management tool is a software that helps teams plan, organize, manage, and optimize resources across a project or organization. Adopting such a tool is important from three angles. First, it increases visibility and provides a clear overview of the work that has been done or needs to be completed. Second, it keeps the team organized and accountable in doing their work and following the agreed processes. Third, it minimizes miscommunication problems and the occurrences of bottlenecks.

What are your needs?

In case you were tasked with proposing a new project management tool, or you took the initiative yourself after seeing your current one doesn’t address the needs of the organization, you embarked on a challenging quest.

Although all tools have similar features, this is a decision that is not to be made every day, so it is crucial to ask yourself a few questions before investing in one:

Are you part of a new organization looking to work in a more structured way, or do you need a solution to solve problems you identified in the current way of working of your well-established organization?
What are the problems you are trying to solve?
How would this tool help?
Are there any features this tool must have?
Do you plan to integrate the current tools you’re using with this project management tool?
Do you need to share information/reports with other departments or stakeholders?
Is there a methodology the organization is already working with, and is this tool suitable for it?

Who will use it?

Regardless of the organization or type of project you plan to use the project management tool for, it’s essential to know how many people or teams will use it every day.

Some of the things to consider are:

What are the departments that will use the tool?
Are the teams technical?
Are they working on multiple projects at the same time?
What did team members use in the past, and what did they like about those tools? Does this tool meet their needs?
Would they benefit from integration with other tools, such as Git?
What are the current trends and recommendations on industry websites? What are other companies with similar profiles using?

Implementing a project management tool for the first time or switching to another one it’s a long-term commitment and investment. Analyzing and setting up processes need the leadership team’s support and a plan on how the transition will be made. It is not mandatory, but it is highly recommended to have a person who has experience with the tool you’re choosing and knows how to set it up quickly and easily. Then, think about who will train the team(s) in using it. Depending on how open your organization is to change, this process may take time. It is also advisable to constantly ask for feedback from users and adapt if needed.

Azure Boards vs. Jira

There are a few options available on the market for project management tools, such as Hive, Trello, Asana, ProjectManager.com, ClickUp, Taiga.io, Jira, and Azure Boards. Choosing one that fits your needs and your budget can feel overwhelming.

Let’s look at two of the most popular choices for agile delivery management, Azure Boards and Jira. Below there is a direct comparison of the most relevant topics. Any other information you are interested in and are not covered by this article can be found on Azure Boards and Jira official websites.

	Azure Boards	Jira
Developed by	Microsoft	Atlassian
Platforms	Cloud, SaaS On premises: part of Azure DevOps Server	Cloud, SaaS Data Center (on premises): new license can't be bought anymore; support will end on the 2^nd of February 2024.
Accessibility	Web-based Integrated with Teams	Web-based Desktop application Mobile application Integrated with Teams, Slack, and many other tools
Plans and pricing	Cloud: - Basic plan: First 5 users free, then $6/user/month - Basic plan + Test plans: $52/user/month Server: - A 3-year commitment is needed; clients can also move to the cloud whenever they choose to for free. - A 3-year commitment is not mandatory if the payment is made through Azure platform monthly, Visual Studio ($45/user/month for Professional or $250/user/month for Enterprise) and one of the plans for the Cloud are purchased. Details about the plans and pricing: here.	Cloud: - Free for up to 10 users - Standard plan: $7/user/month - Premium plan: $14/user/month - Enterprise plan: personalized offer based on discussion with their sales team. Details about the plans and pricing: here.
Support	Basic support included for all Azure customers: 24/7 self- help resources, ability to submit as many support tickets as needed, Azure Advisor (a personalized guide for best practices), and Azure health status and notifications. Support plan can be upgraded for an additional fee per month.	Support via email, help desk, forums, FAQs, knowledge base, phone, 24/7 live rep and chat.
Training	Included for the Professional direct support plan, which costs $1.000 per month.	Free tutorials and courses; paid courses, on demand for individuals or teams (virtual or onsite). Prices range depending on the option chosen from $100 to $10.000.
Project templates	By default, the organization contains 4 types of project templates, called processes: Basic, Agile, SCRUM and CMMI (Capability Maturity Model Integration). Details: here. Custom processes can be created by the admin of the organization.	For Software Development, there are 3 types of custom templates: Kanban, SCRUM, and Bug tracking. Other project templates are available for Service Management, Project Management, Marketing, Human Resources, Personal, Operations, Legal or Sales departments. Details: here. Custom templates can be created by the admin of the organization.
Item types supported	Configurable for each project. The layout is also configurable: epic, feature, impediment, bug, product backlog item, task, test case, test plan and test suite.	Configurable for each project. The layout is also configurable: epic, story, bug, idea, task, subtask.
Roadmap	Not available.	Jira has a roadmap feature integrated that shows a breakdown of all the epics and their user stories and the dependencies between them. It lets you see progress in a timeline view (weeks, months, or quarterly) and export it in a PDF version. An advanced roadmap feature is available for Premium and Enterprise plans, which allow planning and tracking work across multiple teams and projects based on capacity, manage dependencies and competing priorities and explore alternative scenarios.
Sprints	Started by default.	Have to be started by the user. The configuration allows multiple sprints to run in parallel.
Capacity	Capacity can be set for each team member in a sprint for any plan.	Available only for plans that support the advanced roadmap feature (Premium and Enterprise plans).
Workflow	Editable in both text and diagram mode.	Editable in both text and diagram mode.
Automation	Processes can be automated with Microsoft Flow.	Directly from Jira. Processes can be automated (e.g., when a pull request is merged, the ticket can be automatically assigned to a QA).
Documentation	Integrated Wiki. Text can be customized as needed.	Additional product must be installed: Confluence. It comes with its own plan and pricing model.
Source control	Only Git and TFVC are supported.	Plugin must be installed for the tool used (e.g., BitBucket/Git/GitHub).
Reporting	Reports can be generated on the Dashboard, in customizable widgets.	Separate section for reports included in each plan.
Status updates	Status updates and progress tracking is in real time and visible to the entire team.	Status updates and progress tracking is in real time and visible to the entire team.
Feedback	Communication can be done on each particular task, visible to each team member, including giving feedback, sharing a status update or asking questions.	Communication can be done on each particular task, visible to each team member, including giving feedback, sharing a status update or asking questions.
Security	Different users with different permission levels can be configured by an admin user.	Different users with different permission levels can be configured by an admin user.

So, what and how to choose?

Azure Boards

Azure Boards by Microsoft

It might be more suitable to go for Azure Boards if or when you:

Have in your team non-technical people who will use it. The ramp-up period for these people might take less time than you wish to spend on this with other tools.
Prefer to have all the information on your server. This comes with the benefits of having full control, easy and quick access to the infrastructure, including its resources and security settings, and customization at your own pace and finances. Of course, the initial investment or the operating costs may be high and in-house maintenance is required. Azure also allows you to move to the cloud whenever you wish, without additional costs.
Already use other Microsoft services on a daily basis, including Office 365.
Want an integrated out of the box Continuous Integration system.
Would like to have a way to better manage the sprint allocations per team member and to identify bottlenecks easier without paying extra for another plan (the capacity per sprint feature is included in the basic plan).

Jira

Jira by Atlassian

It might be more suitable to go for Jira if or when your organization or teams:

Already use other tools and would like to integrate them with Jira. Atlassian has a wide variety of plugins and add-ons, both open source and paid.
Need to have a powerful reports system and roadmap available at all times.
Have to run multiple sprints in parallel for the same product backlog.
Consists of mostly technical people that can use and control this very customizable tool. Non-technical people may need more time to get used to the functionalities, and sometimes the organization is not able to allocate that time for it.

Remember that, in the end, both tools can help you manage your project(s) successfully. So, when you choose the agile project management tool to suit your practice, my experience shows that it all comes down to:

Your preference regarding the UI/UX
Your company’s or team’s type and size
The tools you already have in place
The available budget
The time you want to invest in adopting the tool and training people
How the tool can solve the problems you identified in your organization or team (the must-have features)

AI Insider can help you choose the suitable agile project management tool for your particular needs and budget. In every agile software development project, we can cover the delivery management as well, and set up the way of working that best suits you, so you can focus on your business priorities. If you’re looking to dive deeper into the agile matter, get in touch with us and take the conversation forward.

What we learned at the Manage Agile Conference

Written by AI Insider on March 21, 2021. Posted in Content & Resources, Knowledge, Newsroom.

How are you enabling agility in your organization?

What we learned at the Manage Agile Conference

11 minute read

Image by Headway – Unsplash

by AI Insider team

Back in late November, AI Insider gave a presentation at Manage Agile 2020, one of the largest annual conferences for the agile scene in German-speaking countries. The event focused on agile leadership and agile project management approaches.

One important thread that stood out among the conference’s themes was Competitive advantage through agility. Our participation in the event included a presentation on the theme “Why you should enable agility within your organization, be it in IT or not”, held by Marius Podea, sharing knowledge and practice with the Agile Leadership community. That’s not unusual at AI Insider, but what made the presentation remarkable is that the topic didn’t focus on the software development industry – it looked beyond it.

“When it comes to competitive advantage, agility has never mattered more. But for most leaders, the challenge to make it a source of competitive advantage has been both a barrier and an opportunity. Markets demand that organizations adopt and change continuously. But while agility may be demanded from the outside, it is driven from the inside.”, says Marius Podea.

Over the last years, being and working agile have enabled successful software development projects. It improved product quality, delivery, and speed to market. At the same time, the motivation and productivity of the IT teams and customer satisfaction increased.
More recently, agile practices have been expanding to various industries, functional areas, and senior leaders. But how do leaders understand the agile mindset and its methods, nurture it for their teams, and benefit from it? As leaders from different industries, how are you enabling agility in your organization?

Here are 3 insights based on what we shared at the conference:

1. It’s time to make more sense of agile practices in industries other than IT.
Agility leads to better performance and provides organizations with robust advantages over the competition.

What if agile companies grow revenue 37% faster and generate 30% higher profits than non-agile companies? What if high-agility companies deliver 29% more of their projects on time, 28% more of their projects in the agreed budget, 24% more of their projects achieving what they were supposed to do, and 31% more of their projects exceeding ROI?

From more projects delivered on time to more projects exceeding ROI, from more motivated teams to improved customer satisfaction, from growing the revenue faster to generating higher profits, non-IT companies prove how being and working agile matter.

According to the extensive study, “Pulse of the Profession: Organizational Agility” that PMI developed in 2012, on more than 1,000 project, program, and portfolio managers, the expansion of agile to various industries has already confirmed at least four advantages for organizations. “The average percentage of projects completed on time, on budget, achieving business objectives, and forecasted ROI is significantly greater in organizations reporting high agility than those reporting low agility.” (PMI, 2012)

The project success metrics by level of agility (Source: PMI, 2012)

Also, the PMI study revealed that organizational agility translates into a faster response to market changes, improved efficiency, employee and customer satisfaction, risk mitigation, cost savings, and more profitable business results.

The benefits of increased agility within the organizations (Source: PMI, 2012)

“The PMI study shows us that the possibilities and opportunities that agile raises with its expansion in other industries are substantial. These are compelling outcomes that high-agility companies achieve a consistent competitive advantage compared with low-agility companies.”, states Marius Podea.

2. Teams in industries different from IT can transition naturally to agility with no experience or awareness of it.
What if their practices emerge deliberately to agile? How will it reflect on their competitiveness?

Driven by “can agile project management be adopted by industries other than software development?”, a group of researchers (Conforto E. et al. (2014), findings published by PMI) analyzed 19 medium and large-sized companies from eight well-established industries such as Automotive, Energy, Consumer Goods, Electronics, Telecommunications, and Engineering, which used a traditional management approach.
The researchers surveyed the product development and R&D managers, analysts, and executives, who had experience in new product development and did not formally use agile, to identify if they managed projects using agile. The researchers based their analysis on two key elements: practices and enablers, the predictors for the agile approach.

Formally, in the development of innovative projects, teams use traditional project management methods. Practically, their way of working is consistent with the agile approach.

On the practices side, the study revealed that:

63%

of the surveyed companies developed project planning at a macro level and by iteration (compared to 37% that approached the project planning in a traditional, detailed manner)

63%

of the surveyed companies updated the project plan monthly and weekly (compared to 37% that updated project planning in a traditional way, at the end of each phase)

53%

of the surveyed companies described the project scope with a minimal textual description, revised on the go (compared to 47% that used detailed project scope)

47%

of the surveyed companies shared the responsibility to create the project plan (compared to 5% where the PMO created it, and closed to the companies where the PM created it)

The practices and the methods used in other companies than IT (Source: Conforto E. et al., 2014)

Out of six practices evaluated, four referred to an intermediate or an agile way of working. “Even if, formally, the leadership did not put in place an agile methodology, nor was aware of it, the teams transitioned naturally to agility.”, adds Marius Podea. “As the findings show, we can understand these results as a sign that some companies are moving towards agile management or a blend of agile and traditional management practices.”

Performing innovative projects with less formalized processes and empowering the teams with a degree of autonomy to make decisions are just two pieces of evidence of favorable conditions for the agile approach.

Furthermore, on the enablers side, the study found that:

79%

of the surveyed companies had project team members with 2-3 years of experience (compared to 21% that had teams with less than 2 years of experience)

68%

of the surveyed companies had PMs with 2+ years of project management experience (compared to 32% that had PMs with less than 2 years of experience)

84%

of the surveyed companies had their team size under 12 people (compared to 16% that had the team size over 12 people)

90%

of the surveyed companies had their teams co-located

95%

of the surveyed companies involved the customer in their project planning (compared to 5% that did not involve the customer)

84%

of the surveyed companies showed an organizational structure type useful for agile

63%

of the surveyed companies used a partially standardize product development process (compared to 37% that used a process that was fully standardized)

79%

of the surveyed companies had multidisciplinary teams (compared to 21% that had not multifunctional teams)

The enablers of the agile way of working in other companies than IT (Source: Conforto E. et al., 2014)

Out of ten enablers evaluated, eight referred to an intermediate or an agile way of working. “Once again, this time from the enablers viewpoint, the analyzed companies, regardless of their industry, seem to transition to agility.”, says Marius Podea. “When team members have 2-3 years of experience, they can self-organize as a team and choose the best working solution, hence reducing the number of product iterations and waste. Customer involvement enables the team to build the product with the customer’s vision and their users’ needs in mind, thus bringing the most valuable products and features to market faster while increasing customer satisfaction. A project-oriented organizational design empowers the PM and the team to self-organize and make decisions. A cross-functional team gives the team access to the needed resources to figure out the right solutions while avoiding bottlenecks. These are competitive advantages for agile companies.”, adds Marius Podea.

Usually, teams adapt their way of working to their contexts and challenges. It is how the companies from the research applied – without being aware of it – the agile practices in their well-established industries, where the waterfall was the standard approach. While some challenges still exist, companies from industries other than IT can adopt agile and create attractive possibilities. What if their practices emerge deliberately to agile? How will it reflect on their competitiveness?

3. Adopting agile goes beyond the teams’ way of working. It is a process of transforming leadership.

“I want this to be changed now; we are agile, right?” “I want to change this, but keep the deadline; we are agile, right?”

The advantages of agility and the real transition of teams to the agile way of working are encouraging. And they would be even more valuable if every potential challenge transforms into support.

When some leaders share what they know about agile, they speak about speed, sprint, backlog, releases, velocity, and so on, and believe these automatically translate into organizational agility. But because awareness and experience lack, it becomes challenging for them to understand the real approach. And by lacking the knowledge, it’s easy for them to confuse providing information with imposing decisions.

That is the case of leaders that communicate continuous changes in functionalities while keeping the urgent deadlines. While some aspects are valuable for the team’s effectiveness and the project success, adding new layers of changes by imposing decisions, even with the best intention behind them, misses the agile practices, and fails to benefit from what agile delivers. One example is imposing the implementation of new, superficial, incomplete, partially developed/tested, or last-moment functionalities, which are not embedded into the product but delivered just for the satisfaction of one customer.
The more decisions are imposed, the more likely the product to become functionally unstable. Usually, this is the moment when the team starts cutting corners.

The cargo cult agile and the top down approach in decision-making affect the teams’ effectiveness and the project success

“Cutting corners as a response to the top-down approach in decision-making doesn’t work in the long run. The quality of the product starts decreasing, teams lose their motivation, customer satisfaction decreases, and there is a lack in delivery.” says Marius Podea. “It reveals a cargo cult agile, where the right things are said or done, but the core values are not understood.” adds Marius. “Teams should be empowered to work how they best see fit. Agreeing on a timeline is essential. Then, the teams work on and decide the best way to implement the project and to integrate the changes. Build projects around motivated individuals. With the right environment and support, trust them, they will get the job done.”

Empowering the teams supports the teams’ effectiveness and the project success

“Adopting agile goes beyond the teams’ way of working. Agile is more than concepts and ceremonies. It is about culture, a part of the organization’s being. That is why it comes with a blend of organizational and leadership transformation.”, closed Marius Podea.

Enabling agility in the organization: Wrapping it up and looking towards the future

Agile has transformed the software development industry. Now it transforms other industries.

Organizations benefit from agility in terms of better performance and competitive advantages – from successful project delivery to overall organizational efficiency, profitable business results, and response to market changes.

Then, regardless of their experience or awareness of agile, their teams can transition to agility and, therefore, organizations gain advantages over their competition. In this transition, they count on a blend of practices and enablers.

Lastly, agile makes its way to the senior leadership, and it’s transforming it as well.

So, at this point, we have factual evidence that agile can work outside the IT industry. Still, a challenge stays with us – the behavior of the people who need agile understanding. And balancing factual evidence with empathy, we all can help to head it in the right direction.

Those leaders and teams who learn to enable organizational agility in their industries and business activities will move their business forward.

There are a few practices that teams and leaders can do together to support continuous improvement:

Raise your level of agile understanding and learn how agile works.
Learn where the agile approach fits the needs and where other approaches fit better.
Similar to new technology adoption, start small. Start with a pilot, learn, adapt, then expand it gradually.
Enable your teams to approach their practices flexibly while keeping in mind customer collaboration, team motivation, a working solution, and responding to change (based on agile values).
Embrace agile practices within the leadership teams. It creates the context to understand and learn about agile while building the bridge between you and the teams you are empowering.

Tell us more about your experience with enabling agility in your organization.

How do you make more sense of agile practices in your industry to lead to better performance? Is your team transitioning naturally to agility, or is your practice emerging deliberately to agile? How do agile teams collaborate with leadership in your organization?

If you consider starting to enable agility in your organization, how could you enable it? If you have already started, what do you recommend to your peers?

We hope this article has helped you get the knowledge and insights into connecting organizational agility with a competitive advantage. If you’re looking to dive deeper into the matter, look no further. You’re welcome to get in touch with us and take the conversation forward.

Reaching the top of the mountain

Written by AI Insider on October 19, 2020. Posted in Content & Resources, Knowledge, Newsroom.

Creating the path forward when there is no map.
AI Insider in the making

Reaching the
top of the mountain

7 minute read

Video by Taryn Elliott – Pexels

Today we conclude our #AIInsiderInTheMaking series, a 3-chapter story of AI Insider, the full IT service provider making businesses’ transition to their digital future real, more approachable, and sustainable.

You learned why we are in business, what we stand for, how we are going to break through the world, what we do.

As stories are more than a flash, and so is ours, we shared one chapter at a time so you could read each part in one sitting.

In the previous Chapters, Why climbing the next mountain, technology showed to be more like the gear to rely on when climbing the mountain – the partner, not (yet) the way that instantly projects the business into the digital future. Then, in The way up the mountain, trust and empathy showed how they made it easier for partners to achieve their objectives.

Today, in our last chapter, you’ll learn that partnerships cultivate and validate shared purpose first, then shared success, and achieving both means taking the responsibility to prepare and adapt continuously.

This — is Chapter III:

by Marius Podea
AI Insider Founder

Since I’ve been in the IT service industry, I’ve experienced transformation and changes that required all of us to adapt continuously. What I think made the difference in this flow was the enthusiasm. It transported people through the most ambitious changes.

Partnerships cultivate and validate a shared purpose first, then a shared success.

Before all else, for AI Insider, the enthusiasm comes from our connection to what we are doing – making businesses’ transition to their digital future real, more approachable, and sustainable. Knowing that what we’re doing makes sense to businesses, creates meaning for their people, covers their needs and objectives – this fuels our growth and adaptability when being both inside and outside our comfort zone. Then, enthusiasm comes from our connection with our clients – feeling connected with them in a way that frees our energy and lets us apply our expertise. Every partnership cultivates and validates our shared purpose first, then our shared success.

Preparedness and adaptability are a responsibility in reaching the top of the mountain.

You may believe, like me, that enthusiasm needs to be sustainable. So, we nuanced it by assuming long-term contributions. And because we think long-term, we know we have responsibilities. It’s our responsibility towards us – to gain a deep understanding of the market and grow our expertise, make responsible decisions, prepare and learn how to succeed and how to bounce back from failures, and, most importantly, to adapt along the way. At the same time, it’s our responsibility towards our clients – understand their perspectives, needs, and business environment with empathy, build trust-based relationships, approach, prepare, and adapt technology as their partner to complement them in realizing their vision and purpose.

Being prepared and adaptable is our responsibility. That is reflected in our mission statement: “Guide and help business leaders effortlessly manage their challenges with the best technology at hand.” It is how we behave – we understand the context and make suggestions while assuring the clients we are providing them the help they need to make their vision and purpose happen. They can focus on their day-to-day business while we take care of the IT challenge.

It is what we did – I’m reiterating my previous example on automation – when working with one of our clients to prepare their recruitment practices with RPA as an alternative to their manual work. In the first weeks, we performed a thorough analysis, making sure the solution brought the highest ROI for our partner. We covered the entire lifecycle while our partner focused on scaling their services and accompanying their customers on talent acquisition strategies. Now, we’re setting our next milestone to cover 2nd and 3rd level support.

The previous experience works if you continuously prepare and adapt to the climb’s conditions, as when entering uncharted paths, experience makes way for adaptability.

Everything begins with the way you perceive the top of the mountain. The journey has not ended once you reach the summit. It is the place where you catch your breath, celebrate the milestone, and look at how you got there. But it’s more than that. It’s the place to set your eyes on the new horizons. With the new horizons, new challenges and opportunities arise beneath your feet. While you briefly enjoy your achievement, you cannot stay put on this summit, as your business must reach new heights. At AI Insider, this is the responsibility for both internal growth and the clients we guided on the way up.

The way you choose your next summit to climb is double pinned: your previous experience cannot work this time if you don’t continuously prepare and adapt to the climb’s conditions.

With the status quo in mind and the direction set, we begin our next part of the journey looking at both familiar and new landscapes. But slippery paths, deep valleys, and foggy views can derail even the most well-prepared climber. As we feel a responsibility for our clients, our fellow travelers, forging through harsh conditions, we must adapt our path, techniques, and tools to get them up.

Similar to mountain climbing, in business, you make your journey while always looking for the milestones to reach. Both activities have their risks, involve navigating in always-changing conditions, and don’t end after reaching the summit of the mountain and planting your flag. When entering uncharted paths, experience makes way for adaptability.

I’m reintroducing my previous remark from the first two chapters. A technological solution is not necessarily successful because it embodies a new technology but because it integrates without risking any part of the existing business and because the people who benefit from it are comfortable working with it. It is what makes the technology valuable – not only what you implement but also the way you implement it. Reaching the summit itself might not be the definition of success, while the way you get there makes you successful.

With each milestone reached, we feel more responsible for the success of the journey and the experience of our clients, fellow travelers. As we reach higher, the conditions get harsher, but the satisfaction of a well-climbed mountain gets bigger.

That’s my conclusion for you: each climb is different, and so is each IT challenge that the business leaders have – more picturesque or mundane, more or less technical, more challenging or more comfortable, and so each IT and business challenge is in the real world – simpler or more complex about the business’s digital future, closer to or farther from adopting and scaling new technologies, focused on addressing the short-term or long-term business horizon. But there’s always a way to prepare and adapt to each climb while keeping the top of the mountain in your perspective.

After all, reaching the top of the mountain is not the purpose. It is the climb. Firstly, embrace your challenges. We’re about sustainability, about creating solutions, providing IT services, and building partnerships that last, and we’re looking at technology as a partner for businesses; we begin with the business, then pursue the technology. Then, enjoy the air with your fellow travelers. We’re advocates for partnerships built on trust and empathy. Lastly, behold the view together with them. We aspire to reach a shared purpose and a shared success, and preparedness and adaptability are our responsibility in achieving both.

In this climb, as the path forward we created, having no map, we let AI Insider be our partner, and we hope it will be yours as well.

We hope you enjoyed Chapter III, Reaching the top of the mountain, and our full story. You can anytime learn more about the previous chapters, Chapter I: Why climbing the next mountain, and Chapter II: The way up the mountain.

If you know that your network is as curious as you are, don’t leave it behind. Tell your network about AI Insider.

We’re the full IT service provider making businesses’ transition to their digital future real, more approachable, and sustainable. As you’ve already learned about us, we do this with an AI-first philosophy, the best technology at hand, and empathy.

In the meantime, we invite you to follow AI Insider on LinkedIn. You’ll get updates about work, projects, future stories.

Follow AI Insider on LinkedIn

The way up the mountain

Written by AI Insider on October 12, 2020. Posted in Content & Resources, Knowledge, Newsroom.

Creating the path forward when there is no map.
AI Insider in the making

The way up
the mountain

6 minute read

Video by Haakon Birkeli – Pexels

These weeks, we share with you the #AIInsiderInTheMaking series, a 3-chapter story of AI Insider, the full IT service provider making businesses’ transition to their digital future real, more approachable, and sustainable.

You will discover why we are in business, what we stand for, how we are going to break through the world, what we do.

As stories are more than a flash, and so is ours, we share one chapter at a time so you can read each part in one sitting.

In the previous Chapter, Why climbing the next mountain, technology showed to be more like the gear to rely on when climbing the mountain – the partner, not (yet) the way that instantly projects the business into the digital future.

Today, you’ll learn that any IT initiative can impact the business, and acting with trust and empathy makes people better at figuring out and creating and providing the right solutions in the right way. Doing business this way makes it easier for partners to achieve their objectives.

This — is Chapter II:

by Marius Podea
AI Insider Founder

I’ve always been an advocate for partnerships built on trust, and I invest the resources I have in creating and nurturing them. I’ve seen how slowly things move when the level of trust is low, and, over the years, I’ve learned how to rely on communication and transparency to create a trusting relationship. When people see the work going on behind the scenes, every step of the collaboration, they trust us more and value our solutions and services more. We tell and show people who we are and what we do.

When people see the work going on behind the scenes and every step of the collaboration, they have more trust and value the solutions and services more.

For AI Insider, trust is the basis for everything we do and also the essence that a long-term partnership has. Building trust, however, often requires thinking about business from new perspectives. We approach partnerships by relying on technical expertise and interactions. We include here our ability to create and provide solutions and IT services that bring value and harness technological advances by relying on technology as a partner. We also add our ability to understand the business environment and sensing and responding to changes.

Let’s take the example of Robotic Process Automation. Technology-wise, we start with the processes that are well-suited for automation. We apply use cases to show the potential of the technology to answer to the pursued value, document the roadmap and the processes, design the architecture, and so on to cover the full cycle of the solution. People-wise, we ensure that stakeholders understand how they will benefit from automation. We focus on proactive consultancy and take care of the people who will be working with the newly-created solution. We communicate and engage with them at every stage, part of our support to business leaders in change management.

That makes me come back to my previous observation from my first chapter. A technological solution is not necessarily successful because it embodies a new technology but because it integrates without risking any part of the existing business and because the people who benefit from it are comfortable working with it. It is what makes the technology valuable – not only what you implement but also the way you implement it. The impact is as relevant as the purpose when building a trust-based partnership.

Balance results with empathy. Wait. Why empathy?

You can’t build trust unless you genuinely understand your clients. You have to see the world with their lenses as well, then balance results with empathy. Maybe it’s unusual to rely on empathy in business, but that’s how we ensure the impact we make is felt and measured. I think of AI Insider as a full IT service provider by nature and as a partner by approach that makes businesses’ transition to their digital future real, more approachable, and sustainable with the best technology at hand and empathy.

Why empathy? Even if the world is abundant in technologies, we interact with people. They all have their challenges, problems, ongoing changes to handle. It’s simplifying and optimizing internal business operations, improving customer-facing processes, freeing up their colleagues to be more productive, improving the speed of launch for new initiatives, meeting their business KPIs with less overhead, and so on. To create and provide solutions and IT services for them, we have to understand their vision, their business environment, industry, and the contextual flexibility to integrate and adopt a specific technology. In the middle of any change, people need empathy.

Maybe it is why we’re so comfortable spending time listening to our clients. We understand the context of their work and the promise to their customers, define their status quo, identify challenges together, and, with these insights in hand, we create and provide the solutions and services to solve the challenges and problems with measurable impact.

This year, for example, we did this with one of our clients, helping them improve the quality of the web solutions delivered to their customers, restore their team’s working path, and scale the volume of the projects. With the custom-built project management framework we provided, they improved customer satisfaction, the EBIT, as well as their team’s satisfaction.

This way of doing things – acting with trust and empathy – means a promise to our partners: if you work with us, we make every interaction you have with us an individual one. If you need to focus on the key aspects of your business or your day-to-day business, we take care of the technology. We’re also setting up the agile context that keeps you in control of the initiative in every moment of the collaboration. We tell and show you who we are and what we do.

Eventually, what we have learned at AI Insider is that any IT initiative can impact the clients’ business, and trust and empathy are the details that make us better at figuring out and creating the right solutions in the right way. We do business this way because it is easier for our partners to achieve their objectives. It’s the path forward we created and our way up the mountain.

We hope you enjoyed Chapter II, The way up the mountain. If you know that your network is as curious as you are, don’t leave it behind. Tell your network about AI Insider.

In the final part of our story, Chapter III, partnerships cultivate and validate shared purpose first, then shared success. What does it take to achieve both?

In the meantime, we invite you to follow AI Insider on LinkedIn. You’ll get updates about work, projects, future stories.

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Why climbing the next mountain

Written by AI Insider on October 5, 2020. Posted in Content & Resources, Knowledge, Newsroom.

Creating the path forward when there is no map.
AI Insider in the making

Why climbing
the next mountain

8 minute read

Video by Koen Kooreman – Pexels

Technology is more like the gear to rely on when climbing the mountain. It is the partner, not (yet) the way that instantly projects the business into the digital future. Understanding technology as the partner to achieve vision and purpose is what keeps the business value in focus. Begin with the business value, then pursue technology.

In the next few weeks, we share with you the #AIInsiderInTheMaking series, a 3-chapter story of AI Insider, the full IT service provider making businesses’ transition to their digital future real, more approachable, and sustainable.

You will discover why we are in business, what we stand for, how we are going to break through the world, what we do.

As stories are more than a flash, and so is ours, we share one chapter at a time so you can read each part in one sitting.

This — is Chapter I:

by Marius Podea
AI Insider Founder

Imagine feeling enthusiastic. Having the expertise, the drive, the tools, the partners, the team, so you create solutions for any challenges, learn from them, overcome barriers, and achieve your vision. Imagine feeling empowered. Getting involved in new, greenfield initiatives, being able to assess and accept the risks of failure and the progress, so you create the right approaches, assume responsibility, and appreciate the journey and the results.

You might feel this by thinking about your work, your partners, your business, or your industry. Likewise, AI Insider, the full IT service company I founded, enables us to connect to what we do and with our clients in a way that frees our enthusiasm, empowerment and lets our expertise answer to their needs and objectives.

Sustainability, creating and providing solutions and IT services, and building partnerships that last will pay off in the long run — it’s a climb on a mountain.

In 2007, I made the first steps in IT. I experienced my first years as a developer, building products, applications, and functionalities. Then, I transitioned to Scrum Master, Project Manager, and, eventually, to Unit Manager, moving most of my focus on developing business partnerships, collaborations, and the business, overall.

During that time, with the teams I was part of, we made the efforts to make things possible. We aimed for creating and providing value – starting with applications and carrying on with the contexts to develop the business in collaboration with clients, new business directions, and a healthy and fulfilling team culture towards consultancy and client orientation. It was not easy, and we took it as our challenge to create solutions with enduring value.

Now, the aim is the same, consistent, but the context is new. AI Insider, the full IT service company I founded, is the greenfield site. It gives us, the new team, both worlds – the new context to create and provide solutions and IT services that bring value to businesses and their people and the continuity to redefine ourselves while doing so. We’re about sustainability, about creating solutions, providing IT services, and building partnerships that last. For us and our partners, they will pay off in the long run — it’s a climb on a mountain.

The usual approach sees technology as a standalone answer. Look at technology as a partner for businesses.

With business, the better the understanding, the better your chances of finding the best technology at hand to create and provide the solutions and the services that bring value. The quality of the solution and the technology – how the technology actually integrates and performs within the business – are critical. A technological solution is not necessarily successful because it embodies a new technology but because it integrates without risking any part of the existing business and because the people who benefit from it are comfortable working with it. It is what makes the technology valuable – not only what you implement but also the way you implement it.

The usual approach sees technology as a standalone answer. As my background and purpose relate to creating and providing solutions and IT services that bring value, I look at technology as a partner for businesses.

Let’s take the example of Artificial Intelligence. AI is not a standalone answer. It is part of an ecosystem. AI can be a smaller or a larger piece of the ecosystem, but it cannot work as a standalone piece. Manufacturers work with machine learning systems for predictive maintenance and product quality assurance. Smart factory operators work with AI to predict possible disruptions and optimize operational efficiency. Healthcare professionals work with AI to analyze and process data at scale – electronic data records, high-resolution images for diagnostics with a minimal likelihood for error, etc. Individuals work with AI for more personalized care and treatment to be healthier. In financial services, the players work with AI in credit scoring, risk management, to personalize their banking services, and so on. For these businesses, Artificial Intelligence is the everyday partner in their ecosystem and people’s partner in their workplace.

Of course, not all businesses transition to their digital future by taking leaps. Adopting new technologies has always been a challenge – the more impact technology has, the bigger the challenge is. Yet if done thoughtfully and by engaging the people who will be working with it, the transition can be smooth. So, businesses’ transition to their digital future starts with the status quo. Depending on it, companies invest more or less in digitalization. But not all of them must take a disruptive leap. Small steps can move businesses forward and get them there as well, or prepare them for their leap. The transition to their digital future should be real, approachable, and sustainable, and the route flexible.

Begin with the business value, then pursue the technology.

Before creating and providing any solution or service – whether it is AI or automation or any other solution to an IT challenge – we always start by asking about the business. We begin with the business, then pursue the technology. We want to make sure that the new technologies or even new features and functions of the existing technologies produce business value now and in the future. What problem are we trying to solve? How would you work with technology? Which considerations would it need, and which considerations would it not need to be relevant to your business? In this direction, I do think that AI Insider’s biggest contribution to clients is making businesses’ transition to their digital future real, more approachable, and sustainable by working with technology as a partner.

For example, one of our clients wanted to shift their recruiters’ focus from repetitively searching for and filtering potential candidates to connecting with candidates and increasing the accuracy of their profiles. Only after a thorough analysis, a Robotic Process Automation solution emerged as bringing them the value they needed and expected – meaning round the clock searching for and contacting the best possible candidates to fill multiple positions within companies. After the RPA implementation, our partner increased the accuracy of the candidate profiles, scaled its services with a 5x factor, and provided recruitment services for the US-based positions while keeping their regular working hours in Europe.

In our client’s case, it worked flawlessly due to the business value identified and provided. The business value should always come first, not the bells and whistles around the technology. As a business leader, you have to analyze the status quo and get to the real route to value. The analysis isn’t easy, but it pays off. Otherwise, if the technology doesn’t provide business value, then the only thing it might produce is more complexity.

When you approach technology as a partner that answers to your vision and purpose, it makes you focus. If you look around, what do you see? Most of the businesses lie in complex application landscapes, and the world is abundant in technologies. Complexity is easy. Simplifying things – working with technology based on your vision and purpose – is harder to achieve but achievable with focus.

It is how I decided to approach technology as a partner. The best technology at hand as a partner for whatever your vision and purpose are – for why you are climbing the current mountain and the next one. As I am climbing the mountain to create and provide solutions and IT services that bring value to businesses and their people, AI Insider is the partner – and the path forward I created – to achieve this purpose.

We hope you enjoyed Chapter I, Why climbing the next mountain. If you know that your network is as curious as you are, don’t leave it behind. Tell your network about AI Insider.

In Chapter II, trust and empathy make it easier for partners to achieve their objectives. What does the way up the mountain look like?

In the meantime, we invite you to follow AI Insider on LinkedIn. You’ll get updates about work, projects, future stories.

Follow AI Insider on LinkedIn