By Anastasiia Shelukhina (ERNI Switzerland)
Challenge
In today’s times, when IT is indispensable and almost everyone has heard of the term “digital transformation”, many companies are asking themselves how can they enter this IT world. Since these companies have little to no experience with IT and software development, they need qualified professionals who have the necessary know-how and can support them in the transformation and development. ne of the possible solutions to this challenge is the concept of Managed Capacity.
ERNI offers clients the opportunity to have a team built and managed for them. The team is assembled to fit the tasks and challenges of the client. The client benefits from all the knowledge and experience that the team members bring to the table.
Solution approach
One of our clients from the MedTech sector decided to set up a team, and we were able to accompany them on this exciting journey.
It was decided that a Managed Capacity team would be set up in Barcelona. The preceding value-for-money analysis showed that the Barcelona location met the client’s requirements best of all those evaluated. Barcelona is considered a Med-Tech hub, can be reached quickly from Switzerland and, with its universities, offers a large supply of well-educated talent. Barcelona is very popular with local employees as a place to live and work, as well as with those who travel there.
The reasons for building a team were very diverse, but not necessarily sector-specific. Many companies have similar challenges and all clients can benefit from the following advantages:
- Global accessibility and acquisition: The demand for experts is increasing. To meet the demand, the Managed Capacity solution enables access to global talent pools. Different geographical locations offer a variety of universities, fostering diversity and development of talent. As a result, the combination of such candidates enhances team performance, market know-how is directly acquired and the company is thus strengthened.
- IT talent: In our fast-evolving world, know-how determines the success of companies. Therefore, the search for talent and the development of know-how go hand in hand in measuring the development potential of a company. A Managed Capacity project not only provides access to talent but also promotes the development of know-how through the exchange and diversity of experts.
- Short time to market: Each team is assembled for the client-specific requirements and tasks. Thus, the perfect size of the team and speed of development can be achieved with shorter development cycles. In addition, the customer benefits from the entirety of ERNI’s know-how, established processes and existing infrastructure.
- Digital transformation: Our teams support the customer on their path to digital transformation and the implementation of the Agile mindset. We help them define suitable processes and structures and build an efficient infrastructure.
The Managed Capacity project process
The project starts with the ramp-up phase, which forms the foundation for the entire project. In this phase of the project, the initial getting to know each other and the kick-off take place. The project and the necessary infrastructure are set up and the team is built. For example, the collaboration model, project manual and contract are defined and all the necessary tools are set up. Already in this phase, the most important architectural decisions are made and the first requirements and design proposals for the product to be developed are collected.
After the ramp-up phase comes the operational phase. The team and the first backlog are ready and the development of the product can begin. ERNI takes responsibility for further recruitment (if necessary), introduction and management of the team. The phase continues until the desired result is achieved and the project stakeholders can start with the acceptance. The goal of the project does not necessarily have to be a finished product; it can be an MVP or other partial result. For example, the result of the project described in the article was a delivery centre in Barcelona that develops various software products especially for this customer.
Summary
Finding the right experts for short- or long-term Med-Tech projects has been shown to be fraught with many challenges. Therefore, Managed Capacity solutions have often proven to be the best options, offering many advantages. For example, our clients have benefited from the expertise and fast delivery cycles. In addition, they now have their own delivery centre, which allows them to make further product developments and thus enjoy a strong market position.