An award-winning IT consultancy is transforming business performance across the UK by empowering IT teams to embrace lean and agile practices.
With a raft of household name clients under its belt, DevOpsGuys says its decision to take advantage of the superfast connection speeds accessed from its central Cardiff HQ is integral to its success.
Founded by CEO James Smith and CPO Stephen Thair in 2013, the firm has 87 members of staff and is predicting growth to 500 employees and a £100m turnover within the next five years. Its confidence is based on providing bespoke solutions and operating models allowing clients to deliver software at previously unattainable speeds.
“This is proven to achieve greater customer engagement and unlock new revenue streams by accelerating software delivery capability across Digital Transformation initiatives,” said James Smith. “It enables innovation, which drives competitive advantage and is something our customers’ value.” These customers include Admiral, ASOS, BAE, Companies House, Defra, Fitness First, Gov.uk, Ministry of Justice, Nokia Systems, Travelodge, Waitrose and the DVLA.
Every part of the business is internet-based
DevOpsGuys is a totally digital business, providing Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS), a form of cloud computing that provides virtualised computing resources over the internet. It works with industry leading partners Microsoft and their Azure collection of integrated cloud services and Amazon Web Services, delivering solutions on top of these platforms and simplifying cloud adoption.
The company would be unable to operate without high speed internet connection – it achieves typical download speeds of around 80Mbs and upload of 90Mbps - and the ability to store data in the cloud. This is also central to many of the organisations it interacts with, with the migration to cloud computing leading to cost savings for customers.
"We operate entirely within the Cloud - all our emails, all of our work tracking systems, all of our HR systems, our accounting systems; everything is in the cloud. It is all accessed by our browser so all of our systems management, remote systems management for clients; all of that infrastructure exists on the internet,” said Mr Smith.
Employees who are local to the Cardiff headquarters office work flexibly in the office, at home or in other locations. But most work remotely from locations across the UK, with a team in Sofia, Bulgaria “It enables us to recruit the best talent regardless of physical location, and allows us the agility to work across EMEA,” said Mr Smith.
Superfast broadband and digital technology integral to continued growth
To manage this remote team, a number of software packages are used, and teams meet or connect up digitally every morning to discuss what needs to be achieved in different project areas. Once a month, the team meets at the Cardiff office to ensure the strong working relationships are built upon, to celebrate the successes of the previous month and to plan the month ahead.
The company uses Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), Skype, and team collaboration tool Slack, and also engages in online marketing through social media and its website blog. It says Superfast Broadband and digital technology are integral to the firm’s continued growth and ability to stay at the forefront of software innovation and solutions.
In order to do so, DevOpsGuys carries out industry leading research with Welsh Universities to develop new projects and products. It invests around 20% of its time and money in research and development (R&D), so it can continue to be innovative in its solutions to its customers.
“We’re delighted to find ourselves regarded as a global thought leader in the DevOps space,” said James Smith.
“I have to say that we’ve had a huge amount of support and guidance from the Welsh Government, which has been invaluable in helping us grow and move in the right direction.”