People and technology

Guido Mazza

by Guido Mazza

Over the years, we have had the opportunity to collaborate with Scrum Masters and other Agile methodology professionals, using advanced Project Management strategies in real cases of small, medium and large corporates.

In addressing complex challenges in cooperation with cross-functional and multi-cultural teams, we have noticed how specific methodologies were even more effective when supported by a motivational component brought by the consultants to all workgroups.

This aspect, often linked to the so-called corporate culture, was perceived by all the parties involved in every project phase — in every minor or significant action.

Strengthened by these experiences, we started to identify and transmit a series of values within our own organization, well aware of their effectiveness in improving the process and the outcome of any activity. Recently, we had the opportunity to discuss this topic with some young leaders of the associations' sector.

Today, we want to highlight some of the characteristics linked to corporate culture, technology and people, which are distinctive in companies that, like us, aim to be relevant in the coming years.

In the current scenario,

tech companies are urged by a constant need for new solutions; the market stimulates many opportunities, which allow them to grow rapidly and experiment.

This favourable background highlights the need to quickly mature the skills necessary to face the complexities of new challenges —consequently, the necessity to remain attractive to talents, which must be continuously motivated and stimulated.

In other words, companies will have to transfer what they have learned in the relationship with customers to their internal resources, implementing specific strategies for them:

  • create projects you can believe in,
  • encourage the generation of actionable ideas,
  • favour retrospective and continuous improvement of processes,
  • share roadmaps and the reasons that guide particular choices,
  • respect and monitor the goals of individuals.

To stay in our field, here's a well-known example to all IT companies: resolving a customer's request. Of course, providing the best solution to a request is rarely a deterministic process – a single path: there are often different approaches, each with its facets.

Choosing one path rather than the other defines a partner's working practices and is indeed an opportunity to transmit one's corporate culture and stimulate internal resources. Often, you can find the best solution by asking yourself why a request was made - what is the real need that you have to solve.

In some cases, correctly defining the reason for the new functionality allows you to enable new business models, create new services and strengthen trust with customers and collaborators.

Oftentimes, it's possible to design solutions by approaching the problem from new points of view, bringing suitable, modular and reusable technologies to light. Furthermore, from a motivational point of view, this allows the team to develop skills and assimilate new techniques, such as Design Thinking.

This process, which sometimes requires a more significant investment, would not be possible if we looked at the request from a traditional perspective: we will probably end up resorting to repetitive tasks and producing undifferentiated work without any added value in the long term.

These scenarios are commonplace in IT consulting activities, and cloud platforms often offer strategic solutions to change perspective, ensuring tangible results.

In ITER IDEA, the motivational value of a project is a determining parameter in selecting the initiatives in which to invest with technology and resources.

The recent victory at the EU Datathon 2021 contest is an example. We created a service to support female mobility: Wonder Wanderlust Women; the platform offers our target an aggregate of relevant information, coming from European open data, to consciously select the next destination in Europe, based on the profile and the opportunities gathered.

Our belief in the value of mobility as personal growth resulted also in the design of

Papaya, a matching system appreciated over the years by over 30k students of the Erasmus program.

Furthermore, let's not forget the recent collaboration with Dott's international partners in sustainable urban mobility.

In the field of Digital Health, we digitalized the work of over 50 professionals involved in the national territory in training patients for diabetic treatments and pain therapies. Similarly, we are studying new applications in partnership with qualified medical personnel, private clinics and teachers from various Italian universities to offer innovative services to local communities.

Finally, we mention the recent cooperations in the Insurtech and Retail sectors that aim to create new services full of imaginative ideas, promoting opportunities in line with future potential in highly dynamic scenarios.

Real innovation is made of culture, ideas, and methodologies that start within the organization and are shared in affinity with collaborators and customers, who will benefit from a renewed and stimulating work experience.