Deloitte Fast 50: how to become one of the fastest growing organizations
Just like last year, we have managed to secure a high position (11th overall, 3rd in sustainable growth) in the Deloitte Technology Fast 50 ranking. This annual ranking and the resulting prestigious Award is based on companies’ growth rate over the past five years.
Two times in a row can hardly be called a coincidence, so we must do something right. Actually, I think we have done several things right in these past five years. Here’s the secret to our continuous above average growth.
1. The right focus at the right time (in the right market)
When the market of mobile apps started booming, we have made the wise decision to focus on business apps. We had the right expertise available, and we predicted that the growth of mobile B2B apps would grow more steadily as more and more businesses would venture in the mobile market to offer added value to their customers or simply because their customers forced them to.
2. The right customer in the right industry (at the right time)
Success stories always involve a bit of luck. But that luck factor is usually triggered by betting on the right horse, and enough self-confidence to believe that this horse can win. In our case, we were confident enough to believe that KBC, one of Belgium’s largest banks, would choose for our mobile expertise to offer mobile banking solutions to their customers. When this proved to be the right bet, other banks soon followed. This has been no minor factor in our growth path.
3. A passion for innovation (and a sense of reality)
We have always been passionate about discovering new technologies and finding out ways of using this technology for exciting new applications. But at the same time, we have always strived to be creative and find those applications that can benefit our customers. That’s why we believe in the concept of workshops and building proof of concepts, so that we can demonstrate to our customers how this technology can be used in practice.
It also serves as a reality check: I remember well when several cross-platform development tools were boasting the ‘write once, use on all platforms’ promise. By simply experimenting with these platforms, we could inform our customers that this promise was less reliable than they had hoped.
4. Collaboration and trust
This brings us to the next key to our success. We have always worked towards an open relationship with our customer, based on collaboration and trust. This is now paying off: we are not only delivering a solution as a one-off project, we are also developing a partnership. With such partnership, we can deliver a solution, manage and follow up on this solution, and together generate new ideas and new projects. This has become an important factor of our growth.
5. Last but not least: people
Our employees are our most important asset, this almost goes without saying. From the very first hires, we have always looked for people with the right mindset. In the early years, this would be the young graduates or junior developers who lived and breathed mobile. Later on, other types of developers, project managers and — lately also — strategic consultants would join the team. but every single recruit had to prove not only their technical and/or business skills. They also had to prove that they would fit in. They would have to be someone you would look forward to having a beer with on Friday night.
Our people also have the right attitude to cope with our company culture. This culture combines freedom with a deep sense of responsibility. Everybody gets the freedom to work out their own project, but at the end of the day, they have to assume responsibility for the time they invested in this project, and make it worthwhile in terms of deliverables and/or lessons learned.
