Global restrictions have forced businesses to adapt to remote working. Modern development approaches and cloud technologies are helping ISVs to continue to deliver for their customers.
Following the introduction of global restrictions designed to tackle the spread of Covid-19, remote working became the norm for businesses overnight. However, as ISVs provide key applications for their customers, they rely on the adaptability of their software development teams. ISVs with applications built on Azure can continue to support their customers without interruption. In Spanish Point Technologies, our teams have shifted to a remote working model quickly which has allowed us to continue to deliver value for our customers and support our developers. One of our consultants, Svetlana Korshunova shared that “Spanish Point switched to working from home seamlessly and continued the delivery of services in the new environment for us and all our customers”.
In his recent blog post for The Overflow Blog, Mark Locklear discussed the importance of asynchronous working (Mark Locklear, 2020). He shared that although not always remote, effective development means that software developers can communicate their requirements effectively while continuing to complete tasks. During this period of remote working, this has never been more important as ISVs continue to serve and support their customers.
As Spanish Point Technologies is both an ISV and a Microsoft Partner, many ISVs have asked us for best practices. With so many uncertainties, ISVs are reviewing their applications, processes, and workflows. Below are some of the questions and concerns that ISVs have asked us about.
How do we collaborate and implement development remotely?
Adopting modern agile software development methodologies with the complimentary tools for communication, collaboration and task tracking is central to having an effective remote software development team.
How can team managers lead their teams remotely?
Through modern work practices and technology, managers are effectively fostering successful collaboration. In his blogpost, Locklear recommends goal setting for teams. This partners well with approaches such as Agile development. In the Azure DevOps environment, teams can effectively collaborate and manage their work. While teams are working asynchronously, it is also important to have core work hours. This means that there is time for real time collaboration and customer support while also providing team members opportunities for flexibility.
Using cloud applications such as Microsoft Teams to instant message and host video calls is an effective way to streamline communication within teams. This can also be used to keep morale high. In our own team, we have virtual team building events such as quizzes, this helps us translate our corporate culture into the virtual world.
How do I keep my customers engaged with our products and services?
Azure’s monitoring tools help ISVs to manage customer feedback and issues. ISVs can make changes and fixes which are quickly deployed to customers’ environments.
This can also be an opportunity to launch virtual customer sessions. In our own organisation, we have moved our very popular boot camps online. Our BI Bootcamp tutor Svetlana Korshunova discussed how effective this has been:
“As a tutor of Power BI Bootcamps I found my online experience very positive. I’ve adjusted my delivery process and interactions with the group using mostly voice and screen view comparing with live appearance with attendees in the same room. The fact that we are all in similar circumstances, means that we all need to adjust to what’s available for us at the moment and get the most out of it. I would also thank all our attendees for their feedback which constantly helps us to improve our service.”
Svetlana KorshunovaPower BI Bootcamp Tutor, Spanish Point Technologies
From the perspective of our bootcamp attendees, their own organisations have implemented remote working transformations. As a result, attendees have welcomed our virtual bootcamps and shared positive feedback. Anthony Freeman is Head of Software Development at DOCOsoft, one of our ISV customers, provided us with some interesting feedback:
“The pandemic has impacted us all in terms of the way we work. The switch to a remote bootcamp has been an excellent opportunity to engage with the consultants and keeping up to date with our learning. The consultants are always happy to answer questions by providing detailed high standard content. Overall, I found the switch to a remote bootcamp experience very positive.”
Anthony FreemanHead of Software Development, Docosoft
While restrictions have changed the way we work, technology helps to maintain the norm. The cloud allows ISVs’ development teams to collaborate remotely, delivering significant value to their customers.
If you are interested in migrating your applications to the cloud, our Azure team is hosting many virtual discovery sessions.
Learn more about how you can get a free consultation here
