Interview for Cybernews.
Software development is rapidly advancing. That enables the possibility to develop software systems in various domains. However, it is often becoming a challenging task.
Lately, as software became a crucial component of every prosperous business, the significance of software engineering has enormously inflated. With continuously increasing enterprise needs and globalization tendencies, organizations turn to distributed software development providers.
Today’s interviewee, Boris Kontsevoi, CEO and President of Intetics, shares what companies should focus on while trying out new and innovative solutions, to avoid common software development pitfalls.
What has your journey been like? How did the idea of Intetics come about?
I set out on a path of my entrepreneurial journey ten years after my professional career started. In January 1995, four software engineers and I huddled over a laptop in Minsk and began writing software for US-based clients in the insurance sector.
None of the fellow citizens of a post-soviet republic could understand the type of business we are doing. We were to make modem calls to Berlin because there were no local Internet providers and the phone bills were around 800$. The total price was $2200 per channel at 128 kbit/s.
Eight years later, I moved to the USA, and “Client-Server Programs,” the company name then, became one of the development centers at the American company — Intetics Inc.
Intetics started to span globally with offices in the USA, Ukraine, the UK, Poland, and Germany. In 2021, we achieved hundreds of clients in 38+ countries. We have a team of 700+ employees at the company, located across 9 offices and working offline and remotely.
Can you introduce us to what you do? What are the main challenges you help navigate?
Intetics is a leading global technology company providing custom software application development, distributed development teams, software quality assessment, and “all-things-digital” solutions built with SMAC, RPA, AI/ML, IoT, blockchain, and GIS/UAV/LBS technologies.
Based on proprietary pioneering business models of Offshore Dedicated Team® and Remote In-Sourcing®, an advanced Technical Debt Reduction Platform (TETRATM), and measurable SLAs for software engineering, we help innovative organizations capitalize on global talent with our in-depth engineering expertise based on the Predictive Software Engineering framework.
Intetics’ core strength is the design of software products in conditions of incomplete specifications. We have extensive industry expertise in Education, Healthcare, Logistics, MedTech, Finance, Insurance, Communications, and custom ERP, CRM, Intelligent Automation, and Geospatial solutions.
Our advanced software engineering background and outstanding quality management platform, along with an unparalleled methodology for talent recruitment, team building, and talent retention, guarantee that our clients receive exceptional results for their projects.
Why do you think companies often hesitate to try out new and innovative solutions that would enhance their business operations?
Simply because they don’t have enough internal resources or knowledge to implement and maintain next-gen solutions, the possible solution here is to deliver the process of innovation integration to a third party. Yet to say, it can be rather challenging to find a reliable innovation partner. But if the cooperation is fruitful, the results may exceed expectations.
Lack of experience implementing new software ideas or concepts is the central challenge our clients face. Our mission is to close the gap between resources and knowledge to enhance clients’ business operations.
How did the recent global events affect your field of work?
Due to recent global events, software development companies are witnessing a sea change in how workforce management is organized. Statistics show that more than 80% of employees enjoy working from home. Moreover, it is now possible to work from any spot on our planet.
The Intetics advancement here is the business model of distributed software development teams, showing the increasing prevalence lately. That is due to its advantages in delivering successful business results like enhanced communication, time effectiveness, cost savings, and pool diversification.
The year 2020 has left a footprint on the company’s history, making us a proud Covid-19 survivor while demonstrating that remotely distributed teams really work.
What are some of the best practices organizations should follow when developing software?
Always think of your clients first and provide them with a unique and reliable engineering methodology. Be where they are and deliver tangible benefits. This can be done via many paths, but that is how we do it at Intetics.
We experiment with software development team formation models, as well as talent acquisition practices gathering the top-skilled engineers around the world. We operate within comfortable business service models and, what is crucial, guarantee measurable quality management.
What do you think are the most common problems companies run into on their digital transformation journey?
Must admit, I have a rather non-mainstream understanding of digital transformation. I believe this concept has been magnified artificially to give it significance. Now digital transformation means everything that used to be called innovative technologies or innovations. This process has always been underway.
But about five years ago, someone decided that it was necessary to make a big deal out of this. And it turns out that everything that different companies were doing in innovation or technological development and implementation suddenly became Digital Transformation overnight. I can confidently assert that we at Intetics were doing Digital Transformation back in 1995. And giants like IBM were doing it back in 1950.
On the other side, organizations understand Digital Transformation differently. We encountered that each customer has a different understanding of digital transformation. One needs a mobile app development, and the other requires moving all communications into the Microsoft chat-based workspace integrated with the Cloud, and so on.
Our main challenge here is to implement a customized and unique approach, accurately meeting the client’s specific needs in a way to help their business processes go digital on a fundamentally different qualitative level.
As the world gets more connected, what security tools do you think everyone should have in place to keep themselves safe?
Regardless of where they are in their technology journey, companies and individuals must know that security is vital to prevent data breaches, phishing, and other exposure to sensitive data. They should understand the possible risks insufficient protection may come. It’s hard to imagine a successful company without incorporating new network security tools, access control systems, antivirus software, intrusion prevention systems, email security, etc., as data is the lifeblood of any business.
As an example of security measures, our company operates an ISMS (Information Security Management System) — a system of policies and processes designed to ensure information security. It is built under the requirements of the ISO/IEC 27001:2013 standard. The ISMS reduces the risk of unwanted consequences in case of a breach of information security. Besides, each Intetics employee is aware of the general aspects of information security and risks of phishing, its possible scenarios, and practical rules to avoid it.
What advancements and innovations in the software development field do you hope to see in the near future?
We anticipate a growing number of requests for developing software solutions for smart mobility, unmanned aerial vehicles or UAVs, predictive maintenance, and edge computing. They are today’s emerging technologies that are proven to be game-changers in the next couple of years. We observe it at the top industry events and conferences, research studies and forecasts by world-leading analytical agencies, and the evolving clients’ businesses through adopting these tech trends. Smart AI-powered devices, in-car monitoring systems, robotics, software systems, and drone applications are the devices and solutions of the present and the near future.
Intetics adapted the Centers of Excellence (CoE) to keep up, meaning “a team that provides leadership, best practices, research, support and training for a certain focus area.” It is essential to be familiar with the latest trends and work with cutting-edge technologies. And that is the focus of Centers of Excellence from the engineering perspective.
What is also crucial for software development companies is to bear in mind the way they deliver. The future is about unconventional approaches to provide value. Intetics’ “know-how” here is Predictive Software Engineering (PSE), a framework that addresses bottlenecks of custom software product development. The PSE framework consists of seven specific concepts. Together they ensure transparency, as well as render the software development process controllable and predictable in its essence.
What does the future hold for Intetics?
We are destined for never-ending growth and constantly seeking opportunities to transform clients’ challenges into excellent results.
Success is a consequence — it’s proof that our innovations are working. So, when one of our projects is successful, we don’t set new goals. Instead, we keep innovating while prioritizing customer development, talent, and our impact on the industry.
Our customers often notice that proven innovation “is in our DNA.” We want to maintain this image among the IT community.
