99X Technology Newsletter

INSIDER 99X TECHNOLOGY NEWSLETTER

DECEMBER 2015

99XT Mobile Hackathon

10TH EDITION

Mini Conf

GPTW 2015 Celebration

First-ever session at KDU

Contents 03 Customer Spotlight & Achievements Customer Spotlight - Compello Great Place To Work 2015 GPTW 2015 Celebration

04 Awards & Achievements

HRM Awards 2014 Compliance+Recognition 99XT Chess Team comes in Second at Chess Championship 2015 Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Award 2015 Xians felicitated at SLASSCOM Awards Shehani wins at WIM Awards Most Respected Entities in Sri Lanka 2015 99XT Quiz Team Crowned IT/Software Champions

05 Events

Colombo UX Conference 2015 99XT-AOD Design Workshop Mini Conf IoT Awareness Session

06 Events

Annual Trip 2015 Office Olympics Apocalypso

07 Events

La Xians celebrating GPTW

08 Events

Leadership Workshop Commemorating Poson 99XT Mobile Hackathon Employee Appreciation Day

09 Xian Life

How IT Changed my Life Celebrating 10 years at 99XT Celebrating 15 years at 99X Employees of the Quarter

10

Tech Talk

11 Events

La Xians celebrating Wasantha Udanaya 2015

12 University Outreach

Going Mobile at UOJ First-ever session at KDU Outreach to Rajarata SLIIT in-house Internship Programme Hybrid Mobile Application Development Workshop Interns’ Reunion

13 Chat with Mano & Our Customers Chat with Mano Customer Visits

14 CSR & Places to Visit

So Others May See – Passara Help with Sanitation for People Affected by Landslides 99XT Blood Drive 3 Health Camp at Sunethra Mahadevi Maha Vidyalaya Places to Visit in Sri Lanka

Customer Spotlight - Compello

The following are some thoughts shared by Compello AS Director of R&D and CTO Yngvar Ugland: What are the main reasons Compello partnered with a product engineering company?

Getting access to specialist competencies when such was difficult to get through internal hiring was our initial trigger for partnering with 99X Technology.

Why did you select 99X Technology as a partner?

Through references. Other ISVs that we know well and that are similar to us in size, business model and tech stack had nothing but good things to say about 99X Technology.

The Compello Group is a leading provider in e-invoicing, EDI and invoice approval in the Scandinavian region. The group focuses on developing solutions for automated data flow comprising solutions for EDI, eInvoice and Invoice Approval.

The company collaborates with Microsoft and was chosen Best Norwegian Independent Software Partner at Microsoft’s annual Partner Conference in Washington DC in 2014.

Great Place to Work 2015

How has your experience with 99X Technology been?

We are very satisfied with the quality produced by the engineers, the short ramp-up time and the very compatible working culture (Like we like to say: It is a good sign that we laugh at the same time when a joke is told [note: that is not the case between any two cultures]).

How do you see Sri Lanka as an outsourcing destination for ISVs in the future?

We are very positive about Sri Lanka as an outsourcing destination for ISVs in the future. It is a good combination of value and price. Like we like to say: Price is what you pay. Value is what you get.

99X Technology was ranked among Sri Lanka’s top 20 best workplaces by Great Place To Work Institute for the third consecutive year and swept up the highest number of awards by a single company at the 2015 awards ceremony. We also picked up category awards for Best Practice in Developing (people development) and for Best Practice in Employee Recognition, and went on to win gold in the Medium Sized Enterprise category.

In celebration of our third victorious year at the Great Place To Work awards ceremony, a candy-themed event was hosted in appreciation of the Xians’ hard work and dedication to 99X Technology, complete with prizes, surprises and a lot of fun!

In addition, we became the first and only Sri Lankan company to be named one of Asia’s Best Workplaces for 2015.

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Customer Spotlight & Achievements

GPTW 2015 Celebration

Xians felicitated at SLASSCOM Awards

HRM Awards 2014

99X Technology was placed among some of Sri Lanka’s most celebrated corporate entities when it was named a Gold Winner at the HRM Awards 2014, in recognition of its innovative and cutting-edge human resource practices.

99X Technology Process and Delivery Manager Shehani Seneviratne and Technology Manager Hasith Yaggahavita were felicitated at SLASSCOM’s Industry Leadership Awards for their outstanding contributions towards driving SLASSCOM’s objectives for 2022 (Vision 2022)

Compliance+ Recognition

Shehani wins at WIM Awards

Compliance+ is a Sri Lankan employer brand introduced by the Employers’ Federation of Ceylon (EFC) in collaboration with the International Labour Organization (ILO) – 99X Technology received this recognition in acknowledgement of exemplary Sri Lankan employment practices.

99XT Chess Team Comes in Second at Chess Championship 2015

99X Technology Process and Delivery Manager Shehani Seneviratne was recognized for her vast contributions to Sri Lanka’s IT industry when she was awarded Silver for ‘Leadership Excellence in Information Technology’ at the Women for Governance Professional and Career Women Awards 2014/2015, organized by Women in Management.

Awards & Achievements

An incredible effort from our Chess Team saw them come in Second Place at the 4th Mercantile/Government Services International Rating Chess Championship 2015. It was an unbelievably close battle between the teams with MAS coming out on top with a score of 14.5 to 99X Technology’s score of 14.

Most Respected Entities in Sri Lanka 2015 We were ranked among Sri Lanka’s top 100 Most Respected Entities for 2015 in LMD’s annual survey, which is conducted by the global research company Neilson and have been listed as the winner in the technology sector.

Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Award 2015

99XT Quiz Team crowned IT/Software Champions

We received our first acknowledgement for our efforts in corporate sustainability when we received the Merit award for the Best Sustainability Project 2015 for the education outreach program ‘Dotitude’, at the Ceylon Chamber of Commerce’s Best Corporate Citizen Sustainability Awards 2015.

For the third consecutive year, 99X Technology successfully defended the coveted title of IT/software category champions at the Glitz Biz Quiz 2015, holding out against tough competition from Sri Lanka’s top corporate entities, with IFS coming in second place. The Xian Quiz team also placed in third place overall, with teams from Dialog and People’s Bank finishing just a point ahead.

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Colombo UX Conference 2015

Sri Lanka’s first-ever UX Conference was held this year, supported by 99X Technology through the Colombo Camps Community.

Geared towards UX designers, UI designers, business analysts, IT professionals, sales and marketing associates, quality assurance engineers, tech entrepreneurs and students, it proved to be a tremendous success.

User Experience (or UX, as it is more commonly known), is imperative in the sphere of software engineering, but isn’t talked about enough. The UX Conference was basically a larger kindred spirit to the various small UX Colombo meet-ups that have happened over the past year.

The event featured speakers from varying industries and backgrounds, who touched upon a number of topics relating to User Experience in software engineering, from the very foundation of the subject right up to the end user and everything in-between.

99XT-AOD Design Workshop

The speakers included: • Cinergix/Creately Co-Founder and CEO Chandika Jayasundara • AOD International Design Campus and Sri Lanka Design Festival Founder/Managing Director Linda Speldewinde • 99X Technology UX Architect Rasika Mahindasiri • ReadMe.lk Former Editor Yudhanjaya Wijeratne • 99X Technology Technology Manager Hasith Yaggahavita • AOD International Design Campus Programme Head of Visual Communication Alain Parizeau • Anything.lk’s Former Head Of Production Adnan Issadeen • 99X Technology UX Lead Hasanga Abeyratne

Mini Conf

IoT Awareness Session

The first of more to come, the Internet of Things Awareness session held at 99X Technology explored how mobile, virtual and instantaneous connection could be translated into real life scenarios.

This included some highly interesting experiments conducted by the Xians, knowledge sharing and more.

99X Technology’s first-ever Design Workshop in collaboration with Academy of Design was an amazing learning experience with mixed teams made up of Xians and students from AOD competing against each other to create the ultimate blend of product engineering and interactive design.

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Events

Introduced in 2015, the Mini Conf is a monthly knowledge sharing initiative featuring speakers from within the company and externally, from peer companies who deliver talks on trending topics and specialisations.

Annual Trip 2015

Events

The Xians headed up to Amaya Lake, Dambulla this year on the company Annual Trip – a long weekend of fun, laughter and amazing memories made with family and friends!

Office Olympics

Apocalypso

Our first-ever Office Olympics proved to be a tremendous success, bringing out the competitive spirit in all the Xians, both old and new! Battling it out over many games including Soccer on Wheels, Chair Races and a very interactive quiz, Team ‘50 Shades of Blue’ emerged victorious.

The Xians had a blast at the in-house musical game show organised by the Sports Committee 2015, which saw some hidden talents being revealed, lots of laughter and a great deal of fun for everyone who participated!

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La Xians celebrating

GPTW ASIA

There’s nothing the Xians love more than a top-notch celebration and so the Sports Committee 2015 threw a fantastic bash, celebrating two of our achievements – Gold Winner at the HRM Awards 2014 and being named one of Asia’s Best Workplaces for 2015. A great time was had by all, with fun games, prizes and surprises all thrown in!

Leadership Workshop

An out-of-the-box leadership training was conducted for a large segment of the company by corporate trainer 361 Degrees, at which the Xians were encouraged to challenge what leadership really is and were inspired to take on leadership roles, through a series of highly interesting activities and presentations.

Commemorating Poson

99XT Mobile Hackathon

Events

Employee Appreciation Day

Every year, the Xians commemorate Poson together with the Walukarama Temple by participating in religious activities throughout the day. This year too, the Xians along with friends and family partook in such tasks, taking part in pirith, lighting lamps, participating in Bakthi Gee, hosting a Bathala Dansala and much more.

Our first-ever Mobile Hackathon was all about Lean Thinking, sharp pitches, idea generation, innovation, mobile enablement and knowledge-sharing, with project teams competing against each other to generate the best product at the end of the day. This was all powered by 99X Technology’s Mobile Enablement Team.

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The Xians are very mindful of the important of appreciating their fellow colleagues and so Employee Appreciation is something that is practiced at 99X Technology on a daily basis. However, it’s always nice to celebrate it and so we celebrated Employee Appreciation Day, complete with great food and lots of fun.

How IT Changed My Life

Life at 99X Technology

Savant De Silva

“I would say entering 99X Technology marked an iconic day in my life”. At 99X Technology, he has been exposed to the latest technologies and processes in the industry, while working side-by-side with best software professionals.

“The teams are always supportive to each other and harmonize well. Team spirit, sociability and being supportive is integrated into the culture of 99X Technology. Since joining, I have widened my vision, public speaking acumen and self-confidence. Being on a winning team has indeed paved the way for me to reach the first rung on the ladder to success.”

In his early childhood Savant de Silva didn’t seem inclined towards ambition, although at a very early age, he was addicted to playing computer games. He would sit at the computer for hours and refuse to leave it even for meals.

As time went by, he outgrew his ‘computer games’ stage and dabbled on the computer with an analytical mind, sometimes even leading to debates with his sister who was his senior by many years. Apart from that, Savant was also involved in martial arts, athletics and part of many dramas produced by Yolanda’s School Of Speech And Drama.

After his A/Ls, Savant joined APIIT to pursue a course in software engineering and at the completion of three years of study, graduated as batch top from the computing school. He was also awarded the gold medal for best performance. Later on, he was given the opportunity of presenting his research paper on his final year project at the ICNGCCT (International Conference on Next Generation Computing and Communication Technology) 2014 held in Dubai, with the Dean of the APIIT computing school, Dr. Dhananjay Kulkarni.

Celebrating 10 years at 99X Technology

Celebrating 15 years at 99X Technology

Anushka Wickramaratne Senior Product Performance Lead

Employees of the Quarter 2nd Quarter

Charith Sooriyaarachchi Senior Software Engineer

Buddhinatha Wijewantha Associate Delivery Manager

Aradhana Liyanage became the first Xian to complete 15 years at 99X Technology – we thank her for her unwavering dedication and hard work put into building up the company to what it is today, and wish her every success in her future!

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Revathy Jeyarajasingam Finance Executive

Xians Life

3rd Quarter

Tech Talk

What’s in a quickie?

by Sandrina Abeywardene

Senior Product Information Designer Ever seen a quick guide? Well, - dazed looks aside - you’re more familiar with quick guides than you think. If you ever bought a mobile phone, a digital camera or a laptop and let’s face it who hasn’t, well then gasp! You’ve probably even held a quick guide in your hands.

Quick guides are generally a brief manual or document that gives a quick overview of the product. In fact it offers the bare basics to set you on your way.

Since we’re usually way too smart, we do away with the guides.

Who has time to wade through guides anyway, right? Well, if you do take the time, you just might work out how to perform a function much faster.

Quickies can come in all shapes and forms. Just because it’s supposed to direct you doesn’t mean it has to be a lengthy document that puts you to sleep. The main purpose is to instruct and guide.

For one of our clients, we created a guide for a product that could be used both in marketing as well to inform users about the system. In brief it provided an overview of how this product handled the reconciliation process. It listed the various user roles and their tasks.

So before you yawn and give all quick guides a miss, let me show some real neat quickies out there that won’t totally bore you.

The main tasks were broken down into steps that guided the user regarding the workflow they needed to follow, when using the system. For example, the task of creating a user is listed as the first task. The flow the user needs to follow when creating a user is highlighted with icons and the name of the function.

The user role performing this task is indicated alongside a task heading.

Tech Talk

It’s a fun way to get the message across whilst providing a quick overview of the system and the key flows. There are many ways to present information and as these quickies show, they can always lead to an exceptional customer experience.

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Xians celebrating

Wasantha Udanaya

Continuing an ongoing tradition at 99X Technology, the grand celebrations of the Sinhala and Tamil New Year, the Avurudu Ulela, took place with the participation of many Xians and their loved ones. It was a day packed with fun games that created lot of great memories for everyone to take home!

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Going Mobile at UOJ

A Xian team headed up Jaffna to conduct a series of sessions on going mobile – from mobile enablement to UX for Mobile apps. It was an amazingly interactive session with the participants and it was great to see the enthusiasm from the undergrads! This was followed by our team’s participation in UOJ’s Career Fair 2015.

First-ever Session at KDU

Outreach to Rajarata

This year, Dotitude, our university relationship initiative, reached out to the Kotelawala Defence University (KDU), kicking off the new partnership by carrying out a session on ‘Professionalism in the IT Industry’.

We had an amazing experience during our first outreach session with Rajarata University. A team of Xians spent the weekend there, networking with the students and hosted a knowledge sharing session, which proved to be rewarding for all who attended.

Hybrid Mobile Application Development Workshop

Interns’ reunion

99X Technology in collaboration with the ‘DevOps’ Community of the National School of Business Management organized a workshop based on the theme of Hybrid Mobile Application Development, which was an informative session for all the students that were present. The event was open to students from all state and private higher education Institutes in Sri Lanka.

Both current and former Xian interns were both brought together at the Interns’ Reunion 2.0, at which a great time was had, along with laughter, fun, games, and a lot of catching up among friends!

University Outreach

SLIIT in-house Internship

99X Technology recently commenced an in-house Internship Programme in collaboration with SLIIT’s Faculty of Computing under the university relations programme. A group of students from SLIIT visited 99X Technology and took part in several challenging activities in order to select the first batch of students to be a part of this innovative programme, from which we chose five undergraduates.

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Chat with Mano

Mano Sekaram CEO

To become truly digital, businesses are looking to re-integrate people into the interface, with more natural human-machine interactions. They require emotionally responsive UI – for this, Customer Experience is vital. Companies that can truly deliver on their digital ambition with outstanding customer experience will become the world’s leading innovators. Those who design services with consistent delight in mind are the ones who will win.

Digital transformation is fast emerging as the next big trend – not in just the IT sphere but cutting across almost all industries.

Companies that don’t embrace the digital transformation will probably find themselves obsolete – a fate that has already been met by corporate giants globally. Successful organizations are those that will adopt strong digital strategies and form digital connections between services, devices and places.

The examples of the success of digital disruption are all around us. Uber, the world’s largest taxi company, owns no vehicles.

Facebook, the world’s most popular media owner, creates no content. Airbnb, the world’s largest accommodation provider, owns no real estate. These companies have succeeded because they have mastered the software interfaces that connect all of those goods and services to their consumers – the winning combination of digital done right and innovative user experience.

Digital Transformation & Customer Experience

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Chat with Mano & Our Customers

Customer Visits

So Others May See – Passara

99XT Blood Drive 3

The 99X Technology CSR Foundation tied up with So Others May See, a non-profit organisation focused on eliminating avoidable blindness by providing custom fit eyeglasses, for the third year, this time reaching out to underprivileged school children in Passara, Badulla. Approximately 350 kids from 13-15 different schools had their eyes tested at the eye camp.

Thanks to the generosity of our many donors, both from 99X Technology and neighbouring companies, we conducted a very successful Blood Drive for the third time, collecting a total of 57 pints of blood for the Blood Bank.

Help with Sanitation for People Affected by Landslides

Health camp at Sunethra Mahadevi Maha Vidyalaya

With the generous donation from our customer Einar Dahle of BUS AS, we were able to obtain latrines for the people affected by the landslide last year. They are still living in temporary shelters and sanitation has been a grave concern, hence the decision to buy approximately 250 latrines. We teamed up with LEADS for this endeavor and travelled up to Bandarawela for the handing over ceremony.

We conducted a Health Camp at our adopted school, Sunethra Mahadevi Maha Vidyalaya, collaborating with So Others May See to conduct the eye clinic. A general check-up and dental check-up was also conducted.

CSR & Places to Visit

Places to visit in Sri Lanka - Kalpitiya

Located in the north-west of Sri Lanka, two aspects make Kalpitiya famous – the hundreds of dolphins that play in the offshore waters and what is widely considered to be the best kitesurfing conditions in South Asia. It is also a lush marine sanctuary with a diversity of habitats ranging from bar reefs, flat coastal plains, saltpans, mangroves swamps, salt marshes and vast sand dune beaches. The coastal town is a great favourite among nature-loving tourists and extreme sports thrill seekers.

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Winner - National Business Excellence Award for ICT Services (December 2014)

National Best Quality ICT Awards (NBQSA) Gold in Media Entertainment (October 2014)

National Business Excellence Gold Award for ICT Services (December 2012)

Winner - Governor’s Challenge Trophy - Global Commerce Quiz (December 2014)

National Best Quality ICT Awards (NBQSA) Silver in product in all catgories (October 2014)

Talent Management at Asia’s Best Employer Brand Awards (July 2013)

Governor’s Challenge Trophy Sector Winner - Exporters & Importers (December 2014)

NCE Gold Award for Export Business and Professional Services (September 2013)

National Best Quality ICT Awards (NBQSA) 2013 Bronze in R&D category (October 2013)

NCE Gold Award for Export Business and Professional Services (October 2012)

National Best Quality ICT Awards (NBQSA) 2013 Merit in Tools and Infrastructure Applications category (October 2013)

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Arch of Europe Gold Award for Quality & Technology (May 2012)