Britenet – Brochure

Skilful suppor t

Skilful suppor t Tomasz Dziki, VP of Britenet, explains what it – as an IT expert – offers, and why EF Education First chose Britenet as a trusted partner

WRI T T EN BY

2

N el l Wal ke r

3

B

ased in Poland, Britenet is

it. We’re not from management school

a software development

– we’re from technical school – but the

outsourcing business with

company is quite big now and we’re

an impressive track record for expertise and success. Tomasz Dziki, the

building it up year-by-year.”

The impressive level of growth Britenet

Vice President of the business, was one

has experienced allowed it, in 2017, to

of its founders back in 2006; 14 years

capture the attention of EF Education

ago, three university friends – all Java

First. EF had hired a Salesforce architect

programmers – decided to take on the

who worked with Britenet in a previous

challenge of launching a business. Fast

company, and had a very positive expe-

forward to now, Britenet has grown

rience with the business, so they recom-

between 25 and 30% every year and

mended it to the CIO. That was the nudge

has over 700 employees. “But we are

EF needed to approach Britenet, and its

still three programmers!” Dziki says. “So,

team of around 60 Salesforce developers

for us, the big challenge is how to run

at this time, to help it achieve its goals.

the company and continue improving

4

BRITENET

The journey with EF

to understand what the requirements of

The initial challenge in kicking off this

the customer were. It also helped ensure

new professional relationship was the

the experience was a positive one.”

speed at which EF wanted to get its

Plus, it helped create the speed EF

project rolling – something Britenet was

required. Britenet is a company which,

entirely equipped to deal with. “They had

especially from a Salesforce perspective,

architects, but they also needed some

tries to build its own competencies by

developers, and they decided that they

itself by hiring university graduates and

needed someone to help them,” Dziki

teaching them vital skills. All of its people

explains. “They had their own team in

– including almost 100 Salesforce devel-

Bangalore, of five developers, but they

opers – are trained in-house; “It’s the best

were juniors, and they needed people

way to get skilled people.” says Dziki.

with knowledge and good skills. We sent

After starting with that one skilled

EF the same guys who had worked with

Britenet employee, the Salesforce team

the architect who recommended us in his

for EF became five people, plus an ETL

previous company, which made it easier

developer for integration sites and, more

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

5

recently, a .NET technology expert, to work with the customers. This meant that EF would have the breadth of service it needed. “It’s important, for a company with a wide range of technologies, to not have to find different companies to suit different systems,” Dziki explains.

“For example, if they have Java, that’s no problem for us. If they have SAP, we can help. It’s part of our business strategy to ensure our customers don’t have to find other companies; no matter their needs in software development, we can support them.”

Three years on, this relationship has matured into a vital support system for EF. The organisation had a lot of software, with a CRM supporting thousands of customers with thousands of records.

There was a huge amount of data, and the system kept growing bigger, so the challenge lay in how to maintain a consistent level of quality and functionality. “When you start a project, at the beginning, it’s simple, because you’ve created the project and have all the working parts where you want them,” says Dziki. “But as soon as you add new functionality, that changes. So the biggest challenge for us was adding new functionality without affecting quality, for the sake of the customers.”

6

BRITENET

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

7

Continual quality

Europe is fortunate to house a lot of tech-

This focus on quality maintenance has

nical universities, and this is a particular

ensured that Britenet avoids many prob-

boon in Poland, where nearly everybody

lems in future; its strategy is firmly long-

speaks English, limiting language barriers.

term. “A few years into this, we’re in a

Additionally, there’s the simple fact that

good position,” Dziki says. “There’s a

the company’s rates are very competitive.

good balance with the new functionali-

“But it’s not just about rates – it’s about

ties, and the system is in great condition.

making sure our customers trust that we

The challenge, as I mentioned, is main-

provide good skills and, overall, they

taining quality as this project continues

have a good system with no problems,”

to get bigger. There’s a temptation to not

says Dziki. “This is the most important

worry about that as long as we provide

factor. We are very good to partner with.”

the functionalities in the cheapest way,

So what should customers be taking into

but looking at the system from a busi-

consideration when choosing a techno-

ness perspective, you just need to have

logical expert, like Britenet, as a partner?

good quality at a good price. EF under-

“First of all, it’s strategy. In the case of

stands this balance because they have a big system. Plus, from their point of view, we’re responsible for the whole project, and they trust us with that. There will be opportunities in the future to make the system smarter and make the process more remote, especially thanks to COVID-19 pushing remote working.”

The unquestioning trust EF has had in Britenet, right from the start, is a major element of what made this project so successful – that, and the technological competency which puts Britenet at the top of its game and warranted the initial glowing recommendation. Eastern

8

BRITENET

“Our people are very experienced with good skills, and our cooperation with EF proves that” — TOMASZ DZIKI VP OF BRITENET

EF, it was a good option for them to choose a company with a wide range of technologies; some might suit having a partner for each system, but it’s much harder to manage them, that way. It also means that, when there’s a problem, it’s harder to work out who’s responsible for solving it. So finding a company which can take care of everything is step one.

“The next step would be finding an international company that can provide the support for it, although it would be interesting to find the sub-contractors of these companies because they’re the people who really fight on the market and have to be good quality. Lastly, try to find a company that matches your own values, that you get along with. For Britenet, EF is a very important customer, and they like to meet, so we take a plane to go and spent time with them. Bigger, international companies don’t have the time to do that – you’re not as important to them. We will do this for our customers; we’re a good company, we’re competitive on the market and we have the technical specialists to solve any problem. Our people are very experienced with good skills, and our cooperation with EF proves that.”

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

9

10

BRITENET

The impact on EF “Britenet has been a fantastic partner,” says Patrick Kammermann, CIO of EF. “They helped us develop the CRM platform and provided experts to customise and implement it, where we struggled, internally, to have the right skills and capabilities. The small but highly-skilled team they provided was extremely dedicated – and still is. They also fit extremely well with our core values, in terms of getting things done, being entrepreneurial and building the platform. They showed a lot of passion, and whenever we need them, they drop everything and help us out as if they were part of our organisation. I’m very impressed by them – they do care about us and want us to be successful, and are an excellent fit with what we do. They have become a trusted partner.”

w w w.t h e i n t e r f a c e . n e t

11