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Without giving away too many trade secrets , this agility and speed is ‘ baked in ’ to UST ’ s way of working , and was originally born out of necessity . As a fledgling family business in 1999 with just 14 employees , teams had to be small , and that has worked so well that the model has been retained . However , UST ’ s winning formula is not just based on the concept of smaller teams .
Mat says they have organised their teams into small , self-organised squads that have the ability to pivot – word of the moment – in hours to refocus on the problem at hand .
“ We ' re talking about sprints that are oneweek sprints and demos that we do every day , “ he says . “ We can work to a 24-hour cycle for solving certain problems and the clients see that this makes a huge difference . Our competition is not able to do that , they are able to do it at best once a week .”
Mat also talks about the advantage UST has due to having its own labs and “ innovation garages ” to test new products quickly . He says it is a significant differentiator , especially when clients don ’ t have their own environments ready .
“ I ' ve got clients that I ' m working with today that don ' t have the environments ,” he says . “ By the time they get ready , time would have passed . We ’ ve got the labs , the software , the hardware , and we get started right away . Clients really appreciate that with UST – our commitment before contract .
Another area that UST really focuses on is on upskilling the teams to make sure they are utilising the very latest , innovative techniques and technology .
Mat recounts a story of some analysts visiting UST and noting the behaviour that its teams were exhibiting and the kind of work they were doing . What struck him was that the analysts said while they had seen this level of commitment , it was the first time they had seen genuine passion for the work .
“ Everyone on the team is passionate about driving forward the solution they have come up with ,” he says . The team creates journey maps but use unique methods and techniques – from dioramas to graphic novels and stop animation . It ’ s an unusual approach that has even caught the attention of large social media companies , checking out UST ’ s processes that deliver innovation and creativity at scale .
Ramsunder and Mat both talk at length about the ongoing coronavirus pandemic and the impact it has had on the world as it has shifted to digital , but life has also changed in so many ways as consumer expectations and demands have morphed . Life in 2022 is very different from 2020 , and that change is only going to accelerate as technology is utilised in new , smarter ways .
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