Life at Calcey

How I Work: Program Management at Calcey

June 10, 2019

Businesses in the service industry quite often depend on project managers to keep everything running smoothly. A project manager is often the face of the company to the client, as well as the troop leader of a platoon of developers. This applies at Calcey, too.

Rajitha Egodaarachchi is one of Calcey’s senior most project managers. Having first joined us as a developer, Rajitha changed tracks to become a project manager. Today, he is one of two program managers at Calcey. In his role, he is essentially a project manager of project managers.

Q: Can you tell us a little bit about your role as program manager at Calcey?

We created the program manager role at Calcey for one important reason, and that is to ensure that projects are kept on schedule—given the demanding nature of the clients we work with—and to help us initiate corrective actions as necessary, proactively.

As program manager, I have a team of project managers reporting to me. I mentor them and guide them as necessary so that they can do their job better. In a way, I’m here to help them help their clients. I also manage a couple of projects on a hands-on basis, which is another interesting part of my role.

Q: How did you get into project management? Is there a set path which others can follow?
As far as the path is concerned, a lot depends on the firm you work for. At some of the larger software engineering firms, project management is a dedicated career path. At boutique firms, such as Calcey, the role of a project manager is combined with that of a business analyst. I prefer the latter because for someone like me, the duality of the role is very stimulating.

As to how I got into project management, I was a developer when I first joined Calcey. Since Calcey has a relatively flat structure, it allowed me to try my hand at Project Management after spending a few years as a developer. There was no great epiphany or anything as such.

However, it does help to possess some personal attributes, like being methodical and organised. Not being in possession of such attributes may actually hurt your chances of becoming a project manager.

Q: What are the most challenging aspects of your job?

One of the biggest challenges is ensuring timely delivery of projects, while keeping what we call ‘scope creep’ at bay. We basically operate on an outsourced delivery model, and sometimes, clients try to squeeze in as many development needs as possible at every stage of the process. When this happens, there is a risk of the project exceeding its budget, cost, and time parameters. Obviously, that’s an undesirable outcome. So, it is my responsibility to prevent this from happening.

In terms of everyday workload, it is the scrum planning day that is most hectic. Tools like Jira, Google Hangouts, Slack, and Evernote help me keep track of things, day in, day out.

In my opinion, what I would call the No. 1 challenge is managing people. Be it the developers or clients, I need to be empathetic, but also firm and decisive when necessary. It’s a balancing act, really. Being a program manager is no walk in the park, but it’s extremely rewarding when you see a project being executed on time, despite any challenges that come our way.

Life at Calcey

A Letter To My 22 Year Old Self

May 27, 2019

Dhanushka Jayatilake is the Principal Software Architect at Calcey, and has been a very important part of the team for the last 10 years. We asked Dhanushka what advice he would give, if his present self was to meet his 22 year old self.

Here’s what Dhanushka had to say…

Dear Dhanushka,

You’ve put in a lot of work to get here. As you step out of the University of Peradeniya as a qualified software engineer, a world of opportunity awaits you. Those opportunities will only continue to grow, mark my words. But as your future self, I have a few words of advice for you. I hope they serve you well in time to come.

Master the basics

Four years from now, a Californian in blue jeans and a black turtleneck will introduce a new type of device to the world. It will be a small rectangular slab of a device. But it will change the way people interact with computers. People around the world will spend hours on this device launching cute little birds at castles built by a bunch of evil green pigs (Hard to believe, I know). A great new world of possibilities will open up, and your favourite programming language of C++ will give way to newer and better programming languages, just like how COBOL and Fortran gave way to Basic, which in turn gave way to C++. This cycle will continue.

So make sure you learn your basics, and learn them well. Lots of programming languages may come and go, but the basic principles will always remain the same. That’s how it has always been, and that’s how it’s always going to be.
Learn to learn

This might confuse you, but hear me out. It is absolutely important that you continuously upgrade your skills. After all, you have chosen to work in a field where things change fast, very fast. That said, don’t rush to learn every new thing which sees the light of day.

Whenever you come across something which piques your curiosity, take the time to understand it very well. See what it can do, and cannot do. Break it down into its essentials. Not only will this help you learn faster, but it will also help you appreciate the beauty of a new programming language for instance, while understanding its limitations. That is what wisdom is. In an era where knowledge is plentiful, wisdom is what will be in short supply, and thus, be valuable.
Think through problems

As you start working, you will find yourself wrestling with programming problems. Don’t worry. Take a deep breath, and step back for a moment. You may be tempted to have a go at the problem right away, but don’t.

Instead, think very carefully about the problem you’re facing, the outcome you need to achieve, and the tools available at your disposal. It is essential that you at least draw up a mental blueprint for how you plan to go about solving the problem at hand. This willingness to plan is what separates the pros from the rookies. Abe Lincoln put it best when he said “Give me six hours to chop down a tree and I will spend the first four sharpening the axe”.

As you think about your future while roaming the beautiful lush green gardens of the University of Peradeniya, you may be filled with fear. Don’t fret too much though, it will all work out well. I can guarantee that.

A few years from now, your CV will find its way into the hands of a gentleman running a small company called Calcey. It will be your second home for the next 10-plus years. You will rise up the ranks and eventually, find yourself managing 80 other young developers. Congratulations!

Oh, and one final word of advice. Try to find experienced mentors early on in your career. They will be able to show you the ropes and guide you, which will save you a lot of time, trouble, and late nights.

All the best!
Sincerely,
Dhanushka.

Opinion

Bridging Cultural Differences: Our Thoughts

May 26, 2019

Being in the software development business, our clients come from the world over. Naturally, there are cultural differences which may get in the way. At Calcey, we have a few tricks up our sleeves to help bridge these differences and help us deliver great work.

Every country has a culture that is unique. Sri Lanka, where we are based, has traditionally been hierarchical, collectivistic, and driven by a need to achieve consensus. What this means is that generally:

Subordinates expect to be told what to do and the ideal boss is a benevolent autocrat.
Everyone takes responsibility for fellow members of their group.
People strive for consensus, and they value equality, solidarity and quality in their working lives. Conflicts tend to be resolved by compromise and negotiation.

Geert Hofstede also agrees with us.

Lesson 1: Don’t throw the baby out with the bathwater

Sri Lanka’s collectivist culture brings with it a few positives, which serve us well as a global software company. The hierarchical elements though, aren’t of much use. Calcey’s internal culture is consciously and painstakingly built around values such as ‘Straight Talk’ and ‘Challenging Convention’. Obviously, there can be clashes.

New recruits often say that they find the Calcey culture a breath of fresh air compared to what they experienced while at University

Once new recruits come to Calcey, we try to encourage them to break free of the traditional notion that being straightforward is undesirable, and challenging seniority is a no-go. At the same time, positive aspects such as collectivism and the high camaraderie which recruits bring with them need to be encouraged. In an industry such as software, those elements tend to be very valuable.

Lesson 2: Leverage the similarities

The tech sector in general, is somewhat counter-culture, no matter where you are in the world. Because of this, tech employees the world over have certain similarities between them. Not only do they speak the same languages in terms of code, they even chuckle at the same memes. This commonality helps us build a good rapport with foreign tech teams, whenever we encounter them.

Capitalising on similarities helps people get along better

Lesson 3: Achieve a personality fit between the client and the project team

Since our clients will end up spending most of their time dealing with the project team, it is crucial that there is a good personality match between the two parties. Even more crucial is getting a good personality match between the client and the project manager, who will be the main point of contact.

Starting from the pre-sales stage, we try to gauge the personality traits of the client. Being a boutique firm, there is a lot of personal involvement in the sales process, and this gives us enough time and space to understand the client very well. This knowledge then helps us to put together a project team which usually ends up getting along well with the client.

It’s important that the project team is a good fit with the client

Lesson 4: Hire well and hire right

This is a no-brainer really. When hiring, we look for people who display a good level of empathy and are open to embracing new perspectives. Graduating at the top of your class is not everything after all.

We also have quite a few experienced hands in-house, who bring with them loads of international experience. They’re always around to help smoothen things.

And that’s it really. Though overcoming cultural barriers is not complicated as it appears to be, failing to understand the impact of culture can be disastrous for any business. Our methods though simple, are powerful. Most importantly, they work.

Life at CalceyUX

UX Design @ Calcey

May 3, 2019

Here at Calcey, UX plays a very important role in all that we do. Given that a lot of our work is aimed at everyday and not power users, the very success of the projects we undertake sometimes hinges on getting UX right. In this post, our UX Lead Ranga Weerasinghe walks us through how we approach this intricate, complex, yet beautiful process.

Q: Can you tell us something about yourself?

Well, I’ve been working at Calcey for the last four years. In that time, I have worked both as a UX Lead and also as a front-end developer, helping our development teams every once in a while. I am aware that it’s not a very common arrangement in the industry, but I happen to have both an artistic and programming background. That allows me to juggle these two roles, and I’m quite thankful for it.

Q: How do you and your team approach the UX design process?

The first and most important rule we follow is that there is no cookie cutter approach. Of course, there are industry standard best practices and we follow them. But we also recognise that in a fast-changing field such as ours, where trends come and go, there can be no one-size-fits-all solution. Sometimes, processes ought to be tweaked to suit the client. This flexibility is something we at Calcey are proud of.

Once a client signs up with us, we hold a kickoff meeting of sorts. We use this meeting as a platform to get everyone to reach a common understanding about what the objective of the project is going to be, and what everyone’s responsibilities are.

With that out of the way, the UX team gets down to business.

Q: How so?

We hold a few days of workshops with the client to understand their product and their users. We will try to map the user’s journey across the product/interface. In certain cases, we will try to come up with what we call ‘User Personas’ for different types of users. What this helps us do is build a story around the user to understand where they’re coming from, what their mindset is, what they’re looking to achieve (by using the product), and what’s preventing them from enjoying a seamless user experience. This helps us identify how a user would interact with the interface, and decide on the design decisions which we ought to take.

We will then enter what we call the ‘First Impressions’ stage. During this stage, the onus falls on us to use the insights gathered during the workshops and create simple wireframes of what we believe the UI needs to look like.

Software development companies in Sri Lanka — Drawing on paper can be a good way of thinking about design

Next, we will move on to the ‘Lo-Fi Prototype’ stage which stands for ‘Low-Fidelity prototype’. The mock-ups which will be presented to the client at this stage would be improved and clickable versions of the bare-bones wireframes from the previous stage. Of course, depending on the feedback from the client (coupled with initial user testing) and the extent to which any changes are made, there can also be instances where the Lo-Fi prototypes look nothing like the wireframes they were based on, but that’s okay. That’s par for the course, and we wouldn’t have it any other way.

If the client is okay with the Lo-Fi prototypes, we will proceed to create a High-Fidelity version (or Hi-Fi prototype, as we call it). A Hi-Fi prototype will usually be very detailed, and will end up looking exactly like the final product. Hi-Fi prototypes are very good subjects for user testing purposes, and we’ve had instances where users thought the mock-up was actually a real app.

Not to brag or anything, but we’re that good.

Q: Are there any principles which you try to abide by while designing?

Not many really, but there are two principles which we try to follow at all times. One is to think ahead. I think it was Wayne Gretzky who said that he tries to skate to not where the puck is, but to where it is going to be. Similarly, we try to think about the usability and relevance of our UX two years down the line. After all, from the client’s perspective, whatever they’re paying us to do is an investment in the future of their business, and investments ought to have a good payback period. That is why we try to build tools which are useful today, but will also remain relevant tomorrow.

The second principle is research. The field of UX changes very fast, and trends come and go. Just look at how far we have come in terms of visual designs for apps. Not too long ago, skeuomorphic design was sweeping the world, only to be replaced by flat design inspired Microsoft’s Metro UI design language. Then, the pendulum swung the other way when Google introduced the material design philosophy which combined skeuomorphism with flat design. Tomorrow, it might be something else. For example, when we try to visualise information generated by a machine learning service, we need to make sure that when the end-user sees it, they are able to make sense of the information, perhaps through intuitive visual cues. As UX specialists, it is up to us to stay on top of these trends and separate the signal from the noise. It’s a skill that is built up over time, and keeping up with global trends and design philosophies through research is extremely important.

Q: Any advice for a budding UX specialist looking to join Calcey?

Stay curious, and be patient. UX is something you get better at over time. Rome wasn’t built in a day, neither are UX specialists.

Oh, and send us your CV and portfolio.

Cover image credits: Photo by Mika Novo on Unsplash

Opinion

Women in Technology

April 26, 2019

The technology sector is generally perceived to be dominated by men. Ask someone to name a prominent figure in the tech industry and they will invariably blurt out the names of Bill Gates, Steve Jobs, and Mark Zuckeberg. How many will recall the names of Meg Whitman, Sheryl Sandberg, Rana el Kaliouby, or Kamakshi Sivaramakrishnan? How many undergraduate students will recall the name of Grace Hopper, who developed the compiler as we know it today, thus paving the way for the development of modern programming languages?

Before we start thinking about ways to bring about gender diversity into technology, it is worthwhile to explore how the field of technology came to be dominated by men in the first place. The Atlantic has a great explainer on the topic.

The situation is worse in South Asia. Take Sri Lanka for instance, where Calcey is based. According to the World Bank, only 1 in 3 women participate in the labour force, and between 2010 and 2016, the female labour force participation rate has dropped from 41 percent to 36 percent. The World Bank has also released a report titled “Getting to Work : Unlocking Women’s Potential in Sri Lanka’s Labor Force” which shows that women at all levels of educational attainment find it harder to secure high paying and high-skilled jobs.

These developments have all occurred despite the Sri Lankan economy expanding rapidly since the conclusion of a 30 year civil war in 2009. Positive infrastructural developments such as increasing numbers of girls being enrolled into the education system, and an extremely low female mortality ratio which is way above par even when compared with much more developed countries, has not managed to reduce the gender disparity and wage gap prevalent in the workforce.

So what’s preventing the assimilation of more women into the workforce, especially in the technology sector?

Marriage and Culture
The World Bank study referenced above found that for women, marriage can serve as an additional obstacle to participating in the labour force. A woman’s odds of becoming a paid employee after marriage goes down by 26 percentage points. Interestingly, marriage marginally increases the odds of a man becoming a paid employee by 2.5 percentage points.

The Asian cultural dynamic, which emphasises the family structure, naturally puts it at odds with the structure of the tech industry. When culture places the onus on women to take care of the family and attend to the needs of the kids, this invariably creates a problem where a female would find it hard to balance both the demands of a fast-paced job and a family. Neglecting the family is a no-no, which creates a natural incentive to bow out of the workforce.

Human Capital Mismatch
Dr. Sepali Kottegoda, Executive Director of the Women and Media Collective highlights how the education system fails women by failing to equip them with the skills demanded by employers. In this case, the problem appears to be a case of lack of inclusivity rather than lack of availability.

Dr. Kottegoda notes that there is a general impression that girls are not good at math. As a result, boys are pushed more towards mechanical pursuits, while girls are pushed more towards service-oriented roles, which is why Sri Lanka has fewer female computer science graduates.
The statistics prove it too. According to the University Grants Commission of Sri Lanka, of the 1,713 students who graduated in an Engineering-related discipline in 2017, only 420 were female. Similar behaviour can be seen with science graduates. When it comes to non-STEM fields however, the proportion of female graduates is much higher, indicating a reluctance to obtain STEM-related qualifications.

Lack of safe transportation options and harassment
The World Bank points to the lack of safe public transport solutions for women and the harassment faced by women in public and at the workplace as major obstacles towards attracting more women to the workforce. This is actually a major issue faced by women everyday, everywhere. Thankfully, awareness is being raised thanks to the efforts of a few volunteers and organisations.

So what can be done to encourage more women to join the IT industry?

We at Calcey think there are a few solutions to this problem, but all of them are long-term and will not yield results overnight. After all, we’re talking about changing the culture of a country here.

Encourage more flexibility
As an industry, we have a responsibility to shape our workplaces so that they are supportive of everyone.That means creating systems which enable people to build their careers around their personal lives, and not the other way round. At Calcey, we have made sure that flexi-hours are made available to everyone, regardless of gender or status. In the same way, new dads at Calcey are entitled to generous paternity leave, which is not something that is widely available throughout corporate Sri Lanka. Calcey employees who end up working at night, are provided with transport so that they don’t have to worry about getting home safely.

Everyday harassment on public transport can keep women out of the workforce
Educate to educate
The industry must work together with the government to change the discourse around STEM education for the better. While it is the government which can encourage teachers and principals to encourage girls to take up STEM-related subjects, the industry must play the role of the lobbyist by educating the government on the importance of IT, and the opportunities available for women. At the same time, as players in the industry, it is up to us to shine the light on our female employees, and highlight their achievements. This added visibility could potentially help change how parents perceive careers in the IT industry.
Enforce equality and non-discriminatory policies in the workplace
It is our opinion that technology companies ought to adopt and strictly enforce policies of equality and non-discrimination across the board. This is easier said than done, and companies which have been built ground up with such ideals in mind arguably have it better, compared to ageing elephants of the corporate sphere, where entrenched norms can be very hard to change. This is also one of the reasons why Calcey was envisioned as a complete meritocracy from day one.

While it is impossible to predict that simply making these changes will eliminate all the problems faced by women when trying to enter the workforce, we are pretty sure that they will go a long way towards helping make things better.
Much better, actually.

  Cover image credits: Photo by Samuel Zeller on Unsplash

OpinionTrends

What we have learned from digitizing processes

April 24, 2019

Digitising previously manual processes is basically what popularised the personal computer across the world. Being a software development company which helps businesses around the world reap savings by migrating hitherto manual processes into the 21st century, we have learned a thing or two about what to do and what not to do.

Understand the process very well

Successful digitisation must begin with a careful and thorough understanding of the existing process, the envisaged solution, and what needs to be done to bridge the gap. The key to getting this right is to consult with all the relevant stakeholders, and application of domain knowledge. It might sound simple, but simple things often get overlooked.

Take the case of Compare Networks Inc. (CN), for whom we act as the principal software development partner. CN came to us to develop an iPad app which allowed companies to upload, organise and distribute their marketing collateral to their field sales staff – spread around the world, through a web-based content management system (CMS).

As a software vendor for multi-billion dollar life science companies, CN had seen firsthand how hard it was for sales people in such large global firms to keep track of promotional material for hundreds and sometimes even thousands of SKUs. Given their technical expertise, CN drew up a vision for solution, and validated it with their customers. They were successful with this pre-selling exercise. They brought their inputs to us, and we built a product, which is known today as ‘imSMART’. Through imSMART they completely digitized the outdated practice of distributing printed marketing collateral, creating a saving of 11 million dollars a year for one imSMART customer alone.

The final product ended up being a runaway success and in our opinion, that was purely because CN took the effort to develop a great overall understanding of the situation at hand and validate their idea for a solution with actual clients. As a result, imSMART was a perfect fit to the problem of disseminating promotional material to a global sales force, and customers never had to go through the misery of adapting to an under- or over-engineered product.

Build an MVP and make it quick
Most digital transformation projects end up making the mistake of trying to build a fully fledged solution from the get go. This is not a great idea because it leaves little room for any flaws to be ironed out prior to implementation.

With imSMART, CN understood this very well. Their MVP was entirely focused on building a basic solution which satisfies the core need. Once the MVP was built, it was validated through user testing. Once initial user testing was complete, CN was free to build in any additional features as necessary.

Involve the end user in testing
Typically, testing may be done using an in-house team of quality assurance analysts, or even by the founders of the very startups for whom we build apps.

In our experience, this is not a great idea, because the frame with which a designer or founder looks at an app could be completely different from how an actual user would look at an app.

Goodmarket, which is one of our clients, is a good case study on how to do user testing right. Goodmarket is a market place for ‘doing good’, and aims to connect consumers looking for socially conscious, non-toxic, organic, and ethically produced goods with the vendors, who are often cottage industries fragmented around the country. By virtue of their scale and size, these vendors are not able to put forward any independent verification to prove their ethical credentials.

Goodmarket wanted to create a platform which can take care of this verification process and act as a self-service portal of sorts for both customers and vendors looking to buy and sell ethical, socially conscious products. We had the privilege of building the Goodmarket’s platform for them, and one of the key drivers of the platform’s eventual success was all the testing that was done with end users, who are often not very digitally savvy.

The insights gained from placing the app in front of everyday users paved the way for us to optimise for form and function, thus making sure that the platform is in alignment with the Goodmarket’s business objectives.

Not every process needs to be digitised

And finally, not everything needs to be digitised. We live in a world which worships automation, and digitisation of processes is pretty much a buzzword that is thrown about in corporate boardrooms mindlessly. The criteria to decide whether a process ought to be digitised is as follows: If things are binary and require less human judgement, go ahead and digitise. If there is a lot of subjectivity involved, you may be better off with leaving the process untouched.

Cover image credits: Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash

Life at Calcey

The Calcey Way

April 23, 2019

Good things come in small packages, they said. When we commenced operations nearly 17 years ago, we promised our clients first-rate software solutions built with love by resourceful, focused, and dedicated teams. Today, having grown into a much larger company with 140 employees, nothing much has changed, except for our size. Our founder, Mangala Karunaratne, was once a Project Manager in Silicon Valley and managed an offshore development team. Disappointed with the results of the traditional offshoring model, he set out to build a company which can tap into the rich talent pool in South Asia, while offering clients the personal touch, empathy, understanding and ownership, an onshore boutique development outfit can provide.

We’ve come a long way since, but we still continue to stick by our original vision. Hundreds of clients later, we’re convinced that we’re doing something right. We are proudly industry agnostic, and our structure enables us to work with firms of all sizes. Be it Fortune 500s or a little startup based in a garage in a corner of the world, we’re happy to put our technological prowess to good use without any discrimination. That is why we compete on quality and not on cost.

For anyone looking to understand how we go about our work at Calcey, this is what we have to say.

IT companies in Sri Lanka Calcey — Hard at work with a client

Our Rules
Rules are sometimes meant to be broken. But, like road rules, some rules exist to make things better for all of us. Think of these as our non-negotiables.

1. Straight talk
  Frankness is under-rated. At Calcey, we believe that being candid is better for everyone and reduces misunderstandings. In the business that we’re in, good communication is key and misunderstandings are costly.
2. Fairness
  The world may not always be a fair place, but our offices are. Calcey is a meritocracy, and we strive to do right by everyone. Whether we are dealing with employees, customers, or even the kind lady who runs our cafeteria, the rule of fairness is applied.
  
  The Calcey family on our 2018 Annual Trip
3. Honesty
  We consider ourselves peddlers of honesty. Sometimes that means turning work down if it is not something we’re good at. At other times that means being open about how a given decision would affect the timelines of a project. Whatever it is, we’d rather tell the truth than try to save face by lying.
4. Integrity
  A company is simply a group of people, and the way the people go, so does the company. That is precisely why we look for people with strong value and moral principles, because we believe that Calcey should also exhibit a strong moral code. We like people who are in touch with their conscience and know how to do what is right and ethical.
5. Quality, always
  We take pride in providing our clients with world-class, defect-free products and services. It’s what has helped us become who we are today, and a quality-first mindset permeates all that we do.
  
  That’s why our clients love us
6. Be responsible
  We have a reasonably flat organisational structure at Calcey for a reason. We don’t want cumbersome, bureaucratic processes to get in the way of doing good work. All that we ask from our employees is to do their part and do it well.
7. Respect everyone
  Treat everyone, regardless of their age, gender or status, as you would like to be treated. That doesn’t mean you can’t disagree, but don’t demean others just to get your point across. We don’t need that where we’re going.
8. Always learn and adapt
  The industry we are in is like quicksand, continuously shifting underneath our feet. What’s in vogue today may be derided tomorrow as a huge no-no, but that’s not the point.The thing with knowledge is that it compounds, and as you learn more, you can make better sense of the world around you. That’s how you become better at solving problems, and no matter how you look at it, all of us are in the business of solving problems, really.
  
  We also make it a point to have fun whenever we can
9. No oversized egos please
  This is a no-brainer. We also think the late Anthony Bourdain did a great job of explaining this in a much better way than any of us ever could.
  
  It is truly a privilege to live by what I call the ‘no asshole’ rule. I don’t do business with assholes. I don’t care how much money they are offering me or what project. Life is too short. Quality of life is important. I’m fortunate to collaborate with a lot of people who I respect and like, and I’d like to keep it that way.
  
  Don’t get us wrong though. Sometimes, life works out better if you’re just brave enough to say what you really feel, even if it’s an unpopular opinion which goes against conventional wisdom. Mark Manson calls them ‘Ethical Assholes’. Labels notwithstanding, we’re okay with people who aren’t afraid to be unpopular, as long as they’re doing what’s right. If the Wright Brothers weren’t brave enough to think that they can build a flying machine despite being humble bicycle mechanics, the aviation industry would have never happened.

And that’s it.
At Calcey, we care deeply about creating a work culture which enables people to show up and do their best work. We’re proud to say that we’re a true meritocracy. Good performance should and will be rewarded handsomely. That’s a promise.
FYI though, there are times when things may not go as smoothly as we’d like them to. Every once in a while, there is the occasional all-nighter when prepping for a release. But those are few and far in between, and we work to minimise such instances through planning.

If you are interested in working with us, check out our open vacancies at https://calcey.com/careers/ and drop us an email at jobs@calcey.com.

How to

Actionable ideas to boost your company’s social media presence

January 22, 2019 by Felicia Qvarfordt

Today social media is a big part of most companies marketing strategy, and to be inactive on social media as a company is not even an option anymore. But with all the social media platforms we have today, it can be hard to know on which platforms you should be active, and how you use them in the best possible way.

You should use different platforms in different ways, but there are some general tips that apply to all social media platforms. This short article where I share some general tips, is a good starting point.

In this article I will share some tips on how to use 4 of the most commonly used social media platforms that we have today.

Twitter:
There are a lot of benefits for a company to be active on Twitter, so the question to ask yourself is not if you should use Twitter, but how to use it. If you have no clue on how to use Twitter in the best way, or if you get confused by all retweeting and hashtagging, this should be helpful!

Twitter is a microblogging service that allows you to write short posts with a maximum 280 characters. Compared to other social media, Twitter is a very “relaxed” platform. By relaxed, I mean that you should be open and have a personal tone.

Another thing that is important on Twitter is to lay off the sales talk, Twitter is not the right platform for this, which means that you should not share a lot of tweets about how awesome your product/service is. People get tired of such accounts quickly and tend to tune out your tweets.

Twitter is not for one-sided communication, but excellent for discussions. Start off by participating in discussions about topics you have expertise in and where you can contribute. If you provide good and relevant tips you will build credibility with other followers, which will make you a valuable contact for them.

Twitter is probably the platform where you should put the most focus on hashtags (a # followed by a word – categorize your tweet and make it searchable), which hashtags are trending right now? Which hashtags are trending in your industry? Be creative with your hashtags, maybe start your own hashtag trend? However, studies have shown that you should not use more than two hashtags per tweet. So don’t go overboard.

Something I love with Twitter is the ability to retweet. Retweeting means sharing someone else’s tweet, which is perfect if you want to give your followers good and valuable content often, but do not have enough content yourself. I mean, just look at this guy! He retweets A LOT, and has 245K followers. It’s not a company page, but it still shows that retweeting works!

Also as this article says, “people who send out more retweets tend to receive more retweets”. So give and you shall receive – remember to retweet!

If someone writes something positive about you, you should also retweet it, to show your appreciation. Twitter is often used as a fast and public customer service, so make sure to always answer questions or comments as soon as possible. This is very important since quick responses are expected on Twitter.

Instagram:
Instagram was launched in 2010 as a new platform where users could share their photos quickly and easily. Thanks to its simplicity, Instagram grew fast, and after only 2 years, Facebook bought Instagram for a record price.

Today, Instagram has millions of active users, and is a meeting place for both individuals and businesses. So of course your company should be on Instagram! But what do you have to do to stand out on Instagram?

Since Instagram is all about pictures, you need to put some extra effort to the pictures you post. Make sure to always publish high quality images.

Instagram users sees loads of photos every day on Instagram, so you have to post photos that stands out to catch attention, and that makes your followers feel something. Show your products or services in a creative way.

One example of a company who is successful on instagram, with 83.6 MN followers, is Nike. You might think that most of their photos would be of their sneakers or clothes, but it’s not.

You’ll find heartwarming and inspiring posts about athletes and their stories, record breaking sports highlights and influential moments in sport. They are creative and good at evoking feelings with their posts.

Instagram is also often used to show what happens behind the scenes of the company. Share pictures of what’s happening during your work days. Is it someone’s birthday? Did someone bring his dog to the office? Do you play pool during lunch breaks? Let your followers be a part of your days! This way you build a more personal and human relationship with your followers.

Instagram gives you the opportunity to provide quick updates that show what’s happening right now. Use stories to show what you are doing, have polls or let your followers ask you questions.  Use the live stream feature to allow your followers to participate in real-time events, see new releases or something else that may be of interest to them.

LinkedIn:
LinkedIn is the absolute largest network for B2B relationships, so it’s very likely that many of your customers, potential customers and competitors are there, which means that you should also be there. But in order to succeed well on LinkedIn, there are a few things to keep in mind.

One thing that is very important when it comes to LinkedIn is your company page. Since the first thing people see when they are searching for your company is the company page, it is very important to spend some time and give it some love. Make sure that it clearly and easily tells you what you are doing and how to contact you, and that it is always up to date with the correct information. The first impression means a lot.

It is also important that you show your expertise on LinkedIn. Participate in discussions about topics where you have good knowledge. If people see that you are have good knowledge and that you are great at what you do, it will build confidence in you and your business.
LinkedIn is perfect place for recruiting. Fill your network with people in your industry and start looking for talented potential employees.
There are lots of industry-specific groups on LinkedIn, so make sure to be active in groups in your industry. Here you can share knowledge and create new valuable contacts.

If someone interacts with your posts on LinkedIn (likes or comments) the post will be visible to their followers too. This means that sharing content that people interact with makes it easy to spread widely, so think about what content your followers want to see.

Facebook:
Having a company page on Facebook is a no-brainer for most organisations, and there’s a lot of perks of having one. But even on Facebook there is a few things to consider in order to stand out.

Something to think about when using Facebook is that content is king! Share content your followers wants to see. In order for your followers to engage with your content you need to give them something they value. What advice can you give them? What are they interested in seeing?
If you provide content that your followers appreciate, they will like/comment/share it, which makes you reach more people.

I usually look at Facebook as a mix between LinkedIn and Twitter. You can be relaxed, open and personal, but also share content that markets your company. Make sure to have a mix between relaxed and more professional content.

Another great part of Facebook is the targeted marketing platform it offers. You can choose to market your posts, and you can choose to target your exact target market. Target your marketing to the correct people and there is a big chance that your potential clients will see it.
Facebook is also a great place to hold contests! Create contests where your followers have a chance to win your products or services in exchange for them to comment/share/like the post. When your followers comments on or shares the contest, the reach of your post increases which means you reach more people and potential clients.

The company Diamond Candles managed to get over 30,000 new fans in less than 6 weeks by having contest where you could win their product – candles, if you liked their Facebook page.

If you want to read more about successful Facebook contests, you can do that here.

So there you have it. A few ideas that you can implement immediately for boosting your company’s performance on social media. Let us know if you’ve already tried any of these out and how they’ve worked for you, in the comments!

How toOpinion

How can services companies stand out on social media?

January 19, 2019 by Felicia Qvarfordt

It’s not a secret that social media is an important part of any company’s marketing today. But how do you make best use of it as a services company? Because let’s be real; services are not as sexy and easy to show off on social media as beautiful products. So how can services companies use social media in a successful way?

This is something we’ve been thinking about a lot lately at Calcey – and here’s a few ideas that we found useful.
Less is more..

In this’ day and age there are a lot of different social media platforms, but you shouldn’t be seen on all of them.
As a services company, where you don’t have a product to showcase, it’s even more important to choose the right platforms to reach the right people. Choose the networks where you target audience has a strong presence and focus on those.

Understanding and providing value to your target Audience
In order to maximize your reach and impact, you need to be able to identify where your target audience spends their time and focus on these networks. Get an understanding of what kind of content your audience is interested in, and share yours with that in mind. Creating and sharing the right content will generate a wider reach through likes, comments and shares from your followers.
Give your audience valuable content they appreciate and you will generate buzz that translates back to your organisation; a win-win!

The Purpose
Start off by considering the purpose of your presence on social media (and of course there can be a different purpose for different networks). Is it to reach out to potential clients? Is it to recruit for your company? Improve your corporate image? Forge relationships with your current clients? The purpose you set down (maybe for each social media platform) will determine the kind of content you should share.
If you choose a network to recruit personnel for your organisation, a good place to start is to share content and stories that showcases everyday life and fun activities that takes place at your workplace, or stories covering what great experiences your co-workers have every day at the office, a “behind the scenes” segment for an example. This creates a positive first impression which encourages prospective employees to find out more about the company.

Be active and share knowledge
It is important to be consistently active and contribute to discussions social media. This isn’t limited to posting own-content (which in itself is very important), but you should also engage with other people’s content. Like, comment and answer questions posted by others. When you engage in other people’s content you generate a greater reach for your brand.

As a services company, you don’t have a tangible ‘product’ that you can show-off in straightforward manner, so you’ll have to earn people’s trust in other ways. Sharing your knowledge and expertise is a good way to do that, and social media is the best place for it. If you see someone asking a question in your area of expertise, make sure to always answer. This will help you show people that you are an expert at what you do. Blog posts, videos showing your company culture, infrastructure etc. are also good for building credibility.

Provide your audience with what they want to see
Way too many organisations use their social media too directly to market their services. Using it solely to promote your “amazing and outstanding” services is not necessarily positive. Your audience might grow tired of your endless spam promotional content; don’t become one of THOSE organisations.

Publish content that has value to your audience. Give advice and inspire! This creates a sense of trust in you and your organisation, and as mentioned before – your content will have far greater reach through likes, comments, and shares if your content speaks to your audience.

Analyse and be patient!
A crucial part of social media is to analyse the data from your content. There are a lot of tools out there for this. However, you can simply use the analytics tools/dashboard provided by the social media platforms themselves, and they are usually the best way to go, when you’re starting out!

Analyse what content generates buzz and what does not, which should guide you towards creating the content that your audience appreciates (sounds easy right?). But be patient! It may take a while in order to recognise patterns of what works and what doesn’t.
These are just a few ideas we are trying to implement right now with our social media strategy. Comment and let us know what has worked for you!

Startups

6 Highlights From Calcey’s Deep Dive Into London

January 14, 2019 by Craig Ryder

In June 2018, we started our first deep dive into London’s startup ecosystem. Our goal was to keep up on the latest trends, meet some of the main players and, of course, introduce Calcey to the crazy amount of new startups literally exploding in London right now. And we’ve seven UK startups confirmed as clients, we are delighted with the progress so far.
Here’s our six highlights from six epic months.

#1 Staying Ahead Of The Curve
Unsurprisingly, AI was the most consistently dazzling trend happening in London. The sheer breath of industry that the most exciting technology in human history is disrupting is astounding. We caught up with the Five AI Startups You Need To Know About, including autonomous vehicles that can drive on other planets, a NLP algorithm that could save us from fake news, and a voice activated communication tool for people with disabilities.
Voice Activation promises to be a monumental leap forward for our ability to communicate with AI in 2019. We heard from Bret Kinsella, one the world’s foremost figures in the voice industry, who suggested Smart Speakers Are The Gateway Drugs to more meaningful conversations with machines.

#2 Gender and Tech
We believe increasing gender parity gap is a crucial next step for the progress of the global tech industry. In the UK, only 17% of the tech industry is populated by women, with only 5% in senior management in positions. That’s why we featured Head of Analytics, Maria Koukou’s 5 Strategies for Success speech at Facebook’s new London HQ.
We also published this thought-provoking piece, Can you name five famous women in tech?
But we were sure to provide the answers, because, unfortunately, it’s a very tricky question.

#3 CEO Stories
1-2-1 Interviews with CEOs really get under the skin of what it means to run a startup. We love learning about what makes a strong leader tick and what makes young startups become fully fledged successful businesses. One of current client’s, Alex Crockford from CrockfitApp, revealed all in his How to Get 150,000+ Instagram Followers interview, while chef-turned-CEO, Caspar Rose of Fresh Fitness Food, told us how he is helping change the home-eating habits of the UK. The CEO of Doordeck—the world’s first keyless security platform—told us Why the transformation from IoT to SaaS is the pivot that matters.

#4 Green Tech
After Green Tech gathering great momentum last year last year, we’d love to see this really push-on in 2019. We interviewed IoT expert, Pilgrim Beart, who explained How IoT Is Driving Sustainable Change. We were also super impressed with mojeek, an ethical search engine, and the inspiring food waste co-operative, OLIO. They already have 700,000 users and a whopping 22,000 volunteers so they have clearly captured the UK’s public’s imagination in a big way.

#5 Pitch, Pitch, Pitch
Pitch events where boxfresh startups pitch for the hearts, minds and financial support of The Crowd are happening every week in London. They are free, fun and the best way to learn about what startups to watch out for… At the The Future Fin-Tech we heard from 11 eleven startups who have Unicorn-potential. We loved seeing 4 Startups Finally Delivering On IoT’s Promise, including a solution for single use plastic usage in the cosmetics industry. And as UK’s broken house market becomes ripe for disruption, PropTech revealed itself to one of the most competitive industries (and surprising biggest trends) in 2018.

#6 Blockchain – In or Out
We began in London in June and Blockchain was everywhere. The City was still super excited about ICO’s and in our video interview with blockchain evangelist Arfia Khan, she explained why 2018 is The Year of the Security Tokens. But since, blockchain seems to fallen off the map a little bit. Is it a conspiracy? Let’s find out in 2019.
It’s Been Epic

There’s our six highlights from six epic months. And honestly there’s so much we didn’t include. Here’s to another six…