If I were to say ‘Make the ogre laugh, make the donkey sing’ would you look at me blankly and cautiously move away for fear of being too near the weird guy in the office? Or would you smile knowingly and strike up a movie buff’s conversation?.
If you’re in the former group, then fear not, I’ve not totally lost it, I’m merely talking about DreamWorks’ ‘Shrek’ films! Of course, if you’re in the latter group, you already knew that, and we should meet for a drink sometime to wax lyrical over our favourite movies.
Aside from being a film buff, there’s another reason for this quote. Earlier in my career, I spent over a decade at HP, most latterly in the Workstation team – and it was HP Workstations that, quite literally, made the ogre laugh and the donkey sing.
I doubt many people settle down to watch a film and consider the level of technological wizardry that has gone into its production. Sure, they know that increasingly complex effects are made possible because of technology, but the countless hours that went into developing the tech to start with and then utilising it in a way that makes the magic happen are often left unnoticed.
It’s much the same in any scenario that utilises a tech solution. Do we stop to consider how long it took to build an intuitive online shopping experience that makes the weekly grocery shop a less stressful experience, or how we can pay in a cheque (remember those?) without the need to physically step inside the bank branch? In all honesty, it’s unlikely that most of us do.
And whilst the solutions that we deliver here at Consenna aren’t consumer facing in the same way that a banking app is, they all have a purpose and value to those using them – in this case, partners throughout IT channel.Those users need them to be as intuitive as possible. They demand a seamless experience that supports their focus on selling the right devices to the right customers at the right time. Simply, they don’t have time for technology that fails.
As Software Development Lead at Consenna, responsibility for that faultless tech experience falls to me. Good job then that in addition to loving movies, I’m also a true techie at heart.
It’s only by taking a modular view to each stage of the user journey and being entirely empathetic to how those needs shift depending on where in that journey the customer is, that we can deliver solutions that not only meet, but exceed expectations. While we can provide ‘off the shelf’ solutions, each require their own level of customisation and configuration to be exactly as needed. When building something totally bespoke, we take each step that has been defined in the user journey and develop according to the exact needs of that customer.
It’s a time-consuming process with countless rounds of developing and testing before all the component parts can be joined together to deliver a solution that we’re proud to present to our partners. Do they know the time that goes into that development process? I honestly don’t know, but I doubt it. But they’re not supposed to; they simply need the magic to happen.
They need their donkey to sing!
