The pace at which consumer-oriented applications and services are being delivered is almost dizzying, and IT groups feel pressure to match it, both in order to keep up with the competition and to keep internal employees happy. Couple that with year-over-year growth of around 25 percent, and you’ve got a furious pace of change indeed.
Yet that’s exactly what SafeGuard World International is facing. The global payroll services provider and HR outsourcing company is dealing with it largely through an innovative approach to IT structure and an internal educational group that helps keep everyone up to speed on new technologies.
Dual IT divisions help maintain focus – and speed
In terms of structure, the company divides its IT group in two: one focused on traditional internal IT requirements and the other on developing the Software-as-a-Service products that customers touch, says Tristan Woods, chief strategy officer for SafeGuard World.
Given that SafeGuard World is a SaaS company itself, the traditional IT group tends to favor SaaS solutions. “In a lot of cases SaaS is a good fit for us because it’s typically less maintenance and overhead, and it’s quicker and easier to deploy than on-premises technologies,” Woods says.
Its product development side is further split into three groups:
- A product organization that focuses on requirements, opportunities and overall market and business strategy
- A development group that writes the code to deliver on product requirements
- A deployment group that includes a continuous improvement team, which helps ensure successful delivery of products, both internally and externally
The idea behind the split is largely to get product teams out of developers’ way. “We want to maximize developers’ time, not have them sitting in project meetings, status reviews and things like that,” Woods says.
“So how we go faster is by having a structure that enables us to not get developers distracted with non-development activities,” he says. Meanwhile, the product group helps ensure the company has the right products in the pipeline while the continuous improvement team helps ensure successful deployment.
Internal education group helps IT deliver value
Aiding in the deployment process is an internal educational group called SafeGuard University. The group was founded specifically to deal with the fact that SafeGuard is a fast-growing company, and thus needed to ensure consistency in how it trains people. SafeGuard University handles everything from educating new employees on what they need to do their role, to helping employees with the education required to further their careers.
But it also helps IT groups educate employees on how to use IT tools, both those developed for internal use and for customers, to help ensure the tools deliver maximum value. While the company could have employees from the IT organization perform that function, the thinking is that they are not best-suited for the job.
“SafeGuard University specializes in helping people learn, so they’re better equipped to make sure information is distilled correctly among ourselves and our clients,” Woods says. “University team members make sure we have all the right materials and the best ways to deliver training to generate excitement through the organization, which filters through to customers.”
SafeGuard World’s corporate culture also helps it keep up with the pace of change. Employees are encouraged to bring in ideas, and to act on them – even if it means taking chances when it comes to trying new IT products.
“The answers for how we improve the business are within the business,” Woods says. “We stay fresh and fearless because we’re not scared of change, or of what has to happen organizationally to realize it.”
