Appnovation
Unleashing the Power of Agile Methodology

The COVID-19 outbreak has created rapid changes in the global economy—giving businesses no time to adapt and respond efficiently. On the one hand, there is a significant change in the consumer demand pattern as a result of work-from-home mandates. On the other hand, enterprises are witnessing a scarcity of resources to fulfill their business needs and end-user requirements alongside a sense of uncertainty in cash flow. Both of which directly impacts business operations and outcomes. At times like these, businesses need a reliable way to re-engineer conventional business models by leveraging agile methodologies and digital technologies with zero disruption—as quickly as possible.

Established over a decade ago to guide organizations through the ever-changing business environments is Appnovation. The global, full-service digital consultancy helps clients advance and inspire, create positive transformation, and champion digital innovation. The company enables clients to adapt and exceed today's business requirements by assisting them in incorporating agile methodologies into their business operations.

In conversation with CIOApplications, Scott Wassmer, GM at Appnovation, states how the company is at the helm of utilizing its expertise to enable its clients to stay ahead of the pack by helping them quickly adapt to business disruptions.

Could you give a brief overview of your company?

We are a Canadian-based, technology-first company that delivers people-inspired business solutions to clients across the globe. We started as a technical implementer around 12 years ago and have evolved into a global leader in the digital space. We offer a full-service suite to clients, including strategic consulting, creative services, technical implementation, and more. At Appnovation, we assist enterprises to navigate through all phases of the digital landscape, helping them identify growth opportunities, revealing competitive advantages, and defining engaging experiences.

At Appnovation, we work with our clients to help them create an agile and operationally efficient business model that allows them to compete more effectively in today's digital age. Unlike our competitors who airdrop their solutions into clients' ecosystems, we offer continuous post-implementation services to help them manage and maintain those solutions. Further, identifying that a complete digital transformation is associated with several adventitious disruptions, we provide efficient and comprehensive change management services to clients for a successful launch and adoption of our solutions.

What significant challenges do your clients face?

The pandemic has affected almost all businesses across the globe in one way or another. In fact, the current scenario has exposed the weaknesses and the lack of preparedness in existing digital transformation programs, as well as many organizations’ inability to move quickly and adapt to the ever-changing market. To align with the 'new normal,' it is necessary for businesses to work on bringing agile methodologies to all facets of their business operations.

However, enterprises will face several challenges in incorporating agile methodologies and digital technologies into business operations and leveraging their full potential even in the post-pandemic era. That’s where we come into the picture.

Is there a particular methodology that Appnovation adopts while onboarding a new customer?

Focused on delivering people-inspired solutions to businesses, we spend a lot of time and effort in understanding our clients’ needs as well as the requirements of their customers. This allows us to have a clear picture of what needs to be built, why it needs to be built, and for whom it needs to be built. Being able to deliver a wide range of solutions, including a standard website, digital marketing, change management, internal restructuring and governance, maintenance and long-term management, we can be brought in at any different stage of a clients' journey.

From there, we understand the overarching strategy of the project and look at it from a creative and innovative perspective. We identify that strategy needs to be built in a way to help technology grow, while at the same time, technology needs to be able to inspire strategy and creativity. Therefore, we always ensure that we look at everything with a holistic view before building anything for our clients.

Could you give a case study that substantiates Appnovation's value proposition?

With our ability to deliver industry-best results, we have been able to work with clients across various industry verticals such as telecommunications, health and life sciences, retail, tourism, and the government sector. One of the greatest highlights we have had over the last few months is our collaboration with some government organizations, assisting them in their COVID-19 response. Recently, we have been engaged with several provinces in Canada to help in their single site staffing initiatives. Health authorities in several provinces were concerned about the transmission of COVID-19 among long-term care homes, as staff often worked at multiple sites.

In a joint attempt to reduce cross-contamination between facilities, we worked with them to create digital solutions focused on data analytics to help identify the hotspots. As a result, authorities were able to make crucial resourcing decisions, which helped prevent the virus' spread. In fact, we were able to deliver prototypes within a few days, allowing them to serve their populations through technology enablement and innovative solutions.

What are Appnovation’s plans for the future?

For Appnovation, 2019 was a year of achievements from an expansion and growth perspective. We have expanded our team, adding a number of competent, highly skilled and intelligent people to our senior leadership. We’re able to help solve our clients' business issues with a full-service approach. Moving forward, we are planning to solidify our base by expanding into more advanced marketing automation technologies and delivering integration services.

As a company that is continuously looking for exponential growth, Appnovation is expanding its physical presence in strategic areas. We will open a new office in Los Angeles and another in Central or South America to create more substantial near-shore capability with greater scale.