Permanent role for a Project Manager

Synetec is expanding and we are looking for a Project Manager to join and as a valued member of the team, they will encourage, train and support you in keeping you up to date with the latest technologies.

• Project Manager/Scrum Master/Business Analyst

• Minimum of 8 years of experience

• Experience in the following is essential: Agile, Scrum Management, Stakeholder Engagement, Coordinating development teams , Interpreting research to create requirements, Use Case Creation, Business Process analysis and re-engineering, strong reporting skills, organisation of project meetings (retrospectives, daily stand ups and planning meetings), Business case & delivery proposal production, excellent organisational and communication skills, works well under pressure, strong documentation and process skills

• Experience in the following is beneficial: Waterfall Methodologies, Development Background, Test Function Management, Kanban

• Experience in the Financial Services Industry would be an advantage, but not essential

• Familiarity with the following software is essential: JIRA

• Familiarity with the following software is beneficial: Confluence

• The following qualifications are beneficial, but not essential: SCRUMMASTER, Prince2 Practitioner

• Permanent position

• Based in London, Charing Cross

• Starting ASAP

Additional Points:

• The salary for this role is in line with market rates and dependent on experience

• We are looking for an extremely well organised person, enthusiastic, energetic, ‘can do’ type of person that gets along well with others

• A professional manner and presentation is key

Useful Info:

Our offices are based in Central London, near Waterloo although will be relocating to larger premises in the area shortly. All candidates must have UK work experience and the necessary passport or visas to work indefinitely within the UK.

NO AGENTS PLEASE

Applicants must register their interest and email through their CV's to careers@synetec.co.uk

Are you making use of your data?

 

Is your company one of many sitting on Mega size excel spreadsheets, creaking with data, but no time or expertise to sort, report and analyse the mass to make it usable and worthwhile? Data is like gold, while it is in the ground it is worthless. It is when it has been extracted and polished that it becomes very valuable.

With a surge in rapid software development frameworks and improved data manipulation methodologies, comes the ability for companies to unlock the potential within their data and information about markets, trends, customers, potential customers, productivity and competitors far and wide. However, in order to use this data to tell a meaningful story and for it to affect actions and decisions in line with strategic planning, it needs to be moulded into nuggets of information relevant to the business goals and objectives.

Synetec had a client that ran most of their operations on a combination of a Back Office System, CRM system and very functional Excel spreadsheets. Across these three technologies they had terabytes of data that they were not realizing any value out of. Through consolidation and interpretation of these data sources,  the resulting data set, very accurately pinpointed ‘sweetspots’ and indicated where there processes and teams were achieving the greatest results. Just as valuable was the ability to identify where things could be improved on and what was the differentiator. This in turn brought about some minor adjustments to their processes, some training in very specific areas for individual team members and over a very modest time period an increase in performance across the board. It was all in the data.

As well as key business drivers, it appears that employees are better motivated when individual efforts and actions can be traced, rewarded and acknowledged, even when functioning as part of a team. Employees can also benefit from USEFUL data. If a certain team member is outperforming his peers, a dynamic report that highlights to management and leads to recognition and reward, would be beneficial to business goals. Or in greater detail, data may show that certain salespeople are stronger or weaker at selling a particular product or in a certain stage of the pipeline. You know software is really unlocking the value of your data when you are being informed on how to enhance processes for improvements and when its based upon YOUR data, then it’s worth listening.

What good would any of this data be if it's all stuck in a swamp of excel or dispersed amongst various database non-coherently? 

With a surge in technology that supports the financial industry and decline in the cost of gathering and storing data, the likelihood and reality of sitting on heaps of raw data is growing. The need for high level, almost instant reporting requires new and updated technologies that are not only bullet proof, secure and resilient, but also accessible to the non-technical user.

Synetec offers bespoke solutions with expertise in designing and managing the transition from legacy systems to updated technologies which can assist you in unlocking the value of your data.  While this process can often be problematic and expensive, Synetec can ensure that your business mines the gold instead of just spending it. 

George Toursoulopoulos is a technology specialist and CEO of Synetec, one of the UK’s leading providers of bespoke software solutions.

Quick Guide to Internet of Things

The “Internet of things” (IoT) has been a big topic of conversation in the workplace for some time, but considering how it can change how we both live and work, it’s no surprise that it continues to make headlines. Broadband Internet has become more widely available, the cost of connecting is decreasing, more devices are being created with Wi-Fi capabilities and sensors built into them, technology costs are going down, and smart phone penetration is sky-rocketing.  All of these things are creating a “perfect storm” for the IoT. This short article addresses what exactly it is, what impact it will have on you, what development trends are we seeing in this field and what can other areas of software development learn from it.

What exactly is the IoT?

The concept in its simplest form is that basically involves connecting any device with an on and off switch to the Internet (and/or to each other). This includes everything from cell phones, coffee makers, washing machines, headphones, lamps, wearable devices and almost anything else you can think of.  This also applies to components of machines, for example a jet engine of an airplane or the drill of an oil rig.  As I mentioned, if it has an on and off switch then chances are it can be a part of the IoT.  The analyst firm Gartner says that by 2020 there will be over 26 billion connected devices…that’s a lot of connections (some even estimate this number to be much higher, over 100 billion).  The IoT is a giant network of connected “things” (which also includes people).  The relationship will be between people-people, people-things, and things-things.

How does this impact you?

The new rule for the future is going to be, “anything that can be connected, will be connected.”  But why on earth would you want so many connected devices talking to each other?  There are many examples for what this might look like or what the potential value might be.  Say for example you are on your way to a meeting, your car could have access to your calendar and already know the best route to take, if the traffic is heavy your car might send a text to the other party notifying them that you will be late.  What if your alarm clock wakes up you at 6 am and then notifies your coffee maker to start brewing coffee for you? What if your office equipment knew when it was running low on supplies and automatically re-ordered more?  What if the wearable device you used in the workplace could tell you when and where you were most active and productive and shared that information with other devices that you used while working?

On a broader scale the IoT can be applied to things like transportation networks “smart cities” which can help us reduce waste and improve efficiency for things such as energy use; this helping us understand and improve how we work and live.  It does sound great, well parts of it do, the main concern is the security threat implication. Will someone be able to hack into your toaster and thereby get access to your entire network?  The IoT also opens up companies all over the world to more security threats.  Then we have the issue of privacy and data sharing.  That is and always will be a hot topic, so one can only imagine how the conversation and concerns will escalate when we are talking about many billions of devices being connected.  Another issue that many companies specifically are going to be faced with is around the massive amounts data that all of these devices are going to produce.  Companies need to figure out a way to store, track, analyse, and make sense of the vast amounts of data that will be generated.

 

Development Trends

Let’s start off with a few facts and insights from the Evans Data Corporation Internet of Things Development Study 2015. A third of all IoT developers are primarily focusing on Big Data and analytics projects, with 20.6% primarily focusing on firmware or preloaded software for the client device. Middleware (20%), which is essential for enterprise-wide adoption of IoT strategies, along with backend/server development (17.2%) taken together comprise the majority of development efforts.

21.7% of all IoT developers surveyed are working on ecommerce-related projects today. Business-to-Consumer (B2C) has a slight edge regarding the number of developers at 11.7% versus those developers working on Business-to-Business (B2B) projects (10%). Developers are also concentrating on supply chain-related projects including logistics (7.4%) and transportation (7%). The following graphic provides a ranking of connected device projects by percent of developers currently working in these areas.

42% of IoT developers are currently writing software that uses sensors. IoT developers are most often supporting acceleration and vibration sensors while creating new apps, followed by electric/magnetic and flow-based sensor devices. The study makes the point that acceleration or vibration sensors can refer to the sensors that change the orientation of a touch screen based on the way in which the device is held, and can measure the stability of stationary objects or objects with moving parts.

23% of IoT developers are currently working with or incorporating in-memory databases into their development work, and 44% plan to in the next six months.

Parting Thoughts

As everything we do is increasingly connected, so will the levels of available data increase proportionately. That is the key at the end of the day, the data. Keeping it secure, managing it efficiently, all while using it to fulfil an undoubtedly massive potential.

George Toursoulopoulos is a technology specialist and CEO of Synetec, one of the UK’s leading providers of bespoke software solutions.

Synetec playing golf in support of DEBRA

Synetec were proud to get involved with one of the DEBRA Charity Golf Days this year. The event was held at the immaculate and prestigious Swinley Forest Golf Club.  

Most importantly the day raised awareness and funds for the tremendous work and effort that DEBRA puts into helping and supporting the individuals and families affected by Epidermolysis Bullosa (EB). This is a great and worthy cause, so if you can support them in any way then we encourage you to. Click here to learn more about the great work being undertaken by DEBRA.

The imposing Swinley Forest Club House

Cyber Security & Learning from TalkTalk

When we last discussed cyber security the point regarding high profile companies being hacked was a relevant one and now with the latest incident regarding TalkTalk, it has just been hammered home once more. This short article discusses what happened and how we can all learn from it

 

Short version of what actually happened

TalkTalk do not know how many of its 4 million customers have been affected by the data breach, but what we do know is that the cyber-attack which took place on Wednesday, 21^st of October, affected people’s names, addresses, bank account numbers and sort codes. As TalkTalk put it on their website, these details ‘may have been accessed’. TalkTalk were hacked, the hackers attempted to blackmail them, they refused to pay and reported the breach.

What can we learn from it?

If there is only 1 thing to learn from it, it’s that system data must be encrypted. Most systems have debit/credit card details encrypted, but the possibilities to take advantage of other customer data these days is enormous. There is a thriving black market for stolen data, and you don’t even have to go to the Darknet to get it, it’s readily available online.

The other thing to take way from the TalkTalk incident is to have a proper post-breach response plan, this should include quick distribution of accurate information to the relevant parties (customers and authorities), allowing the proper assistance if required, but also to lessen the impact on your customers and begin the process of rebuilding their trust in your organisation.

George Toursoulopoulos is a technology specialist and CEO of Synetec, one of the UK’s leading providers of bespoke software solutions.

Software, Data Hacking and Fitness Bands

So everybody, well almost everybody, is wearing a fitness tracker of some variety. Almost everybody, because I haven’t jumped on that bandwagon yet, but that’s another story. With the ability to develop applications specifically for these devices and for these apps to be available across devices, there is an increasing amount of interest in this topic. This short article outlines some basic capabilities, what you should consider and some posed safety risks which you should know about to prevent your data from being ‘hacked’.

Part 1: Software Development

Back in May 2015 Microsoft released a SDK (software development kit) for those who want to create apps for the Microsoft Band fitness tracker. With this SDK developers are able to create applications that can access information from the fitness bands sensors and also allow applications to send notifications from a paired smartphone to the fitness band. This allows developers to create applications that support Windows, access all calorie data recorded and stored in the fitness band and connect to the band from tasks running in the background. The functionality exposed by this SDK includes access to all the fitness bands sensors such as a heart rate monitor, accelerometer and gyroscope. Versions of the SDK are available for each mobile operating system. This in tandem with Microsoft Health (a cloud-based fitness service that offers personalised health related information using data gathered from fitness bands) allows the potential for competition against Apple and Google and there offering.

Ignoring the individual software vendors and fitness bands themselves the scope is simply immense! Not only are existing fitness apps so much more useful, because let’s face it who wants to input all their calories intake or exercise details into an app when it can be done automatically, but the opportunity to provide focused and extremely relevant informed services to the consumer has never been better. As more and more devices become connected and can share your health related information, the more useful they can become. I will admit I was pretty envious when hearing about the WIFI weight scale that shared information with the fitness band and all that information was shared with an app on the users phone to provide amazing data and reporting. With the ability to develop and deliver apps that can access some of these devices, the potential is exciting.

 

Part 2: Your health data

All the data that is recorded by the sensors on your fitness band is available when pairing to the device through the Bluetooth LE protocol, which doesn’t require a password to pair two devices. By using the standard Android SDK you can easily scan for any Bluetooth LE fitness band in the vicinity and attempt to connect to it. In fact the only thing that stops anyone from just connecting to these bands and accessing all the data is if there’s already a phone connected to the device! However, it is also possible to disrupt the connection between a paired phone and a band, giving the software the opportunity to connect instead. So what is the downside of having your band hacked? Not much at this stage, they are still in their relative infancy and only record calorie and exercise related information, but this is also changing and you wouldn’t want your GPS recorded location history available? That could quite easily allow someone to know where you worked, lived, etc.

No doubt the band manufacturers will address this, but until then it’s possible.

George Toursoulopoulos is a technology specialist and CEO of Synetec, one of the UK’s leading providers of bespoke software solutions.

Managing Home Working

Many IT roles are ideal for a flexible working policy, however there are always issues to consider when implementing such policies. This article addresses some of these issues and provides some guidelines to ensure that both the business and the employees are better off for it.

Productivity

Certain roles within IT lend themselves to task based planning, which is perfectly suitable for remote working. A software developer for instance is assigned tasks, each task has an agreed timeline and then the dev gets on with it. As long as the tasks are being done to a reasonable schedule and at the quality that has been specified, then the business is better off by having happier employees and they are happier because they can work when and how it suits them. The regular review of the task progress eliminates most of the potential pitfalls. So productivity needs to be quantifiable.

Communication

Email can be cumbersome, so instant messaging and VOIP phones should be used to make life easier. Additionally, for certain types of tasks and early phases of projects, there is no substitute for being in the same location and having a face-to-face. Bottom line is that communications must be easy for all concerned and at certain points there is no substitute, which has to be recognised by everyone within the team.

Company Ethos

It’s sometimes a pre-existing idea within a business that remote working is an opportunity to slack off. If it’s handled correctly the company gets additional hours for no charge because of the additional pressure for team members to be more productive and put in a ‘good shift’ when they cannot physically be seen, that works to the company’s advantage and all parts of the organisation need to understand that. This can be a harder sell in some companies, but that’s part of the challenge.

Summary

With longer and more expensive commutes, cost of office space and better infrastructure available to homes across the country, home working is making increasingly more sense. That doesn’t detract from the fact that some people just aren’t suited to it or they might not have the correct environment at home that is conducive to it, that has to be taken into account. It doesn’t mean they are bad employees or slackers, nor that home working doesn’t work, but it does need to be identified and agreed that it might not be suitable for them. Finally, any employer obligations need to be considered such as health and safety assessments where applicable, insurance, etc...

George Toursoulopoulos is a technology specialist and CEO of Synetec, one of the UK’s leading providers of bespoke software solutions.