Dealing with changing business requirements

Q

Please can you provide some background on OutSystems?
A
OutSystems was founded in 2001 by Paulo Rosado and today the company has over 350 active enterprise customers and is growing. OutSystems provides the only open, high-productivity application platform (PaaS) that makes it easy to create, deploy and manage enterprise mobile and web applications three times faster than traditional methods - helping IT deliver innovative business solutions fast.
OutSystems Platform enables rapid delivery of beautiful applications for all devices utilising responsive web design. The Platform empowers IT to attack changing business requirements by automating core DevOps best practices such as continuous integration and delivery. It is available as a public cloud, private cloud and on-premises solution.
Today the OutSystems platform is used by hundreds of companies in 24 countries across 22 industries.
Q
Who are the key personnel involved?
A
 Paulo Rosado, Chief Executive Officer
 David Holmes, Vice President of Worldwide Marketing
 Zahid Jiwa Vice President of Sales UK & Ireland
Q
What are the company’s key milestones to date?
A
Key milestones include:
 OutSystems has been profitable since 2007
 It has doubled headcount in the last few years and now has
over 240 employees worldwide and it plans to grow its
employee base by 30% in 2014
 It launched its UK operation in 2013
 It launched its new PaaS offering into the market in 2013
 OutSystems Platform Free Cloud Offering is aimed at
developers and was launched into the market in May 2014
Q
Geographically, what’s the company’s coverage to date?
A
OutSystems is a worldwide company and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia and Lisbon, Portugal. It has opened additional offices in Brazil, UK, Singapore, Japan, Dubai, and South Africa. Today, OutSystems Platform is used by hundreds of companies in 24 countries across 22 industries.
Q
What areas are ‘in the pipeline’?
A
All of the regions OutSystems serves contribute to its pipeline.
Q
Similarly, what are your industry sweetspots right now, and
what others are you going to target?
A
Mobile is an area of significant importance for OutSystems. Business is now more global, more immediate, and more mobile than ever before. Mobile technology enables employees to always be in touch with the office, the customer and the business opportunity. But today, mobility is about much more than just communication on-the-go. It’s about technology that enables the extended enterprise to connect and collaborate, linking customers, partners and employees to valuable online information services, from any device, virtually any place and at any time. Today, the whole enterprise application ecosystem needs to be multi-channel and organisations must have a mobile-first strategy. IT needs to be able to create once for all devices automatically, utilising responsive web design in their strategy. Additionally, mobile is so fast moving and with new apps constantly being developed, the CIO must create an environment where change can be managed quickly and effectively.
Over the years at OutSystems, we’ve helped hundreds of customers such as Randstad, Fidelidade, Bacardi, ISB Global and many more create mobile and web apps that have transformed their business. Here is how we helped one of our customers, ISB Global. In just two months using OutSystems Platform, business software and systems consultancy, ISB Global created and deployed a mobile application that allows users to carry the power of SAP in their pockets.

With tight integration to SAP Business One, it provides remote and field employees the ability to record and monitor customer service requests via mobile and web devices. The systems highly usable user interface design increases staff efficiency and reduces training needs because it offers a fine-tuned workflow free from the UI complexities of SAP.
Q
How does OutSystems work with/without the Channel?
A
OutSystems has a network of sales and service partners worldwide.
Q
In more detail, what are your plans for the European market?
A
OutSystems is currently serving most of Europe and we continue to expand and grow our business in the region.
Q
Now we have all the ‘logistics covered (!), please can you
outline the OutSystems technology?
OutSystems provides the only open, high-productivity application platform (PaaS) that makes it easy to create, deploy and manage enterprise mobile and web applications - helping IT deliver innovative business solutions fast. OutSystems Platform enables rapid delivery of beautiful applications for all devices and empowers IT to attack changing business requirements. The Platform is available as a public cloud, private cloud and on-premises solution.
Q
What are the solution’s USPs?
A
The OutSystems Platform enables organisations to:
 Rapidly deliver innovative enterprise mobile and web
applications
 Design and create once, deliver multi-device applications
with great UX
 Integrate and leverage existing systems
 Leverage the cloud, speeding application time-to-value
 Destroy change request backlogs
The benefits our customers derive as a result include:
Increased productivity
Our visual modelling environment significantly enhances productivity by making the mapping and understanding of the application far more efficient. IT teams are no longer tied up in non-functional tasks. This frees them up to bring innovation to the business.
Managing change more effectively
80% of the CIO’s team’s time is spent managing the status quo. Only 20% of their time is focused on bringing new applications to the business. Our platform enables teams to flip this stat and change the way they do things far more quickly.
Innovation
We change the fate of CIOs enabling them to lead rather than follow. We create a cultural shift where they are now able to innovate and deliver, new cutting edge applications to the business. Not only do we give them back time and resources but we equip them with tools and a methodology.
Open, non proprietary
The open and portable nature of our platform means that customers are not held hostage to a proprietary system but can cleanly detach onto industry stacks with open Java or C# code with no proprietary runtime.
Q
What has been the customer uptake to date?
A
We have over 350 active enterprise customers and growing. Today OutSystems Platform is used by hundreds of companies in 24 countries across 22 industries.
Q
I s the market ready to embrace Platform-as-a-Service?
A
Yes we believe that it is. Today cloud computing services are being adopted mainstream and are an integral part of an enterprises IT strategy. Additionally, in the last 12 months adoption of platform as a service (PaaS) has increased dramatically and it is now one of the fastest growing areas of all the cloud computing services. Gartner estimates a steep rise in PaaS adoption and forecasts an increase in spending to more than $2.9bn by 2016. In fact, by 2016
Gartner estimates that every organisation will run some or all of its business software on public or private PaaS. IDC also expects sharp uptake.

IDC estimates that the worldwide PaaS market is set to increase to more than $14bn by 2017 as organisations look to speed up application development and decrease infrastructure costs. IDC predicts that, over the next four years, the compound annual growth rate for PaaS will be around 30 per cent. Whatever analyst statistics you use to gauge the growth and uptake of PaaS, there is no doubt that PaaS has now become irresistible to organisations. That said our solution is available as a public cloud, private cloud and on-premises solution – giving our customers ultimate choice.
Q
Presumably, most of your customers are comfortable with a
Hybrid Cloud model?
A
Yes, hybrid cloud provides them with ultimate flexibility and control. Hybrid cloud is a natural evolution/transition that is happening because it allows organisations move to the external cloud at their own pace.
Q
What do you see as the issues still facing customers who are
considering the Cloud/Managed Services route?
A
There are a variety of factors slowing the outright transition. Customers are still concerned over how secure online platforms are. There are significant existing investments in internal systems of record that are not moving to the cloud, that need to be integrated with, sometimes heavily. That creates some technology hurdles to deal with. Some customers still struggle with a core trust factor that will need to fade with time and evidence.
Q
How important do you think is Open Source in the Cloud
world?
A
Open source isn’t specifically a cloud concern. The attributes of open source that make it compelling outside the cloud continues to make it compelling in the cloud.
Q
How do you see the Cloud/Managed Services market evolving
over time – in terms of who offers what?
A
IaaS players will need to add differentiated services on top of their service stacks to compete with one another. The pricing war at the IaaS level is evidence that this layer is quickly commoditising. This drive will cannibalise the low-end of PaaS, the high-control offerings (CloudBees, EngineYard, etc). That cannibalisation and consolidation will create opportunity for offerings that operate above that fray, such as OutSystems, who can provide customers insulation and abstraction from that chaos.
Q
What can we expect from OutSystems during the remainder of
2014 and beyond?
A
In 2014, OutSystems is dedicated to increasing worldwide awareness of the benefits of application development in the cloud. OutSystems has aggressive growth plans and intends to grow its staff base worldwide by 30% this year.
Q
Please can you provide a customer story?
A
A great example of how our platform has helped an organisation be more productive and competitive is FirstCarbon Solutions, a pioneer in environmental, social and corporate governance business solutions. Using OutSystems Platform, FirstCarbon solutions is now able to rapidly deliver new applications to market. In fact, it is now three times faster. The company evaluated 25 providers, narrowed this down to three and OutSystems Platform was ultimately selected because it was easy to use and highly intuitive. Today OutSystems Platform is helping FirstCarbon deliver innovative business applications within its portfolio that
are providing new levels of flexibility, scalability, service, and support to its customers.