TECSA CASE STUDY

20/06/2023

TECSA x BRIGHTBOX: FUELLING A GLOBAL STARTUP

Tecsa is a three-year-old technology start-up. But don’t be fooled by its ‘start-up’ tag.

With a workforce approaching 50 heads and working with some of the biggest names in retail, Tecsa’s analytics platform and technology stack is powering loyalty programmes to millions of customers across the globe.

Tecsa designs, develops and implements loyalty programmes for major retailers, banks and travel businesses. And with rapid growth since its inception in 2020, it’s now on a trajectory to expand its reach to the US and South Americas.

John Rignall is Chief Technology Officer, responsible for the delivery and operation of Tecsa’s Digital capabilities, building the internal technical capability and driving the development of the retail analytics platform the company is taking to market, as well as supporting the technical architecture for loyalty programme design pitches.

Loyalty schemes are built on large pools of valuable and insightful customer spending data which is then analysed to drive better product development and assortment. Ultimately it is about allowing suppliers to monetise the data they’re collecting.

Sitting behind the front-end of any loyalty platform – whether a user app or website – is a whole ecosystem of MarTech products. All of that needs stitching together to make a really powerful loyalty programme.

Tecsa advises just how that can be achieved, and it’s ultimately what makes its proposition so appealing.

The anatomy of a super-charged analytics platform

Access to skills and talent is the key enabler to Tecsa being able deliver such a valuable tool to its base, as its ability to scale and innovate, often designing in an agile environment. And, like many modern businesses, Tecsa and its workforce are geographically diverse.

Working with a mix of permanent and consulting resources, it has hubs in Australia, Sydney, Hong Kong, Singapore and the UK, and its consultants are operating out of eight territories around the globe.

There’s a strong role that collaborative technology plays in helping to manage work that straddles different time zones and bringing colleagues closer together, despite physical proximity being a barrier.

Access to the talent that makes up Tecsa is a key facet of John’s role. It’s a familiar story in the current technology resourcing marketplace, and it’s one that has followed John from his previous organisations and experience.

It all about meeting the requirement for flexible capability that allows access to quality people that can be blended into existing teams. It’s also about being able to switch that talent on and off quickly.

And that’s where Tecsa’s story with BrightBox begins.

A global talent pool for a global proposition

Tecsa needed people that had good technical skills but also had the cultural fit whereby they could blend into a way of working with agile sprint processes. To date, that’s included lead data engineers, senior front-end developers, strong senior back-end developer roles, product owners and scrum masters.

“BrightBox presented to me most of what I required in terms of quality resources,” said John. “A good, flexible option and an interface into the UK economy with a level of insight in which I knew I could share my challenges and problems. One where they’d work with me to find a solution.”

“It's always a challenge when you're blending nearshore resource into existing teams. So, there’s a hurdle of change management to get over, allowing existing teams to accept it's a good way of working with natural resources blended in. I look to an organisation that can help me achieve that.

In Tecsa’s case, BrightBox’s people stand up, join teams and operate collaboratively. They make an impact fast. Crucially, they’ve shown they can do it time and time again.

Real world impact

BrightBox are fine tuned to Tecsa’s demands, understanding what they’re looking for, finding the right people very quickly. What’s more, the input of the trusted partner is measurable in sprint outputs and ultimately on Tecsa’s balance sheet.

For John, it can mean removing the hassle and time commitments associated with permanent recruiting. With BrightBox’s pre-selection process, they’ve landed quality people who Tecsa have confidence in to join the team and be productive from day one. And it’s an approach that works in the good times and the bad.

“We spend less time qualifying these individuals,” said John. “We’ve got flexibility, in so-much as if it’s not working out, we can do something about it quickly. That means we don't have to agonise over the decision, and we go again, and can move at a reasonable pace.

“This model and the partnership mean that if we want to change our model, split our sprint team out, or even double it, we can execute with confidence. It’s evident in our sprint retros, always recording an active contribution from BrightBox.”

John cites a previous organisation’s success down to the role BrightBox played, allowing him to scale at pace by building a shadow team in a core and growing product area.

“BrightBox allowed us to effectively build a whole shadow team. From product owner, scrum and across most of the roles. It allowed us to effectively complete almost double the work in the same domain area. So that ability to turn the dial up was hugely important with a speed-to-market challenge.”

More recently, BrightBox has been a contributing factor in allowing Tecsa to deliver, from a standing start of a Sprint Zero, taking a new retail analytics product to the market – a complex application with a fully functioning three-tiered stack, secure in the cloud, deployed and live in a rapid delivery time.

A flexible friend for the future

John preference is for an agile ‘design as you go’ approach. That means it’s important for his teams to be in the same or similar time zone. And that presents three choices for the business: recruit or find the right permanent individuals; go to UK development houses; or supplement with nearshore resource.

It’s the latter that enables Tecsa to operate.

“A nearshore partner is a great help for us when we're dialling up based on demand or dialling back a little bit. And BrightBox acknowledges that. They aren’t precious about it – they understand that's part of the business cycle.

“They have proved their flexibility over and over again and that’s what keeps me coming back to them.”

And it’s something that’s also filtering through the ranks at Tecsa.

“What's interesting is watching some of my senior permanent people now selecting BrightBox people as a first choice. They know we can scale at pace without compromising on quality.”

And the BrightBox relationship is standing the test of time with John, with Tecsa being the second organisation to work with the team.

Alongside the ability to flex and grow a team at the same pace as the business, John appreciates the long-term strategic resourcing insight and the ability to add value throughout the relationship.

“With BrightBox, we don’t just have an order taker. We will develop a conversation and they can help guide and take us in directions we weren't considering.

“I'm never looking back over my shoulder. I'm always looking forward as to how I could do more with the team and how I can scale it.”