3 lessons learned in 2020 for a better 2021

Traditionally, the end of the year is a good time for a summary. For us, the beginning of 2021 is the moment when we take a deep breath and plan our strategies for the next twelve months. Although 2020 wasn’t the easiest one, it brought three positive lessons for Synergy Codes that we want to use in the future. As Maciej Teska, the Synergy Codes CEO, said: ‘We almost walked dry through the global crisis caused by the breakout of Coronavirus. It makes us believe that in 2021 we can develop further and expand our competencies to surprise our customers.’

Here’s the story on the conclusions we have drawn from the undoubted breakthrough year and how we see the future.

Lesson 1: A crisis offers a chance to develop

Let’s start with the fact that creating the role of an expert in the narrow field of data visualization apps as well as creating tools for working with processes, is crucial for the organization. The lockdown confirmed our belief that building trust by putting ourselves in the role of expert results in deepened relationships with our clients. That’s why we continue to establish the position of not only specialists but also as business partners.

‘Our goal is to build long-term relationships with the clients. Therefore, it has become crucial to educate the potential customers, with the support of the extensive qualifications of our specialists – both in the field of business and technological knowledge’ – Maciej Teska admits.

However, it would be a hard nut to crack if it’s not for recognizing new areas of expansion. The temporal market’s stagnation imposes the need for new promotion directions. They support reaching the customers from various, previously undiscovered industries. It resulted in acquiring leads from new sources, such as extensive product campaigns with dedicated landing pages.

For Synergy Codes, it also means the possibility of reaching specific target groups with our services. An example is developing a social selling strategy for selected people in the organization.

‘It’s also impossible not to mention the promotion of brand awareness, which, in terms of new sources of obtaining leads, was of key importance in the field of building trust in our organization’ – Maciej Teska adds.

Lesson 2: Using the New Reality to Build Hight Quality Services

The lockdown, which began in April 2020, has not influenced Synergy Codes’ operations. The transition to full remote work was a natural, next step for us when entering a new reality.

The organization has always focused on a flexible approach to the work of each of us. Therefore, from the very beginning, we proposed a hybrid work model. Remote work didn’t have a bad impact on our development.

‘According to the analysis of the Officevibe questionnaires that our employees regularly fill in, we receive feedback on the high level of satisfaction with the work in the organization. We focus mainly on the factors related to self-development, relations with leaders and managers, job satisfaction, or receiving feedback. Currently, this index is at the level of 8.2 out of 10 possible points. It means that our people appreciate and recommend working at Synergy Codes’ – Aleksandra Bury, Head of the HR Team, explains.

In search of opportunities for development in the face of the crisis related to the COVID-19 epidemic, our organization took advantage to work on challenging projects, including charity projects. One of them was the Hackathon: HackTheCrisis organized by the Chancellery of the Prime Minister of the Polish government. We have described our participation in detail here. Meanwhile, the keys were to face the complex task, to develop a sense of mission towards the needs of society, and to invest in promoting the expertise in building web applications.

‘The Hackathon: HackTheCrisis has had a positive impact on team morale. Being honored in the top 10 best ideas, we proved that our teams can work under time pressure and also be able to find appropriate solutions related to various needs and goals’ – Maciej Teska says.

Lesson 3: Building the Future Based on Predictions

Living in the new reality is also directly correlated with adapting to the prevailing conditions and challenges.

‘COVID-19 has not been harmed paving new development paths. While developing client projects, we used the opportunity to expand our technological competencies. I mean, we’ve been recognizing and expanding knowledge about React Native technology, which is the future of our development. Definitely, expanding knowledge and skills in working on solutions in the Cloud, or recognizing the opportunities offered by Angular in the context of enterprise solutions, is also in the field of our vision’ – says Artur Ptaszek, Synergy Codes’ Senior JavaScript Developer and Technical Leader.

Based on how the organization gradually expands its technological competencies, we can predict which solutions are future-proof and valuable for a selected customers’ groups.

As part of the funds obtained for the expansion and conquest of Western markets from the Go-To Brand fund, we took part in subsequent editions of technology conferences and fairs: SPS Connect, IoT Tech Expo, and Web Summit. These events were held in the 100% online formula for the first time due to the epidemic situation.

‘The decision to join the events allowed us to draw several conclusions for the future, which we have great hopes for. First, we could draw forecasts for the development of the IoT market in the context of greater involvement of front-end solutions. It makes us think that the world recognizes the need to develop towards visualization.  Such trend supports our predictions to expand our competencies and propose completely innovative ideas’ – Maciej Teska comments. Regardless of the situation in 2021, Synergy Codes is going to be present at the upcoming events.

As part of the company’s development strategy, it’s hard not to mention the EB related issues.

‘We’re glad that, despite the crisis, eleven new, exceptional specialists joined our teams. We have hired 11 new people so far. During the summer period, we moved to a new office, which was the final element of the rebranding project. Throughout the whole year, we worked on creating the new Synergy Codes’ image. It was all our heart to introduce the new chapter in our company’s history. The fact that we survived the obstacles of 2020 allows us to make positive predictions for 2021. Just to mention our NPS recruitment rates – they jumped up by 100%. So I conclude that working at Synergy Codes is still a pleasure, and we aren’t afraid of any crisis’ – Aleksandra Bury comments with optimism.

Drawing conclusions from 2020, we can proudly say that Synergy Codes takes up challenges along the way of its development. ‘The willingness to share knowledge and experience resulting from our values ​​is key in the broadly understood development. In 2021, we want to continue building the image of data visualization specialists, especially in the context of using custom diagrams to work with processes. We hope that this will allow us to spread our wings even more’ – Maciej Teska concludes.