Is there more to I.T. and Development than simply answering all issues with “Have you tried turning it off and on again?”
We speak to our Technical Director, David Kennedy to find out what its really like to lead an I.T. and Development team here at Duuzra.
Why did you join Duuzra and what is your Duuzra mission?
After working as a Technical Consultant for many years, Duuzra was a company I had worked with on many occasions. In the Summer of 2019, there was an opportunity to manage the technical team here at Duuzra. As I was starting to settle down and start a family, it felt like the right move to focus on one project full-time. The Duuzra team already felt like family so it was a natural fit.
My mission here at Duuzra is to unlock the full potential of the Duuzra platform with our ambitious software development roadmap. Most people know we deliver best-in-class event, virtual event & hybrid technology; but not as many know about the incredible Marcomms and Sales use cases of Duuzra. We have some amazing new features planned for Q4 2022 and Q1 2023 that will take these to the next level.
What have been the biggest challenges you have had to overcome to date?
COVID-19 has been one of the biggest challenges most countries, businesses and individuals have faced, and in a professional capacity, it was no different for me. With events being a significant part of what we provide at Duuzra, the industry came to a standstill at the beginning of 2020, with no-one having a clue when things would recover.
2020 kept our development team extremely busy and delivering solutions for our clients when they needed us most, it was a huge challenge to turnaround an MVP in an extremely short period of time.
What are the areas of focus and innovation for the development team for the rest of 2022?
Here at Duuzra, we provide best-in-class event technology, supported by an incredible service team that sets us apart. There are two main focuses for our software development roadmap for the rest of 2022 that will help our clients tie in the same Duuzra platform for other use cases in their business.
- Exciting new features to support Sales and Marcomms use cases. Many of the world’s top companies use Duuzra for their events, and we want to help companies to utilise Duuzra’s powerful analytics across the whole Sales, Marketing & Events lifecycle.
- Overhaul of our Content Management System to provide licensed clients, powerful tools such as enhanced analytics & integrations to access at any time they need it.
What is your proudest achievement to date?
Delivering an MVP Virtual events solution in under 30 days of the events industry going into lockdown was something I’m particularly proud of. With limited resource and clients looking to us for solutions, we burnt the midnight oil for most of the month to deliver a virtual events technology that has been developed into the full featured solution our clients still utilise today – despite the fact that in-person events are running again.
What is one thing that we could possibly do better at Duuzra?
At Duuzra, we want to help our clients achieve their goals and provide the best software we can. Our clients love our event technology, and I think we can sometimes be guilty of focusing on it too much. The powerful analytics that sit behind Duuzra can be used by our clients for the whole Sales & Marketing cycle.
What is your biggest bugbear within the industry that you would like to get rid of, once and for all?
Software that over promises and under delivers. At Duuzra, we will only ever commit to a solution if we can deliver above and beyond the client’s expectations. Technology is a fantastic tool that enables data analytics that are unobtainable without it. When deployed incorrectly and without appreciation for the many variables that exist in each scenario, it can be a recipe for disaster. At Duuzra, we mitigate this risk by understanding our clients’ needs fully and carefully training our onsite and client services team to be experts in their field, ultimately ensuring the successful use of this technology within the events industry.
What’s the most used app on your phone?
It’s currently Twitter. I find Twitter a great middle ground of social media where I can keep up-to-date on all the topics I love, without seeing everybody’s holiday photos in between!
Finally, outside of work, what are your hobbies and interests?
I’m lucky in that a lot of my interests, I get to do for a job. I love coding and problem solving as well as architecting technical solutions. If my computer isn’t doing this, then I do also love gaming when I get chance. When time permits and I assemble with my fellow nerds, I enjoy miniature modelling/painting for fantasy wargaming.
I have a permit with my wife that when Man Utd, England Rugby or the F1 is on the TV, I have viewing rights! I play football and swim quite regularly and would like to play squash more than I get chance to. I have a gorgeous wife and 15-month-old daughter that I love spending time with and getting outdoors.