Barra Libre
“Barra Libre!” is the new WIFI password in the new office in Las Palmas. “Free drinks!” it means. No question, there was enough of them when the new office at Calle León y Castillo 85 was officially opened on 21st of January 2019. The HYVE team from Gran Canaria celebrated together with the management from Munich and the Minister for Economic Affairs in Gran Canaria, Pedro Ortega.
The smell of the turquoise wall paint is still in the air when the final preperations for the opening ceremony are done by the team. “We explore and empower the new” says the poster on the wall. With this mission the HYVE Innovation Community S.L. (Sociedad Limitada) is starting into an exciting year 2019.
From then to now
In 2015, HYVE already worked with two freelance-developers on Gran Canaria. One year later, the HYVE Innovation Community S.L. was founded. With two developers at the beginning, the team grew constantly until today. This is why, it became too crowded in the old office.
Today there are eight developers, two UX/UI designers and two Innovation Consultants. A mix that serves digital solutions holistically, end-2-end. Gran Canaria and in particular Las Palmas is very popular among so-called “digital nomads”. Four freelancers also support the HYVE team on site. They particularly appreciate the attractiveness of the projects acquired by the “Haus der Innovation” in Munich.
Last year, the team worked – among others – together with in-manas. The goal of the Austrian strategy consultant & software provider is to enable companies to digitize their strategic work for the first time. The team of Jose Celano, Managing Director of HYVE Innovation Community S.L., has since accompanied the customer from the concept phase through to a full set of strategic analysis management tools. In addition, they implemented the processes and tools using the industry best practices and workflows, aplying agile methodologies.
At the same time, the team and their colleagues in Munich developed the new HYVE Crowd, a platform where experts and creative minds work together to solve previously unsolvable challenges.
Scrum experts
With 15 years of experience in software development, the team works with an holistic and agile approach. Therefore they work with the SCRUM methodology. Away from waterfall processes to a sprint planning of software projects. This requires intensive consultation and detailed planning at the beginning. Here it is essential to involve as many stakeholders as possible in the planning to create a clear transparency regarding the expectations of the customer and the possible output within a time frame, knows Juan Ligero, Senior Developer. The customer also has the advantage of knowing in advance exactly what costs will accrue per sprint, which makes budget planning more reliable.
Ideas need structures
There are numerous software offers to accompany an innovation process. To put modern tool based on rigid, long outdated processes does not lead to a desired results, knows Nicolas Baar, Innovation Consultant at HYVE. He configures and implements the idea management platform of our partner HYPE Softwaretechnik GmbH. Such a tool always needs a responsible person, a moderator and a commitment from all team members or even the entire organization in order to use it effectively. During his work as a consultant, Nicolas Baar also observed that, in addition to the software solution, there must also be a culture of innovation. Taking ideas out of the tool and questioning them in moderated design sprints, driving them forward and, visualizing and testing them, usually brings great surprises and deep insights with it.
What sets the team in Gran Canaria apart is its great interest in new technologies, trends and methods. Although Jose Celano has taken on the role of managing director and senior software developer, his heart beats for blockchain technology. He knows the great potential of the technology and is already looking forward to the first customer who realizes disruptive business models together with him.
With the opening of the new office, Innovation has a new address in Spain. Soon, when you think of Las Palmas, you will no longer think of sun, beach & sea, but of digital, customer-centric innovations.
