Welcome to another insightful interview from the infra/STRUCTURE Summit, featuring the influential Antonio Piraino, Co-founder and CTO of MethodData. A company that transforms ideas into world-class digital products. MethodData runs through the entire lifecycle of a business’s digital transformation initiatives, from design, migration, securing, testing, running, and optimizing the whole system.
With over 20 years of industry experience, Antonio is a prominent figure in the world of #cloudcomputing and #Datacenter. Before founding MethodData, Antonio was the CTO of ScienceLogic for nearly nine years, driving their IT management vision and product strategy. Antonio’s expertise extends from his time as VP of Research at 451 Research, where he offered guidance to #serviceproviders and enterprise clients on best practices in 3rd party datacenter environments.
Throughout his career, Antonio has held leadership positions at Telecom Italia and BCE Teleglobe, managed technical aspects at gaming software development firm Derivco, and led TDMA development for INTELSAT.
A regular speaker on managed hosting, virtualization, and cloud computing, Antonio Piraino is also the author of various reports on the subject. Join us as we delve into Antonio‘s vast knowledge and experience in the space and learn more about MethodData.
Antonio and his team started their company two years ago to fill a gap in the CRM market, specifically focusing on CRM deployment and integrations that many enterprises were looking for. As their journey unfolded, they recognized a greater demand for the integrations and data flows that drove the reports generated by their CRM tools. As Antonio puts it, “What we started to realize very quickly was that there was even a greater need for a lot of the integrations and the data flows that fed into those reports that we were generating.”
In response to the evolving customer needs, the company seamlessly transitioned from purely CRM integrations to becoming an integral part of outsourced product development and system integrations. They found their services cut across various industry lines, aligning more with the size of the customer and their willingness to spend. Antonio explains, “The needs are very common and what probably differentiates customers more is the size of the customer and what they’re willing to spend.”
When it comes to addressing the tech industry’s pervasive skills gap, Antonio’s company pursued an innovative solution. They discovered a rich, untapped talent pool in South Africa. Tapping into this source, they not only found the necessary skills for their expansion but also fostered a nurturing environment for their employees to grow. Antonio captures this, stating, “The skills need is getting broader and broader because you have to not only know what’s going on internally in the homegrown systems, but as they’re trying to outsource into a plethora of SaaS products and hyperscale products and managed hosting products, suddenly the skills need to get broader and broader.”
Continual learning and certification are key elements of their talent management strategy. “We committed ourselves on a quarterly basis that the whole company should be progressing in their certifications and education,” Antonio asserts. Moreover, the company encourages its employees to further their careers, even if it means moving onto bigger tech giants like Google, underlining Antonio’s belief that, “We made no, we didn’t hide the fact that this was actually good for their careers. We’ve already had one employee move on to Google. We can’t compete with that kind of price point. But it gives them hope and we want that open relationship.”
Conclusion
In conclusion, Antonio’s global approach provides a compelling model for businesses navigating similar challenges. His story emphasizes the importance of business adaptability, understanding market needs, and proactively addressing industry-wide challenges like the skills gap. The principles of looking beyond traditional talent pools and investing in continual learning emerge as critical strategies for individual and business growth. As the technology landscape continues to evolve, businesses embodying these principles are likely to thrive, innovatively turning potential obstacles into opportunities for expansion and growth. Antonio’s unique insights underline these key messages, offering valuable takeaways for any tech company navigating the complex terrain of the modern business world.
