2012 February

Companies, like people, have their comfort zone. For people the comfort zone is defined by environment, activities, companions etc. For companies it really revolves around projects; the type of work, the size of contract, the relationship with the customer.

As a small company the projects that represent Zircon’s comfort zone are typically 2 to 4 engineers developing software for a rail or road application for a big player in that arena for 6 to 9 months. However, we are, as you know, Agile and Reliable so when one such customer asked us to field a team of eight for three months we thought that we had to step up to the challenge!

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Zircon has completed work on an upgrade to our client’s Data Preparation System.

Our client has an application that simulates a railway environment which is used with their Automatic Train Operation (ATO) and Automatic Train Protection (ATP) systems. The application requires data in order to drive it and this is generated by another of our client’s existing tools.

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Our website states that we recognise that whilst we solve a wide range of different problems for you, that, in itself, does not make us remarkable – countless other software companies tackle similar challenges on a daily basis.  However, the way we go about delivering those solutions is how we try to be different from those other software companies.

Our focus is very much towards providing a great experience for clients, from beginning to end.  Technical competence is of course a must, but the real differentiator for us is in how you feel at the end of the project.  The ‘Our Principles’ page on our website summarises our goals.  The client’s peace of mind is genuinely of paramount importance to us.  It is in our interest to create exceptional solutions and to deliver an exceptional experience that will facillitate the development of close relationships and ultimately for us, lead to repeat business and regular referrals.

It is very encouraging therefore when these efforts are recognised by others.  Following our recent Investors in People review, which zirconHayley recently posted about, the reviewer commented:

“Throughout the Review it was clear that everyone is totally focused on customer service and quality, and there is no doubt that these factors enable Zircon to enjoy high levels of customer retention. This culture is underpinned by solid well established business processes such as strong project control and quality management.”

We strongly believe that long lasting relationships that bring value to both parties can only be formed by addressing those areas beyond simple technical competence and price.  Quality, Project Management and Customer Service are so much more than simply buzz words to us, and it’s great to see that this has been recognised by those outside of the organisation.