2020 started with the company's 12th anniversary in January and a trip to Silicon Valley in February: Developers Week in Oakland, Startup Grind Global in San Francisco, a visit to IBM's headquarters, the Googleplex in Mountain View and a meeting with Tim Draper at Draper University. Within weeks of coming home, the office was empty and the whole team was working from home.
Going remote
Like every software company, Eziline moved to remote work in March. The habits from the previous decade made it survivable: code in version control, containerised environments, written specifications and milestone delivery meant the work could continue from anywhere. What had to be built quickly was the human side: daily video stand-ups, a shared project board for every client, and a support rota that did not depend on who was in the building.
Clients were going through the same thing, and demand shifted. Online ordering, remote point-of-sale, e-learning and telehealth features jumped up every roadmap. The learning management system that became EZILMS got its first serious push from schools that suddenly needed to teach online.
What we learned from the valley
The February trip was short but useful. Developers Week and Startup Grind Global were a reminder of how fast the product conversation was moving towards AI and developer tooling, and the Draper University meeting was a lesson in how to pitch. Those notes informed the AI module work that appears on the about page under 2021.
The year in brief
- 12th anniversary in January; Silicon Valley trip in February.
- Full remote working from March, with the office reopening in stages later in the year.
- Growth in e-commerce, LMS and remote POS work for clients adapting to lockdowns.
- An annual dinner with senior staff in December, the first in-person gathering in months.
Looking ahead
By the end of 2020 the company had learned it could work from anywhere, and the 2021 plan used that: the mobile and AI teams would stay partly remote, the office would reopen for the work that needs a room, and the team tours would resume as soon as it was safe, starting with Naran and Kaghan in March. The product roadmap had two new lines. AI modules, computer vision and analytics for specific sectors, were to be packaged and sold alongside the ERP, and the 360° virtual tour work was to become a service with its own portfolio, because remote visits were now normal. Internationally, Expo 2020 Dubai had been postponed to October 2021, and Gitex would run in the same month, so a Gulf trip was planned around both. Flutter 2, expected in the spring, would settle the cross-platform question for good.
