Attunix
Technology-Enabled Business Modernization

There is a technological shift happening in the business world that is increasing the drain on company resources. CIOs are continuously trying to balance the demands of retooling and hiring and retraining existing staff to maintain their existing services, while also trying to be change agents and strategic technologists. Moving to the cloud is at the front of this technological revolution and Microsoft Azure makes delivering these solutions much simpler. However, it also requires specific knowledge and new operational models.

Some companies struggle with these changes and others are embracing them and seeing the benefits. The role of Attunix, which was founded in 2006, is to help guide, influence, and educate CIOs in that regard so they can manage these changes. Matt O’Donnell, President and CEO of Attunix, explains, “As much process and uniformity as we bring to technology, there remains a level of elegance, art, and creativity in how you align the organization toward its goals. This is especially true when dealing with projects on the front edge of technology change, when we constantly strive for ‘the right way’ of doing it, but it really comes down to experience and know-how.”

Attunix works within the Azure space, but Azure in and of itself is not a silver bullet. It enables businesses to craft a solution that meets their needs faster and with greater returns. However, Attunix believes the real value of Azure is the way it enables IT and businesses to think differently about how they are servicing their customers and how they are transforming their business in new and innovative ways. With fewer barriers in their path, companies can think differently about what is possible and that is where the real opportunity exists.

How a business thinks about their customers is critical to transformation and Attunix takes this very seriously. As O’Donnell says, “If you are in a services organization, your first priority is always your customer.” At Attunix, time and again, they make decisions that are in the best interest of their customers. The first half of the equation is to help organizations optimize their use of the IT and put that to work to get the maximum return on their investments.

The second and most important half of the equation is the people. “The people in an organization, who they are and why they are doing what they are doing, are what really matters,” states O’Donnell.

As much process and uniformity as we bring to technology, there remains a level of elegance, art, and creativity in how you align the organization toward its goals

When Attunix works with their clients, those clients can see that Attunix offers top-notch service, but also that they are a great group of people. He adds, “Regardless of what we do and how we do it, people want to work with hard working, high-integrity people. The nature of Attunix and our people has been a differentiator.”

It can be tough for a company to differentiate itself in the technological landscape. Attunix prides itself on being out front and constantly evolving, but that type of differentiation only lasts so long. What’s more defensible is how Attunix is built from within, how they focus on their team, the quality of their delivery, and referenceable work. O’Donnell explains, “At the end of the day, successful delivery, happy clients, and a good ROI speaks louder than a well-structured market offering.”

O’Donnell believes the key to delivering great solutions and earning his clients’ trust is by centering on the needs of their clients’ customers. “Partnership is built on trust and that trust is formed through right-minded intent. When we focus on our clients’ customers, we are mutually aligned and incented to do great things together.” As that model of engagement and relationship moves forward, Attunix centers on meeting the objectives of their customers, such as maintaining a budget or timeline or a certain set of features and functionalities. “Those aspects are always balanced to create the optimal solution, which doesn’t have to be the most complex or technologically advanced, but must be the right solution to meet the customer’s business objectives. Azure provides a number of new tools and services to accomplish this. That creates efficiency, optimal workflow, and the highest ROI, ultimately delivering on the promise of why they engage with us,” says O’Donnell.

Attunix claims no single flagship offering because each of their four cloud practices: Advanced Analytics, Modern Datacenter, IoT, and Application Modernization, work together to create a holistic approach to digital transformation. However, one of the most popular services Attunix uses with their clients is Microsoft’s Cortana Intelligence Suite.

Cortana Intelligence is a suite of advanced analytics tools that allow Attunix clients to gain greater insights into their business, drive informed business decisions, and in some cases, create new services that their clients can monetize for their customers. It also provides a great introduction to the Azure platform.

O’Donnell says, “I’m extremely proud of the work coming out of our Advanced Analytics team. In our industry, sometimes it is hard to quantify the impact technology is making on the business. Using the Cortana Intelligence Suite, we are adding real dollars to our client’s bottom line.” The benefits of using Microsoft’s platform is that it can support large amounts of data, coupled with the strength of Azure computing for traditional business intelligence, predictive and recommendation analysis; something only once affordable to larger organizations. Attunix is helping businesses in many industries including Retail, Agriculture, Finance, Entertainment, and Hospitality realize these impacts. “For one of our client’s, we discovered $14Min lost sales opportunity had they just priced their product correctly throughout the year…and that was only one of their product lines,” says O’Donnell. For CIO’s, O’Donnell believes this can be a real game changer if their department is traditionally viewed as a cost center to the business allowing them to look deeper into business efficiencies and put technology to work.

Attunix thrives on a collaborative atmosphere in which everyone is involved and everyone’s contribution is respected. O’Donnell says, “We are an organization of consultants, which leads to a number of opinions and perspectives and unique ways of doing things. This offers numerous opportunities for people to contribute and shape the way the organization is built. That is one of our greatest strengths.”

With an innovative atmosphere that has Attunix working on early prototyping, beta-testing, and advisory councils, they also focus on IT development, developing solutions from end-to-end, and evaluating new technologies. The future looks bright for Attunix. Expanding their national presence, Attunix is working toward taking the best of what they have learned in delivering solutions to their clients and innovating and developing readymade, tailored, accelerated IT products.

“Solving the resource challenge created by technological shift is nothing new and in fact pushes us to establish a culture of continuous learning and teamwork,” says O’Donnell. Actively involved in sports as a player and coach O’Donnell draws parallels to the teams he’s been a part of. “Great teams have a strong sense of identity built around a set of core beliefs. Successful outcomes that we seek in business and personal life for that matter are a function of these intrinsic aspects.”