The consultancy that empowers digital transformation through high-performing IT capabilities for both enterprises and scale-ups recently secured a ?3 million investment from BGF, has strengthened its leadership team, and announced a key acquisition to bolster its DevOps training offering.
James Smith, founder and CEO of DevOpsGroup, stated: “When Steve Thair and I started this company in 2013, we were two technologists from Development and Operations, with a belief that we could make a real difference to the way companies delivered IT services by putting people, process, and technology at the heart of digital transformation. Now with over 70 people, we want our brand to truly reflect our passion to be an inclusive company and embody our bold desire to scale. Our new name is reflective of who we are today, but one thing remains unchanged which is our passion for enabling IT transformation at the speed of disruption.”
The moves are all important steps towards delivering on its growth journey. In five years, the business has grown to a team of more than 70 specialists based across the UK. Clients range from small and mid-sized companies who want to become digital leaders, to blue-chip enterprises including ASOS, Admiral Insurance, BAE Systems, and Vodafone, who are focused on transforming to unlock business agility and deliver exceptional customer experiences.
To strengthen its position as a fast-growing business, DevOpsGroup has appointed Adam Hale as Chairman bringing nearly 30 years of experience working with technology-centric businesses to help them become global leaders. Coco Brown, former President, COO and Board Director of Taos and now CEO of The Athena Alliance, an organisation dedicated to advancing diversity in the boardroom, has been appointed as the group's first international board advisor. Paul Heywood, Vice President of Worldwide Sales & Business Strategy at Oracle, is a long-standing advisor to the group and becomes a Non-Executive Director.
The board is completed by the addition of Chief Financial Officer, James Henderson, who brings more than 20 years of experience from PricewaterhouseCoopers and venture capital investors, and Alex Garfitt from BGF, who are considered to be the UK’s most active investor and the first investment company to win the Queen’s Award for Enterprise.
Adam Hale, Chairman, DevOpsGroup comments on his new role at the Group: “I see this as the end of the beginning for DevOpsGroup. It has been a great five years and we are now setting it up for the path to global leadership. Certainly, getting external investment is part of that. But it is also about building on the partnerships it already has in place with organisations such as Amazon Web Services (AWS) and Microsoft and to continue to develop its talent. DevOpsGroup has a unique ability to help organisations such as Admiral Insurance achieve their digital transformation agenda and to help digital companies such as Skyscanner become truly Global leaders.”
As part of its continued expansion, DevOpsGroup has acquired AgileSnap, a Cardiff based British Computer Society (BCS) accredited training organisation, specialising in Agile delivery methods and practices. The acquisition expands the groups’ capability to deliver certified Agile and DevOps training. Agile Snap CEO, James Harvey, will lead DevOpsGroups’ Academy Business Unit, to deliver on its’ commitment to close the IT skills gap across the industry.
Agile Snap founder, James Harvey stated: "We're absolutely thrilled to become part of the DevOpsGroup. Agile Snap and DevOpsGroup have always had extremely aligned core values and after working in partnership for over 18 months, this was a natural progression. We are committed to providing the very best learning opportunities to develop excellent IT talent and we're incredibly excited to be a part of evolving this vision as part of the DevOpsGroup Academy."
