Upskilling for excellence
while protecting
existing investments
The Challenge
Driving business value while pushing technology advancement
As CTO at Frontier Software, Darren Hnatiw is keenly focused on providing deep business value. Keeping employees engaged while making sure the HR and payroll software solution company is getting the most from their resources is always top of mind.
For Australia-based Frontier Software, that means balancing the need to modernise technology and close key skill gaps with the need to protect the organisation’s investment in existing solutions that are used to pay approximately 10% of Australia’s workforce.
That challenge led leaders at Frontier Software to an interesting question: What’s the best way to upskill developers and ride the technological edge while supporting mainstay software solutions when resources become scarce?
Who they are
Frontier Software provides integrated HR and payroll solutions to more than 1,500 organisations across 23 countries throughout Europe, Asia Pacific and the Far East.
Frontier Software by the numbers
Founded in 1983
Headquartered in
Melbourne, Australia
16 global offices
250+ technologists
Embracing advancement and providing value
“We’ve been able to quickly bridge gaps in technologies with Pluralsight and have a solid foundation for learning.”
Darren Hnatiw, CTO
What we're learning:
Event-based architecture
Robotic automation
AI
Blockchain
The Solution
Creatively evolving to event-based architectures
Darren’s solution was two-fold. First, address immediate resource needs to support current solutions by using Pluralsight to upskill the workforce in satellite offices. Second, modularise solutions, laying the foundation for a strategic transition to more modern language over time.
“Embracing event-based architecture and evolving our technology methodically in this way enables the whole infrastructure to fall in line much easier,” says Darren.
Meanwhile, technologists based in Melbourne are using Pluralsight to develop emerging tech skills as the company focuses research efforts on things like robotic automation, blockchain and artificial intelligence to move the company forward.
As part of its strategic roadmap, Frontier Software also evolved from waterfall to agile methodology, using Pluralsight to develop the foundational principles of sprints and scrums.
Additionally, all IT staff completed personally identifiable information (PII) coursework on Pluralsight, which is crucial in financial and HR-based industries.
All the while, individuals could also take courses they deemed valuable to their growth and use Skill IQ to identify how to focus their effort.
The key benefits of Pluralsight for Frontier Software
Clarity to move forward
Technology decisions made in the past 12-18 months have been easier.
Engaged employees
Investing in the workforce and meeting demand for new skills helps retain talent.
Fresh perspective
New technology insight gives teams at Frontier Software novel ideas to solve ongoing challenges.
Reduced overhead
Self-paced learning and quality content makes upskilling efficient and effective.
Stepping up employee skill development
"The impact with Pluralsight has been huge. Access to self-paced learning and quality content means we don’t have to spend that time and resource bringing in external consultants.”
Darren Hnatiw, CTO
The next steps
Hello automation, goodbye manual processes
As Frontier Software continues to transition to intelligent workflow automation and robotic automated processes, Darren is confident they’ll be effective at reducing manual effort and the number of customer touchpoints required to run HR and payroll.
“Keeping the business and technologists relevant in the marketplace while delivering product offerings that meet what the market demands is the hallmark of a successful business,” says Darren. “Providing a solid foundation for learning keeps employees engaged and satisfied, while helping Frontier Software ensure we’re getting the most out of our resources.”
He adds, “Whether we’re addressing the needs of our core offerings, transitioning developers to web development, or steeping ourselves in new, disruptive technologies, we know we can use Pluralsight to get to the meat of their content quickly.”
Cutting edge begins with clarity
“Having clarity and insight on new technologies has definitely been a plus when it comes to the technical decisions we’ve made.”
Darren Hnatiw, CTO