There are a lot of ingredients that go into building a technical solution. From a systems development perspective, the solution starts with an idea, proceeds to requirements and design, includes testing, and eventually is followed by a deployment. From an engineering perspective, you will need hardware, an operating system, software, middleware, etc. This article will focus on words that will also appear in the ‘S’ section of the dictionary but do not always make the ingredient list.  While not often thought of, these items are just as important to ITI and the culture that we promote.

S is for Sacrifice

“Make it Happen” is a mantra that we use frequently. Sometimes, this means surging beyond the 100% to deliver what is needed. In this world of ubiquitous computing, there is little tolerance for systems being down or systems not working.  The challenges to deliver are compounded by ever-evolving technical and cyber challenges.  Unfortunately, when a system goes down or a release can’t be posted, it may be necessary for resources to work overtime, and sweat through the challenges to “make it happen.”

S is for Service

One thing about Software Solutions– the user interacts with the software; the user will not necessarily interact with the people behind the software. One of our mantras at ITI is that of service… we are committed to providing more than $1.25 in service for every dollar earned by ITI. This means that user needs are always put at the top of the list. This is not necessarily what the user thinks they need today, but looking forward to what will be needed tomorrow.

S is for SME

OK, Subject Matter Expertise is really an acronym that starts with “S”, but we believe that solutions are not just technology, but we prefer to focus our solutions on the problem or opportunity being solved.  To do this, we leverage the subject matter expertise of both the customer and the resources that we engage to help understand, dissect, and improve business solutions.

S is for Sustainment

Sustainment is a term frequently used with our DoD (Department of Defense) customers to refer to “the support or maintenance” of the solutions.  In our mind, sustainment goes beyond pure ‘support’ (which is also an “S” word) rather it includes the ongoing care and nurturing of systems to ensure that they are evolving at the extremely fast rate that our world is evolving.  This may include technical updates or refreshes, ongoing management of cyber defenses, or evolution to keep up with the processes the software is supporting.  We do not believe in standing still but always looking forward.

S is for Success

This is by no means a complete list of “S” words that are appropriate to software solutions but items that are not often thought of in building out software. We would not dream of offering solutions without them.  These are fundamentals to delivering #SuccessAsAService