01 - Initial Challenges at Upfactor
When creating UpFactor, we embarked on a significant challenge: automating what we had been doing manually for years – applying urban planning rules to existing buildings to determine if there was square footage available for upward expansion. Despite an appetite for technology, we were completely inexperienced in databases and software development. We launched our first prototypes without really knowing where to go or how to structure things. Building a technical team followed, but again with much trial and error, relying on our intuition and the strength of the project. Notably, our first collaborator is still in charge of the frontend part of the application.
"Despite an appetite for technology, we were completely inexperienced in databases and software development."
02 - Navigating the Complexities of Innovation
The main difficulties we encountered during the development of our v1 application were identifying priorities and features to develop. We wanted to do everything and ended up going in all directions. As a building architect, I was accustomed to being the conductor of a real estate operation, and I relied on that to build and lead the technical team. Sharing vision, vocabulary, methods – everything was new and we had to reinvent ourselves every day to accept the complexities. This led us to make radical decisions and difficult strategic and human choices, but always with a vision focused on 'professionalizing' the company's tech business and developing a stable, continuously improvable application. Another new equation is the essential daily R&D that brings no short-term benefit but is indispensable for building new features requested by users. It's one of the company's biggest expenses with significant capital investments, but at the same time it constitutes our treasure for the future.
"Sharing vision, vocabulary, methods – everything was new and we had to reinvent ourselves every day to accept the complexities."
03 - How A1 Cloud Supported Innovation
A1 Cloud's contribution focused on different levels, ranging from organizing the technical team to implementing infrastructure capable of supporting our ambitions, including developer support. It's also very pleasant to be able to count on a team capable of adapting its services according to our needs and the maturity level of the company and its teams. One of the great achievements of our collaboration is undoubtedly the implementation of a technical environment that allows experimentation while securing stakeholders and the technical team.
"I will never thank them enough for the shared intuition to migrate all servers to Cloud mode at the end of 2019, when just 3 months later we were all confined. It allowed the company to continue its activities in full remote without any complexity."
04 - The Benefits of Partnership
It's a real benefit for UpFactor to have been able to build this partnership with A1 Cloud. It allows us to strengthen our team on the technical level and to have a high-level technical reference. Since we cannot develop our activities across all areas of the development chain, A1 Cloud provides solutions at different levels and helps us step back while integrating best practices that mature our technical team.
"C'est un véritable bénéfice pour UpFactor d'avoir pu tisser ce partenariat avec A1 Cloud. Cela permet de renforcer notre équipe sur le plan technique et d'avoir un référent de haut de niveau."
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