At AMIS, we know better than anyone that we can make the most of our ‘expertise’ when we know exactly which goals need to be achieved. My colleague Bart wrote an interesting article about this, drawing on the lessons of Sun Tzu, an ancient Chinese philosopher. This approach is deeply embedded in the way we work. We have extensive knowledge of concepts and technologies, and our own technology blog is full of practical expertise that we are happy to share with everyone.

Colleagues in the industry sometimes ask me whether we are giving away our ‘gold’ by sharing knowledge this way. We are confident about sharing it because we recognise that having this information does not automatically make someone a ‘specialist’. We show what is possible and how to apply this knowledge effectively. We believe that sharing our knowledge helps us support our customers better and make even better use of technology.

We also put this philosophy into practice when exploring customers’ ambitions or challenges. Of course, we can join at any stage of the process, but we always want to return to the beginning. We call this ‘Conceive’. Truly understanding what matters. Our method includes many more ‘Cs’, but this one always forms the foundation. Another important term is ‘Capture’: what do you already have, and what is its current state? “We all know the castles in the air we build when imagining how things could be if we started again from scratch. Those castles can easily turn into a ‘mirage’. Reality proves more challenging, and failing to account for the existing situation leads to unexpected delays and costs.” It is therefore better to consider upfront what already exists, what you want, what you need to retain and what constraints you need to account for. You can then build a realistic picture of how technology can help achieve your ambitions or solve your problems. You do this together by ‘connecting the know-how with the know-why’.

We achieve great results for our customers through IT. Whether we are integrating existing and new systems so applications can ‘talk to each other’, making sensor data accessible through IoT, or modernising entire business IT systems and keeping them up to date. The same principle applies to day-to-day operations. We know exactly what we can, and sometimes must, do to keep systems running, apply patches, updates and upgrades, resolve incidents or even carry out disaster recovery. ‘Anything that can go wrong will go wrong.’ We do everything we can to prevent problems, but external factors sometimes disrupt our customers’ business processes. When that happens, we need to act quickly. There is no time to consult books or reference materials. This is when real expertise pays off. Without ‘know-why’, however, that expertise is less effective. We understand our customers and their circumstances, and configure systems accordingly. Not every system needs to be fully operational 24/7, and not every disruption immediately causes major operational problems or high costs. Understanding this allows us to make systems ‘fault-tolerant’ where necessary. It is about thinking and working cost efficiently.

My colleagues spend a great deal of time researching, reading, experimenting, learning from experience and evaluating to build their expertise. They then share that knowledge with colleagues and the IT community. As a well-known quote attributed to Albert Einstein puts it: “If you can’t explain it, you don’t understand it well enough.” If you truly understand it, and understand where you want to go, you can get a return on IT. How many companies do you know that invest this much time and energy? There is a reason we have been around for 30 years. There is a reason our customers repeatedly entrust us with their IT management and development. There is a reason technology vendors come knocking, asking us to add their products to our knowledge portfolio. And there is a reason our colleagues are invited to speak at conferences and webinars. What drives us is a love of our profession, the thrill of solving difficult problems and complex challenges, and the pride of seeing results.

And the best part: “You no longer have to understand everything yourself when you know there is a partner you can trust.” IT does not have to be complicated. “If you know what you want and what you need to take into account, we are here to assess what is feasible and make it happen.” It can be that simple. “Simplicity is the key to brilliance.”