Ready to grow? How 7 Colorado tech companies invest in their people

Written by April Bohnert
Published on Dec. 18, 2018
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A business is only as strong as the individuals working behind the scenes, and savvy business leaders know that an investment in those individuals is also an investment in the long-term success of the company.

We caught up with seven local tech companies to learn more about the learning and growth opportunities they offer employees and the impact those investments have throughout the business.

 

CSG investing in employees Colorado tech
Photo via CSG.

CSG helps businesses stay ahead in a dynamic, complex and fast-changing digital world with solutions that range from revenue management and customer experience to digital monetization and managed services. Head of Global Learning and Organizational Development Don Jones shed some light on the professional development initiatives that build stronger leaders and, thus, a stronger business.

 

How does your company invest in the growth and development of your employees?  

CSG is always looking at ways to invest in technology that helps foster learning and development for our employees. This includes implementing solutions that are mobile, curated, social and end-user created. This puts the power of learning in the hands of the employee, which has been integral to our strategy and success. In addition, we just launched “Leading@CSG,” a program designed specifically for our people managers to grow their leadership capabilities.

 

We have empowered our employees to learn anytime, anywhere and on virtually any subject by investing in a single platform to curate learning resources into one location.”  

How does this investment make both your employees and your company more successful?  

We have empowered our employees to learn anytime, anywhere and on virtually any subject by investing in a single platform to curate learning resources into one location. Individuals can build a customized learning profile based on interests or development goals. They can also join a group that shares content and best practices with one another. Building a culture of continuous learning for our employees and leaders will help us accelerate change and transformation in our business through effective collaboration, innovation and strategic direction.  

 

Vertafore investing in employees Colorado tech
Photo via Vertafore.

Vertafore’s suite of software tools empowers insurance agencies, brokers, MGAs and carriers to better manage and optimize their businesses. The company aims to put people at the heart of insurance technology, and that starts with its own team. Recruiting Manager Erica Miller gave us a glimpse into the programs that help employees develop their professional skills from day one.

 

How does your company invest in the growth and development of your employees?

Vertafore wants to set our employees who are early in their careers up for success early on, and part of that involves the Vertafore boot camp series — a six- to 12-week onboarding program. These boot camps were created as an easy way to teach industry- and product-specific details, outline the company vision and values, and make sure each new hire feels empowered in their role.

Because no two jobs are the same, Vertafore took it a step further by creating department-specific programs across customer support and success, sales, development, finance and more. These include customized week-over-week curriculum for each department, ranging from agile and product training to customer shadowing and orientation.

To continue educating and building our employees’ individual abilities, professional skills courses are available to encourage learning in customer service, leadership, manager essentials and more. Vertafore also offers paid subscriptions to LinkedIn Learning for all employees to promote learning outside the workplace.

 

Vertafore has become the company it is today because of the energy and innovative ideas of our professionals, and it’s our goal to foster this quality from their first day on the job.” 

How does this investment make both your employees and your company more successful?

Vertafore has become the company it is today because of the energy and innovative ideas of our professionals, and it’s our goal to foster this quality from their first day on the job. This is only possible because we believe in giving these technology mavens the skills and resources they need to hit the ground running and immediately contribute to Vertafore’s growth.

This year, we ran 12 boot camp sessions with a total of 201 new hires, each gaining exposure to their future co-workers and senior leadership across various departments. By providing a network of peers and a foundation of resources, we give employees the confidence to perform their roles with excitement and tenacity from the start.

 

Documoto investing in employees Colorado tech
Photo via Documoto.

Denver-based Documoto delivers software that enables equipment manufacturers to digitize their parts catalogs and technical support and create e-commerce storefronts, making their products — and the information needed to keep them working — available online and on any device. We caught up with Senior CSM Andi Kirtland to learn how Documoto has invested in her professional growth over the years.

 

How does your company invest in the growth and development of your employees?

Since I began working at Documoto, I have been presented with numerous opportunities to expand my knowledge and further my skill set. In my two and half years with the company, I have been promoted twice, including a role change from implementation specialist to customer success manager. This transition allowed me to learn new skills, such as account management and renewal tracking, as well as expand my day-to-day responsibilities.

In addition, Documoto has allowed me to continue my education through project management certification opportunities and educational conferences. Documoto has created a company culture where I’m encouraged and motivated to pursue initiatives I’m interested in. Last but not least, Documoto hosts cross-functional “Lunch and Learns” where I can learn from my coworkers on other teams within the organization.

 

Documoto has created a company culture where I’m encouraged and motivated to pursue initiatives I’m interested in.” 

How does this investment make both your employees and your company more successful?

By providing opportunities for growth and development, Documoto and I both benefit. After attending an educational conference, I was armed with the knowledge and tools I needed to improve our onboarding process by creating a training portal. As a result, the professional services team and I can spend less time onboarding and more time on value-add activities.

 

AdAction Interactive investing in employees Colorado tech
Photo via AdAction.

AdAction Interactive partners with app developers, Fortune 100 brands and ad publishers to create marketing campaigns that help businesses win new users and customers. Manager of People and Culture Dianne Wright explained how the company’s investment in its employees is really an investment in AdAction as a whole.

 

How does your company invest in the growth and development of your employees?

Right from the start, we recognized the importance of investing in our staff and providing them with meaningful learning and growth opportunities. Our junior employees are generally pretty new to their careers and the mobile industry, so to help them fully understand the business and gain the necessary experience and tools to grow with us, we created Action360.

This program is designed for employees to rotate through key departments in the organization, like account management and data science, and take on the day-to-day tasks for each one. Along the way, they learn new skills and pick up new tools from other team members or even company-paid classes. This past year, we had our first official internal promotion from the Action360 program into our account management team! We’re really excited to continue to build out the program and watch more of our staff grow and tackle new roles.

 

Right from the start, we recognized the importance of investing in our staff and providing them with meaningful learning and growth opportunities.”

How does this investment make both your employees and your company more successful?

The best part about providing opportunities for professional growth is that it is mutually beneficial. Employees get to improve their skill set, and we, in turn, gain more proficient employees.

As an example, we recently supported our client services team to take SQL courses, as the need for more teams to manage and analyze data has steadily increased. This is a skill that our employees can continue to build on and take with them well into the future, even outside of AdAction. Our team members’ professional growth and enhanced skill sets are what will continue to push AdAction forward and help us continue to innovate in the evolving mobile industry.

 

Backbone investing in employees Colorado tech
Photo via Backbone.

Backbone lives up to its name by providing consumer goods companies with an all-in-one product development platform that promotes collaboration and streamlines complex processes. Full Stack Engineer Jodie Rigali gave us a first-hand account of the ways Backbone supports her growth — both personally and professionally.

 

How does your company invest in the growth and development of your employees?

Backbone invests in employee growth and development inside and outside of the job. Every employee has a monthly wellness allowance that they can invest in gym memberships, yoga classes, meditation — anything that is beneficial to your wellness. Backbone also gets their devs to conferences and talks that help further their knowledge.

Just a couple months ago, the whole dev team got to go to the Angular Denver conference. It was great to learn more about the tech we use in our app and the community around it. It’s really good to stay on top of tech because it moves so fast. The Angular Denver conference was a great place to learn the direction Google is going with Angular and learn about new tech to improve our app.

 

It’s really good to stay on top of tech because it moves so fast. The Angular Denver conference was a great place to learn the direction Google is going with Angular and learn about new tech to improve our app.”

How does this investment make both your employees and your company more successful?

Companies investing in their employee’s physical wellness has been coming more popular. Companies see a return in investment by an improved work ethic, better work output and stronger morale.

 

Trineo investing in employees Colorado tech
Photo via Trineo.

As a global professional services firm, Trineo works closely with its enterprise customers to realize powerful and highly integrated digital transformations. Senior Developer and Project Lead Matt Wratt explained how Trineo invests in the success and relationships of its distributed team of engineers through an emphasis on pair programming and intra-office travel between New Zealand, Australia and Boulder.

 

How does your company invest in the growth and development of your employees?

I just flew to Boulder from Christchurch to meet with some of the new engineers to catch up in person and work together. It’s handy when you’re new to Trineo and you’re learning because sometimes you don’t know the next step to take. Rather than researching on your own, you work through problems together and you get a lot of prompt feedback. You get all of this knowledge really fast.

 

When we pair junior engineers with more experienced engineers, the whole team levels up.”

How does this investment make both your employees and your company more successful?

When we pair junior engineers with more experienced engineers, the whole team levels up. It takes a little bit longer at first, but ultimately, everyone is writing higher-quality code and you’re not relying on one strong person to carry the team.

Trineo is really unique because you find out very quickly if you need help with some aspect of your job. If you’re tenacious and you want to do it, it’s a grand opportunity because people around you will support you and point out what you need to do to grow. It’s really cool.

 

BlueModus investing in employees Colorado tech
Photo via BlueModus.

BlueModus aims to bridge the gap between marketing and technology by helping businesses leverage the latest tech tools to drive their strategies. Vice President and Chief Operating Officer Tom Whittaker shared how the company supports ongoing employee growth in order to provide customers with forward-looking solutions.

 

How does your company invest in the growth and development of your employees?

At BlueModus, we invest in our team’s growth in a few ways: certifications, training and conferences. This past year, we paid for many of our colleagues to obtain certifications as Scrum Product Owners and Scrum Masters and become developer-certified on the three platforms we support: Kentico, Sitecore and Sitefinity.

We also had colleagues attend Kentico and Sitecore conferences as well as several marketing and technology conferences. Best of all, we recently gave colleagues subscriptions to Pluralsight, which offers online, on-demand training courses. This allows our colleagues to get training on subjects that pertain specifically to their roles.

 

As an agency focused on providing technology solutions, it is crucial in our space — which is ever-changing — that our team remains current on the latest technology.”

How does this investment make both your employees and your company more successful?

As an agency focused on providing technology solutions, it is crucial in our space — which is ever-changing — that our team remains current on the latest technology. It helps ensure that our colleagues are crafting solutions that often utilize new technologies based on their training.

Responses have been edited for clarity and length.