It was our marketing team that first saw the potential for AZtecLive. They’d noticed that customers using AZtec were improvising to be able to search their samples quickly, and they realised that we could provide a much better solution. We knew what we wanted to do with the software, but we weren’t sure whether the hardware and electronics could support it. We started prototyping and then testing to establish and prove the concept, and then we implemented AZtecLive.

When it was first created I was Scrum Master on the project, which meant that I co-ordinated everything between the Software Development team, and Marketing and Operations. We worked together with our colleagues in Sales and Product Management to understand what the new system needed to do, and to agree on what we would deliver and by when. I also looked after the list of requirements, made sure everyone knew what they were doing and what our priorities and deadlines were.

Helha, Project Manager

High Wycombe, UK

I’m involved with sending out new software and upgrades to customers around the world. Whenever there is a new release, our team will be involved beforehand to prepare. And then as soon as it is released, we need to be able to ship it in the quickest way possible.

But we’re also always looking at reducing costs, and we know the positive impact this can have on a new product launch. So when AZtecLive was released, we had a volume of upgrades with software going worldwide, and we needed to find the most efficient way of moving these shipments. We had to calculate duties and tariffs, liaise with customers, agents and local authorities, and make sure that we had everything in place ready to monitor our shipments from the moment they left our warehouse. 

Trudy, Senior Exporter

High Wycombe, UK

It was my role to make sure that we developed a strong sales strategy for AZtecLive that would grow our market share across the region. This involved working very closely with different customers to understand their day-to-day jobs and what they were trying to do. We used this information to build a strategy and value proposition that communicates the benefits of the product, and how it can meet the needs of customers in different sectors. I then worked with our sales team to ensure that we executed this strategy and the benefits.

The product has had an extremely good impact and shows we’re an innovative and market-leading organisation. It's allowing our customers, in both industry and academia, to get a lot more information about their samples. Whether they’re researching new materials, or developing next generation automotive or semiconductor components, AZtecLive helps them to solve problems and get new products to market quickly. 

Tony, Sales Director for EMEAI

High Wycombe, UK

As the Finance Director of NanoAnalysis, I’m part of the Exec team that decides whether we should or shouldn’t proceed with various product development ideas. My role within the AZtecLive project, as with any other project, was to assess the fit to our portfolio, to consider its alignment to our strategy and that it would deliver future growth for the business.

We have various gate processes for any new product development project, so once we had decided we wanted to move forward with the idea, I then helped people to make the right decisions throughout the project. I checked all the financials to make sure we knew how much it would cost to complete and what future revenues and margins we expected. At times this meant working with the team to challenge the assumptions in their project and business plans. Ultimately, I needed to make sure that the product we were developing would be commercially successful.  A lot of our customers are now upgrading their systems because they want AZtecLive, and I really enjoyed helping the team to deliver a product that is successful and makes such a difference.

Bev, Finance Director

High Wycombe, UK