Ensono Digital's IdAM and Data Engineering Conference in Austria allowed our remote teams to learn together in person, with employees travelling far and wide to attend. It was a great opportunity to reflect on the Ensono Digital journey so far, look ahead to the future and spend quality time with each other.  ‍

Alex Eaton, our Talent Partner, shares his experience.

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Face-to-face interaction for a remote team

Working primarily in a remote setting, we provide several opportunities to come together in person, such as regular team meetups in our offices, a company-wide Hackathon, and, more recently, our IdAM and Data Engineering Conference in Austria. As the business grows, these occasions enable us to interact and engage face-to-face, develop a rapport with co-workers, and let new hires get better acquainted with their teammates.

Last month's IdAM and Data Engineering Conference provided the perfect opportunity to connect with colleagues, some of whom we met in person for the first time, learn and upskill on all things identity and data engineering related and enjoy some time together as a business.

Learning experience

At the IdAM and Data Engineering Conference, we exchanged ideas and best practices, learned about different areas of the business, recent developments and accomplishments, and looked ahead to 2023 and beyond.

Alan Walsh, Managing Partner Ensono Digital EU, opened the conference with a keynote address. He gave an update on the company's progress, growth, and vision for the future, drawing attention to how we continue to drive better business outcomes for our clients and ourselves.  

Next up, was a day-in-the-life presentation from Andy and George in our Data Engineering team, where we gained an understanding of their day-to-day responsibilities. During their talk, we learnt about data analytics and the distinctions between business intelligence (BI) and visualisation, data analysis, data science and machine learning. We also became acquainted with current data concepts such as ETL (extract, transform, and load), the evolution from data warehouses to data lakes, and the more recent data lakehouse and data mesh. They shared some exciting projects that the Data Engineering team has been working on recently and how our clients are using data to drive better decision-making.

It was then time for our connected services team to update us on the newest features from our identity partners, and significant technical achievements from the team over recent months. They elaborated on the benefits of identity and access management for our clients. This was an excellent chance to educate the wider business on how identity ensures a frictionless, personalised experience, robust protection, and enhanced insight into the needs of their customers. It also featured a special performance from some of the team... but the less said about that, the better.

Grant Brown, COO, concluded the presentations with an overview of the company's successes in 2022 and our aspirations for the upcoming year. With massive ambitions ahead of us, we all came away feeling excited and eager to work together to help our clients tackle some of their most complex challenges.

Relationship building

As well as listening to the talks, we participated in several team-building activities and information retention exercises to facilitate knowledge transfer, promote teamwork and improve communication and collaboration.

While technology makes it possible to do much of our day-to-day work remotely, we cannot overlook the value of face-to-face connections. The trip provided an opportunity to network and socialise in person, strengthen relationships and establish new connections while taking in Austria's amazing scenery, skiing down the mountains, savouring the stunning views while on hikes and sampling the local schnapps together.

Final thoughts

As a remote-first business, we take care to build a culturally-inclusive and diverse environment where everyone feels welcome and connected. Having physical get-togethers like this with our peers reinforces the incredible culture we have, of which we are immensely proud.  

Whether it's a company conference, smaller team meetings or other large-scale gatherings, events where we can swap stories, share wisdom, and laugh together, remind us why we do what we do. Our success depends on our collective knowledge and skills, and we never stop learning and encouraging each other to keep raising the bar.

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If that sounds like something you'd like to be part of, check out our Careers page and join our team.

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