Getting Qrious

They’re a curious bunch at Qrious in Newcastle

Qrious is one of those firms that likes solving problems. In fact, innovation strategy is a growing and important part of what they do for their customers.

Okay, they still design and build websites and mobile apps, just like a thousand other digital companies, but it’s how they put the technology into practice that makes the difference.

“We don’t start with the technology” said MD Nick Salloway. “We start by helping our customers to understand who it is they’re designing for and the real problem they’re trying to solve. In the early stages, it’s about asking lots of questions and pushing at boundaries. We love to challenge conventional thinking because we believe that’s how new ideas and innovation really happen. We’ve learned to fall in love with problems, rather than solutions.

It’s an approach our customers love because it gets results. They value the experience of working collaborative with a small, agile multi-disciplinary team to get results quickly. Instead of running long, drawn out and expensive pilots, we work with them to test ideas through rapid-prototypes, and either discard the idea quickly, and at minimal cost if it doesn’t work, or if it does, to help them establish a business case for further investment and a plan to take the idea to market. The focus is on quick, lean and low cost, rather than slow and expensive”.

Which brings us on to the core or what makes Qrious, curious. Nick and the team have developed what the firm is calling Q&A; a brand new service launching this year.

Q&A might sound like a fairly standard approach, but in this case, it really isn’t. There are UX designers and software developers involved throughout – bringing an entirely different dimension to the ‘blue sky thinking’ approach favoured by stuffy grey men in suits. This is tech people solving business problems creatively–using design processes to drive innovation.

So how does it work in practice?

Nick describes Q+A as “a place to think…a mindset…an open and highly collaborative way of working that embraces intelligent failure as a mechanism to improve the process of generating and selecting which ideas to test, and which to run with or leave behind.

He goes on: “In practice it involves bringing people together to solve the right problems. We achieve that through design thinking and a structured innovation process that helps us prove an idea will make a difference and deliver new value for people. It all stems from our own curiosity about how any business, no

matter what size or sector, can be fundamentally transformed through digital technology and innovation. We believe passionately that every business needs to be thinking about this stuff, or risk being left behind by more digitally savvy competitors”.

This is impressive, innovative stuff. The company has grown gradually and now have a core team of nineteen but when talking to Nick, it’s obvious that simply growing headcount isn’t his priority. “My priority is high quality ideas that our customers can afford to deliver, and which create value– that’s ultimately what innovation is about, regardless of whether the end product is a new service, website, mobile app, or any other technology implementation”.

And while Software technology is arguably their speciality, Qrious, crucially, have the skilled people who can show businesses how to use – and optimise – that technology. And it works, for example, Qrious created and now manages the entire online presence for a highly respected international schools group which operates over 70 schools globally.

Since they began working with them in 2014, the number of admission enquiries to these school has risen dramatically. Also in the education space, the business works with several universities – including Newcastle University – helping them to improve the pre-application experience for students visiting their website.

The NHS is another valued client. The firm has been involved in developing mobile application software trials to help patients self-manage their condition more effectively. They’ve also been involved with L’Oréal, Go Outdoors and Peacocks Medical Group.

“With all customers, our ambition is to come up with ideas to solve problems they may be experiencing. We work alongside our customers; we ask questions and we work together to create solutions. We, in effect, become their outsourced technology partner. We can provide a one-off solution or work long-term with their business.

So, here’s an idea. Why not get in touch with Nick and his team at Qrious. Visit their website www.qrious.co.uk to stay up to date with what they’re up to.

Qrious. Curious by nature, innovative by design.