Technical Director, Marcus Hunt looks back on 2023: what this year has taught us, and what’s to come in 2024

Technical Director, Marcus Hunt’s reflection on 2023

This time last year we sat down as a leadership team and spoke about what we wanted to achieve in 2023. We all came away with our objectives and focus for the year to come.

Full disclosure, not everything went exactly to plan. Because as is the nature of any progressive company, we had to adapt as we went along.

Plans are meant to be changed. That’s a core part of our eve culture that I think is brilliant. We don’t just stick with the plan because it’s what we said we’d do. If there’s something that comes along that makes more sense for the business, for our partners, and for end users, then we pivot and adapt. That’s something we’ve always done at eve and has proven time and time again to be a strength for us. 

The importance of being agile in tech development

One of our core objectives for 2023 was the delivery of the call reporting suite. In Q1 this year we successfully delivered phase 1, the ‘basic’ free reports (although basic feels like a disservice, they’re really quite extensive for a free feature).

The plan for this project was to go on and develop phase 2 which included custom reporting, custom dashboard designs, wall boards, real-time alerts and more. But as the year progressed, we decided to divert attention away from that project. The reasons for this, unfortunately, can’t be shared just yet, but all will become clear in Q1 of 2024…watch this space.

But what was great to see from that decision to shift focus was how well the development team dealt with that change in priority.

There’s a mindset in this team of wanting to do things better and backing yourself. We constantly look at challenges and think “We can do this, but we can do it better, we can do it our way, the way that will give our Partners and end users the best outcome”. That attitude and outlook comes from within, you can’t teach it. I see it within everyone in the team. This year we’ve seen tremendous growth and it’s been great to see the team thrive in a supportive environment where everyone can grow and bounce off each other. 

Rising to new challenges

The latest project the team has been working on has huge scope. In a few months when we can talk about it, everyone will be able to see just how big of a challenge it was, but the entire team has completely risen to it. 

A few years ago if you’d told me this was the type of stuff we’d be doing, this new secret project, the call recording project, and everything in between, I wouldn’t have thought it was possible. I’d have said we need a much bigger team and more resources. But to have been able to do it all with a fairly small team has been incredible. We’re a small, but focused bunch, with a clear vision of what we’re trying to achieve. 

2024 doesn’t look any less busy than 2023 and I say bring it on!