Neil Hunt: digital solutions
Neil Hunt has been the driving force behind the software development arm of Zipform Digital for nearly five years.
With a background in software engineering and international experience, we recently spoke to him to find out more about this critical role.
What does your role involve?
My team deliver digital communications solutions to many industries including government, utilities and retail organisations. One of the hats that I wear is that of a Software Development Manager. I ensure that my team of developers and programmers remain focused on delivering valuable solutions for our clients. The varied nature of my job is what keeps it interesting.
I also really enjoy working with my colleagues in the leadership team to brainstorm initiatives and solutions for our clients – it’s an unexpected creative aspect to my role.
What do you think the biggest challenge is for clients in the current COVID-19 environment?
I’ve found that most clients are struggling with finding the right balance between outsourcing their work versus developing projects internally.
It’s never been more difficult to find the right people, more so in the tech industry. For clients to be able to resource quickly to turn around small to medium size projects would have to be one of the biggest challenges facing the industry right now.
Tell us more about your interest in Australian First Nations literature. What appeals to you about it?
It began with my wife looking for something to invest in that would also improve the future of the next generation. She talked me through the potential benefits of supporting First Nations literature, of which there were many - cultural, environmental, social, and economic.
I could see that by empowering the next generation of First Nations kids with the same literacy skills I demand of the government for my own children, it was a no-brainer to support the development of First Nations literature.
With many years’ experience under his belt in managing a remote workforce across multiple countries, we asked Neil what advice he would give to other people leaders in the tech industry who may be considering this option to fill vacancies left by the global pandemic.
“Prior to Zipform Digital, I worked for a remote team for many years, and worked with remote teams in Vietnam, England, Ukraine and India. The best advice I received and have pursued is to make it feel like a team. A remote worker must feel as valued and important as someone you have daily conversations with across the partition. This takes effort, but if your primary interaction is “you broke the build” rather than “congratulations on your anniversary” then it is more often seen as you not valuing them.”
As the Digital Solutions Manager at Zipform Digital, Neil brings more than 20 years’ experience in the development and engineering of software solutions to the benefit of our national clients. His passion lies in managing world class development teams and translating business requirements into functional technology tools that deliver real value for our clients.
With a background as a primary solutions architect and developer, Neil enjoys the challenge of a varied national client base, in addition to managing the entire software development life cycle to provide the best value possible for Zipform Digital clients.