Meet Oscar Valente – Adapted to the decentralized modality prior to the pandemic
Today we have selected Oscar Valente to take his interview. He is the CEO of MyTaskPanel Consulting.
How are you and your team doing in these times of COVID-19?
Honestly, better than expected. Even though 2020 was a different, unpredictable, and changing year, it found us prepared. MyTaskPanel was born as a decentralized company, so remote work is a modality we are used to. Although the new employment situation did not have a high impact on us, it did on the market. We quickly understood the situation and helped our clients carry out what was a natural activity for us: developing software in a distributed way, with decentralized teams working remotely.
Regarding our methodology adapted to the crisis, I have to mention that we received an award for having achieved an accelerated growth of 300% last year. We feel very proud about it, and it motivates us to continue giving our best.
Tell us about yourself, your career. How did you start or founded this company?
I have been in the technology world for over 30 years, and I founded two businesses before establishing the consultancy that I lead today.
In 2018, my family and I decided to move to Spain to find a better future. Soon after, I partnered with a couple of friends in a startup to create the best software on the market for online project management in agile methodologies. As a result, MyTaskPanel Consulting was born, a Spanish company with a software factory in Latin America, which experienced exponential growth in a short time.
How is your company contributing to face this global crisis?
At MyTaskPanel Consulting, we help other companies with a strong technological base to achieve their systems objectives, offering two kinds of services.
The first one involves developing custom software in cutting-edge technologies, following customer requirements, high-quality standards, and good practices.
The second involves providing professionals remotely and decentralized in the outsourcing modality, for which we do not require minimum hiring or permanence. For this possibility, we offer two kinds of contracts. On the one hand, our agile squads: multidisciplinary, flexible, and autonomous teams appointed to different client projects to meet their needs and have all the required skills for the job. On the other hand, the now traditional Time and Material, in which one or more professionals are appointed under the direct control and supervision of the client, who pays only for hours actually worked.
With this, we managed to solve the lack of systems professionals, at least as far as the European Union is concerned. We covered this demand with our staff of specialists because we have access to numerous professionals from all over Latin America.
We accompany all these processes by offering our management software and star product free of charge: MyTaskPanel a platform to manage online projects totally intuitive and efficient way.
How is the coronavirus pandemic affecting your business and how are you coping with this?
Due to the pandemic, we could extend our support to companies that encountered the challenge of getting used to remote work and changing forms of communication, connectivity, management, and project monitoring. We focused on offering solutions to our clients to face these new challenges, as we have had the experience from the very beginning.
Did you have to make tough decisions and what were the lessons learned?
We didn’t have to make tough decisions. The challenge for MyTaskPanel Consulting was to convince our colleagues that it was possible to adopt the decentralized mode without losing efficiency and, in addition, saving costs in facilities, equipment, infrastructure, and management.
I believe that these times have taught us that remote work allows us to save costs and carry out the most varied projects in an efficient way. Thanks to the decentralized model of work, we have also gained quality of life. We all learned to be more flexible and to adapt to the new reality. Those who previously believed that remote work was an unthinkable modality today make it part of the working week of their company.
What specific management skills, software and tools are you using to deal with this crisis?
Among the tools we use the most, I highlight the entire suite of Google Workspace applications, Slack for instant communication, and MyTaskPanel for project management. The management of decentralized teams and the management of more complex projects would not be possible without good software that allows you to visualize, both globally and individually, what is the current status of the ongoing projects.
Who are your competitors? And how do you plan to stay in the game?
As for the product’s competitors, I can name Trello and Asana as the best known. We are still a startup company, and we are establishing ourselves in the market. Therefore, to stay in the game, we know that we have to be aware of the needs and wishes of customers, as well as proposals similar to ours.
Regarding our consulting services, we do not have names of competitors that we can clearly identify. We understand that there are system agencies that provide services in a decentralized manner with IT professionals, distributed in different parts of the world, especially in Spain and Latin America. Although there are many companies dedicated to offering remote specialists at very affordable prices in India, we prioritize quality over price – although I have to admit that our values are quite accessible. In addition, our professionals are bilingual and have years of experience in this kind of work.
Your Final Thoughts
These last two years have shown us that we must be prepared for the changing and unpredictable environment we live in. It is essential to work on flexible solutions to the needs of consumers and market circumstances without forgetting the purpose that drives us to do what we do.
- Spokesperson: Oscar Valente
- Company: MyTaskPanel Consulting
- Website link: https://www.mytaskpanel.com
- Product link: https://agile.mytaskpanel.com
