5 Lessons Learned After Receiving the Export and Innovation Award 2016

Not too long ago we celebrated our 5th anniversary and at the end of 2016, as icing on the cake, we won first place in the Export and Innovation Award 2016 in the small partnership group, organised by the Investment and Development Agency of Latvia and the Ministry of Economics. It proves that we have the capacity to create and export software products and services to local and foreign clients. This award is especially important because it demonstrates how external experts evaluate us.

At the end of 2016 we also calculated that mobile applications and web services tested by us are used by more than 1.4 billion people around the world. That is an enormous responsibility and we take our job seriously.

Co-founders Ervins Grinfelds and Andrejs Frisfelds were still working at Skype when they had the idea to establish TestDevLab. They knew how big companies operate and took notice how important collaboration was with outsourced companies. Now they are using this comprehensive experience to make TestDevLab a globally recognisable and reliable software testing and development company that is trusted by start-ups and global enterprises such as Skype, Microsoft and Twilio.

During the company’s early beginnings there was a humorous case. One of the first attempts at advertising the company resulted with us being approached by a man from Pakistan who wanted us to test a motorcycle store. Apparently we hadn’t clearly stipulated what services we provide. Service advertisement is a process that must be continuously improved because nowadays it’s becoming increasingly more difficult to get noticed in this sea of information.

Today, as a team of 70 professionals, we not only provide a wide range of software testing and development services, but we also develop our own products. Our plan is to continue developing our existing products and developing new ones. To learn about our latest developments and updates, subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of the page.

We also obtained a 3D printer which enables us to quickly print out various physical product prototypes. For example, we have created a robot that can simulate touch input on mobile devices and we are currently testing its usability in test automatization; it will help to solve issues with mobile platform restrictions. We’ve observed that our hardware and software engineers are working on this project with great interest. Each of them had their own experience and, by collaborating with one another, were able to solve all problems. Therefore, we plan to further gain experience developing specific hardware and software solutions.

Five Important Lessons Learned In Five Years

• Work quality is very important. In business relations recommendations are essential and no one will want to recommend a partner that is not trustworthy. Therefore, we pay great attention to the quality of our work and we’re always looking for ways to go the extra mile for our clients.
• Invest time in developing and maintaining business relationships. Great relationships with employees, clients and partners must be maintained every day. When on business trips we also try to plan meetings with old acquaintances and friends.
• It’s important to employ the right people. Even though candidate’s professional skills and previous work experience seem excellent, it’s important to evaluate their ability to fit in with other employees.
• Technology constantly evolves, which means that learning is a process that never ends. Therefore, it’s important to get used to the idea that you’ll have to learn something new every day.
• Entrepreneurship will always present new challenges. The most stimulating challenges arises when a potential project requires to find experienced professionals in fields or technologies that are not very common. It’s an enormous satisfaction once we overcome that.

During these first five years we have done a lot, however, we’ll not stop here and will continue to acquire new knowledge as well as help other businesses improve the quality of their products. Nowadays that is crucial, because competition in many fields is so tough that it’s damaging to even make small and seemingly insignificant mistakes.