Kiwi startup bringing Silicon Valley ideals to local businesses

A Kiwi startup has big goals to bring Silicon Valley's DevOps ideologies of experimentation, failure acceptance and innovation development to local New Zealand businesses, with the help of Amazon Web Services (AWS).

API Talent, a young company with 17 staff based in Wellington and Auckland, recently won AWS's Rising Star award for helping clients in small and large New Zealand businesses, by helping developers and IT professionals adopt a collaborative approach to innovation

"We want to help people 'fail fast and move on' like Silicon Valley does as that's how you innovate. You experiment and some things work and others don't, but that's how you improve. With AWS, you can do this much faster and with less friction in the organisation," says API co-founder Seb Krueger.

AWS has played a major role in API's success, as Krueger explains that AWS has provided pay-as-you-go services ranging from networking, compute, storage, databases, machine learning and serverless compute, and the service has been invaluable.

"We won the award for providing valuable consulting services to mid-size and enterprise-size customers – putting their customers first and obsessing over delivering quality outcomes. Our staff are 100 per cent AWS certified, with many holding multiple AWS certifications. Many of our team also hold at least one professional-level certification, and two hold all five current AWS certifications," Krueger explains.

API's clients have been singing praises too. ConveyIT's general manager John McKenzie has commended API for its help improving the company's online conveyancing service for lawyers and decreasing costs.

"ConveyIT used API to further develop its service when it moved to the AWS Cloud recently. Particularly valuable was the ability to scale capacity up and down without having to invest in new computer equipment. You can add another server online really quickly and not have to wait weeks for one to arrive in a box and then mirror all your data on to it," McKenzie says.

While small businesses appreciate the DevOps approach to innovation, it is more difficult to convince large businesses about ROI and a change in business processes.

"Our customers in New Zealand are telling us they want to work with partners who help them enable the greater agility, scalability and innovation the AWS Cloud provides. Through its customer-centric approach and its willingness to experiment in building solutions for customers, API Talent is very well placed and we congratulate them on winning the AWS Rising Star award," Stefan Jansen, AWS head of channels and alliances, Australia and New Zealand, says.

API will continue embracing cloud technology, as API's Auckland general manager Andreas Mueller says "An awful lot is possible when people aren't constrained by hardware reliability, lead-times and costs in improving their services.

"We want to make waves and influence the market, so people can innovate using the massive advantages that Amazon's web services offer. We want New Zealand businesses to really develop their capabilities," API co-founder Wyn Ackroyd concludes.