Kevin Crawford, Global Head of Insurance, Endava
DevOps is a methodology that aims to streamline work throughout the software development lifecycle, facilitating faster, more efficient and secure delivery of business value to an organisation's end customers.
Computing's DevOps Excellence Awards showcase outstanding achievements from organisations, personalities and solutions that have successfully applied DevOps methodologies.
This year's winners will be announced at a live awards ceremony on Thursday, 14th March in London.
Endava, one of the finalists, is in the running for Best Use of Cloud Native Technologies.
We caught up with Kevin Crawford, global head of insurance at Endava, to find out how their organisation has used IT for success.
Kevin has spent the last 25 years working with insurers and brokers to help them maximise the value they gain from their technology investments. For a significant amount of this time, Kevin worked in the London market for a leading software provider, implementing their core policy and claims systems. At Endava, Kevin is responsible for the overall operational delivery to insurance customers. Outside of work, Kevin has an eclectic range of hobbies - from sedate activities like paddleboarding and yoga to more lively ones, like diving off stages at punk rock concerts.
Computing: Please provide some background on your company for our readers. What makes you different from other companies?
Kevin Crawford: For over 20 years we've successfully delivered agile and digital transformation projects for our customers across the global insurance industry. With offices in 67 cities and 28 countries and with nearly 12,000 employees, we have the teams and skill set our customers rely on. Globally, we partner with customers across multiple industry verticals, working with carriers, brokers and technology providers from ideation to production. What makes us different? It's a blend of culture and our dynamic partner network. This helps keep us at the heart of industry evolution. Our company ethos is to exist to create an environment and a culture that breeds success by caring for our customers as individuals and enabling our people to be the best that they can be. Our dynamic partner ecosystem means we are always ready to help our customers pivot to keep pace with change.
What one company achievement in the last 12 months are you most proud of?
That's hard as we have accomplished so much. Our insurance business has grown rapidly and we're recognised as an organisation that really understands the industry. When I first started with Endava we used to have to explain who we were but now organisations actively seek us out to work with, based on recommendations and personal experience. This makes me really proud of what the team has achieved through delivering meaningful change.
Why are events like the DevOps Excellence Awards important to the IT industry?
It is important to spotlight inspiring DevOps success stories as DevOps enables our insurance customers to move quickly and capitalise on opportunity. Speed to market is so essential in the competitive insurance industry, so the DevOps Excellence Awards help to spread the word and lead the way with the latest ideas and initiatives.
What have been the biggest challenges of 2023 and how have you overcome them?
For 2024 we are focusing on continuous learning and improvement. We always conduct retrospectives so we can evaluate success and areas for improvement, but this year we're tightening our vigilance. This means adhering to design principles, monitoring performance, staying informed and learning and sharing experience with our wider global teams. This is essential for our customers to remain relevant and exceptional in today's dynamic business landscape.
What do you see as the main opportunities for the IT industry in the coming year? How do you plan to capitalise on those opportunities?
With the ongoing rapid evolution of the market, DevOps will be key to enabling us to help our customers continuously adapt. We see many industry developments from AI & voice interaction, hyper-personalisation and metaverse to marketplaces. But critical in all this is data, this means creating a written data strategy that everyone in the organisation understands and can get behind. This includes how you capture data, how you can enhance it and how you can automate and utilise it. Those companies that get the fundamentals around data right will reap the benefits that all new innovations offer us.
DevOps Excellence Awards will take place on 14th March in London. Click here to view the shortlist and here to book your table.
