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INTRODUCTIONPointlogic, A Nielsen company, is a leading provider of marketing decision support systems for brands, media agencies and media owners across the world. But that description only offers a tiny glimpse of what we do and who we are as a business.

We don’t just handle the data and provide the modelling capabilities; all our solutions are built in-house, and we often receive glowing feedback from clients about the quality and simplicity of our platforms. But what makes our software so unique?

Well, we believe software development is like a jigsaw puzzle, with lots of equally important but disparate pieces that need to be brought together to truly understand the bigger picture.

Let’s delve deeper into some of these individual puzzle pieces and see how they combine to create Pointlogic’s innovative software platforms.

1. DATA

We love data at Pointlogic, and we expect our software developers to love it too. Our teams are filled with the best and brightest minds across mathematics, statistics, analytics and computer science - but they all have one thing in common: they know how to handle data.

Whether it’s our own research, company data or single source panels, we utilise cutting-edge technologies and the latest industry knowledge to leverage the insights our clients need to optimise their marketing campaigns.

We live in a data-driven world, and big data solutions are sometimes needed to make sense of it. Pointlogic deals with massive datasets every day, which means Hadoop and distributed computing have become a key part of our framework for flagship products.

But it’s not just the size of the data that’s important; performance is just as critical. Our data-handling pedigree gives us the confidence to ensure our solutions can be highly customised and configurable where necessary to fit each client’s unique needs. If organisations have the data, we can use it - and if they don’t, we can find it.

2. COMMUNICATION

Our belief is that true innovation comes from inside the development team, which is why we do everything we can to encourage idea generation from the bottom up. A non-bureaucratic communication approach ensures everyone has a say in how we achieve technical improvements, so the creativity of our employees is never stifled.

Pointlogic favours the Agile development process because we believe it’s the best way to adapt to the rapidly evolving needs of businesses in a fast-paced media environment. That means our clients and partners don’t receive 20-page software design documents that are outdated even before we’ve finished writing them.

Instead, we take a more holistic approach. We give clients a broader overarching sense of how their software will look, feel and function, while still giving our developers the flexibility they need to make essential changes during development.

However, our clients remain crucial cogs in the software development machine. We value their input and continually seek user feedback on the ways in which we can improve our software to meet their needs. Not every suggestion makes it through to the final product, but our developers are in regular contact with clients who beta test our platforms to find the best solution to their problems.

3. USER EXPERIENCE

4. SOFTWARE

“Less is more” is a motto we believe every software developer should take to heart. We pride ourselves on creating user-friendly, intuitive platforms that speak to businesses in their own language without showering them with lots of arbitrary buttons, loud colours and needless drop-down menus.

But designing the perfect user experience (UX is a delicate balancing act, particularly when multiple people across the client’s organisation will be utilising the system. Our developers must offer enough functionality to satisfy the more technical needs of a researcher, for example, while still ensuring the platform has a gradual learning curve for less experienced users.

Furthermore, we often provide white label versions of our software that can be completely re-skinned in line with the client’s own branding and messaging. These capabilities also strengthen our pitches, as we can deliver beautiful, original platforms quickly and reliably through automatic builds.

We therefore place a heavy focus on establishing accurate consumer journeys, and we work incredibly closely with clients to configure each implementation to the relevant persona's within their organisation. The feedback we receive from clients is that our software is simple, reliable and future-proofed - and we couldn’t do it without such a brilliant development team.

UX is an important part of the process, but that doesn’t mean we scrimp on other areas of our software development. Functionality is key to our software’s success, and we’ve built robust systems to sustain a high level of quality across our suite of solutions.

A comprehensive mix of automated and manual testing means our products are as stable and bug-free as possible, with regular software updates delivered through Microsoft ClickOnce for maximum client convenience.

We have also integrated two tracking programs into our software that boost security through source control and access permissions, while also monitoring which screens clients use and how long they spend on them. Our developers use this information to inform future upgrades and optimise training sessions, so clients are always receiving full value from our solutions.

Pointlogic software is highly scalable - offering a range of additional plug-ins - and is recognised across the industry for its transparency, up-to-date technologies and easy deployment. We ensure every installation also speaks the language of our clients, whether that’s through multiple translation options or replacing generic wording with an organisation’s own specific industry terminologies.

5. CODING

6. OUR TEAM

Strong coding is at the core of what we do at Pointlogic - you won’t find spaghetti code underpinning our platforms. We believe in quality over quantity, and good performance is critical to sustaining our market-leading position; every piece of code is reviewed by at least one other developer before it’s introduced into the final product.

At Pointlogic, we have a huge framework base of modular code that is shared across all projects and products. This means every team can benefit from the improvements and innovations of their colleagues, whether they’re in a different office, country or continent.

We make sure that business logic is rarely ‘hard coded’ when building applications, so we can configure or entirely replace the code for each client. In fact, almost all our applications have Python scripts that the intelligence teams can adjust or swap out when necessary.

Modular programming also ensures standardisation and consistency at scale, meaning our expert developers build software that handles huge quantities of data while still maintaining speed and high quality. Again, our stringent testing and review protocols minimise bugs, and developers are always on hand to give clients support on the rare occasions that something goes

Our team connects all the pieces of the software development puzzle together, and we’re proud to have built a strong, forward-thinking workforce of extremely talented and clever individuals.

Developers need to think outside the box, and removing them from their cubicles is a good start! Pointlogic has an inspiring open-plan office with a flex space approach, which means no one has a fixed position. We’ve found this dramatically improves knowledge sharing, communication and morale across our teams.

Moreover, the Agile development process drives productivity and creativity, with Scrums and two-week Sprints helping us allocate tasks and remove any drag factors that are slowing things down. Ultimately, Agile keeps our teams flexible and makes sure our projects can react quickly to unexpected changes that could affect development.

We currently have more than two dozen developers, who hail from a broad spectrum of countries, including the Netherlands, Greece, Portugal, Macedonia, Spain, Turkey and Belarus. As an equal opportunities employer, we’re always on the lookout for the best talent and actively encourage people of all genders, races, religions and disabilities to apply.

CONCLUSIONAt Pointlogic, the success of our software development depends on six key puzzle pieces coming together and forming a whole that is greater than the sum of its parts. Our exceptional data-handling capabilities, non-bureaucratic communication structures and keen focus on high-quality UX, software functionality and coding all combine to produce best-of-breed marketing software.

But it’s the dedication, expertise and innovative thinking of our employees that provide the all-important final piece that brings the puzzle to life. They’re the vital ingredient that helps us to continue building the decision support systems that our clients tell us are the best in the industry.

If you’d like to know more about our solutions and our software development processes, please check our website or call at +31 10 281 60 60.

Tel: +31 10 281 60 60 Fax: +31 10 281 60 61

The Netherlands