Partner profile: Edward Quinlan

Blue Hat Associates partner Eddie shares his insights on what’s next.

In this blog series, we introduce you to each of our Partners.

Blue Hat Associates is a collective of entrepreneurial technology leaders who’ve all lived through the challenges of scaling SaaS businesses. Working across Finance, Health, Media, Advertising and the Public Sector, we help clients achieve tech and product goals quicker and more cost-effectively. Combining strategic leadership, with a nearshore talent pool of over 1600 consultants, means we provide the flexibility, innovation and pace that scaleups need to grow.

Introducing Eddie.

Edward has over 20 years’ experience working in product and change management implementing complex technology and cloud migration projects.

He has an MSc in Applied Positive Psychology & Coaching Psychology (MAPPCP) and is a Certified Applied Positive Psychology Coach (CAPPC) with practical experience coaching technology and business leaders helping them navigate complex business challenges and maximise team performance.

How has the pace of technological change influenced the way you do your job?

The pace of technological change dictates we must constantly be aware of newer, emerging technologies that can be applied to our relevant specialisms and sectors.

Clients ask us how they can exploit new technologies in their space, and where they may not have the necessary skills or experience within their teams, they look to us to step in. So, we prioritise learning and keeping our collective skillsets fresh. That means being flexible and dynamic in our service offerings too. We offer a wide range of services from nearshore to onsite development, product management, and data analysis to advanced analytics.

We’ve been doing more and more “health checks” over recent years to help companies understand their tech stack and how they can leverage the latest technology to replace older systems.

How do you help your clients build an organisation that can keep up with the pace of change? 

Firstly, we bring an element of expertise in our respective areas, whether that’s on the business or technology side. We’ve got access to a pool of very knowledgeable development teams who know pretty much every type of tech.  

I’ve been client side and know how hard it can be to keep pace with technology changes, It’s easy to feel left behind – so our job is to help foster a collaborative culture and help them find ways to bring knowledge and expertise into their business.

Plus, when you’re scaling or transforming a business, you don’t often always need the exact same skill set all the time. It’s important to know when (and how) to bring in additional specialist skills.

How do you keep up with new technologies? 

For me, it’s about continuous learning. Being a Blue Hat Partner means I’ve got a wide network of experts to tap in to, so I’ll often reach out to colleagues (new and old) and ask them about their perspective and insights. I subscribe to reputable publications and blogs and attend industry events. There are so many new technologies and products coming out, you have to prioritise your time really well.

What's next in your sector? 

The increase in the adoption of AI and Machine Learning (ML) is definitely a focus. We get a lot of queries on how to best use AI – we encourage companies to still look at what kind of problems they want to solve, it’s typically a data and/or product related challenge, and we help clients clarify the right problems to solve.

I get involved in the change management side a lot, working with different departments and teams to adopt new solutions. We get brought in to solve technology and product problem but it’s important to address the impact these changes have on the business and technology teams and help prepare them as best as possible.

What technologies do you think stand the most chance to change your clients businesses in the next 3-5 years?

AI and machine learning are the obvious choices. Building more advanced data analytics and automating decision making will enable operational efficiencies.

From a product perspective, it’s helping businesses implement processes and tools that allow them to adapt to customer needs and wants through regular feature releases. Automated testing is central to this and implemented effectively, can be a game changer in supporting effective product management.

What kinds of technology problems do you think will drive the next wave of innovation?

With the increase in AI and machine learning, and the sheer amounts of data that companies have, the problem many organisations have is data overload. Companies are struggling to properly understand what the data is telling them because they’re unable to garner any meaningful insights from it.

When you have systems that are 10-12 years old (old tech, but still business critical) there’s a lot of good data in there but it’s not in the best structure, or easily accessible, to be able to analyse it. That’s where data integration comes in – the ability to link up and sync up these disparate data sources into something more unified is the key to unlocking the value of data.

Finally, I see low-code no-code platforms changing up the industry and creating great opportunities for growth - especially for startups, where resources are finite and access to the right skills can be challenging.

How do you help your clients’ teams advance existing products and create new ones?

I’m often brought into to help with cross-functional collaboration – helping teams work together and understand each other’s perspectives better. That can involve running workshops and design sessions to taking responsible from a product and delivery perspective.

Why did you join Blue Hat?

I met Tim when we both worked for a currency hedge fund specialist in London. I was part of a team that delivered bespoke solutions that allowed the business to scale. We brought in some external specialists to plug some skills gaps and do some heavy-lifting for us and I saw the benefit of bringing in tech experts firsthand. They got the job done and transferred the knowledge over to our in-house team.

So, having worked with Tim before, it was a great opportunity to join a collective of likeminded problem solvers. There’s some brilliant talent in the business and we all like to share and support each other and our clients.  We tend to work closely with founders and the C-Suite the people who can make decisions and make things happen, as well as the delivery teams, people on the frontline of the business and technology teams who ensure what needs to happen actually gets done.

I get a real buzz when clients can see the value we bring, whether that’s to their day-to-day operations or building new strategic solutions.

What's next for Blue Hat?

Helping our clients solve real business and technology challenges and working with them to develop a culture where they see transformation is possible and sustainable.

We’re also helping clients understand the benefits of cross department collaboration, galvanising them around a common purpose and the benefits this brings.

Thanks for reading, we hope you’ve found it insightful to get to know Eddie’s perspective on the tech landscape.

Learn more about our other Partners and get in touch for a free, friendly chat anytime.