Mission: To develop innovative IT solutions and processes to help their clients realize tactical and strategic business objectives.
Launched: 2007
HQ: Dallas
FTEs: 1,200
Website: Improving.com
If nothing else, the pandemic has underscored the crucial importance for businesses to be forward-thinking in their approach to IT. Consulting firm Improving understands these struggles, and works to help clients use technology to catalyze the growth of their business.
Primarily, Improving’s services are focused around consulting – everything from digital transformation projects to business analytics and intelligence. The company also provides application development services such as web, cloud, and mobile development.
Additionally, Improving has an active training and coaching business. They are the largest provider of
training for Scrum.org in North America. While many businesses engage Improving to help train their staff, individuals can join these virtual classes as well. (You can check out all the classes Improving offers on their website.)
The majority of Improving’s client base consists of mid-market to larger companies. They work with companies across a variety of sectors, including transport, financial services, and energy. Each client engagement looks different. Sometimes, Improving deploys an entire team to work on a project, and other times they send in experts to augment an existing team.
Kristin Johnson
Kristin Johnson is VP of Marketing at Improving. She has been at the firm for almost ten years and has seen it expand from 150 people to more than 1,200 employees (or “Improvers,” as they are known internally) across the US, Mexico, and Canada.
Johnson reported that the company had a small dip in business in the middle of 2020 due to the pandemic. Some Improvers even volunteered to reduce their salary temporarily, to help the company’s cash-flow (they have now all been paid back “and then some,” said Johnson). However, she asserted that the company has seen significant growth: “It’s truly a testament to the dedication that all of our Improvers have been putting forth.”
“I’ve loved working with Improving,” she told Tech Hub South Florida. Johnson highlighted Improving’s company culture as one of the aspects she values most about the company: “A good company culture is not something to take for granted.”
Improving’s values are excellence, involvement, and dedication. This helps fulfill the company’s ambition, in Johnson’s words, “to change the perception of the IT professional.” She continued: “Truly building trust with one another, as well as our customers, is huge. And we’re deeply rooted in our commitment to establishing that trust.”
Part of this mission is rooted in the ideas of conscious capitalism, a non-profit movement followed by companies like Whole Foods and the Container Store. “Conscious Capitalism has four pillars,” Johnson explained, “purpose, stakeholder orientation, culture, and leadership.”
Johnson is involved in her local Conscious Capitalism branch, and sees it as a way to validate a lot of the values that she said Improving was already living.
Community is important to Improving. “We are passionate supporters of communities,” Johnson said. When able, Improving provides space, food, and drinks free of charge to organizations like user groups and meetups. “It’s our way of giving back.”
Learn more about Improving by visiting their website.