First Consulting receives Expert Partner status from Mendix
First Consulting has been a business implementation partner of Mendix for over four years, completing dozens of business implementations with the platform in various sectors. Building on the experience gained from this relationship, First Consulting recently achieved Expert Partner status within the Mendix Partner Capability programme. Jon Nelmes, First Consulting’s UK managing director, explains how their track record will enable the consultancy to help UK businesses with Mendix based innovation.
Mendix is a low-code, high-productivity platform, that enables enterprises to transform how their organisations innovate and compete with applications. The cooperation between First Consulting and Mendix began in 2013 with a major Mendix implementation for a Dutch utility client.
Over the following years, First Consulting has delivered Mendix solutions for clients in financial services, telecoms, and high-tech sectors, as well as extensive implementations in the utilities sector. The work of First Consulting has ranged from Business Process Management or workflow support to the development of customer portals and dashboards with specific requirements for UX interaction, and the implementation of innovative solutions integrated with new technologies such as Internet of Things (IoT), machine learning or robotic process automation (RPA).
Mendix Partner capability programme
Today, First Consulting is an Expert Partner of Mendix, which is the highest accreditation level that external companies can be appointed to in its partner capability programme. “The Expert Partner level is intended for partners who are able to assist larger customers in the implementation of Mendix solutions on an enterprise wide scale and support these organisations with the use of Mendix solutions for the roll-out of a successful digital strategy. We see First Consulting as a partner with whom we like to work together in the more complex and comprehensive Mendix implementations, where it is not so much about building a single app but where understanding and developing both the business and IT organisation is part of the success,” explained Jornt Moerland, Global Director of Partner Enablement at Mendix.
To be eligible to be an Expert partner, a Mendix partner needs to have sufficient qualifications across a number of aspects. The Expert partner must have completed multiple successful Mendix implementations related to a range of applications and business domains. Additionally, the partner must be scalable and flexible enough to support multiple large implementations simultaneously. Finally, the Expert partner must have other delivery skills, which are necessary to realise sustainable solutions on an enterprise scale, such as architecture and UX design skills.
“At this moment, we are active with Mendix at several international companies,” said Jon Nelmes, who has been tasked with leading First Consulting’s recent launch in the UK. The firm was founded in the Netherlands by a group of former Accenture consultants, and has since seen rapid growth, with a focus on three domains: process, technology, and business implementation. Today, the consulting firm has a workforce of 180 consultants in the Netherlands, making it one of the country’s fastest growing consultancies.
Building on a unique way of working, which Nelmes styles as a “no nonsense approach, coupled with industry expertise and high-quality consultancy skills”, the consultancy has arrived in Britain with an aim to accelerate its growth in the world’s second largest consulting industry. One of the services that Nelmes has set his sights on growing in the UK is consultancy services around the deployment of Mendix, building on the strong reputation that First Consulting established for itself in this space in the Netherlands.
Commenting on its expert status with Mendix, Nelmes added, “First Consulting brings to the market multidisciplinary consultants. In addition to their Mendix skills, these business-technology consultants also have certification and experience in developing an enterprise architecture and / or being able to design the user experience for solutions.”
Differentiated offering
Asked how First Consulting distinguishes itself as a Mendix implementation partner, André van Teeseling, an associate partner at First Consulting and lead of the agile development capability, said, “We as a business consultancy organisation can help customers with the digitisation and improvement of their business processes. We understand and improve business processes and also ensure proper implementation of supporting IT. In addition, we use the Mendix platform as agile technology to quickly deliver applications and solutions that contribute to achieving business goals. Our business technology consultants also bring, as a standard, first class communication and business skills, including excellent digital skills and knowledge." Alongside the firm’s role as an advisory partner of Mendix, First Consulting contributes to the innovative ability of the platform’s products. In 2016, they received an innovation award for the development of an Internet or Things solution for a Smart Farming supplier.
To cater for the growth in Mendix proejcts, First Consulting is looking for new recruits, said Nelmes. The firm is "seeking smart, technology-minded individuals, who can think from the business perspective, instead of being focused purely on the IT angle, who also bring a strong set of soft skills, preferably with a background of project delivery."
For more information on First Consulting and job opportunities, see the firm's company profile on Consultancy.uk.
