As we step into 2025, it’s common for leaders to reflect on the past year and look ahead with optimism. Too often, though, these reflections are filled with vague platitudes - “We did great last year, and next year will be even better!” - without meaningful insight or accountability.
I want to take a different approach. To do that, I need to step out of my comfort zone. That means:
- Sharing some tough realities.
- Publicly making some promises that won't be easy to keep.
- Talking not only about our successes, but also where we must improve.
I hope this approach resonates, and more importantly, I hope it sets the tone for a year of progress and growth.
Opportunities
Let’s eat the frog.
Interserv must do more to be known
Interserv does great work, but too many people still don’t know who we are. We need to do better at getting the word out. Which means more content, more engagement, and a stronger presence across our channels.
By providing more value to the communities we serve, we will build familiarity and awareness, ensuring that when our expertise is needed, and people know where to find us. This will also help us grow, improve what we already do well, and reduce key person and key client risks—an inherent challenge for any small organisation.
For me personally, this means getting out of my comfort zone and:
- Recording at least one piece to camera.
- Pursuing public speaking opportunities.
- Prioritising face-to-face engagement with prospective clients.
Interserv must launch products
Currently, the majority of Interserv’s revenue comes from services. We take immense pride in the quality of our work, the projects we deliver, and the relationships we build with our clients - this will not change.
However, we see an opportunity to enhance our offerings through product development. By creating products that complement our services, we can:
- Provide even greater value to our clients.
- Broaden Interserv’s impact.
- Strengthen our long-term sustainability.
This will also help us navigate the natural ebb and flow of project-based work.
For me personally, this means having the confidence to take a calculated risk. That is, investing in something that may not succeed but has the potential to be transformative.
Get even better at what we do
Resource allocation is one of the hardest decisions in any organisation. At Interserv, we have always prioritised investing in ourselves—and that will continue.
We will:
- Refine our processes.
- Increase automation.
- Continue upskilling our team.
Ideally, routine and repetitive tasks will be streamlined, freeing up our team to focus on high-value work, innovation, and professional growth. AI will undoubtedly play a role in this, as will tools like Power Automate and DevOps pipelines.
For me personally, this means:
- Handing over responsibilities I’ve been reluctant to delegate.
- Focusing on where I can contribute the most.
- Learning new skills and tackling new challenges.
Successes
Last year seemed to pass faster than ever, but we made it count. We built new apps, delivered major updates to key websites, created engaging digital content, developed eLearning courses, and implemented custom software solutions.
Here are our top three successes from 2024:
3. Cyber Security eLearning
Interserv develops a wide range of eLearning courses for clients, but in 2024, we created something specifically for ourselves —a Cyber Security course tailored to our organisation. Given the increasing security threats that all organisations face, this was a critical investment in our own resilience.
2. Program Horizon
For number two I'm cheating a little and not focusing strictly on a single project. After scrambling to launch Horizon in 2023, throughout 2024 we have worked with the Horizon team to consistently refine and improve their website. Sprint after sprint we added and improved features such as user management, content structure, analytics, workflow, and digital badging to mention a few. We also launched a mobile app and continued to lay the foundation for even more ambitious features.
1. The Cove 4.0
Anyone who knows me professionally could probably guess our top success of 2024. A project that combines learning, gamification, technical challenges, and significant innovation? Hard to beat.
The Cove 4.0 had all of that — and more.
Honourable mentions
- The Runway App - Huge improvements in notifications for PME apps.
- The Hone App - Showcased the power of .NET MAUI.
- Smart Pi EYE Enhancements - Continued innovation in a critical area.
It was certainly a productive year!
A final promise
I’ll wrap up this post with a commitment:
Within 12 months, I will write a follow-up post assessing the progress of the opportunities outlined above. I’ll provide an honest analysis of what we achieved, where we fell short, and assign a grade to each goal.
Here’s to a year of real progress. Let’s get to work!
