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PTC Member Profile: Agility IT Services

The Pittsburgh Technology Council’s membership spans every nook and cranny of the tech ecosystem. Member company Agility IT Services (Agility ITS) is a great example of a company with Pittsburgh roots deploying top talent and technologies to solve tough IT and software development problems with talent based in Pennsylvania. We talked to President Tim H. Smalczewski about Agility. Here's what he had to say: Pittsburgh Technology Council: Tell us about Agility IT Services and what inspired you to found it. Tim H. Smalczewski: Just about everything today (and even more so in the future) is being operated, controlled, and monitored by software creating an enormous global market. Much of it is custom designed. This is what we do best. Agility is a world-class custom software development company born and operated in the U.S. utilizing the finest proprietary software tool on the planet. If you require … accuracy, flexibility, security, extremely competitive pricing, and accelerated time to market … let’s have a conversation. The custom software development process can be complex and present the following challenges:
  • High development costs
  • Unexpected delays
  • Scope creep
  • Missed expectations due to poor communication
Agility IT Services takes away all the concerns associated with this process and makes the decision easy. We give you the options of either using our team/services for the project easing your internal development backlog or you can acquire our software tool, widely considered “the fastest development tool in the world," and do the work yourself. The last option is to combine efforts to create a hybrid approach training your staff while we execute on the first project. Either way you get sophisticated business applications including complete presentation, data, and logic layers. PTC: What makes Agility different from the competition? Tim: The Agility "value proposition" and competitive advantages are significant:
  • U.S.-based with all developers located in Harrisburg, Pa., facilitating more predictable results
  • We use a proven 5th generation "no-code" natural language development tool widely considered the fastest development tool in the world
  • All work begins with a project prototype built in the cloud for expectation confirmation eliminating any risk
  • Our projects are, on average, 50 - 60% less expensive and 50 - 60% faster regarding time to completion/deployment
  • We have the best SLAs available - up to "5 - 9s" which is unheard of in the industry
  • There are 3 project options with maximum flexibility - we do the work in a full outsourced model, we do the work together in a joint development process, client purchases our software tool and does the work internally
PTC: Many years ago, offshoring IT projects was a hot trend. What has changed to make onshoring a better option? Tim: The trend of offshoring application development is in the infancy of a cycle shift for the following reasons:
  • It is not as cost competitive as it once was with labor costs increasing
  • Projects tend to get delayed prolonging time to market
  • The development tools that are being used are legacy and can not compete with a 5th generation no-code platform
  • Effective project communication with expected deliverables are a huge challenge
PTC: What tech trends are you paying attention to right now? Tim: Trends such as AI - Driven Development, Augmented Analytics, Autonomous Things, Blockchain, and Legacy Application Modernization are very high on our radar.  All these initiatives will continue to drive significant outsourced software development that requires quick time to market and an advanced and predictable development process. PTC: How often do you get back to Pittsburgh and what are your thoughts on it as a tech center? Tim: I get back to Pittsburgh every 4 - 6 weeks. I expect the frequency to increase as I am staffing up.  My development team is located in Harrisburg. Having grown up in Pittsburgh, I have many ties to the city with tons of family in Western PA. I see the area evolving as a tech center with Carnegie Mellon front and center spearheading those efforts. Pittsburgh is fortunate to have the world's premiere computer science university in their back yard.  If the City can keep the graduates from leaving the area the chances of becoming a mini "Silicon Valley" are very good.  It was a great place to grow up with an emphasis on family and education. Read last week's member profile on PickleShark here.