Member Spotlight by Ryan Frederick
Provide us with a brief summary of your business’ services.
AWH is an elite team of digital product creators and data problem solvers. Since its inception in 1995, AWH has engaged with clients across a wide spectrum of industries to create award winning software products and to solve highly complex data challenges that drive business outcomes for our clients. AWH’s experience and expertise is unsurpassed having created more than 2,500 software products used by more than 10 million people and growing.
AWH is guided by two fundamental principles we honor today. First, we work in the client’s best interest. Sometimes this means we have direct, challenging conversations with clients about uncomfortable, but necessary topics. We’ve found that operating with radical candor is the best way to foster a collaborative and productive relationship. Second, we work in the product’s best interest. We are technology, platform, and system agnostic. We make recommendations based on what is in the product’s best interest not a particular programming language or technology stack.
Great code and a sound technical approach are crucial to creating a successful software product and our team delivers both. However, we also know that great technology is only part of the equation. Having deep problem understanding, doing in-depth user research and validation, nailing the user experience, and designing a stunning user interface all matter greatly. That’s why we are one of the few end-to-end software product firms in the Midwest. We can engage with clients starting with discovery and all the way through to delivery. This process, and having it done by an experienced, multi-dimensional team, helps to ensure a successful product gets created. In fact, a client recently said our discovery work and deliverables are the best they have ever seen and experienced.
Tell us about your company’s mission and values.
When you work for, or with, a company with strong core values, you’ll know it. Core values define and guide every single business decision, the company’s culture, and even the customer or client experience. Whether it is short-term decision making or long-term strategic thinking, the core values should be at the forefront of every discussion. Here at AWH, we have eight core values we live and work by. Everything we do, from recruiting to how we treat our clients, is driven by our core values.
Awesome Comes Standard – Consistently expect excellence of yourself and your work. This is our first core value because it encapsulates the essence of the rest of our core values and who we are as a company. We don’t call ourselves an elite team just because it sounds good, we mean it and we stand by it. It starts by hiring the right people. We expect awesomeness from each individual team member and in turn, our clients expect awesomeness from us. We set the bar high, and then make decisions and implement processes to achieve excellence, or in our words, awesomeness.
Results Focused – Know the business impact of your decisions for our clients and us. As a technology firm, it shouldn’t surprise you that we are all about results. While “Awesome Comes Standard” is an overarching theme to everything we do, being results focused is how we put that into action. Every business decision is designed to be measurable and accomplish a goal and we have put processes into place to hold team members accountable, provide support or training when requested or needed, and report on those results.
Transparent – Operate and communicate with candor, directness, and authenticity. Being transparent really translates into having open and honest communication. Our team members aren’t surprised by performance reviews and neither are our clients surprised by the quality or expense of a project. We are open about our capabilities, costs, and timelines, and we aren’t afraid to tell a potential client that we aren’t the right team for them. We emphasize transparency internally and externally which allows us to build better, more informed, digital products and to offer our clients a better experience.
Stay Curious – Always be learning and improving your skills and your craft. Staying curious is integral to who we are as a technology company. We can’t offer our clients the best in technology if we aren’t up to date on what’s new or trending. We not only encourage curiosity among our team members, but we also look for this trait in new hires. When we make curiosity a priority, we have happier, more engaged, and motivated team members which allows us to offer our clients better, more innovative digital products.
Deliver – Deliver brilliant, standout ideas and solutions that are on strategy, by leveraging the power of creative thinking and collaboration. We set our expectations high and then strive to surpass them. We will work tirelessly to deliver something that both our clients, and AWH can be proud of. Things can change, whether that’s a new technology or a global pandemic, and there are often situations where we have to pivot into an entirely new direction, but we don’t quit. Many of our clients and many of the projects we work on have a social value, so we are not only delivering for our clients but for our community and the bettering of society as a whole.
Own Selflessly – Take ownership and collaborate as a team. The work and the team come first. Be willing to jump in or out as needed. We have learned the importance of setting aside ego for the good of the company, team, product, and client.
Situational Awareness – Be able to understand the context of the situation you are in. Respond to clients and co-workers in a way that shows you empathetically understand what is important to them. We build software as a service, and we only have a business if we have clients, so understanding how to work with clients is a necessary skill for every AWH team member. This core value emphasizes the client experience.
Integrity – Be trustworthy and dependable in an honest, fair, and responsible way. Having integrity is probably the single most important core value on this list. Integrity is about doing the right thing when no one is watching and having a strong moral compass. As a company and as individuals we always put integrity first. Whether that’s in the way that we treat each other, clients, or even the integrity of the product we are building.
All of these core values combined make us who we are and defines our every decision. At AWH our core values are integral to our company culture, ethics, and performance. We are an elite team of digital product creators and data problem solvers. This isn’t just a catchy slogan; this is what and who we are. By following our core values, we continue to achieve greatness for our clients and for our team members.
What are the services you use the most (or are looking forward to using) from the Columbus Chamber?
We have partnered with the Columbus Chamber to generate visibility for some of our initiatives, events, and content over the years that we have been a member.
How do you stay engaged with trends that you see in your industry?
Given the work we do with clients as a digital product and data consulting firm it is part of the value we bring to clients to stay abreast of the latest technology and product trends so we can bring the latest thinking and approaches to our clients.
Please describe your company culture.
Our culture is a unique mix of fun and seriousness. We don’t take ourselves too seriously, which means we aren’t ego driven and we can have fun, while taking our work with clients very seriously.
What defines a successful employee at your company?
First, we don’t look at our team members as employees. People want to be employed but not be an employee. Everyone wants to be part of an inclusive, supportive, and winning team. We ask our team members to be good teammates to the rest of the team and to our clients while they ply their craft on behalf of our clients.
What makes Columbus such a great place to do business?
Columbus is a forward thinking community where people want to do improve the lives of others by solving high-value, and complex problems. We’re grateful that many of our clients serve a greater good and improve people’s lives through their work and products. Columbus continues to grow and evolve as a community because we challenge ourselves to be and do better than we did yesterday.
Social Media
Twitter: @AWHNET
Facebook: @AWHNET
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/281481
Instagram: @awh_net
Website: www.awh.net
