For years, companies have talked about and measured IT performance metrics. In fact, in a previous blog post entitled “How do you measure your IT department’s performance?” we highlighted the fact that in a 2014 study from Continuity Software, only 56% of respondents said that they were tracking software performance, and of those, a much smaller number had invested in analytical tools to help them measure their performance.

In speaking with executives at market-leading organizations, we consistently hear about the heightened focus being placed on design-oriented thinking as it applies to the customer experience. One such executive at a major financial services firm recently told me, “You’re only as good as your best app.” This sentiment is further backed up by data that includes a recent study by the Design Management Institute (DMI) telling us that “design-driven companies outperform the S&P by 228 percent over ten years.” These facts have driven many companies to jump on the “creative bandwagon.”

In a recent article in the Boston Globe, The war for tech talent escalates, Globe Correspondent John Dodge describes the competition for tech talent in Massachusetts as “fierce.” He goes on to say that, “Tech executives describe the hiring environment as brutal – worse even than the dot-com boom in the late 1990s – and a threat to their ability to expand, develop new technologies and keep growing.”