‘Here’s looking at you, 2015’: a toast to the past year

It’s well known in the business world that the end of the year signals a frenzy of company-wide reports, annual reviews, and action plans for the year ahead based on the results of the previous one. Whilst many businesses dread the approach of a new year because of what this procedure might uncover, at PicScout the end of the year is, frankly, a pretty fun time, where we get to pat ourselves on the back, look at reports and say ‘wow!’ several times, go on a company trip (last week we all went to see the latest Star Wars movie), and eat cake to celebrate. So here are 7 things we did in 2015 that we think deserve a public ‘wow’:

1. We more than doubled our capacity in all operations. We’re pretty pleased about this, and how it reflects the hard work of all of our teams: Sales & Account Management, Operations, License Compliance, R&D, Legal, Finance, HR. In other words, everybody.
2. We reached 100+ customers! All of our developing, expanding, tweaking and refining, paid off, resulting in a product that drives and influences the market, that we’re proud of, and which makes for a lot of happy customers.
3. We grew our presence in the editorial sector. 2015 saw the dawn of several new partnerships with prestigious editorial companies, meaning we continue to grow in this arena and learn from some of the best specialists the editorial industry has to offer.
4. We broke into new markets. It’s important in business to consistently redefine oneself in tune with the changes in the industry. At PicScout redefining ourselves goes deeper than trying on a lot of fun hats (although some of us also like to do that); it’s about doing different things and doing them all very WELL. This year we really invested in developing our range of products including our Analytics, API, and Website Auditing services, making us a consistent all-rounder.
5. We made technological leaps. The technology industry is arguably the most dynamic, fast-moving, and motivating industry to work in. At PicScout we are ever-conscious of this and our software engineers are making innovations in the field of image detection and visual recognition, putting us at the forefront of one of the fastest-growing, futuristic technological incentives in the world today.

6. We launched a Training Programme! We’re pretty fanatical about technology here, but also about talented people. These two core interests inspired the Software Engineering Training Project for 50+. Coordinated by Picscout’s own employees, and taking place over 12-13 sessions, the project provides software engineers over or around the age of 50, who have been outside of the industry for a while, with the tools they need in order to re-enter the technology job market. Read more here.

7. We even had time to enjoy ourselves…quite a lot! ‘Work hard, Play hard’, is a bit of a motto here. We love our jobs but we also like to have a good time (especially when it involves good food). This year, as well as tapping into new markets, growing our customer base and developing our product range, we also went on Saafari, went rafting, ate a LOT of cake, and saw the new Star Wars movie. Not too shabby we think.

 To quote one of the musical greats, 2015 “was a very good year”.