knowmad mood’s €168.1M Strategy: Revealed By Business Development Director Pedro Gallardo

Welcome to another interview by Website Planet. Bringing you insights on how the best companies are solving the current challenges in their industry, and how they are planning ahead for the future.

Our guest today is Pedro Gallardo, Business Development Director at knowmad mood, who discussed:

• knowmad mood’s organic and inorganic growth to €168.1M
• AI’s impact: Job market transformation, productivity enhancement.
• Future tech trends: AI in software development, regulatory impacts.
• Training importance: AI tool proficiency, DEXS’s training programs

Introduce your company to our audience

We are a business group of more than 2600 employees who help our clients to innovate, to be more efficient, to drive an agile culture, to improve data-driven decision-making, and to create the best experience for their customers through the adoption of disruptive work methodologies and technological platforms.

We provide services to large companies from various sectors of activity and public organizations.

Traditionally, we have grown organically by 30% annually, managing to double our business volume every 3 years. For the past couple of years, we have also focused on inorganic growth, creating a new M&A division within the group and have already made 4 acquisitions. Last year, we closed with a business figure of €168.1 million.

What unique challenges are people in your industry facing right now?

Our industry, the IT consulting and professional services industry, has always required a high capacity for adaptation. Technology evolves at a dizzying pace, and our main competitive advantage lies in being able to identify trends in their early stages and get ahead of the competition in decision-making and adoption. Currently, the emergence of AI has permeated everything. From the way a software engineer develops applications to the way a sales manager analyzes a client.

There is a phrase I saw published on LinkedIn that I really like and I believe it encapsulates the essence of the process we are experiencing and helps shed light on a certain area of uncertainty:

Artificial intelligence, by itself, will not eliminate jobs, but professionals who master the tools that AI provides will replace those who do not.

As with any hype, there is always a lot of uncertainty and many theories, some of which are completely opposed. From those who think that AI will have a very negative impact on the job market to those who see great opportunities. We are convinced of the latter. Work, to a certain extent, is infinite; what AI will allow us is to increase our productivity to levels never seen before. That is why the gap will occur between the professionals and companies that adopt it versus those who do not

How effective are the current methods for solving these issues?

As is often the case, when a new paradigm emerges that significantly impacts our way of working and our relationship with technology, the market volume and growth expectations are so large that a multitude of platforms and tools begin to appear. At first glance, they seem to offer the same benefits, but after careful study, they provide very different solutions.

In the field of AI, I see a process similar to what Cloud computing experienced. Initially, a variety of providers appeared, including large tech multinationals, telecommunications operators, and more niche companies offering their services. Over time, a process of consolidation began, resulting in today’s major hyperscalers (AWS, Azure, GCP, and to a lesser extent IBM, Oracle, etc.). A similar process will occur with AI and its adoption.

What’s a better way in your opinion to fix these issues?

From the software developer’s perspective, pair programming using an AI companion is proving to be tremendously revolutionary and has a direct impact on both the quality of the code and productivity when developing software. Tools like GitLab Duo or GitHub Copilot are showing us the path to what is already the programming of the future.

Looking ahead 5 to 10 years, what new technologies and trends will have the most significant impact on the issues we talked about?

It is difficult to predict and there are multiple theories, ranging from the most catastrophic to the most conservative. I believe that any technological advance undoubtedly brings a benefit to humanity. The use that is given to it and the normative and regulatory framework will be key to having a responsible and safe adoption.”

What should people do to stay up to date and adapt to these changes? What will you do in this regard?

The main focus must be on training. Professionals from all sectors of activity will inevitably need to be trained in the use of these AI-based tools that will provide them with an added boost in productivity and creativity. DEXS (Digital Experience School) is a company within the knowmad mood group focused solely and exclusively on the professional growth and development of workers through the provision of technology and digital courses. In recent months, we have experienced a high demand for requests from companies seeking training for their employees in certain AI-based tools.