The thinking.studio edge
User Experience Design and Software Engineering Excellence Combined
Thinking.Studio is a specialist software consulting firm for financial services and insurance industries, based in sydney Australia.
For over a decade Thinking.Studio have worked with startups, global corporations, financial institutions and the Australian federal government to deliver novel engineering and user experience design solutions to solve even the most demanding challenges.
Thinking.Studio deliver innovation projects by working with you to clarify the business and customer outcome and then applies world-leading design and technology solutions to achieve it.
This approach helps you start solving the right problems quickly, deliver value, manage risk, and scale with confidence.
– Joe Cincotta
Managing Director, Thinking.Studio
word class solutions
for world class clients
The Dealmaker's Guide to Tech Risk
Four questions that can mitigate your technical risk.
Thinking.studio services
User Experience
- Analysis and Design
- Interactive Prototyping
- User Reseach
- Facilitation and Training
Software Development
- System Architecture Design
- Android and iOS Mobile Apps
- Web Applications
- Systems Integration
intellectual property
- R&D and Patent Applications
- Deep Learning and AI
(TensorFlow and Watson) - Payments and Compliance
Technical Risk
- Code Review Package
- Penetration Testing
- Best Practices Training
- Remediation and Salvage
examples of our work
Financial Services
As the pressure to innovate has increased in the financial services sector, Thinking.Studio have successfully worked in partnership with several major financial institutions in Australia to develop protoype solutions or extend on internal user experience and technical capability.
- design of on-premise 'conduit' technology to stream encrypted data from customer business systems to bank-managed data cloud
- design and implementation of despoke security and authentication platforms
- working with internal risk and IT groups to navigate APRA reviews and approvals
- integration with core-banking and non-core banking systems
- deep integration with third party platforms such as XPlan and Xero
- building a proof of concept working mobile applications
Insurance
While the insurance sector has a mature base of technology solutions, the focus on user experience design to augment the capacity of brokers to serve more prospective customers is breaking new ground. Thinking.Studio has successfully transformed the user experience of insurance broking to much industry acclaim.
- collaborative solution design sessions with stakeholders
- reimagined user experience and interface redesign of sophisticated existing technology platforms
- user persona development through interviews and facilitated workshops
- technical capability assessment to align user experience design and existing technology capability
- user experience coaching for internal developers and business analysts (through Thinking.School)
Startup
While the popularity of startups doesn't seem to be stopping any time soon, Thinking.Studio have over a decade of successful experience working and developing startups in the United States and Australia; as new businesses, and also within corporate incubation environments.
- outsourced CTO role providing research and technical direction
- research and development including technology patents
- rapid development of 'minimum viable product' while building an IP asset (not disposable code)
- designing and implementing large scale interactive environments
- seamless desktop to mobile user experience design and technical implementation
- sophisticated integrations with AI, Image Processing, Social, Mapping, Logistics, Banking, and Accounting systems
The Dealmaker's Guide to Tech Risk
Four questions that can mitigate your technical risk.
LATEST Blog posts
Secure Design Patterns featured on The Cyberwire
Humbled that our ongoing research into Secure UX design patterns is being featured on The Cyberwire.
Designing for Design Patterns
As we worked with financial services and insurance companies over the last five years, we saw that these knowledge-gaps at the convergence of design, development and security were something that we could solve with Design Patterns. So we started doing the research.
Modernising Legacy Applications
There are a bunch of different kinds of ‘legacy’ systems which require different strategies to decouple such that an ‘API’ can be provided for a new experience to be built over the top. In this post we are going to look at a set of common legacy system design patterns and how you can tackle modernising them.
How Does Cyber Security Affect Investors
Cyber security seems to often be ignored or at best reactive when it comes to business deals, however security has a tangible impact on business value. This is a risk that needs to be understood and mitigated, and can be a source of leverage when you’re on the buy-side or in origination.
Old Software. New Experience.
This month we have launched a white-paper to get you years more out of your business application investments, while at the same time having employees, suppliers and customers that love the experience of your digital brand.
Software and Knowing What Business You’re In
So if everyone is writing software should you be? What does it take to write software? What is the impact on your business? And hey, while we’re at it, what business are you really in?
Dealing with Difficult Software Vendors
Relationships with vendors don’t normally start as difficult. They devolve into difficult situations and are ultimately a result of the behaviours and needs of both parties in the relationship being unmet.
So how do you see the warning signs early? How can you deal with vendors once they have officially become difficult?
Getting Software Teams to Manage Risk
As we have seen in other blog posts, bespoke software development for any business carries with it great risks – many of which can often be unknown to the business. That is not the point of this post! This post is about risks that are known to the business, yet they remain ignored and without a plan for mitigation, leaving the business in a world of hurt – unprepared and reactive at the moment least expected.
Technical Debt for Investors
The potential returns of investing in or acquiring startups can be phenomenal. The problem is that pretty much every business worth investing in has some kind of software at its core giving it the competitive edge. Why is that a problem? Any bespoke software has debt associated with it: technical debt.
Technical Due Diligence for Investors
The due diligence process can be a challenge. Looking under the covers at the finance, operations, talent and assets of any company is no small task. Once you add technology into the mix it creates a concoction which can give unexpected results.
What are the things you’re looking for when performing technology due diligence on a business?
Intellectual Property (IP), Talent, Security and Costs
