Software from n.io stays ahead of the curve

A tagline on n.io Innovation’s website describes the Broomfield-based company as “software built to empower your real-time world.” It describes the organization’s purpose as enabling others to create transformational applications, products and services.

When chief executive Doug Standley defined what his company does, he likened it to electricity:   “It helps you do a lot of things but no one goes to bed thinking, ‘Thank God for electricity’.”

Taking into account the explosive growth n.io has been experiencing, the statement seems a little faulty as a comparison. The kind of dollars customers are investing in n.io’s software indicate that a lot of companies are praising it and continuing to come back for more.

In short, n.io helps customers make the transition from manually dependent operations to digital operations. Its software makes it possible for a source or data to be interoperable with any other source or data.

For example, the company’s pilot agriculture project connected multiple farming activities such as irrigation systems and mechanical devices to one control, which could also be made fully automatic.

Standley described his company’s platform as broadly horizontal by design.

“We started out getting traction in industrial agricultural,” he said, “and this year, we’re moving into health care, with upcoming being telecom and financial services.”

Noting that his customers serve across those industries, he added that n.io is agnostic to the market.

When n.io hit the ground in 2014, its plan was in clear sight. “We had a very clear vision for a hyper-connected society before it was cool,” Standley said.

In the late 1990s, when the Internet was less prevalent, he focused his master’s thesis on his vision of digital media.

“The digital media market is now catching up to our vision,” he added, punctuating the point that being ahead of the curve has always been a company success factor.

Other factors include more of the same kind of forward thinking.

“I think you need to focus on a how-to-win and a how-to-play plan,” Standley said. He does that by re-evaluating n.io’s offerings every month and listening to his team, the market, feedback and questions regarding products.

With a three-pronged focus on customers, the company and products, n.io also takes advantage of its startup status. “We have the ability to make changes without ingrained hierarchy or deep-rooted processes,” he said.

As a leader, Standley fosters mutual transparency with his employees. “While they’re with us, we’re stewards of their career,” he said.

Weekly meetings focus on updates, lessons learned and any breakdowns in transparency. He also has one-on-one meetings with all employees every quarter.

“I take feedback on things we can do differently,” he said, “because it’s important to have a willingness to challenge and to be challenged without fear.”

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