The ultimate gauge of any USP is whether it communicates and delivers real practical benefits like no other, and neurodiversity in the workplace passes this test, guaranteeing a unique business model and unbeatable competitive advantage, according to Auticon's CEO Ray Coyle.
Auticon has shown us that the days are long gone when autism was categorised as an all encompassing 'disability'. For the company's UK CEO, the power of neurodiversity in the workplace is beyond argument, so much so that autism-specific strengths are what define Auticon's culture, philosophy, growth strategy and go-to-market. The German-based B2B IT service provider exclusively employs autistic people as consultants and launched its UK operation in March this year to advance a remarkable business model that leverages the exceptional cognitive abilities of those in the autistic spectrum to bring significant value to clients.
"By 2020 we plan to have a team of over 100 autistic consultants carrying out great projects across the UK," stated Coyle. "Our core strengths are in software testing and QA, data analytics, compliance, migration and transformation projects; and we are keen to work with channel partners who want to offer their clients a consultancy service in any of these areas. Auticon handles all of the job coaching and project management aspects when working through partners."
Auticon was established as a social enterprise in 2011 by Dirk Muller-Remus who has an autistic son and was alarmed by his job prospects. The company grew rapidly in Germany and now employs 90 autistic consultants across nine offices - seven in Germany, with the French and UK bases set up this year. Its customer base is predominantly blue chip organisations including 50 per cent of the companies on the German DAX index.
Coyle pointed out that it is important to recognise that there is as much variety in autistic people as in non-autistic. "Many autistic people would not fit into peoples' general preconceptions in any shape or form," he said. "There are some skills that have been shown to be more prevalent in autistic adults, including sustained concentration, attention to detail and cognitive pattern recognition. Therefore, our consultants are frequently able to tackle problems from a different perspective. Their approach has been described as being 'wired differently' and can deliver huge benefits in problem solving and within project teams generally.
"Our tag line, 'systematically creative', points to the combination of systematic thinking and creative intelligence that is first evident during the initial brainstorming and conceptual project stages. Our consultants enhance the client's project teams with their pattern recognition and innovative capacity.
"During implementation they excel with a systematic approach, their attention to detail and persistent concentration - all strengths that are invaluable in the field of IT quality assurance. Our alternative perspective can generate far more creative solutions and make the whole team more productive and efficient. People often do not think of creativity when they consider autism, but that is one of the key commercial benefits of neurodiversity in the workplace."
Coyle advocates an immediate reassessment of autism as the key to unlock a new creative dimension in IT consultancy. "The UK is fairly advanced in its knowledge of autism, and in my view the IT and comms industries are ahead of the curve in recognising the talents of autistic adults," he added. "Research shows that 79 per cent of UK autistic adults would like to work if they had the right support. However, only 15 per cent are in full time work. There is a lot more that can be done to bridge this gap, and we do not meet with much resistance from potential clients and find they are generally keen to engage with us. The key thing for clients to understand is that our role is to support our consultants so that they can deliver to their full potential."
There are of course challenges as well as advantages for people on the autism spectrum. Many autistic people find social interactions difficult so Auticon provides skilled and experienced job coaches to assist with that aspect. "We have also found that small and simple changes can be made to help our consultants perform to their full potential such as reducing background noise and distractions," he added.
Not surprisingly, Auticon's recruitment challenges are different to most in the industry. "There is a large pool of talent out there that is being wasted," said Coyle. "Often people do not have the confidence to approach us as they are concerned that the application and interview assessment process will be daunting. We stress that we interview all applicants and do not prejudge on the basis of qualifications, experience, CV or even interview performance. We run a range of thorough skills assessments to really find out what the applicant's skills are so that we can offer employment based on talent rather than history."
Coyle's industry experience is rooted in IT distribution at Frontline (now Tech Data) in the early 1990s. He worked for a number of large and small IT businesses until switching to a career in law, spending eight years at the tech focused city firm Osborne Clarke before being hired to run Grow Software, a DRM platform for 3D printing, two years ago. His experience is therefore a mix of technology and high-end advisory work that is today being put to good use in helping Auticon build on its evolution.
"As Auticon has grown we have learned how to operate better, making constant changes to the business model and our own processes," added Coyle. "For example, our original business model involved just consultants and job coaches who both acted as a support person and point of contact for our consultant, and also liaised with the client. We have now split these roles so we have a job coach and a project manager on each implementation. This has brought a number of benefits in terms of reporting and communication lines, and the process now works much more efficiently."
Coyle has been mindful of Auticon for some time. While running the Impact Investment Team at Osborne Clarke one of his clients was an early investor in the firm. "When Auticon launched in the UK I was keen to be part of its journey," stated Coyle. "Our immediate priority is recruitment to expand our team in the UK. The longer-term objective is to demonstrate to the industry that there is a huge untapped skill set that is being overlooked and to raise our profile as an open, honest and supportive organisation. While we are a commercial business, our social purpose runs through everything that we do. We expect that, over coming years, more businesses will see the benefits of neurodiverse teams, particularly in technology projects."•