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Ubertesters offers a complete software testing solution for digital products to help organizations beta test their digital products prior to launching it. The holistic solution includes: (1) a SaaS product - a robust platform to manage the entire mobile beta testing process and teams; (2) a crowd testing service of global, professional testers for hire with devices (using the ‘power of the crowd’) for most flexible and cost-effective global testing under real-life conditions; and (3) offshore outsourcing services of QA experts based in the company’s East European facilities. Thus, any organization in a need for beta testing can find the right solution with Ubertesters to help them launch their product with confidence.

Ubertesters is led by Ran Rachlin who has a massive global experience, managing and leading new startups from inception to implementation and significant sales as well as managing large global organizations in different countries.  Before starting Ubertesters, Ran held several high-profile management roles in large corporations. He also holds an MBA degree with honors, and currently serves as the CEO of the company and brings his management and business development experience to the company. Ran also acts as a mentor to the team on their way to success.

A Leader ‘Win with People’ Attitude

Ran travels around the world and the fact that he lived for more than a decade in a different country that shaped his cross-cultural experience and allowed him to feel really comfortable in any environment, country, language or culture. It helped to acquire more global clients and to manage global teams in different parts of the world. Further, being able to lead organizations in the global economic crisis of 2008 and do it successfully, taught him how to make sure organizations survive the economic downturn while investing the right resources in a booming economy. Lastly, the most important lesson he feels is to ‘win with people’. Growing people is the key to growing your success, so make sure you help your people grow and develop, he said.

Be Ready to Act and Inspire Others

Ran believes the vital attributes that every leader should possess are the ability to take action based on the inner vision they have. Many people wake up every day with new ideas and have no ability to create something out of it. The true innovative leader will apply solutions where others fail and will see the vision becomes a reality and success.

The second most important thing that Ran considers is the ability to delegate and allow others in the team to thrive and excel. One person can’t do it all himself, thus, the leader must build a great team around him and allow them to contribute. Lastly, leaders must have commitment and passion and be able to inspire others and communicate their vision effectively.

Embracing Competitive Approach to Propel Innovation

Commenting on innovative products that appeal to the target audiences, Ran says, “We use several innovative methods to make sure our service and products remain ahead of the competition. The three of our most used methods are:  (1) Observe our customers – I don’t think that customers really know what they want or desire, thus, we observe how they use our products, what are the challenges they are facing and why they don’t return for more business (those who don’t).  (2) We watch the competition and especially the newcomers. We try to watch them intelligently, see if they come up with something new and innovative and then try to make it better. (3) and lastly – we run quarterly brainstorm sessions with employees, advisors and several clients”.

Leveraging ‘Strategic Intelligent Automation’ to Expedite Productivity

Ran said one of the most disruptive technologies today is ‘Strategic intelligent automation’. It combines automation and artificial intelligence to automate business processes and drive efficiency in organizations. That way, automation and machines will run most of the operations of the organization to significantly increase productivity. As a result, it will allow employees to have more time for strategic thinking, focus on innovative products, and, in general, do more meaningful work.
Regarding the role of the leader, Ran says, leadership today is a lot more complicated. Leaders today need to manage multiple generations of workers with values, interests and needs that often conflict. The leadership style today has to be more democratic than ever before and must use inputs from team members. Employees don’t want to be managed. They want to be led and participate and engage in every aspect of the job.

 Challenging Stairways Towards Success

Building a large community of global QA experts that fit the profile and are willing to test during their free time for extra money are the main challenges that Ran perceived. The entire business model was based on having enough certified global testers that can scale the client’s QA team in the fastest, most flexible, efficient and cost-effective manner. Ubertesters now has over 30,000 such global testers in its community that can start testing within a few hours and provide the client with a list of critical bugs. In order to recruit these testers, the company used many creative techniques that it has developed, particularly using the power of social media and a rewarding “referral program”. Ubertesters also attracted more testers initially by offering them special bonuses for good results (great bug reports). Further, it recruited a strong internal team of “in-house community managers” to help recruit and maintain those testers. The great mix of recruitment strategies, together with a strong team of community managers helped the company to build a large community of testers.

Innovating Future with Innovation

Ubertesters will continue to grow through creativity, invention and innovation. “We will continue to put the ‘voice of the customer’ in the center, listen to our customer’s needs and add new exciting features to our QA management platform. In addition, we will continue to enlarge our community of global QA testers to allow our crowd testing services to serve clients all around the world while making sure our testers can earn money in their free time”, Ran asserts

Ran’s Advice to Budding Leaders

  • Listen to Your Inner Voice

Ran believes that leaders should listen to their inner voice about any idea or concept that they wish to pursue. He says, “When you start asking others about their opinion – it’s their nature to be negative. People have the tendency to see the worst outcome of things. So, if you have an idea, and you believe in it – pursue it with passion and commitment.”

  • Do Good for Others

Ran strongly believes that we must create “good” for others. This is the only way for success – creating a product/service that can truly benefit others. This is the only way to improve your community and to make a profit as a result.

  • Be Accountable to Your Team

In the end, Ran says, “Take Care of Your Team. Have conviction in your team and let them shine but also be prepared to accept responsibility when things don’t go as planned. Help your employees advance their careers and always respect them.”