Atlassian Experts: How to select the right partner

Atlassian provides organisations with a unique collection of tools to enhance software development, project management and team collaboration. But to get the most from these tools, to extend their scope and realise their full potential, engaging one of the Atlassian Experts is often the smart move.

Atlassian has created a network of over 250 Experts around the world to support and complement their products. And the best-of-the-best of these are the Platinum Experts, a select group of technology firms that specialise in the entire Atlassian range from JIRA and Confluence through to the more specific products such as Bamboo and FishEye.

What do Atlassian Experts do?

In essence, Atlassian Experts provide a variety of auxiliary services for Atlassian customers. These can be grouped into five core areas:

• Consultancy and Deployment - the Atlassian Expert will work with you to understand your requirements, propose the appropriate solutions and help you plan and manage your Atlassian deployment or development accordingly.
• Product Support - with in-depth knowledge of Atlassian's products and how they work, the most capable Atlassian Experts will be able to resolve issues quickly and efficiently whilst helping tune your systems so that they perform to the optimum level. This support extends to the many plugins that augment Atlassian's standard tool-set.
• Custom Development - where you have more complex requirements that can't be met by off-the-shelf Atlassian products or existing plugins, many Atlassian Experts will be able to help by developing custom plugins to meet your unique needs.
• Hosting and Managed Services - if your platform requirements are more sophisticated or business-critical and cannot be achieved through Atlassian's cloud-based OnDemand service, some Experts also provide tailored managed hosting solutions.
• Training - a number of Atlassian Experts can also deliver packaged or bespoke Atlassian training for your developers, admins and end-users and show you exactly how to use the products and get the best out of the technology.

What to look for - unlocking the Atlassian toolbox

With such a wide choice of Atlassian Experts, all offering a similar service, it can be difficult to decide between them. So how do you determine who's best?

First of all, look at their experience  how long have they been supporting Atlassian products and do they have a proven, demonstrable track record and a solid client list?

Then look for breadth of knowledge and a good range of services – here the Platinum Expert badge is a key indicator, as is a range of successful case studies.

Next, make sure Atlassian products are their core business, but seek out an Expert that also combines genuine business consultancy experience with their technical know-how. The context in which Atlassian tools operate usually has great significance on how they should be configured, managed and tuned.

Finally an ability to provide robust managed services and hosting is a real asset in an Atlassian Expert, offering additional stability and peace of mind whilst expediting product support, issue resolution and software development.

Adaptavist - the "go-to" Atlassian Experts

Founded in 2005, Adaptavist is a long-standing Atlassian Expert. We have helped thousands of customers across the globe, including over half of the Fortune 500 companies. Not only does Adaptavist tick all the Atlassian Expertise boxes, including world-class managed hosting alongside our Atlassian software support and award-winning plugin development, but we have provided Atlassian training for thousands of individuals over the years.

We pride ourselves on being strategic business consultants as well as Atlassian specialists, making sure we fully understand you, your business and your long-term requirements before proposing a solution. Our strong, long-standing relationship with Atlassian means that we can easily tap into their knowledge and resources and are kept permanently in the loop regarding forthcoming updates and developments.

To find out more about how we can help you unlock the Atlassian toolbox for you, contact Adaptavist now.