How BlueOptima Embedded a Competency-Based Development Platform Across Its Entire Workforce
How a fast-growing analytics company replaced spreadsheets with Esendia's People Success Platform
Originally delivered by Talupp, a technology firm occasionally offering bespoke solutions, these projects are now part of Esendia’s distinct, consultancy-first approach, powered by Talupp’s Diagnostics platform.
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Client: BlueOptima, software analytics platform, fast-growing tech company, average employee age 28
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Challenge: Make a detailed competency framework live beyond a document and enable every employee to own their development
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Solution: Esendia's People Success Platform, integrated with BlueOptima's existing competency model
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Result: Development conversations normalised across the business; full workforce visibility for managers; phased rollout underway to entire organisation
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Spokesperson: David Gorton, Head of People, BlueOptima
Enabling all employees to drive their own development
Why BlueOptima Needed More Than a Competency Framework Document
BlueOptima technology supports successful software development. Its analytics platform empowers software developers and their companies to create better software in the most time- and cost-efficient way. The organisation is growing rapidly and that means it needs its people to accelerate their own careers quickly too.
BlueOptima operates with transparency and objectivity. It has a strong focus on detail, and this is why David Gorton, head of people at BlueOptima, describes the organisation as “an exacting business”. This applies just as much to its analytics as it does to its internal HR and people development activities.
The organisation’s attention to detail had already been applied to its competency framework, as David explains: “We had created the competency framework to outline all roles in the business. It covers a wide range of different areas and levels of responsibility, but we wanted it to live beyond being a document.”
At the same time, Esendia (formerly Talupp) had provided leadership development for BlueOptima’s leaders. This had included training around coaching techniques for resilience, assertiveness, and behavioural development.
In this context, BlueOptima was looking for a solution to accelerate the careers of its young workforce. The desired solution not only needed to drive fast people development using the competency framework, but it should also enable everyone to ‘own’ their development.
“We knew that what we wanted to achieve would be incredibly difficult to administer through a spreadsheet.” Explained David Gorton. “We needed a platform to enable the information to live beyond a document, to provide people with their own development plans. However, crucially, we needed a solution that would accommodate our competencies, be precise enough for our exacting standards and do all that at speed.”
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How Esendia's People Success Platform Was Implemented at BlueOptima
Esendia’s experiential development platform provided just the solution BlueOptima was looking for.
The fact that Esendia can work with an organisation’s existing competency model in some detail was a key differentiator for BlueOptima, as David Gorton explains:
What excited me was that the Esendia platform would accommodate our competencies rather than impose its own. It would also help drive employee and manager actions. You really make an impact with employees when you have that kind of follow through.
- David Gorton, Head of People, BlueOptima
Measurable Outcomes: Results at BlueOptima
According to David Gorton, “The Esendia platform has really baked in our people development process.” With the average age in the organisation just 28, David acknowledges that for many, their roles at BlueOptima are unchartered territory.
“There is huge scope for people to grow and develop at our organisation and we need to support them through that. The Esendia platform provides a structure to see that development through and it has enabled development conversations to become the norm.”
Being an analytics organisation, the data provided by the Esendia platform is something that especially appeals to BlueOptima. “The information provided by the platform is not only helping our employees to manage their own development, but it’s also enabling us to see how our managers are interacting with their direct reports.
We now have a great insight into those critical development conversations. The conversation no longer lives on a file, leaving us to guess if anything is happening as a result, now everything is visible – for us and for the employees. And that visibility drives action.
- David Gorton, Head of People, BlueOptima
“Using Esendia has solidified how our people approach development. It has helped to crystalise our competencies and open up new experiences to help our people develop.”
Some organisations may be reluctant to take on a new HR platform, app or technological solution, with concerns around push back from employees. For BlueOptima this proved to be an unwarranted concern. “Before Esendia, we had people filling in spreadsheets. Now they have a much nicer UI and they can clearly see our investment in their careers. It’s evident that the intent is to help them develop and this prompted a really positive reaction from everyone introduced to the platform.”
The support from the Esendia team has also enabled a smooth adoption process at BlueOptima. “We’ve had a combination of support from Esendia; this includes how to use kit and how the platform is informed by science-led best practice. This is hugely reassuring. It’s proof that what you’re doing is the optimal approach to employee development. Esendia's evidence and academic backing have provided a compelling argument for our managers to get behind the new approach.”
BlueOptima is now continuing its phased roll-out of the Esendia platform to the whole organisation. It is using the feedback from the sales function to fine-tune its deployment
David Gorton is excited about the Esendia platform as he recognises that his teams are only just starting to explore its potential: “We expect to see an even greater impact as our people take actions to meet their learning objectives and are guided by the platform to reflect on what they’ve been doing and embed their learning.
“The self-led user journey in Esendia has been designed around our competency framework, and it will be interesting to see how people start to engage with the Esendia Platform content, such as the short videos. This microlearning is something we’re used to anyway ,and while we’ve not pushed people to access it just yet, it will be fascinating to see how that good content is engaged with and benefits our people.”
Key Results
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Development conversations normalised across the business for the first time
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Every development conversation now visible to managers in real time, no longer living on files or spreadsheets
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Positive adoption response from employees across the organisation, no pushback
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Platform integrated with BlueOptima's existing competency framework without imposing a new model
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Managers actively engaged with direct reports through the platform
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Phased rollout underway to entire organisation following successful sales function deployment
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Microlearning content and self-led user journeys being introduced as next phase
FAQ
What is Esendia's People Success Platform?
Esendia's People Success Platform is a science-led employee development platform that enables organisations to bring their competency frameworks to life digitally. Rather than imposing its own competency model, the platform accommodates an organisation's existing framework and builds self-led development plans, manager visibility and structured development conversations around it. It includes microlearning content, 360-degree feedback, performance management and succession planning modules.
How did BlueOptima use Esendia's platform to embed its competency framework?
BlueOptima had built a detailed competency framework covering all roles and levels but needed it to live beyond a document. Esendia's People Success Platform was configured around BlueOptima's existing competencies, giving every employee a self-led development plan built directly from the framework, and giving managers real-time visibility into development conversations and actions across their teams.
What results did BlueOptima see after implementing Esendia's development platform?
Development conversations became the norm across the business, moving from spreadsheets and guesswork to a structured, visible process. Managers gained direct insight into how they and their direct reports were engaging with development. Employee adoption was positive from the outset, with staff responding well to a platform that made the company's investment in their careers visible and tangible.
How does Esendia's platform support fast-growing tech companies with young workforces?
BlueOptima has an average employee age of 28, meaning many people are navigating significant career development for the first time. Esendia's platform provides a structured framework for that growth, self-led development plans, competency-based learning paths, microlearning content and manager-guided conversations, giving high-potential people the support to accelerate quickly without needing heavy HR resource behind every interaction.
Can Esendia's platform work with an organisation's existing competency framework?
Yes. A key differentiator of Esendia's People Success Platform is that it accommodates an organisation's existing competency model rather than replacing it with a generic framework. For BlueOptima, this was critical, they had invested significantly in building a precise, detailed competency framework and needed a platform that would honour and extend that work, not override it.