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In February 2020, SoftEd celebrated thirty years of being in business. Established in 1990 as a result of a management buy-out of the education arm of Datacom Systems, Software Education (SoftEd) was formed by Martyn Jones, Merrill Holdsworth and John Watson. 

“30 years ago, we saw the advent of the cell phone, the world-wide web and Software Education,” said current owner and Managing Director, Martyn Jones. “We’re delighted to celebrate our 30-year anniversary. We’re very proud of our rich history - bringing together the best minds in the business and being a trusted learning partner for our customers.”

From small beginnings in New Zealand, Software Education started to grow early on and acquired Software 9000 in 1991. Seeking to diversify, the company then expanded into Australia in 2004 and purchased DP Education in 2005, Digital Consulting Pacific in 1998 and Disqover in 2014. In 2015, SoftEd moved into the Asian market and established an office in Singapore. Later, in 2018 they established an office in the United States.

“SoftEd has undergone substantial growth and geographical expansion over recent years,” said Mr Jones. “Whilst we work predominately out of our four main markets, we’ve worked in all corners of the world with a range of customers, from blue-chip companies to government departments.” 

SoftEd aren’t stopping there. Longer term they have their sights set on Europe, building off the back of customer work in that part of the world. No longer just providing training in the technology domain, SoftEd now provides agility training for roles across the business and offers both coaching and consulting in addition to training. 

Whilst there have been substantial changes in technology over the 30 years of operation, Mr Jones says the people element of the business remains unchanged. “We believe that people are any company’s best source of competitive advantage - that hasn’t changed. The way we work however has drastically changed; traditional management has been replaced by more modern new ways of working, the way we collaborate has all changed and remote working has evolved.”

Whilst new ways of working has started to become mainstream, SoftEd have trained individuals and teams in the agile mindset and practices for over 15 years. “Many years ago, we played a large role in the conference circuit bringing the world’s preeminent agile thought leaders to this part of the world. We were also an early adopter of agile”, said Mr Jones. “Since then, we’ve built up a wealth of experience in helping businesses to become more change resilient and future-fit.” 

“Our start was born out of kiwi ingenuity, but the success of our business has really been in our customers successes,” he explains. “We work with truly wonderful customers that we’re incredibly proud to partner with. We look forward to being around for another 30 years.”