Detecting Changes, Enabling Self-Healing for Test Assets and Providing Advanced Diagnostics: Palo Alto-based AutonomIQ Inc., a Cloud Platform, Looks to Tap Unexplored Markets

“We have deep expertise around developing further AI and Machine Learning innovations to make the entire testing process fully autonomous, and we are not far from achieving that goal.”

As organisations continue to rationalise their time and resources to focus on innovation and growing their core business, most are moving from on-premises infrastructure to a service-based model with cloud infrastructure.

There are various cloud storage providers on the market; however, some are more suited to certain tasks or users better than others. Depending on what sort of a user you are and what sort of a cloud storage solution you are looking for, it’s worth finding out the different options available for your needs.

In view of the above-mentioned scenario, we’re thrilled to present AutonomIQ Inc.

AutonomIQ is a cloud platform that enables product and IT teams to autonomously test, release and deploy software, thereby increasing the velocity of software releases without compromising quality. With pre-built integrations to common web applications and SaaS providers, customers can instantly create test cases, generate test scripts and test data, and execute tests. Using deep-learning and AI algorithms, AutonomIQ detects changes, enables self-healing for test assets and provides advanced diagnostics. In real-world situations, AutonomIQ has been shown to provide over ~50 percent improvement in speed and quality compared to existing tools and techniques.

The company was incorporated in 2017 and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California.

Ram Shanmugam, AutonomIQ Inc. CEO, spoke exclusively to The Silicon Review. Below is an excerpt.

Why was the company set up? And how did you expand your company and its offerings over the years?

We were very clear from the beginning to ensure that we build a world-class product that addresses the biggest challenges in software engineering. To that extent, we started immediately going deep into addressing challenges with software testing. Our first product reduced the manual effort and support needed to develop test scripts. We subsequently expanded our focus to the point where our most recent release allows software teams to test their software autonomously with very little manual effort. We have deep expertise around developing further AI and Machine Learning innovations to make the entire testing process fully autonomous, and we are not far from achieving that goal.

What challenges did you face in your initial years? What can your peers learn from it?

Since this is not the first time we are starting a company, we spent quite a bit of time before we decided to work together to ensure our values are aligned as the startup founding team. We made huge mistakes in our past that ended up with bad outcomes, and we were very up-front and spent a lot of time working through to get alignment on our values, vision and mission.

This allows us to be grounded and start from the same point of reference.

We also spent a lot of time in ensuring that we create a culture that allows everyone to be transparent, make decisions based on facts, operate with high-level of integrity, share their frustrations and be kind and compassionate – after all, we are human. Often, in the pursuit of success, most startups miss the fundamental premise that it takes a team to build a successful business. And if the team is not aligned, motivated and excited about the opportunity, then it will be impossible to achieve the vision you started with.

We also spend a lot of time on evaluating our values and explicitly ensuring that our values are embodied in every aspect of our business operations. We pride in our culture and how we treat each other as a team.

Building a culture of sustainability inside an organization is very important to maintain a reputation in the global market. How is it true with your company?

Absolutely agreed! We keep telling our team that this is a long-term sustainable journey we are on. This is not a fly-by fake-it-till-you-make-it environment. While we are all guilty at some level of operating this way in our past, we continue to emphasize the values and promote behaviors that instill the “long-term” nature of our journey. This includes things like being realistic about goals, accountability to each other, and working together as a team.

Everyone in our team feels that they are on the same journey and we ensure all our teammates are in alignment with this purpose and goal.

A company’s behavior is as important as its economic performance or the quality of its products. How do you interpret this saying?

In fact, we believe that the company’s culture and behavior supersede its economic purpose. We are very conscious and deliberate about how we set our priorities and operating agenda.

Some of the behaviors that we promote and coach each other are – continuously learning, listen closely, the ability to understand other’s point of view, high energy and clarity of thought, and high tenacity.

We agree that companies that don’t promote and value the right behaviors will ultimately become unsustainable in the long run.

What do you feel are the reasons behind your company’s reputation?

Our team is probably the single most reason why we are able to achieve the success we have been able to achieve. We recognized from our past experiences that there is a strong undeniable correlation and causation between good teamwork and success. So we focus and emphasize this at every level.

If you have to list five factors that have been/are the biggest asset to your organization, what would they be and why?

Teamwork – without a team you cannot build a company

Challenge and debate the decisions – allows us to get the collective wisdom of the team and improve

Transparency – reduces friction and eliminates personal agendas

Compassionate and kindness – we are all human and make mistakes. Being compassionate allows our team to be honest with each other, without fear of being blamed for failures

Hard work and high level of energy – this is not an easy task, we are changing and disrupting the status quo. It is a lot of hard work and requires high-energy

Where do you see your company a couple of years from now?

We are focused on building an organization operating system that will sustain and withstand the competitive forces, the industry shifts and macro conditions. We believe this is what is required to build a long-term sustainable world-class company.

From that perspective, we hope that we will be a world-class company in our industry in a couple of years from now.

“We are focused on building an organization operating system that will sustain and withstand the competitive forces, the industry shifts and macro conditions. We believe this is what is required to build a long-term sustainable world-class company.”