“Technology is decisive in the success of any business,” says Daniel Aldea, the Founder, and CEO of Altostratus. Daniel commenced his journey in the industry at a very young age at an important editorial group. He was completing his internship but soon was promoted to the Commercial Department to lead the Distribution in Department Store. Later, he continued his journey in the tech industry managing different roles. Soon, Daniel came across an article in the newspaper announcing that Google was looking for local partners in Spain. He took the opportunity and without hesitation he relaunched his company Altostratus, giving it a new business direction.
“Although the company already existed, it was not until 2014 that I relaunched it as a company focused on the distribution of Google Cloud products in Spain,” said Daniel.
Leader in Cloud Technology and Digital Transformation
Altostratus Cloud Consulting is currently one of the main Google Cloud Partners in Spain. The company was reborn in 2014 as a licensed company of the G suite office platform. In the current business scenario, it is important to be innovative and move forward. Thus, over the years, the company has expanded towards the consulting area in compute engine, infrastructure services, and bespoke development of innovative cloud solutions. This has created a multi-industry approach for the company. Altostratus has a diverse clientele base which includes industries like Hospitality, Energy, Banking, Insurance, Education, and Outsourcing, which generally explores new technological solutions to gain operational efficiency or provide a better service to their clients and collaborators.
Due to the relevant success stories in SaaS and in developing solutions in the Big Data and ML areas, Altostratus has forged itself in an important position as the local provider of digital consulting. It is continuously working closely with the Google teams in Spain to provide efficient and innovative solutions to its clients. Daniel and his team are constantly expanding and are aiming for new growth plans that include international expansion. Currently, the team is in the phase of searching for alliances to open headquarters in Latam. Daniel concludes by saying, “On a personal level, I would like to see how our team continues to advance and grow with the company.”
Guiding and Providing Exceptional Value to Companies
Altostratus was born with the aim of guiding and providing exceptional value to companies in the process of outsourcing to the cloud. Innovating through new technologies is part of Altostratus’ value proposition. “Our mission is to design and adapt digital solutions that the cloud offers us, helping companies to be more efficient, more competitive and more innovative in their business areas,” says Daniel. By analyzing the situation of its customers, Altostratus designs a customized transformation plan towards the cloud, meeting their needs in storage, data processing, performance, process automation, accessibility, and security.
Compensating the Human Factor
Due to the pandemic, the businesses had an abrupt shift to the digital platform causing an imbalance in the workflow. However, Altostratus being a native digital company and a Google Partner did not encounter any inconvenience due to teleworking. He shares that the team of Altostratus has put the remote work to the value. Hence Daniel is coming up with innovative initiatives to compensate for the human factor. These initiatives include virtual cafes, recognition systems among team members, and meetings dedicated to socialization. Additionally, the company has also kept in force all the social benefits that workers used to have.
Recently, during the lockdown, Altostratus successfully launched a social branding campaign on LinkedIn where it dedicated three weekly posts to recognizing—in an informal way and with a touch of humor—the work and the human side of its employees.
Acceleration of Demand
Daniel believes that the COVID crisis has caused an accelerated demand for cloud solution providers. In the lockdown period, many companies faced difficulties in maintaining a smooth workflow. This led to an inclination towards the cloud industry. Due to this inclination, Daniel observed a great predisposition from his clients and prospects to assess new projects in digitization.
The crises have mounted high demand for Cloud Infrastructure and other new work tools, such as video conferencing software, Project management software tools, Documents Exchange and Collaboration Tools, etc. Daniel also shares that the demand for cloud training within companies has increased. As soon as the situation of uncertainty comes under control, the team will begin to materialize all the work done during the teleworking period. Daniel adds, “Also, the need to innovate in order to be prepared for a new global crisis has become a concern that will force many businesses to be reformulated.”
Advice for Aspiring entrepreneurs
Amid crisis, the cloud industry is gaining popularity which might result in a spike in the competition amongst the solution providers. Being a veteran in the cloud industry Daniel advises the aspiring entrepreneurs to be patient. Often entrepreneurs tend to believe that success will come quickly, although the results arrive later than expected, especially at early stages. He adds, “My second tip is to be self-confident and not to throw the towel in times of hesitation. Bearing in mind the reasons why you started the project, will help for sure.”
Lastly, Daniel advises choosing the members of the management team carefully. Teamwork is important to attain the goals, and thus one should ensure that the team is on the same page and engaged with the company goals.