Expedite Digital Transformation via Custom Applications – An Interview with InvestHK
Our Hong Kong subsidiary was featured in InvestHK’s Winter Magazine titled “Exciting Opportunities in Hong Kong’s Digital Ecosystem”. In this interview, HK Regional Director Charles Chen covers a number of topics ranging from TCM, the covid-19 pandemic, and Hong Kong:
- What makes TCM unique
- Remote collaboration using @WorkAdventure
- Why set up in Hong Kong
- Leveraging the Greater Bay Area and its pool of talents
- Lifestyle & Environment
1. What are the main products and services provided by The Coding Machine?
Founded in 2005 in Paris, we specialize in custom development for mobile applications and web platforms using open-source technologies and our own community of international developers.
+700 projects delivered
+70 employees
+4 subsidiaries
+ 3 countries
2. What does The Coding Machine offer in the arena of application development that differ it from competitors?
Beyond being professional developers, we challenge, recommend and design solutions that deliver tangible business value.
In addition, since our inception, we leverage open-source technologies and are renowned worldwide for our contributions, among which WorkAdventure – a remote conferencing platform that recreates a workplace digitally to make interactions more real life like.
Finally, we have built a community of international developers to address specific challenges or accelerate development.
3. Why was Hong Kong chosen as a place for expansion of The Coding Machine?
We have chosen Hong Kong over other asian cities for its strong international dimension, ease of setting up offices, and strategic location next to hardware city Shenzhen and proximity to Asean countries.
4. What advantages does the city offer internet services development companies such as The Coding Machine compared to others in Asia Pacific?
Hong Kong is an international hub which attracts companies and talents from all over the world. Its tech ecosystem has seen considerable growth over the past 5 years, digital transformation is progressively spreading across all industries.
5. What are the functions of the Hong Kong office? Has the pandemic affected how the office operates, and will these changes be permanent?
We have both production and consulting functions, our aim is to build a complete cross-functional team able to contribute to TheCodingMachine group.
Compared to pre-pandemic, we hold more online meetings and collaborate remotely using our in-house solution WorkAdventure.
6. What opportunities does Hong Kong’s proximity to the Greater Bay Area present to The Coding Machine’s potential growth?
For our operations, The Greater Bay Area will facilitate the access to tech talents
Business wise, we aim to support more foreign companies to establish their digital presence in the Greater Bay Area considering the technical constraints.
7. Has the Hong Kong government’s initiatives impacted your expansion places in the city? If yes, how?
Two initiatives have particularly impacted our expansion plans.
In the short run, The International talent fund was launched in March 2021 to support the recruitment of young creative talents. We leveraged this program to strengthen our teams, we welcomed 2 graduates from Hong Kong University and HK University of Science and Technology.
In the long run, the 50-year plan to build Hong Kong as a leading Tech & Innovation hub will definitely give us more confidence in growing further our Hong Kong office.
8. What are Hong Kong’s talent pool’s most suitable qualities for recruitment as your possible staff members?
Hong Kong talents are comfortable in an international environment as they grew up speaking several languages, and they tend to adapt more easily to new environments. Also, we observed that they have a willingness to learn new skills especially when those skills are rare in the market.
9. How has InvestHK assisted The Coding Machine since it set up its office in the city a few years ago?
Since setting up in Hong Kong, InvestHK has been assisting us in different ways.
- Provided resources to accelerate the recruitment of local tech talents
- Assistance with visa application for our international members
- Gave us opportunities to strengthen our network through local events.
10. Please share your thoughts and experiences about Hong Kong as a place to work and to live.
While Hong Kong is among the most densely populated places in the world, it offers great convenience as companies and meetings are concentrated around similar districts.
Although its density can be overwhelming, its efficient transportation system makes it very easy to escape for a dive in the sea or a breathing hike in nature.
Hong Kong is also a very multicultural place where east and west meet, food lovers are served here. In the end, Hong Kong is a melting pot of people, landscapes and activities.
11. Is there any other information that you would like to add?
Hong Kong is a great place to do business while allowing people to choose the lifestyle that best suits them. Thank you to InvestHK for giving us this opportunity to share our views on Hong Kong.
