How Enlighten Designs’ Partnerships Shaped the Tech Industry
We’ve built many partnerships over the years. These have been a privilege for us here at Enlighten Designs. Let's take a look back on these partnerships.
The enduring partnerships we’ve built over the years have been a privilege for us here at Enlighten Designs. Our commitment to driving meaningful change for our clients and our community has been our north star from the very beginning. We believe that this same commitment led us to leave our very own mark in shaping the future tech locally and internationally.
With that, we’d like to take a look back at some key moments and partnerships we’ve made to this day.
Our Xamarin Milestone and the Evolution to .NET MAUI
Our most pivotal moment came in September 2013, when we became the first New Zealand-based premier consulting partner of Xamarin, a San Francisco company revolutionising cross-platform app development at the time. Xamarin’s platform let developers write native iOS, Android, and Windows apps directly through Microsoft’s Visual Studio, all in C# and without sacrificing native performance. Read the full article at Stuff.co.nz
This partnership expanded our technical capabilities and gave our clients a powerful new option for their mobile strategies. As our CEO, Damon Kelly, put it, “Xamarin is the only platform that allows you to write native Apple iOS and Android apps directly through Microsoft’s Visual Studio.”
Today, Xamarin has a new name and evolved into .NET MAUI (Multi-platform App UI). It’s the next generation of cross-platform development under the .NET ecosystem. Just as we were early leaders in Xamarin adoption, we’ve also helped businesses migrate from Xamarin to .NET MAUI so they can take advantage of its modern and unified app development features. With .NET MAUI, our clients can build apps that run seamlessly across iOS, Android, macOS, and Windows, all from a single codebase.
Making Our Mark in Other Major Sectors
Beyond mobile innovation, we’ve also made our way into one of the world’s most dynamic industries: FinTech. At the RFi Global Digital Banking Conference, we teamed up with our partner IDIOM to showcase how we simplify the complexities of financial technology.
It was a conference packed with visionary leaders, including Paul Shetler, who gave an inspiring keynote challenging the industry to “be more nimble, have the courage to break out of the old way of doing projects, and deliver smaller projects, more frequently and more successfully.”
As event co-sponsors, we highlighted how our human-centred design and agile development methods can transform customer experiences in banking and finance, setting new standards for innovation in the sector.
Earning the Trust of New Zealand Itself
Our impact has also extended into the public sector. We were listed on New Zealand’s All-of-Government Web Services Panel (WSP) after successfully delivering projects for major government organisations, including the University of Waikato and Waikato Regional Council.
We were proud to be selected for all nine categories we applied for, ranging from Information Architecture and User Insight to front- and back-end development, native app development, and ongoing support. As one of only 81 suppliers on the panel, we helped raise the standard for digital services across government and played a role in improving how agencies connect with the public.
Achieving Gold with Our Sitecore Partnership
Our partnerships paved the way for even more opportunities to innovate, and our relationship with Sitecore became the face of that ideal. Enlighten Designs became one of just a few New Zealand companies to reach Gold Partner status through the Sitecore Partner Program. It’s a recognition reserved for delivering innovative and world-class digital experience solutions.
Sitecore leads the way in customer experience management, while our team developed unique intellectual property around their platform. To put it simply, Sitecore handled personalised and relevant content, while Enlighten Designs automated platform enhancements for marketing, analytics, and customer feedback.
Kareem Kaddour, Sitecore’s ANZ Alliance Director, summed it up best: “The unique solution Enlighten has developed is truly world-class. We want to acknowledge their innovation and help them reach even greater heights through our NZ and global networks.”
Connecting, Innovating, Leading
All our partnerships, ranging from Microsoft, Xamarin, eventually changing to .NET MAUI, or Sitecore, led us to the forefront of shaping the future of tech. Our work is as constant as the challenges that come our way. The collaborations and recognitions we’ve received are reminders that the work we do will stay relevant even in the far future.
If you’re ready to take the next step, explore our services here and let’s innovate together.
