IT Life – Your Round Or Mine?

We all know the pain of having to wait ages at a crowded bar, but what if there was an easier way to beat the queues? Orderella is a new mobile app which allows users to order and pay for your drinks and food via your phone, so we had a chat with CEO Dennis Collett to find out his inspirations.

Tell us about your company, how long have you been in IT and what are your areas of expertise?

Orderella is a mobile ordering and payment platform tailored to the hospitality industry. Giving consumers the opportunity to get service when they want it and not when it is imposed on them. Orderella is for social people who enjoy a night out with their friends rather than queuing in a busy bar. I have been working in and around IT for about 8 years. Started my career at ABN Amro in their strategy team for Operations & IT; moving onto Ernst & Young where I worked on various IT integration projects including the largest UK bank merger. My areas of expertise are IT integration, database, PMO, mobile product management and now company founder.

What’s the favourite IT project that you’ve ever worked on?

Building Orderella from ground up and actually providing consumers with better service. The way we have ordered our pints hasn’t changed for over 50 years and we are on a mission to make nights out more enjoyable, so people can spend more time with friends rather than in queues. Bar and pub staff can also get away from having to process payments, making the entire operation much more efficient.

What technologies were you involved with ten years ago?

MS SQL, Windows Server, MS Dot.Net, Linux, PHP, JavaScript, Cisco, Net Appliance

What do you expect to be using in ten years’ time?

I believe technology will be more of an enabler to support and improve daily life. Touch devices, voice activation, virtual reality and augmented reality are all things I expect to be using.

What do you think is the greatest challenge for an IT company or department today?

To change the image of IT from service desk to the upholder of corporate governance and centre of innovation.

To cloud or nor to cloud?

Cloud all the way.

Who is your tech hero and who is your tech villain?

I would have to say the creators of the internet are personal heroes of mine, as well as the major tech pioneers like Larry Page, Sergey Brin, Linus Torvalds and Steve Wozniak.

In terms of villains, I would have to say Microsoft could have been classed as one for their previous policy of closed systems, but  now they’re starting to open, these up things may start to change.

What’s your favourite device ever made and what do you use the most?

They called it a communicator in Star Trek. We call it the smartphone. I use it most to communicate in all forms.

Apart from your own, which company do you admire the most and why?

Google. Because they have managed to maintain their culture and despite the size and scale and they are still one of the most innovative companies.

What did you want to be when you were a child?

Pilot.

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