b6ev4aw.jpg Marvelution | Top Atlassian Solution Company-2021

Marvelution®
Empowering Users to SummonJenkins within Jira

Mark Rekveld, Founder, Marvelution®Mark Rekveld, Founder
Oftentimes, people come up with amazing ideas on how something can be improved in many ways. They have the intuition, a kind of developer’s instinct, where their version can make all the difference in the world. But only those willing to put everything on the line towards manifesting their idea can find themselves with a complete head-turning innovation worthy of praise. One such example is the story of Marvelution, a software solutions provider that simplifies Jenkins site management within Jira. With his Jenkins Integration for JIRA innovation, Mark Rekveld has forever embedded his name in the list of elite professionals taking the road less travelled to achieve his dream. He created an incredibly streamlined and intelligent method of navigating through Jira, Atlassian’s most lauded software development tool.

Before diving into how or why Mark founded his company and dedicated his life towards JIRA and Jenkins, the changes Atlassian has made over the past few months are worth mentioning.

Atlassian has left no stone unturned to leverage the digital movement or, rather, revolution brought about by the convergence of cloud-based technologies. On the 2nd of February, 2021, the Australian tech giant announced the conclusion of its Server product line. This implies that no new licenses will be sold, and with regards to new feature development or customer support, both will discontinue within the first quarter of 2022 and 2024, respectively. The choices for Jira users and other subscribers of the Atlassian marketplace now are either to migrate to its cloud environment or data centre products. With this significant change, many players have opted for the cloud-based workflow solution; though reports show an impressive increase in sales, a few prefer their information on-premise.

Mark, owing to his many years of coding experience, identified quite a few concerning problems that Atlassian may face ironically because of how widespread its cloud technology has been thus far. “Sales have skyrocketed for the cloud, which means that the current app infrastructure will reach its limits by the end of this year. It may not be able to accommodate additional customers. If it succeeds in onboarding more, errors will occur simply because of resource limitations such as lesser number of database connections and so on,” remarks an insightful Mark. Moreover, this increases the intricacies of his work at Marvelution, where he curates the best ways to deliver Jenkins builds linked to Jira without ever having to leave the environment. The fact that Marvelution is a cloud-first organisation bodes exceptionally well for many of its clients. Yet, for those that went for the other option, Mark improvises his app accordingly and makes it more reliable with smooth integrations and seamless scalability. But he does not mind making the effort. After all, he lives Jira and Jenkins.

One Man’s Solution to the World’s Problems

Marvelution was founded in 2015 for one particular reason: Mark wanted to solve a problem with the relationship between Jenkins builds and Jira.

It will be interesting to see what will happen next, now that many people have tasted the fruits of working remotely

Considering the massive number of developers dependant on the tool, he was not alone. He noticed a massive gap in the market and consequently began designing a solution that shortens the time it takes to search for Jenkins builds considerably, expedites software development, and enhances reporting functions of Jira issues.

On the development side, the company’s clients can expect an extremely intuitive and constructive journey with the Jenkins-Jira integration. The app offers managers complete visibility into the workflows and ongoing projects all in one place—and owing to its cloud-enabled features, the ease of access to such informative insights is unparalleled.

More recently, alongside a highly competent partner, Mark has been investing a lot of time and effort towards enhancing the user interface (UI) and design of Marvelution’s website and documentation site. “I am working towards making it even easier for customers to find the documentation they would need while providing improved guides (for the same),” states Mark. The quicker and simpler it is for clients to find the relevant information, the faster and more efficient they are in resolving issues that may arise post-integration. The idea behind Marvelution’s guides revolves around empowering users to learn a few nitty-gritty details of the process themselves, without constantly requesting support.

Bringing about Smooth Customer Experience Journeys

The Jira expert currently works with some of the largest companies and government agencies in the world. Mark carefully listens to the requirements of each client and consequently develops the best strategies to help them achieve their goals. “It is the priority of the ticket and not the size of the customer that counts. In that sense, I try to be open, honest, listen to what they want, and attempt to identify their actual needs,” adds Mark. Marvelution goes the extra mile when catering to the unique needs of its clients and, unlike in a waterfall method of operation, devises the most appropriate, maintainable, and scalable solution with complete transparency. The Jira app has three flavours: its server support, data centre, and cloud, and Marvelution expertly optimises the three environments. “I do not take into account how big a client’s instances are, as long as everyone involved has the skillset to make it easier to maintain and run the environment effectively is important,” states Mark.

To best elucidate how Marvelution’s services help clients overcome their Jenkins and Jira challenges, the following case study of how the company assisted a large bank in India is apt. According to the founder, nine out of ten organisations that reach out to him request support because they are stuck or simply do not understand certain important elements of the environment. In this particular interaction with the bank, Marvelution was asked to help them work in the cloud with the instance that was running on their data centre. They also expressed the need for certain modifications to the simple Jenkins integration for Jira and obtain build data alongside automation rules. Marvelution began implementing solutions based on each request of the client. However, halfway through the project, the bank decided to switch over to the cloud.
This was not too much of a hassle for the Jira-breathing expert as the two versions of the app are quite identical. But there are some nuances between the two that most companies do not realise. “A majority of the support calls we get are related to such issues,” says Mark. Marvelution was able to help this client combat their challenges quickly and cost-effectively.

COVID-19 and Jira Users

When the world came to a standstill due to the pandemic, software developers—regardless of how remote work-ready their respective organisations were—also experienced an unwarranted interruption in their workflows. Once they set up their remote working spaces, productivity shot up again. “It will be interesting to see what will happen next, now that many people have tasted the fruits of working remotely,” humours Mark. Answers to problems come from people going about, conducting other activities rather than sitting in front of a laptop all day. The call back to the office may disrupt their productivity once again. However, Marvelution’s Jenkins integration for Jira is designed to remain one of the most convenient software tools for developers everywhere, allowing them to work effectively regardless of their location.

The founder understands the high level of stress his contemporaries experience on a daily basis and firmly believes that companies can benefit from promoting remote working practices. He also mentions that, alongside the mental health of software developers, even the environment can be saved.

The Road Ahead

Over the past five years, Marvelution has come a long way, developing incredibly sophisticated solutions for the Atlassian ecosystem, especially with its Jenkins integration for the Jira app. The company’s current client base consists of some of the biggest brands in the world, and the list continues to grow every month. Mark often is commended by customers on his prompt responses after they request his assistance, offering lenient SLAs to make the collaboration as seamless as possible. “The more you work with customers, you tend to get a feeling for what they want or are aiming for; so, you try to give them as much information possible without overloading them at the same time,” explains Mark. It is this level of attention he pays to the details that make Marvelution an ideal partner to have when working with the Atlassian suite of Jira products.

Moving forward, the company intends to scale the app, with a complete focus on technical developments over the next few months. The move from Jira servers to the cloud is currently occupying the minds of every player within the ecosystem, and owing to Marvelution’s Amazon data centre competencies, clients can comfortably work on their builds with no gaps in workflows. The company also seeks to improve the app’s installation processes and guides to help companies set up the solution with minimal downtime for maximum efficiency.

Mark completely understands that, in these times, things change fast. And so, looking too far into the future does not always help. But the idea is to keep pushing forward, searching for knowledgeable partners that can help bolster Marvelution’s core offerings and improve the workflows of software developers across the globe.