Realising the potential of people with autism to deliver professional software testing services in Scotland.
In Scotland, Specialisterne are a wholly-owned subsidiary of CEiS, operated under licence from Specialisterne Denmark. The company’s focus is providing employment for people, with an ASD, through the provision of software testing services to leading IT and telecommunications companies, large corporates and public sector organisations.
www.specialisternescotland.org
Aim
Our overall aim is to create up to 60 new jobs, 75% of which will be for people with an ASD, between 2010 and 2014.
Mission
Specialisterne uses the characteristics of autism in a positive way to provide valuable services for the corporate sector on market terms.
Vision
To give people with ASD the opportunity to use and develop their special skills based on their own qualifications, strengths and ambitions.
- offer new special skills to the business community in niche areas which demand insight, precision and regularity.
- prove to society that people with ASD can be equal contributors to the development of our society.
- compete on market terms and open offices nationally and internationally so as many people as possible with ASD will have the opportunity to realise their professional ambitions.
Specialisterne Scotland’s service range includes:
- Software Testing
- Search Engine Optimisation
- Web Design
- Content Audits
- CRM
- CMS
- Proof Reading
- Usability and Accessibility Testing
- Data Migration
- E-business Consultancy
The Specialisterne Business Model
The value of the business lies in the global brand we are developing in software testing in the IT industry. Our strength includes the inherent skills of our employees and our Work Preparation and Employee Support programmes for focusing and supporting the application of these skills.
The character traits of autism mean that people with ASD are often very good at specialised work where the requirements for being systematic, having a strong attention to detail and being persistent are important.
This has proved to be the case with software testing, which can involve a large number of repetitive and complex tasks and where the cost and implications of errors can be significant the longer that the error goes unnoticed.
Analysis of the business model’s performance has shown that we can deliver software testing tasks more effectively than a customer can for themselves, at the same net cost, while releasing customer staff to carry out the more value-added tasks that they find more fulfilling, having a positive effect on staff retention.
The business model operates on a fully commercial basis with staff receiving market-rate wages with some public funding used to offset the additional cost of providing supported training and employment. We provide a supportive working environment for our employees enabling them to make best use of their skills.
