Jason Beres, COO of Infragistics – Interview Series

Jason Beres COO of Infragistics spearheads the customer-driven, innovative features and functionality throughout all Infragistics’ software, including testing, development, and user experience. Jason works directly with Infragistics customers around the globe to deliver an exceptional user experience. He is an expert on technology subjects such as the software testing process, data-driven teams, customer input in product design, open source, artificial intelligence, data analytics, business intelligence, etc. Jason is a former Microsoft .NET MVP, and he is the author of several books on software development, covering SQL Server, C#, Visual Basic, Rich Client and Web Development. A national and international conference speaker, Jason is very active in the developer and UX community. He joined Infragistics in 2003.

Infragistics is a global software company that builds enterprise-grade UI and UX development tools used to design and deliver high-performance web, mobile, and desktop applications. Founded in 1989, the company is best known for its comprehensive UI component libraries, low-code App Builder, and embedded analytics solutions that help teams move efficiently from design to production. With deep roots in the Microsoft ecosystem and broad support for modern frameworks, Infragistics serves millions of developers worldwide by simplifying application development and improving collaboration between designers and engineers.

You’ve been with Infragistics for more than 20 years. How would you describe the company’s evolution during that time, and what milestones stand out most to you? 

When I started with Infragistics in 2003, the market was much more simple. The .Net ecosystem was in its heyday and Infragistics was one of the only vendors for core, legacy products in that market. However, as everyone knows, the tech industry is never stagnant. Luckily, Infragistics didn’t get comfortable as the big fish in a small pond, instead preparing to keep that lead among rising competition.

Every year since 2003 Infragistics has taken a technological leap and every 5 years we have introduced a game changing product so that our customers could keep up with the modern tech landscape. Each of those milestones, whether it was acquiring Southlabs in 2012 to transition from desktops to smartphones or breaking into iOS, Android and all modern web platforms in 2015, were essential to staying ahead of market curves that could have potentially broken us.

Moving away from the product side of things, the business itself has also evolved tremendously. We’ve gone from tens of employees to hundreds, and opened offices around the world, including in Uruguay, India and Japan. When I first started we had 1 salesperson in London. Now we have an office with a dedicated team there.

I’ve watched Dean, the CEO and Founder of Infragistics, build out an incredible company structure and process over the years. I’m not the only one who has been around for over a decade. Our CFO has been here for over 20 years, as has other employees, which is a testament to the culture Dean has nurtured.

All of these factors combined is why Infragistics has withstood so many market disruptions. And now, we are primed for the next leap into AI.

What does it mean for Infragistics to appoint its first Chief Operating Officer after 35 years, and how will your deep product and leadership experience—spanning developer tools and product management—shape how you approach this new role?

The AI era has brought forward an enhanced focus on productivity and efficiency – a mentality we are infusing into all of our operations at Infragistics.

For the last 35 years, in addition to growing the company, Dean has been juggling on the ground team management of almost every department. And while this deep involvement in day to day functions in part has created the culture the company has today, as we continue growing the time has come to streamline these processes through another entity, so that Dean can focus on bigger picture strategic initiatives.

As COO, I’m now taking on that role, to enhance operational efficiency internally within every department. Now, sales, marketing, product and IT all fall under my umbrella, allowing me to ensure every team member is on the same page and minimize miscommunications. I am meeting with employees more frequently to make sure every department is aligned in initiatives and goals.

My 25 years at the company is instrumental in this shift. Most employees at the company already know me, and know how to work with my leadership style. When I was appointed, this meant that there wasn’t a large shakeup for people, it actually genuinely meant more organization and visibility for them. I’ve built great bonds with the people at Infragistics over the years, so we already have great working relationships and strong comfortability which definitely aids my goal to align teams.

Infragistics software is used by all S&P 500 companies. What has been the key to sustaining that level of trust and adoption across such a diverse enterprise landscape?

The key is truly to treat each and every one of your customers like gold. Throughout the years we have continued to add value and capabilities to our products – and this product roadmap is definitely defined with our customers in mind.

When you’re working with companies of any size, you need to remember that they have high demand from their own user base and customers. There’s always someone on the downstream end waiting for a resolution – so our roadmap is also theirs. We are always focused on taking care of customers as well as we possibly can, and their feedback is essential to informing how we move forward.

In addition to infusing this insight into our product roadmap, we also pay very close attention to the market and introduce innovations our clients will need in the future. While it is extremely important to meet customer demand, they don’t always know what they need to make certain things happen. For example, everyone wants to infuse AI, but not many fully understand yet how to enable AI scenarios. Because of this we are continuously introducing new capabilities and products to clients proactively – putting them ahead of competition.

We live and die by this strategy. We have never taken outside money or looked for an external investor because we are that invested into our customers – and they’re that invested in us.

You’ve spoken often about user experience and developer empowerment. How will those principles guide your plans to integrate AI across Infragistics products like Reveal, Indigo.Design, App Builder, and Slingshot?

For each of our products, we are approaching AI integration with the overarching purpose being that it will enhance both how developers and beyond operate and the outcomes for end users.

For example, with Reveal we are integrating AI into analytics and data discovery dashboards through our product Embed. This enables developers to understand where users may be dropping off or which areas in their website may need adjusting. Beyond development teams, Embed is also making strategic action easier for teams in areas such as marketing and sales. One way we are doing this is with our digital workplace platform Slingshot. Slingshot is using Reveal as an AI engine for analytics, enabling teams to derive actionable insights from complex company data in seconds. With Reveal dashboards, marketers and sales people can easily pull information such as customer trends or upcoming sales forecasts, instead of manually sifting through data or relying on data teams for analysis.

On the developer empowerment side, our integration of AI into App Builder will make enterprise app generation more intuitive, enabling developers, designers and business users to move from just an idea to a working app in seconds. This is bridging the vision versus reality gap that a lot of developers have been facing when it comes to actually creating what has been in their minds’ eye. We are aiming to enable developers to instantly turn their ideas into working app layouts by bringing AI deeper into app development workflows.

What are the most promising areas where AI can enhance productivity and creativity within Infragistics’ internal teams?

We are really looking into how AI can enhance our operational efficiency. We believe that with AI streamlining more manual tasks, we will give existing employees the freedom to do more whether that be getting to tasks that have been put on the back burner or coming up with creative new ideas. The goal is that those productivity gains will translate to an acceleration in revenue.

Can you share specific ways AI is already influencing the product roadmap and how you envision expanding those capabilities in the coming years?

AI is already influencing our roadmap across the full spectrum of how our customers build, ship, and use software from creating apps to turning insights into action.

In App Builder, we’re bringing AI deeper into the workflows that help teams move from an idea to a working app faster—supporting app generation, layouts, and common patterns so developers, designers, and business users can iterate quickly. In Ignite UI, AI is shaping how developers create rich user experiences, making it easier to implement common UI patterns, stay consistent, and reduce time spent on repetitive work. In Reveal, we’re infusing AI into the analytics experience so teams can build and refine dashboards faster and help end users get to answers more easily. And, finally, in Slingshot, AI continues to be a major focus because it helps teams quickly derive actionable insights from company data and connect those insights to day-to-day execution.

Looking ahead, we’ll keep expanding AI in practical, workflow-driven ways across these products to make app creation more intuitive, UI development faster, analytics easier to build and consume, and insights more accessible to the teams that need them.

Many software companies are struggling to balance rapid AI adoption with responsible governance. How will Infragistics ensure its use of AI aligns with user trust and transparency?

Infragistics puts all of the power into the customers hands when it comes to AI implementation. We are very transparent about where AI comes in and even give clients the option to bring in their own AI models if they would prefer.

Core AI (CHAI ) features are shipped under control of the customer, they can choose their preferred model and incorporate it into their own tech stack. This ensures data will never leave customers’ infrastructure or site unless they want it to. For example, AI will not interact with a table or a specific view unless the customer gives it access. We do not make any assumptions about where a client might want AI infused, they have complete discretion.

Moving forward, we anticipate that people who are concerned about security will also move away from the traditionally used LLM structure and towards SMLs and that technology gets more advanced since it is on prem.

We also use tools like GitHub enterprise that give certifications and follow pre-set regulations.

Beyond product innovation, how do you plan to cultivate AI literacy and experimentation among employees across all departments?

We are very transparent at Infragistics about our implementation of AI and have open communication lines with employees to discuss how they are using it and what the best way to implement it into their day to day will be. Right now we are gathering recommendations on where they think AI will be most helpful in their work. With that insight we are going to come to an agreed upon toolset that integrates AI to improve workflows.

Infragistics has thrived through several technological eras—from client-server to web to mobile. How does this new AI era compare in terms of opportunity and challenge?

The opportunity of the AI era is massive – and there are many different ways to approach it. Many companies are weighing whether to jump into the deep end or to gradually wade in,  tweaking their structures to accommodate the technology.

At Infragistics we are taking a route somewhere in the middle. For AI to live up to its promise there needs to be a strategy in place behind it. You can’t throw things at a wall and hope it sticks. Instead, it’s important to take an in depth look at where there are gaps that AI could possibly fill and then purpose build for those designated products and purposes. That’s how you ensure AI is driving real value for an organization.

This is the biggest technology shift we have ever gone through as a company. Other disruption moments over the last few years didn’t move at the same speed that AI is. For example, let’s say in 2011 we had a robust JQuery product and then a new UI framework like Angular JS came out. If we didn’t automatically have Angular JS that would have most likely been okay since we had already established ourselves as a trusted UI vendor. The market and our customers trusted we would deliver an amazing product. However, today the pace at which AI has taken over means that if you’re not moving at 10x speed to deliver AI value you are falling behind.

What excites you most about the next phase of Infragistics’ growth, and how do you define success for the company in the age of AI?

What excites me most about the next phase of Infragistics’ growth is the combination of AI’s potential and the people we have here to make that potential real. Our team is deeply customer-driven, highly technical, and genuinely proud of the craft behind what we build. A huge part of our energy at Infragistics comes from seeing what customers are doing every day with our current products: the apps they ship, the experiences they improve, and the real-world outcomes they deliver.

In the age of AI, success for us is delivering that same kind of impact—making AI feel simple, trusted, and genuinely useful inside the workflows our customers already rely on. One of the most rewarding parts of this job is hearing customer stories about the value our tools have created, from enabling real-time patient data for pharmacists to powering transportation networks like bullet trains and subways. As we integrate AI more deeply, I define success as continuing to earn those stories just now with the addition of AI helping customers move faster, make better decisions, and build even more ambitious experiences.

Thank you for the great interview, readers who wish to learn more should visit Infragistics.