PLAYING BOTH SIDES OF THE FIELD

How to bridge the gap between technology and clients 

We’ve got amazing employees!

Employee highlights shares the story of how their personal experience and professional journeys go hand in hand at Pixellot.

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B2B technology products are much more complicated to market than simple B2C consumer goods. Bridging the gap between developers and engineers and end users requires a lot of understanding, creativity and being open-minded. Knowing how to speak to both parties involves much more than just being able to speak ‘two languages’.

My professional background began in IT and I have over 14 years of experience in a variety of companies and different fields. I studied computer network engineering at Joskos in London, England, working for a variety of companies like Cardonet, and Microsolv during my studies and after graduating. The main work was providing IT services to clients in various industries in the greater London area.

Back Home

Upon returning to Israel in 2011, I worked for CADENT, which was acquired by ALIGN TECHNOLOGY. I then joined Israeli sports imaging startup Replay Technologies which was acquired by Intel.

All this moving and shaking has actually given me a lot of experience both communicating with product managers and development teams on one hand, and on the other, interacting with customers and sales and business development teams. This puts me in a prime place to bring critical feedback to the company, for the purpose of improving the product and the customer experience.

Adding to my skillset was learning to adapt to the differences between small companies and large ones. In a smaller company, I was able to advance processes and be innovative, more quickly. In a larger company, there are longer processes, procedures for everything and of course tons of regulations… These are very different types of ballgames and you need to know how to make the necessary adjustments.

For the past five years in my role at Intel I have been responsible for the computing side of the product which includes design, adaption and adoption as well as ongoing product support. One such project earned the NFL an Emmy award (The George Wensel Technical Achievement Award) for their Super Bowl 50 project as the technical leaders of the Invention.

Soon I was promoted to Technical Project Manager responsible for all of Europe.

The role suited me because of my experience and technical knowledge, but also thanks to my communication and interpersonal skills with both the techies in-house and the customers outside.

Learn the customer

My ultimate responsibility is to deliver a product that works as promised. Over the years, I realized that there were a few things that helped me play both sides of the field and communicate with both parties to our mutual benefit. These include

1. Try to study and research the product – from the technical side as well as the commercial side

2. Do your homework and keep your eyes and ears open

3. Try to build a relationship of trust and respect with the customer

Monetizing it all

Playing the roles of project manager, technical manager, and customer manager required activating all of my sales capabilities.

When you envision both the business and the customer at the strategic level and in the short and long term, you have the ability to make decisions wisely and communicate it easily to the development team and the customer.

Why Pixellot

When I was looking for the next step in my career, I knew It would have to be in a company with leading innovative technology, that also recognized the importance of a customer-focused product environment.

Today’s marketplace is very fast and dynamic. Customers are used to getting everything fast, right here and now. Pixellot is a company that is used to dealing with customers from all over the world with different requirements depending on the business, local restrictions, local culture and type of sport. They realize that tailoring the products to customers’ needs and understanding customer requirements are what wins games.

This is me

My job requires me to be in close personal contact with the clients as well as with the business development and product development teams. As someone who integrates the whole project in terms of budget, risk management and scheduling, my goal is to leverage strengths, maximize our offering and meet delivery timetables.

At the end of the day, customer satisfaction is what wins the game. And the surest way to achieve that is by making sure our communications and expectations are aligned. When you’re all on the same page, great things happen! 

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Offir Schramm is a Customer Success Manager at Pixellot, the global leader for AI automated sports video & analytics.

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