This interview is Part 1 (of 2) with Matthia and Olivier, two of Retail inMotion’s Business Consultants/Account Managers. Matthia and Olivier discuss the Business Consultant part of their roles, what it’s like to work at Retail inMotion, how the position is unique to our company and what a typical day looks like for them.
In one or two quick sentences, how would you define a Business Consulting role at Retail inMotion?
Olivier: The Business Consulting role at Retail inMotion is not an easy one to define (wouldn’t want to be the one who writes the job description. Ha!) But that is what makes it really interesting and challenging at the same time.
Matthia: Exactly. Not sure that we would do it justice with just one or two sentences. Retail inMotion is a company that is currently going through important changes (in structure and in missions) – as Business Consultants, we play a major role in both planning, defining, executing and accompanying those changes.
Ok wow. I feel like I’m already getting a consultation! Maybe we take a “roles” approach – what are the major tasks that you take care of on a day-to-day basis?
Matthia: On a day-to-day basis, we cover a large set of roles. As Business Consultants at Retail inMotion, our major “roles” would be Requirements Engineers, Delivery Managers, Advisors, Trainers and Go-live Support.
Being a “Requirements Engineer” essentially means that we’re the functional point of contact for all topics related to the solution we provide (i.e. global ERP supply chain and logistics solution for the aviation retail industry). We do this by analyzing / understanding customer’s needs and translating them into “functional specifications”. We do this throughout all phases of implementation from scoping to development to go-live and post go-live. We have great solutions at Retail inMotion and we help match those solutions with customers’ needs to really improve their onboard offering. Henry Ford said, “If I had asked people what they wanted, they would have said faster horses.” We’re not building cars at Retail inMotion, but we’re consulting airlines on our capabilities to help take the onboard retail industry into the future.
We are also “Delivery Managers”. Retail inMotion is the perfect example of a fast-paced environment, where everything happens at once, and where everything is of high importance. In our position, we act as “gate-keepers” of the delivery of our product to customers. We do that by identifying and describing an idea to scoping it, prioritizing and then monitoring the implementation of it, all the way up to the delivery to the airline.
Olivier: But that’s not all we do…
As Business Consultants, we are probably the people who spend the most time with the customers. It’s a very nice feeling when you get to know them individually — building the relationship, getting the big picture of the customer’s goals and strategy as a whole and really identifying their needs. It gives a great insight into how each airline operates. With that knowledge, and with the help of the Retail inMotion specialists, we then get to become a trusted “Advisor”. And this is also true the other way around. The customer fills us in with all their knowledge and then we get to contribute to improving our end solution along with the development teams.
We have a great, dedicated training team at Retail inMotion, but even so, we often work as “Trainers”. During any roll-out, a lot of the training work is done “on-the-job” at different phases of the project. So, we also play that role.
Finally, we work with “Post Go-live Support”. Obviously, the story doesn’t end with the Go-Live. It’s merely the beginning… After one of our customers has a go-live, we have a fully-trained Service Desk team prepared to help and support with all types of requests, coming from crews as well as from the head-office. In addition to that, our Business Consultants are here to help the Service Desk team with customer requests and make the transition to “Business as Usual” as smooth as it can possibly be.
And those are just the “official” responsibilities!
Are there…uh…”unofficial” responsibilities?
Matthia: Yes, of course! As said before, we get to spend a lot of time with our customers. De facto, we act as front-runners for identifying new opportunities and helping grow the business in a way that benefits to both Retail inMotion and the airlines. That’s a major part of the “consulting” role.
Olivier: We also spend a lot of time working with the development teams and using our IT system. Not only do we learn a lot by doing that, but we also get to give the teams some input on improvements and new features. Retail inMotion is all about continuous improvement and it’s also part of our role to leverage on our projects to define corporate methodologies, improving internal process and, all-in-all, taking part in shaping the future of Retail inMotion.
For Part 2 of this interview, click here.
