Daniela Tapia is a Customer Experience Executive with Auxilion. She told us about her background before joining the company and what she enjoys about her current role.
What was Daniela’s background before joining Auxilion?
“I originally studied Industrial Engineering at university in Colombia, where I’m from. I had a completely different plan for my career then, I thought I’d work in production or something like that. Then while I was a student, I realised that I was interested in marketing and business, more than in actual manufacture. I finished my studies and started my professional career working in a bank.
“I joined the commercial strategy business unit. It combined marketing and commercial work. It was an area that required innovation because we were looking for new sales channels and new ways to grow the business. My role was as a business analyst. It was nice because I was analysing how we could improve what we had or how we could improve the processes. It was a very active job. I was analysing and making reports all the time. It was a great way to develop an innovative mindset.
“I worked there for about five years. After that, I moved to a marketing research agency as a project manager. I had several accounts and I had to develop marketing research for each of them. I was taking the briefs and assigning and executing them. Then I had to give all the results to an analyst, and he’d work on them.
“Being in contact with different clients I realised that I’m a people person. I like working on different projects across different industries. There was a very digital focus because the agency was involved in research around new ways to do market research and latest trends in the market. It’s always been a focus for me: what’s innovative, what are the trends on the market, what’s new, what’s coming in the future.”
Analysis & Optimisation
Daniela’s educational background helped her to develop some key skills.
“Studying Industrial Engineering I learnt how to optimise processes. I’m always watching how I can improve something and how we can improve the experience from the customer’s point of view. Improving customer experience is my focus now, and I have to say I love that. I did my MSc thesis on how to improve the customer experience in digital banking. In any role, I’m always thinking about how we can improve things. It can be something small or something big. It’s one of the reasons I’m really glad I studied Industrial Engineering- it was challenging, but I learned so much from it.”
Daniela’s next move brought her towards the tech industry.
“I moved to a development agency. It was a small company, so I was involved in designing processes and working as an account manager. It was a good way to get into the tech industry because I had to learn a lot from the developers. I got captivated by the industry, by how you can change the world with tech. That was when I realised, I wanted to move fully into that industry. I wanted to move to a bigger company, a tech company. To do that, I needed to be fluent in English, so that was the next step.”
Joining Auxilion
“I came to Ireland from Colombia in 2019. I initially came here for eight months, and now I’m here for almost four years! I did an English course, and then another, and then Covid started. I wasn’t ready to go back to Colombia, so I decided to do an MSc in Strategic Management. When I finished the MSc, I wanted to work in the IT sector or tech sector. I wanted to work as a business analyst, focusing on improving and analysing processes. But because I also worked in customer service when I was a student, I knew that I liked having consistent interaction with customers. I wanted to find something that would combine both. The Customer Experience Manager role does that perfectly. It’s been a really good path and a really good learning process for me.”
The CEM role has been a great fit.
“I enjoy my job a lot. I have to talk with customers pretty much every day and I also have to interact with all the business units in the company internally. It’s easy for me to create strong relationships and I have the opportunity to see how I can help to create a better experience for the client. As I’m in contact with different areas of the company, I can think about how we can do things better for my client, and if we can replicate that for other clients that’s even better.”
A Collaborative Team
The CEM team works together closely.
“It's a very collaborative team. When I started in my role, my main challenge was to learn all the terms, all the systems, all the things that are involved in the industry. But everyone is open and very supportive. People have been very patient! That’s why I feel I’m learning and growing in the role. It’s a really nice team, we’re very collaborative internally. We share everything, good things and bad, so that we can improve and find solutions together.”
What does Daniela’s day-to-day role involve?
“I have eight different clients. The dynamic is to be in contact with them all the time, to see what’s happening. Every client has different challenges. We see how things are going and if they have any problems. Sometimes the accounts are quiet, but we need to be there anyway to oversee what’s going on and to predict what’s coming next. I enjoy the dynamic of being in contact with the client all the time. I also have to be in contact with colleagues in different areas within Auxilion to find solutions for my clients.”
Flexibility
Auxilion encourages employees to take control of their own career paths.
“Something I find interesting at Auxilion is the potential to move between different business units. Different routes are available. It’s not the case that, because you have certain knowledge or experience, you have to remain within a particular area. I’ve seen some of my colleagues move from CEM to Operations, for example. Or I was reading Mark Charmant’s interview, and he went from Service Management to Operations and now he’s in Consulting. Flexibility is great.”
Daniela is looking forward to her future with Auxilion.
“I see myself growing within the company. I love my current role, but I am always willing to take on new challenges especially if there are opportunities to learn and develop new skills.
“Working with my colleagues has been a real highlight. We enjoy working with each other. People are open to ideas as well. When I started here, I read the customer experience framework and I created an input based on my knowledge from my previous research and I shared it with Sean [Walsh, Head of Marketing], and he was very open to receiving it. We had the management offsite meeting recently, and everyone was ready to hear and receive your input. It’s really nice, and it encourages everyone to contribute. That means that we all share knowledge and ideas to improve what we do.”
