Meet the team: Andy Patrick, MD

Ometis had some big news to share last month when Andy Patrick proudly took the reins from Ross Greig, and what better way to round up the transition than our latest meet the team blog. So, without further ado, meet our new managing director… 

How did you get into this industry? 

Throughout my career I’ve worked for a number of IT-focused companies, from working in support and development roles right through to sales management positions. I’ve always been around software, but from an ERP perspective rather than Analytics. I ended up deciding that, rather than being a jack of all trades and knowing ERP systems inside-out, I wanted to move into analytics and business intelligence to become a master of my trade.

What’s your favourite part of working for Ometis? 

One of the main things has to be the people I work with – we’ve got a fantastic bunch here and it’s a really good place to be around. The innovation that we create always astounds me, with what we can make the software do as well as how we find innovative solutions for our customers. We actually see the return on investment that our customers are wanting, rather than selling them an empty promise.

You’re transitioning into your new role as MD, but what has you average day looked like until now? 

I mainly work with customer relationships, predominantly prospecting for new customers. I’ve also had the role of being a voice at Ometis, so when we’ve done events or shows I’ve taken on the role of doing keynote speeches as well as a bit of thought-leadership.

How are you feeling about your new role? 

It’s really exciting and frightening at the same time because of the current circumstances with the Coronavirus pandemic – it’s exciting to be steering the ship, but the timing is unfortunate. I’d love to get out there and speak to our staff face-to-face and celebrate the achievement, but obviously this isn’t possible with not being able to leave the house.

A lot of what I do in my role will stay the same. I’m still going to be responsible for the growth of Ometis, which has always been the case in terms of working with new customers in my role as Sales Manager. The main change is that I will have far more say on the strategic vision of the company, as we migrate from an analytics company to more of a data integration company in the coming years.

Where do you want to take Ometis in your new role? 

We’ve become very good at the niche part of the market we focus on, specifically Qlik Sense and specifically analytics. My aim now is to create a broader remit for what we do as a data consultancy – becoming a part of a customer’s journey for everything they need from data. This could include moving data around on their platform, cleansing data or coming up with data catalogues to eventually present in an analytical fashion. Whatever a client’s issue is with their data, I want Ometis to help them out.

What is your worst work habit? 

My worst habit is that I know best! I’m quite a loud voice in the office, although that means I can put myself up there to be shot down. This can make me the brunt of some of the jokes, which is great as it shows everybody can converse on a level that we’re all happy with. But still, Andy knows best!

What’s your most embarrassing work moment? 

Within my first couple of weeks of working for Ometis we were working with a prospect, Pipers Crisps, who are now a long-term customer of ours. I planned for Ross and I to make the 100-mile journey up there for a meeting as we were close to finalising the deal. I said to Ross:

‘I’ll drive, you come to underwrite it as Managing Director, everything will be great!’

Not only was it the wrong time when we got there, we actually arrived a week early! Luckily, we ended up winning that client’s business, so it’s always a nice story. I like to say that I’m just keen!

Do you have any hidden talents? 

I can juggle – although I’m not sure whether that’s a talent as much as it is boredom in my own time! I’m very keen at sports and I have the ability to beat Chris Lofthouse at absolutely anything, which is very annoying for him! No matter what it might be, I’ll always find a way to win.

If you’d like to speak to Andy or any other member of the Ometis team, get in touch today.

Topic: About