In the latest instalment of our Meet the Team series, we hear from Charan Atti, Ometis’ Relationship Manager.
Can you explain what your job role entails?
It varies from day to day really. It could be going through my customer list and scheduling catch up calls with my clients, or I could get a last minute email come through asking to place an order for a number of licences. Now I’ve taken on this role, it’s about keeping up to date with changes that are happening at Qlik, as well as other third party products that we support as a partner of Qlik’s and making sure our clients are aware of them. My biggest priority is to make sure that our clients feel valued as Qlik users but also as clients of Ometis. I’m always checking in with them and seeing if there’s anything we can do to help them, letting them know about new training offerings and just keeping them up to date so they don’t feel like they’re in the dark. I’d like to say I’m quite a proactive manager for our clients!
How did you get into this industry?
It was completely random! I set out to be a lawyer when I first graduated from university, then decided I wanted to go off and travel for a while, before coming back and realising I had no job! My dad asked me to join the family business, a van hire company, and I did a lot of business development in the three years I was there. I then decided I wanted to go off and have my own job and not be tied to the family all the time. I interviewed for a role at Ometis, not really knowing what it was other than being a sales role. I really enjoyed the interview with Ross and Andy – they called me back for a second interview and they were really happy with me. I got into the role by complete accident really – I knew I liked analytics to a certain degree because I always did a lot of spreadsheet work when I was working in the family business, so I was always a little bit data-driven, but didn’t actually know the full extent to which you can work with data until I started working at Ometis.
What’s your favourite thing about working for Ometis?
The people – I love my colleagues! It’s such a lovely environment to work in, even working remotely as we are now. I miss the banter you get when being in the office, which there was a lot of, but it’s actually my colleagues that keep me going. I wake up and want to work for Ometis because I know I’m going to have a great conversation with Neil, I’ll learn from him; Andy’s always there for advice and guidance; and the technical team – it’s never frowned upon when I ask a silly question and they’re always so happy to help. I feel we’ve got a really great bunch to work with.
Ross has done an amazing job of making sure we all feel valued. Historically – pre-COVID – we had monthly socials and I helped Ross organise and manage them. There’s been chat about doing a monthly social again, which could potentially be having a day of working and then going off somewhere in the evening for a social. I’m still quite keen to put some things in the diary and manage them, obviously as safely as possible. We’re generally quite a social bunch and we try to make sure that everyone feels included and feels part of the team and I feel we’ve done a really good job of that.
What are your thoughts on working from home?
I’ve found it quite simple. We used to work from home one day a week anyway and ever since we realised it was going to be permanent, I made sure that I’ve got a proper setup. The guys have also made it really simple for us to access everything and give us the things we need to set ourselves up. I like it, it’s good for me to get my head down, put my headphones in, get stuck into my work and not get distracted. I feel like my confidence has increased because I’m able to just talk to my clients and know that nobody’s listening. I know they wouldn’t be anyway, but it makes for a better relationship with my clients when I’m just catching up with them and able to find out how things are going for them.
What’s your most embarrassing work moment?
The iconic one has to be not long after I started working at Ometis. It was December, the weather was all over the place and there had recently been bad snow and ice. The guys were really good in saying ‘don’t travel unless you need to’, but being quite new I was eager to be in the office and learn as much as I could. There’s a junction that takes you onto the main road through the village and there was black ice which I hadn’t seen. I turned the steering wheel to turn into the junction but the wheels were facing the other way and I ended up in a ditch!
Some bystanders were trying to help me out, but I ended up having to call the office to get people to come help me. Alvaro and Alex had fully immersed themselves in trying to get me out, so they were walking round all day with mud all over their clothes – it’s now known as ‘Charan’s Junction’!
Do you have any hidden talents?
I’m someone that has to be doing something creative in my spare time. When I was at school I did a hairdressing course, so I can do hair styling – I don’t think anyone knows that at work! So for weddings and events I can do hair for my mum and my four sisters.
What’s your go-to snack?
I’m a massive foodie so it changes from day to day, though I’ve tried to be a bit better with my snacks over time while working from home. At the moment I really like the Graze protein bars, just as a little bite-sized snack I can have which comes in loads of different flavours. The lemon drizzle ones are my go-to at the minute.
What do you like to listen to for work?
I’m a massive fan of bhangra, which is Punjabi music. Generally if I need to get my head down, I’ll listen to that as it’s quite high tempo and fast-paced, so I can just focus and get stuff done. If it’s an easier day, I’ll have a podcast on in the background. I like listening to the Off Menu podcast what with me being a massive foodie, but recently I’ve got into the Michelle Obama podcast which is really interesting.