Jumping on the Alteryx Bus: From Client to Alteryx Sales Engineer

Welcome to the latest edition of “Jumping on the Alteryx Bus,” where we talk with the people of Alteryx about how they got to the company, what their role is, and something they’re most proud of.

Alteryx has thousands of employees from around the world. We all bring to the table diverse experiences, cultures, and ways of thinking. Everyone has a story that is worth telling.??

Today, we speak with Adrian Tan, Sales Engineer, about his.

Question: What’s your role at Alteryx?

Answer: I am a Sales Engineer based in Singapore, covering clients across Asia. I partner with our sales account teams to facilitate a client’s understanding of the Alteryx platform. Together, we demonstrate how our solutions can solve their business problems and drive incredible value across their organization.

My team and I serve as the primary interface with our client’s technology stakeholders and offer our technical solutions expertise during their evaluation of our technology.

Q: How did you first get interested in that industry?

A: My passion has always been in data and business analytics. I wanted to be in a role that provided me the opportunity to always be close to data, so I spent the early years of my career exploring which industry was the best fit for me. Interestingly, I was tasked during my previous role in a global investment bank to accelerate the adoption of digital tools like Alteryx and had engaged my current team, back then as a client of Alteryx. That was my first interaction and exposure to sales engineering in the technology and software industry, and here I am today as one of them!

Q: What does your typical workday look like?

A: A typical day for me, apart from client meetings, will consist of attending account planning meetings and preparing technical materials for upcoming client engagements. One of the other things we do as part of the sales engineering team is to support events such as hosting training sessions and offering technical expertise at Alteryx sponsored trade shows and conferences.

Q: What’s your favorite part of your role?

A: My favorite part of my role is the dynamism of the business problems, goals, and technology infrastructure of our clients. Alteryx is an industry and use case agnostic solution, which means that we partner clients with very varied business requirements.

As a sales engineer in the field, you often must digest these problem statements on the fly, formulating a conceptual solution and crafting or leveraging existing materials to demonstrate how Alteryx addresses these pain points. I find that the myriad business contexts presents great learning opportunities and is a constant challenge which makes my role interesting.

Q: What’s something you’ve done (inside or outside of work) that you’re proud of?

A: I am proud to be part of Alteryx’s diverse workforce, contributing to the team perspectives and learnings from my previous work experience as an Alteryx client in the financial services industry. Experiencing both the client and vendor side has helped me to better relate to client’s business problems and use cases, pre-emptively identify gaps and areas for consideration, while at the same time offering technical expertise to achieve the most optimal solution and best value.

Bonus Question: What’s something not a lot of people know about you?

A: In another life, I would have gone on to become a vet!