One Covid-19 Year At Applause

A few weeks before I joined Applause, exactly 1 year ago on April 1, 2020, my Vueling flight from Barcelona to Berlin was already booked. With a lockdown in Spain (and across Europe), you know already what happened next and one year later I am now writing about my 1st year experience at Applause without having personally met any of my colleagues or customers (ok, there is one only exception...).

Despite everything I was going through during the first days in the company (with my wife experiencing post-covid symptoms at home, my two teenage sons suddenly schooling online, my dog thrilled with all the company seeking for even more attention) I felt curious, enthusiastic and motivated to start my new professional venture. The online onboarding was phenomenal and provided me with a warm and positive vibe about working at Applause. As I was picking up the duties of my role, I started to appreciate the company’s culture, which is behind our success in the market. At Applause we pride ourselves on delivering excellence to our customers, the largest global brands in finance, retail, tech, telco & media and travel among other sectors .

However, the attribute that I appreciate the most about us is "In It Together". It certainly contributes to the positive way I feel about working here. When I analyze the past year performance of the region I manage, I am proud of what we achieved. Clearly every single accomplishment we had would not have been possible without the incredible cooperation of the teams across Applause. When a contract is signed (whether that is a renewal, an upsell or a new business deal) the all company celebrates the winners. Typically the last days of the quarters there is an enormous amount of these messages that multiply based on value, strategic importance or if the deal is the first executed by a new sales person. The overall spirit is enhanced and sales share details of the teamwork behind their successes. It is also great to observe when sales people celebrate other sales people. I really enjoy taking part of these celebrations too sometimes!

At the beginning of this year I was awarded the "EU Manager of 2020". It would have not be possible without having a great team in the first place. I like to spend time coaching and supporting my team members. I enjoy the social interactions and getting to know them also beyond the professional discussions. I can′t wait to be able to have live conversation with them without the time pressure and the limitations of physical distance. Ambition, dedication, passion and talent of my sales team are critical to our successes but in all cases it is the cooperation with our colleagues (whether they are in Finance, Legal, Marketing, HR, Delivery, Testing or Sales support, operations, enablement or BDRs) to make magical things happen after all.

I am also humbled that, together with my colleague Mohammad Zaman, our shared idea was selected among the winners of our internal “Eureka” initiative. We both could have submitted an idea independently given our prior work experiences. However we immediately realized that by working together we had much more power, so we joined forces to submit the idea and perfected it. By doing that we have also gained the trust of the top management to lead the execution of the solution up to securing & delivering a successful pilot with one of the largest telco in the world. We assembled a team of top performers (including external consultants) and achieved our first objective. All our weekly calls and extra hours outside of our normal duties have paid off. An initial casual conversation with an open mindset sometime can lead to an incredible outcome!

With the pressure to achieve individual results and also working 100% remotely, I admit that sometimes it is challenging to adhere and always be "In It Together". My goal for my next year at Applause is to get closer also with the teams that manage our community of testers and the delivery of our testing solutions. I want to know more about their daily work, their challenges and motivations. This team is at the core of what Applause offers and the reason why our customers love to experience our services.

We have been experiencing extraordinary times with Covid-19. Our freedom is limited and we must challenge the way we do things. I am blessed to work in an environment that requires us to work together, in a sector that is vibrant, always in evolution and that requires constant adaption. We will have challenges and by continuing to work together we will make excellent things happen.

I look forward to many more years at Applause!