Santhosh P is Manager – Support & Services for Africa
and works out of Dar es Salaam, the capital of Tanzania. He has a Diploma in Hotel
Management and 8 years of overall experience, 4 of which he has spent at IDS
Next.
So Santosh,
how cool is it to work out of Africa?
I think it’s pretty cool, but upon hearing of my
decision to move to Africa, my parents and close friends were flabbergasted and
asked me to rethink. Everybody has this perception that Africa is not a safe
place, but I always wanted to travel and IDS Next had already given me other opportunities
before I got the Tanzania offer. Interestingly, Dar es Salaam means "The
residence of peace" and on the whole, Tanzania is the safest place in
Africa. People here are warm. When I’m not working, I hang out at nearby malls,
watch a movie or cook my favorite South Indian food at home.
Tell us
about your work?
I am expected to build a healthy relationship with
our clients, and I think that I have achieved this to some extent. My job
profile and my responsibilities have helped me to hone my public relations and
interpersonal skill.
My core responsibility is to take care of post-sales
support for Africa. I am accountable to ensure smooth implementation of our
Hotel ERP across clients’ sites. I work in collaboration with our local partners.
During product implementation, I travel to the client’s site and need to stay
there 25-30 days.
After the implementation I provide tech support when
needed. As IDS Next has the policy of 24/7 technical support, I have to be on
call round the clock, I get calls at all odd hours and need to work smart to
ensure the clients problem is sorted out as soon as possible.
Apart from product installation and tech support, I
also conduct product training for hotel staff.
How did you
join IDS Next?
I was working as an F&B Executive in a hotel in
Chennai and they had adopted IDS Next Hotel Management Software in 2009, that’s
how I got acquainted with the software. In 2010, I was referred to IDS Next by
one of its employees, I appeared for the interview and joined IDS Next in 2010
as an Implementation Executive.
How has been
your journey at IDS Next?
From 2010 to 2013, I did 30 plus software implementations.
20 of these were done for India, and the rest are in countries like Kazakhstan,
Nepal, Indonesia, Maldives and Papua New Guinea. The company perhaps noticed my
hard work and promoted me to the post of Senior Executive – PSG in 2011. In
2013, I opted to relocate to Africa and have done over 10 implementations here.
Recently, I got promoted to my current designation. My hard work has earned me
an ‘Exceptional Service Award’ and two promotions during these four years.
Additionally, I would say that my life has changed
for good after joining IDS Next. After my hotel management course, I started my
career as a waiter. At the lowest rung of the hospitality industry, I held the senior
manager or director of the hotel in awe, today; I train some of these gentlemen
on our Hotel ERP. Today, I advise them how they can leverage our software to
improve and grow their business.
Since you
have traveled quite a lot, can you share some of your interesting experiences
with us?
In 2011, I had travel to Kazakhstan for my first
international project. As it was my first trip to that country, I was a little
apprehensive. I was supposed to be picked by the hotel people, but nobody
turned up. I felt helpless as I didn’t have the hotel’s contact number. After
few minutes of my landing, the entire airport wore a deserted. I tried to ask
around but nobody understood English. After 4 hours, I noticed one Indian and went
up and spoke to him. He knew the local language and spoke to the hotel and I
got picked up in 15 minutes.
How would
you recommend others to join IDS Next?
If you dream big, IDS Next is here to help you
realize them. Join this growing company to learn new things.
No comments:
Post a Comment