It was 1996, and I had a business problem.
I was a sales rep overseeing a massive geographical territory with an incredibly diverse customer base, and I was struggling to meet all my goals. How could I form close connections with my customers – when visiting many of them involved desolate locations, mountainous terrain, winter storms, and even helicopters?
Solving my problem involved purchasing a used 486 laptop (a small fortune in 1994), thirteen floppy disks, and a natural ability to customize software. I had just created my first Customer Relationship Management (CRM) solution!
Ten years later, I was leading the Microsoft CRM initiative for the Canadian division of a large company.
Those were wild days! I was also attending university at the time, so I would go to class Monday night, grab a red-eye to Montreal, and get back in time for study-group on Saturday, all while continuing to manage my customers.
After project completion, I was promoted to Senior Project Management Analyst – to lead the North American Microsoft CRM implementation out of the Eastern US for the same company.
After two years living in hotels and airports, I gave up my “elite” status to work with small-to-medium businesses a little closer to home
I am fascinated by the relationships between business technologies and the people required to use them.
My wife Bonnie and I have lived, worked, and volunteered in Chilliwack for over twenty years. I can often be spotted out with my camera gear searching for birds and wild animals