We take pride ensuring all our customers are offered the highest levels of pre and post sales support. So we thought you might find it interesting to take a look at how one of the busiest members of our support team spends his time.
If variety is the spice of life, then Malcolm Ridge’s claim that he has the best job in the world may well be true. Malcolm is our Support Services Manager and no two days of his working week are ever the same. With a diary that is full to the brim with a variety of projects, Malcom could be forgiven for never being at his desk! In a typical day, he can be seen in our demonstration room conducting a training course on network video management and TC/IP technology, to a group of hungry to learn engineers. Following a swift break, Malcom can then be found developing and designing a power point presentation to be used at a forthcoming sales presentation to groups of M & E contractors. All of this before lunch !
Yes he does have time for lunch but then the afternoon introduces a new challenge - telephone technical support. Not simply a case of fielding calls but also implementing an in- house system to monitor and manage these calls. As well as providing immediate customer support Malcom finds fielding technical support extremely useful as it provides him with input on how successful training has been and what else can be built into the courses.
Malcom’s career in the electronics security industry spans over 35 years. Joining Vicon in 1982, it soon became apparent that his extensive knowledge of CCTV and personal skills made him perfectly suited for the role of Support Service Manager.
“Training takes up a major part of my working week,” says Malcom. “I focus on designing and conducting product training courses that are tailor made to fit the needs of individual customers. I listen to their needs, identify gaps in their knowledge and develop courses to ensure that we cover the appropriate ground.”
Training is by no means however the only important function that Malcom performs. "Every day allows me to interface with customers in so many ways. I could start the day by running a training course in the morning. By the afternoon I could be fielding incoming calls from installation and service engineers and then organise training for end users the following day."
Malcom’s role is not just office based. He regularly travels the length and breadth of the UK. For example his latest visit has taken him to the Warrington office to train three separate groups of engineers working for one of our largest installers. Each group were provided with different levels of training with some of the less experienced engineers offered advice on basic installation techniques whilst the more technically advanced engineers were taken through the design of matrix controlled systems.
Another entry in Malcom's diary sees him travelling to an end user site to supply operator training of a recently installed Vicon system ensuring the customer achieves maximum benefit from the Vicon CCTV system.
And after a hard day at work Malcom likes nothing better than to relax by going out for a well earned meal. A curry of course – with plenty of spice!
