Thank you for taking a moment to speak with us, Eddie. Can you tell us a bit about your work history and how you found your way to Datapath?
I came from semiconductors (SRAMs, CCDs and LCDs), display glass materials – heard of ‘Gorilla’ glass? – background.
I was hired by Barco (Japan) as their APAC Service Manager looking after all product lines except Medical. After about three years I was moved to their Medical Imaging BU and stayed there for around 7 years. While in Japan I was called up by a UK recruiter and eventually joined Datapath in 2019.
You’ve been with us almost 3 years now. Could you tell us a little about how the AV industry in your region may have changed in that time?
I joined in March 2020, when nations still did not how to (re)act on deterring the spread of Covid 19.
Over time, when daily lives and business activities underwent country-specific SOPs, it also determined how business could be carried out. Alongside stagnations, businesses evolved to survive. Pro-AV businesses closest to retail & services were hit worst and that led to further peripheral businesses. Other (pro-AV) businesses closer to fundamentals (infrastructures, telecommunications, transportations, education, banking, etc.) started to see online ‘collaborations’ and ‘hybrid’ workplaces. However, the larger customers of pro-AV systems (government, public offices, construction projects, etc.) encountered pushing outs and postponements, but minimal cancellations.
What would a typical workday look like for you?
Usually, it’ll be clearing ‘urgent’ e-mails in the mornings and interacting with partners, prospects on projects in the afternoon. Then in early evenings, onto e-mails again, on those needing deep diving. Before bedtime it’ll be another round of clearing e-mails between customers and our Derby UK office.
What are the most rewarding and most challenging parts of your role?
Orders! … Orders!! … and more Orders!!!
AND, feedbacks from partners and users, positive and negative. Positive feedbacks reaffirm what we have done good for the customers. Negative feedback allows us to reflect; “What else can we do, or do better, to regain your belief in us?”
How do you spend your time away from the office?
What office?! I was stuck in Tokyo for the first two-and-a-half years of the pandemic and working-from-home has been the norm to this date. So there are little to no distinctions between daily living and everyday work. It’s not unusual I don’t know what day it is! More recently, we now have our new fully equipped office demo suite and offices in Tokyo, which I visit for customer demonstrations.
Tell us something people may not know about you…
I like traveling and street foods, book shops (yes, flipping the pages and not swiping), record stores (yes, analogue and not digital) and plan to home-make a music streaming server and a Hackintosh.
