What do you and your team do at Pyramid?
Pyramid Computer is a hardware manufacturer and the business unit where I work is called AKHET. We produce mainly servers and industrial computers.
The tasks of the AKHET sales team are to find new customers and to support existing customers. It’s important to understand the customers’ hardware requirements in order to meet their specific needs. We have to convince the customers that we, Pyramid GmbH, are the right partner, and that our products are the best solutions for their problems.
Other responsibilities of the AKHET team include preparing quotes based on our purchase costs.
With which departments does the sales team have close interfaces?
The biggest interface we have is with Product Management. They review customer inquiries and, together with us, develop ideas to find the best possible solution. Coordinating with the product managers is therefore basically part of our daily bread.
Of course, we also have a lot of interactions with other departments, such as Purchasing, which procures the goods. With them, we often have questions as to how quickly components will be available, and at what price.
We’re also in close contact with Order Processing, which enters and monitors the orders in the system.
And then we can’t forget our many touch points with Quality Management. It’s a permanent challenge to keep on delivering high-quality goods to our customers for many years. Since we’re in Sales, we’re also project managers to some extent for existing projects, and therefore ultimately also have the responsibility to ensure that the quality is right.
What makes the Akhet team most different from the Polytouch team in your eyes?
The customers are totally different. In the POLYTOUCH segment, the focus is often on retail trade and its end customers, which means that the POLYTOUCH products should be easy to operate, that is, self-explanatory. AKHET users are mostly highly specialized technical personnel who know exactly how to operate the systems and understand the technology in detail.
What is teamwork like in your department?
Everyone in the team has their projects and tries to implement them in the best possible way and to generate new customers. At the same time, there is naturally an interest within the team to drive the entire business unit forward together. That’s why we coordinate very closely with each other.
If you think of Pyramid as a car and your department as a component, what would it be?
I think Sales is definitely the engine. It drives the whole thing, provides acceleration and tries to get the input it receives onto the road as a whole.
Is there anything you’ve mastered together as a department that you’re proud of?
In the AKHET unit, it’s often the case that we serve long-standing customers. For us, it’s a critical challenge to be able to fill orders any time and to always be there for our customers. It’s this permanence across long periods of time that’s in itself a sense of achievement, of which the entire company can be proud.
What should new employees bring to Team AKHET?
Cookies and sweets are always appreciated! No, seriously: a fascination for computers and their inner workings is important. For example, you should be able to distinguish a PCI from a PCI Express card. And, of course, in Sales, the ability to communicate and, related to that, confidence. Reliability and the ability to work in a team are, I think, indispensable in almost all departments nowadays. And of course you should be enthusiastic about what we do here at Pyramid.
Do you have any advice for new employees?
In the beginning, it’s very important for new employees to talk to other employees from different departments, to understand how work gets done at Pyramid. The IT business is very dynamic, and as a result, requirements, and also ways of working, change frequently. You have to figure out how best to act so that the other departments also benefit from you as much as possible. You are more or less a supplier to the other departments.
What three things would you take with you to a deserted island?
Difficult question, because I’d hate to go to a deserted island without my wife, and my wife is not a thing.
If you could pick one superpower, what would it be?
The ability to speed up stalled administrative processes.
If you could work in a different department for one day, which one would it be?
I’m very happy in my department, but for one day I’d love to see what our colleagues do. I’d really like to lend a hand in Shipping or Logistics, because I also enjoy physical work.
What would you like to learn in your professional future?
Of course, I want to continue to improve and hone my skills. In my job, for example, it would be very helpful to speak Chinese.
Spontaneity questions
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