Mark Forbes
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Meet Mark
Mark Forbes is our friendly neighbourhood Tech Services Lead and Cloud Integrator.
We think it's important you get to work with real people that add real value to your business.
Mark's one of the guys that works with you to get your systems up and running so you can Do More and Earn More.
He’s even part of our very own Colin MacFadyen’s personal business success story, thanks to what he does as an implementation partner.
We caught up with Mark to ask him a few key questions, mostly about his role and what you can expect from working with him.
Let’s start off easy
Q: You’re buying a sausage sizzle. They ask you if you want onions, yeah nah, or, nah yeah?
A: Yeah. With onions. Caramelised, if available. And pickles. And mustard. And relish. A spicy tomato sauce!
Good man. Now on to the real sauce of the Q&A!
Q: What is your approach to working with a business in your capacity as an implementation partner for Cloud Integration?
A: It’s important that the customer understands exactly to what degree technology can be expected to deliver on those needs. Both parties need to be crystal clear about expected outcomes.
“First and foremost, it is essential to really understand the customers needs. It’s too easy to make assumptions about what a customer needs. Often, they are not entirely clear themselves!”
Q: How do you work to implement and support the ongoing effort to automate the faff, so our clients can focus on the value?
A: I work with the focus that Integrating Standard Operating Procedures with Productivity Enhancing Technology achieves two important outcomes:
Firstly, it improves your competitive advantage and profit margins today
And secondly it maximises the value and saleability of your business in the future
Q: How long have you been improving client workflow with your very particular set of skills (skills you have acquired over a very long career)?
A: Having been self-employed for almost all of my working life; I have encountered first-hand the many challenges every business faces on a daily basis.
Back then, productivity tools were cumbersome, if they existed at all.
In 2012, just as the cloud-based digital revolution was really taking off, I joined the Xero team, which was at that time a tiny fraction of its current size. I joined Xero’s newly acquired project management accounting solution (WorkflowMax), which is where I stayed for more than 10 years.
Today there are a plethora of digital productivity solutions on offer. The challenge these days is choosing the right one, then getting it seamlessly integrated into your business. That’s where we come in.
A little bit more about Mark
Here’s Mark learning to fly a hand-glider at at Kariotahi Beach on Auckland’s West Coast.
A cheeky thrill-seeker, Mark’s out there chasing the wind. In his own words, it’s the closest thing you can get to being a bird.
He say’s it’s great when you are self-employed because it’s like surfing – when the wind is blowing at the right strength, and blowing from the right direction, then you need to be able to drop everything and just go.