On the lighter side of things, we ask Carl Warwick, Regional Sales Director Asia Pacific and Japan, BillingPlatform, what makes him tick.
What would you describe as your most memorable achievement?
I have had the pleasure of supporting many of my customers’ transformational success through the adoption of leading edge technology and software solutions. Helping these companies to achieve their business objectives through technology solutions and building strong, lasting personal relationships is something I will always consider my greatest professional achievements.
What first made you think of a career in technology?
When I moved to Australia, I had planned to work in a government role but responded to a job advertisement by Network Associates and landed up in a telesales executive role with the company selling McAfee security products. During my time there, I found that I had a drive and passion for sales and was able to deliver more than 60 cold calls each day in support of an aggressive pipeline generation. My work ethic and consistent performance saw me promoted to team leader for eight telesales staff and then shortly thereafter in outside territory sales and I’ve been happily working in sales ever since throughout my career.
What style of management philosophy do you employ with your current position?
I have always prided myself on having an open communication style with both the customers I serve and the company I represent. My top priority is to help our customers navigate on-going change in their business, whether it be driven by emerging technology opportunities to changing competitive landscapes. Being open, transparent and flexible to the needs of my customers helps us both to be successful. I am a firm believer in that if you apply yourself at whatever you set out to achieve in life, you can be successful.
What do you think is the current hot technology talking point?
Streamlining and automating the entire revenue management process through advanced technology solutions is a hot topic of conversation. As the world moves forward from the pandemic, all companies are looking to make up for lost time and capitalize on growing consumer confidence. Adding agility and automation to their entire monetisation process is enabling them to focus more on growing the business and launching new products and services versus grappling with legacy, outdated financial systems and processes.
How do you deal with stress and unwind outside the office?
I am into health and fitness and am a serious marathon runner. Indeed, later this year, I’m doing my first Ironman triathlon over in New Zealand for which I am training hard. On average, I run around 100-200 kilometers each week and like to challenge myself. To date, I have completed 16 marathons and enter the Brisbane, Canberra, Melbourne and Sydney marathons annually. Last year, I also completed the 50 kilometer Australian Alpine Ascent from Charlotte Pass to Mount Kosciusko which was an incredible experience and certainly tested my endurance.
If you could go back and change one career decision what would it be?
Not sure I can describe anything that I have regrets about, as I have been very fortunate to work with some of the greatest technology companies in the world. Having been afforded the opportunity to work in many international markets with a diversity of great professionals has really given me great perspective and an understanding of the challenges our customers face.
What do you currently identify as the major areas of investment in your industry?
While historically, it has been the finance team’s job to do reporting, governance and auditing of the businesses performance – today they are being relied on to lead the Digital Transformation of their organizations to find new ways to differentiate in the market with modern go to market models that the company can support at scale. We are finding that many organizations are limited by legacy processes and systems so they aren’t able to offer products as a service and benefit from recurring revenue streams. The complexity of subscription management, usage data manipulation, automated billing, and advanced revenue recognition are areas that require investment and modernization.
What are the region-specific challenges when implementing new technologies in APAC?
There aren’t any regional specific challenges but it is important to be authentic and to recognize the different ways of doing business say between countries such as Japan, Thailand and Australia. If you’re honest, upfront and promise to deliver what you say you will, then customers will return and show their loyalty wherever your business takes you in the world and whatever product you’re selling.
What changes to your job role have you seen in the last year and how do you see these developing in the next 12 months?
Clearly the pandemic has completely changed the way that companies communicated and conducted business with its employees and business partners. I personally doubled down on making sure I was in regular communication with the key stakeholders and supporting staff within my own company, but also the same holds true for my customers. The last year and a half was truly a challenge for most and I expect that in the coming twelve months we will see somewhat of a return to normalcy with adoption of some of the new ways of working that we all learned continuing on as well. We’re really excited to meet with our customers and prospects face to face now as they aim to emerge stronger from the pandemic and seek new ways to extract maximum benefits from their on-going Digital Transformation efforts.
What advice would you offer somebody aspiring to obtain a C-level position in your industry?
I would suggest they never stop learning and always be networking. The most effective C-level leaders are constantly expanding their knowledge about the market they serve, the changing needs of their customers and how best to deliver a world-class customer experience. They surround themselves with an ever-growing network of people who are just as hungry to stay ahead of the curve and can challenge the status-quo.
