In this new edition of ‘A Day in the Life of…’ we had the pleasure of chatting to Siobhan Whittard, Operational Data Lead. Having joined us back in August 2021, she works closely with our Account managers to support the on-boarding and system mobilisation for clients, specifically on Meals to People and Flexiroute.
Before 365 Response
Before coming over to 365 Response, Siobhan had a career as a hairdresser, she mentions “After lockdown, I was made redundant, but then set myself up as a self-employed hairdresser. Sometime after that, I went to work for a bank in April 2021 and later felt that it just wasn’t for me. I lost the love for hairdressing and wanted something different, and more challenging”. She goes on to further add that going into the IT industry was something she is motivated to do, to enhance her knowledge and the sheer passion for learning new software skills.
A role had come up later that year with 365 Response that caught Siobhan’s interest: “My brother who is a developer at 365 Response, mentioned that a role became available which ticked all the boxes for me. After hearing the great positives on the culture and values at 365 Response, the decision to apply was an easy one!”.
What does your day-to-day in the role look like?
Siobhan first started in her role as a Digital Marketplace Administrator – a year on she quickly progressed into the role of Operational Data Lead. She comments: “ I really enjoyed working in DM (Digital Marketplace) it was definitely a good role for me as it was varied, but I wanted to further progress, and continue expanding and picking up new skills”.
When asked what Siobhan’s average day looks like in her new role, she responded: “it involves a lot of client meetings, so I would join client calls, alongside our product expert and account manager to help set up mobilisations”. A big part of Siobhan’s role is to support our internal Account Managers with the various client enquiries that come in all whilst ensuring she stays up to date on system updates and training. Being in this role for only a few months now, Siobhan has quickly picked up new skills, as well as proactively learning new systems which she mentioned she thoroughly enjoys!
What’s the most challenging part of your role?
“The trickiest part is learning the system but learning from a project point of view; dealing with something that’s already set up. And ultimately, its trying to nail an understanding of what the customers are after and what benefits them the most.”
Really understanding the grits of our systems can be complex, and often for our clients too. We know Siobhan would be too modest to say, but she has worked really hard recently on a project that received great feedback, where she developed some thorough user guides for our clients, to help them on how to use and navigate our M2P system. As challenging as they were to do, we could clearly see how much Siobhan enjoyed creating these guides and going above and beyond to meet the needs of our clients! Feedback from our users were also positive, which we were really pleased to hear! To hear more about these or to understand how our system works, get in touch– we’d love to hear from you!
One of your favorite highlights here?
It was hard for Siobhan to narrow it down to one as there was so many, but she added “In my previous role as a DM Administrator, i would often have these light bulb moments when dealing with mental health transport, and setting up competitions. As first it was nerve-racking but when the pace picked up for me, I saw how much i was growing in confidence and problem-solving started to come to me more naturally.”
“The people are great here – everyone is really friendly and theres not a day when I feel like I am left on my own device. We all work together as a team to support one another”.
The future at 365 Response
Learning is never-ending for us here at 365 Response and it doesn’t stop for Siobhan either!
“Being here has most definitely helped with my confidence and the ability to take ownership in my work. Although at the start it was daunting, Im also training others which I now really enjoy doing”. She further adds, “Im excited to continue learning and getting my head around the new systems, in particular the TMS we have and then seeing what opportunities come my way”.
We were so thrilled to hear this, and are excited to see Siobhan continue to grow in her career!
Life away from work…
Logging off outside of work, Siobhan enjoys going to the gym and keeping active and fit. She enjoys going to different classes some of which include spin, boxfit and yoga!
Regular walks with her dog Dolly is a must and part of the routine.
Fun Fact about Siobhan: She likes to knit and is determined to knit her dog Dolly a hat for winter!
Fun Fact about Dolly: “Dolly is about a foot and a half long, and is full of sass! She also attends every pub quiz with us – its family tradition.