| Written by Mark Buzinkay
Today, I have the pleasure to have a chat with Matthew, Cricket player and one of the brains of Terminal Tracker!
Mark: Hi Matthew, thank you for your time for this portrait. Can you give me an idea where do you live and what do you like about that place?
Matthew: Hi Mark, sure. I grew up in Adelaide, Australia, but moved to Melbourne in 1998. What makes living here good is the variety of activities available from numerous sporting events, sites to visit and places to eat or get a takeaway coffee. The only downside to Melbourne are the terrible beaches unless you take a long drive. Despite living in Melbourne for the majority of my life I still consider myself South Australian.
Mark: You spent most of your career in Melbourne. Did you like it?
Matthew: The most interesting aspect of my career with IDENTEC SOLUTIONS has been getting to travel to customers around the world. My favourite part of traveling has been speaking to customers or other providers about their business or the industry, it has been a great learning experience.
Mark: I love to travel. What was your best experience on the road?
Matthew: I have spent over a year of my life in Savannah, GA as part of our partnership with GPA and the Terminal Tracker product. During the project deployment we would spend 6-8 weeks onsite so we really got to become part of the GPA family, which is one of the unique traits of that organisation. During one visit got right into college football after traveling to a Florida vs. Arkansas with one of team members at GPA working on the Terminal Tracker project and their son. During all the trips we became friends not only with the GPA team but their families as well. The immediately welcoming nature of the team at GPA is the reason these trips hold a place as the ‘best’ without taking away from other great experiences and relationships I have had the pleasure of having during my time with IDENTEC SOLUTIONS.
Mark: I guess everyone now wants to get to Savannah!
Matthew: Yeah, they should. Outside of work it is such an interesting part of the USA and the southern charm is real.
Mark: You mentioned Terminal Tracker. What do you do at IDENTEC SOLUTIONS and when did you start?
Matthew: I am a Senior Project Engineer/Product Specialist Terminal Tracker. I started with IDENTEC SOLUTIONS in October 2010 but my overall time with the Terminal Tracker product started in April 2008.
Mark: What do you like the most about your job - except travel?
Matthew: Solving a customers problem or presenting them with a solution to a problem is really satisfying. This is closely followed by building the system to meet a customers’ requirements and support their use cases.
Mark: Do you have a guiding principle at work?
Matthew: The best interest of the customer has been my guiding principle, then finding how our products might support that interest. Even though terminals can have different operating methods and processes if you design, execute, and deploy with these two principles in mind I find the end result will generally apply broadly across customers.
Mark: At IDENTEC SOLUTIONS, we have 5 core company values as you know – Visionary, Open, Responsible, Leading and Global. Which one is for you the most significant and how do you live it?
Matthew: It is a tie between Open and Responsible. Living it is a constant work in progress, we have to be Open to communicate globally between departments and being Responsible links in as well. I have to ensure I am not leaving topics open that others depend on to complete their actions such as making sure documentation is available for onsite personnel. Getting the balance of commitments and priorities correct is the work in progress and to be honest I can’t say I get it right all the time.
Mark: What is the most rewarding part of your tasks?
Matthew: I would say, delivering a solution regardless of how big or small. Something as simple as solving a simple service request can be very satisfying particularly when it results in an issue never being a problem for our customers again. As the task/project gets bigger the feeling of satisfaction can be overtaken by relief (smiles).
Mark: What do you do in your free time - any hobbies or passions?
Matthew: In the past it has been reading or participation in sport (cricket and basketball), however, between work and family that has been harder to maintain. Like many people the work/family/life balance could do with improvement.
Mark: Thanks again for the interview and enjoy the end of year holidays!
Matthew: You're welcome and best to you.