In the "on the floor at..." section, we interview ANVA colleagues about their roles, work and responsibilities inside and outside ANVA's doors.
Previously, we spoke with colleagues in our systems and networking and software engineering departments. This time it's the turn of Niels Stoof, consultant at ANVA and also OR member.
As a service desk employee, I was mainly busy solving tickets and was allowed to support customers with requests for help. After some time, I noticed that I enjoyed talking to our customers more, helping them with their daily operations and processes. As a consultant I can support them in their daily work and with issues they encounter. My work ranges from setting up various processes to setting up an application line to purchase insurance. I am also very busy with setting up the UIV transition and the Aplaza mailbox in combination with the updated agent messages. Every help request is related to ANVA's software solution, but zoomed in on everyone's own business. So that also makes it very diverse."
So that means you mainly work from ANVA's customer site?
"That's right, although I'm also scheduled to work one day for ANVA's Back Office. I can put the experience I gain off-site on the other four days to good use during that day. I then try to support the product teams as needed, help with test work or figuring out how to solve problems. I also review with them the requirements they have received from customers."
What a nice diversity! You're also active in the Works Council, right?
"That's also true. I'm interested in what's going on within ANVA and I enjoy thinking along. As a member of the OR, together with the other members, I weigh the interests of both ANVA and its employees against each other. That is sometimes quite difficult, because it also concerns yourself or colleagues you know well. Fortunately, ANVA is an organization where people talk to each other well and where there is actually always an appropriate solution. If there are any problems at all, I don't think their severity has been too serious so far."
Thankfully. So who do you work with the most on a day-to-day basis?
"Oy, got a minute? Within ANVA those are mainly my fellow consultants, the product teams of ANVA's Back Office and the associated developers and testers. On the shop floor at our customers, it is very diverse and depends on the content and duration of the project. For the most part, I work with the application administrators, but in some cases they are also executives. Sometimes with underwriters, closers or claims handlers."
What do you enjoy most about your work? Is it the long-term projects or just the loose 'in-between' ones?
"Both. I can really sink my teeth into the long-term projects. The more complex it is, the more fun it becomes. If it's really a puzzle to solve I can get completely absorbed in it. On the other hand, a short job is also nice because you can often deliver that at the end of the day. That makes it more manageable."
What kind of clients do you most enjoy being able to work for? Does that depend on the size of the company?
"No, it doesn't necessarily depend on the size of the company. My personal preference is the middle-sized company with let's say 50 employees. Then you still know each other and the mutual connections are nicer. The 'we know each other' feeling prevails then. In practice, I mainly look at the target group. In particular, the proxy and brokerage firms suit me best. When I was working at the service desk of ANVA, I already provided a lot of daily support for exhibition-related companies. When I started as a consultant, I actually flew in to those customers fairly automatically. Besides, the proxy company is our biggest target group, so that choice is a bit more obvious."
And are there things you like less about your job, but are part of it?
"Of course, but everyone has that. We regularly try to offer new solutions to customers that don't always work very well in practice. If you look at the lead time to solve something, it could be shorter as far as I'm concerned. If there is a problem, I want it solved quickly. That is something that frustrates me. But that's also part of being a software company."
So how do you solve that for yourself?
"If it's important and my customers need it badly, I look for it higher up. In that case, I try to convince a product owner to adjust the priority. If it is not, then the customer, and therefore I too, will have to wait. Delivering that message is not always fun, but as I said, that too is part of the job. In that respect I am the link between the customers and product teams at ANVA."
What exactly do you mean by 'the link'?
"I am the messenger, but also the one who sets it up functionally with our customers and implements it together with the customer. If something goes wrong with that, I can go back to the product teams to point out what's wrong. So it is very important to work with the customer to see where it goes wrong and to put that down on paper. To then convey it to ANVA's software developers. Because they need to hear from me or from a customer, or maybe from us together, what is going on and what the desired situation is."
What does that do to you?
"Sometimes it makes you a little listless. Fortunately, I am well aware that you can complain, but that you can also look at how you can solve it in a positive way and turn it into what you can do (in the meantime). We have a very nice Backoffice application at ANVA that we can do a lot with, I get enough energy from that."
Good to hear! And what are you looking forward to?
"I hope that in a year's time we can have part of the claims module running in ANVA Hub. It would really be an ultimate goal as far as I'm concerned if customers enjoy working with it by then."
Do you also have a personal challenge?
"Quite honestly? That one is still a bit less concrete. There is so much work for us consultants at the moment that it literally just comes at random and I don't have much time to think about it. When I started at the service desk at ANVA, I really had the ambition to grow further. Now I don't have that feeling, because I am very much in place. I think part of that also has to do with home. I have a family with two children that I want to pay attention to. That makes it not the most important thing for me right now to raise the bar even higher."
