Intelligent CIO Middle East Issue 54 | Page 79

GET TO KNOW... On the lighter side of things, we ask the industry experts what makes them tick. . . . Darren Menezes, Sales Director for Manufacturing in Middle East, IFS WWhat would you describe as your most memorable achievement? My most memorable achievement was when my team won the award for most outstanding achievement in a quarter. We scored highly in customer satisfaction, we exponentially exceeded our sales targets and most importantly ensured that all our customers had successful projects seeing value and ROI from their investments. Other proud moments were celebrating customers going live with their software projects and getting their return on investment. This fills me with an immense sense of achievement. What first made you think of a career in technology? When I was in school during the early 80s, computers were the latest technology and they fascinated me. I graduated with an engineering degree in computer science in the early 90s and it came naturally for me to start a career in technology. My father was a mathematics lecturer, so I initially gravitated towards teaching computer science at the engineering college. I longed to code and create programs so after a couple of years I moved to a programming job coding commercial applications. But something was missing, realising I enjoyed spending time interacting with people rather than being behind a desk I took up a job selling business software and have never looked back since. What style of management philosophy do you employ with your current position? My management philosophy is collaboration and teamwork above all. It is important to empower your team and delegate “ OTHER PROUD MOMENTS WERE CELEBRATING CUSTOMERS GOING LIVE WITH THEIR SOFTWARE PROJECTS AND GETTING THEIR RETURN ON INVESTMENT. responsibility to get the best performance from each individual, also ensuring you have one vision and goal as a team. On the customer side, I believe customer satisfaction is the most important goal and this can only happen through meticulous planning and attention to detail. www.intelligentcio.com INTELLIGENTCIO 79