Meet our Sage Support Manager, Christie O’Connor, who is celebrating 10 years at PKF Smith Cooper Systems!
Here at PKF SCS, we value each and every employee, and we are proud that we have so many long-standing colleagues.
Congratulations on 10 years with us, Christie!
How did you come to join PKF SCS?
I finished my Publishing Degree at Oxford Brookes, then went into IT Recruitment for a year in Oxford. After moving back to Derby, I wanted to find something new and applied for a Sage Support role with no experience in support or in the Sage software.
From my first interview, I felt like the PKF SCS team culture was something I could get on board with. For saying how stressful interviews are, I was at ease and once I was offered the job, I didn’t have to think hard about whether or not to accept.
How has the company changed during your time?
When I joined the company, all staff were in one office in the centre of Derby, coming in every day and seeing each other all the time. When Covid hit, we quickly had to get new software and processes in so that we could work from home, but the benefit of that was that once we were all allowed out of our homes again, we had the structure in place to be able to hire country wide. This meant we had a much wider range of talent to get our hands on!
We’ve grown so much in my 10 years. The customer base has grown, we have added products to our stack, and we’ve recruited so many great people. We’ve added new departments such as Project Services, which gives us a great arsenal of resources to support our customers. What hasn’t changed is the company ethos and general “good place to work” vibe – not an easy thing when you go from a small team to over 60 members of staff, but it’s what’s kept me here so long!
What has been your favourite moment in the last 10 years?
At the risk of sounding incredibly cheesy, I do genuinely have great memories just day to day working here. Any day in the office is guaranteed to result in us dissolving into belly laughs over one thing or another.
My role is made up of lots of little wins though, and my favourite of those is the end result of developing a team member. Putting someone through training, getting them the internal mentoring on a module or task, and then seeing them have the confidence in that task by the end of the process is something I find really rewarding.
What’s the best part about being at PKF SCS?
I’m incredibly lucky to have been able to find a role at a company where I have made some very real friendships. I doubt anyone could say they never have bad days at work, but I know if that happens, I have the support of my colleagues, whether that’s the team I manage or the people who manage me, and hopefully they all know I’ll do the same for them! You spend too much of your life at work to have a miserable time, for me the priority is good working relationships and I’m lucky enough to have that.
What are you looking forward to in the next 5 years?
The support team has had a bit of a shuffle in structure with us now having 2 Team Leaders managing the team day to day, which frees me up for big picture tasks. I’m looking forward to seeing what else we can do to improve and expand; I should now get the chance to spread my creative wings and make things even better. Outside of work, I recently made a resolution to go to more shows, gigs and holidays so I’m looking forward to seeing that through!
To stay in the loop about our latest updates then make sure you are following us on LinkedIn and Facebook!
