APAC Sales Engineer Charista Keiko´s Journey at Frends
Charista Keiko works at Frends as a Sales Engineer in Singapore. Together with the regional team, she takes care of the APAC region prospects, customers, and partners. How does she feel about the role, and how has she felt during her first months at a Nordic iPaaS company?
Since Keiko was still studying at the university, she was already getting her hands dirty with cloud technologies. She knew well that the future of businesses would be moving into the cloud to stay on the frontline of success.
Five years ago, she shifted her specialties from IaaS towards PaaS and also encountered the Sales Engineer role for the first time. Keiko has experienced the role, one of her favorite roles among the 15+ job experiences she has had so far.
"I really enjoy the role. Being a Sales Engineer allows me to use my creativity, communication skills, and technical problem-solving skills, besides always being exposed to new technologies and possibilities. It also balanced my introverted and extroverted sides, as half of my time is customer-facing, and the other half is tech/computer-facing. Preparing PoCs (Proof of Concepts) and presenting demos are some of the main tasks of a Sales Engineer," describes Keiko.
First months at Frends
For the first months after joining Frends as a Sales Engineer for the Asia Pacific (APAC) market, Keiko already ramped up herself with Frends iPaaS by completing the Frends certification, joining the Sales Kick-Off live event in Lapland, Finland, and working from the HQ Espoo Office in Finland.
Keiko also went back and forth between Malaysia and Singapore for prospect customer and partner meetings, setting up the Singapore office, and onboarding the new APAC sales team. The first months have been hectic for her as she was the second hire, besides the sales director, to kickstart the Frends journey in the APAC region.
"It's been really exciting! Within a few months, we have grown the APAC team to 10 people. Besides giving onboarding for new team members, I was also hunting for office space in Singapore for the team to meet and have some time to work or mingle. I'm also happy that we chose WeWork, which is a coworking space that gives me access to work from other offices worldwide. For example, I'm currently working from Austin for a bit to take care of some personal things, and nearly every day, I'm also coming to WeWork."
Working at a Nordic company Frends
Frends supports hybrid and remote working. For Keiko, this is one of the best perks of working at Frends, as she's been working remotely for the past three years. For her, feeling supported and understood at work is the culture that keeps people in a company. She is supported to experiment, speak her mind, and work in her own way as long as she gets the work done or is supported whenever she needs guidance.
"Joining Frends as the first and only Sales Engineer (SE) in the APAC region requires me to be self-driven and learn from the other region's senior SEs, who are geographically separated in Finland, Sweden, and Germany. Despite the time differences, it's been a pleasurable experience learning from them as they're very welcoming and assisting.
Also, thanks for the opportunity to meet them at the Sales Kick-Off event in Lapland; it allowed me to get to know them personally and build friendships. Asking questions or discussing work with them feels more at ease. Meanwhile, outside work, I realized that my colleagues are similar to me; we encourage each other's well-being and enjoy outdoor activities."
Besides the great Nordic culture and colleagues, the Frends technology excites Keiko. Frends is all about modern integration and automation as a product - it can connect anything to everything easily and quickly. As a Sales Engineer, work becomes more fulfilling when she believes that the product she's introducing has proven to make an impact and will genuinely help people and businesses achieve more. She can proudly say that Frends iPaaS will indeed do just that.
"Last month, I participated in an exhibition and networking event organized by the Finnish Business Council in Singapore to showcase Frends. I'm learning that Finland and Singapore have a lot of similarities: high-tech, safe and trust-based society, and even named the happiest countries in the world! I am happy to be part of Frendszone and impact our growth journey!"