What better way to celebrate International Women’s Day than interviewing Gemma Foxall, Director of Operations, to find out more about what life is like at NexBotix.
So, let’s kick off with a little bit of background Gemma if you don’t mind about you and how you joined the NexBotix team.
Of course! So, I guess if I take it back to my education I went to the University of York and studied History, so joining a tech company probably isn’t quite where a typical history student might end up! I actually joined the NexBotix team just before we went into lockdown back in 2020 as employee number four. I’d previously been aware of NexBotix when it was in the incubation stage at Camwood, and after conversations with Chris the CEO, felt it would be an exciting company for me to work for as it was growing and would build on my previous work experience in both tech and consulting. So, after my initial face to face interviews, I joined NexBotix remotely, which as you can imagine was quite an interesting experience as all my onboarding was done online, and I only met the rest of the team in person after quite a period of time.
And joining a start-up company must have been quite an experience?
When I joined NexBotix, it was in full on startup mode at that time, as it had only just been officially launched as its own company. It was very much in the high growth phase, yet at the same time we were finding our feet as a business. I joined as an Automation Consultant, which was the perfect fit for me as prior to joining NexBotix I was working as a consultant in the information security world, and a lot of what I did was around governance, process and procedures. So it really suited me to take on a consulting role that involved getting into the detail of business processes and doing that analytical work to understand how processes could be improved, and optimised with our tech. I also had a good technical understanding and background from working for an IT reseller, so for me the NexBotix role seemed a perfect match.
It was also important to me to find a role that involved improving employee satisfaction and things like workplace happiness, as well as obviously driving business benefits, ROI, and so on. But you know, ultimately it is nice to help customers improve what they do at work, as we all spend a huge amount of time at work.
So, with that in mind, what does a typical day and week look like?
My role now is Director of Business Operations having moved into this role after overseeing consulting and operations for a period. I work as part of the leadership team and my remit is around our business’ ways of working, internal processes and tools, and I am also responsible for our Customer Support and Information Security functions.
My role is about making sure that the way in which we do things is optimal and efficient and that we’re delivering results as quickly as possible for our customers and making sure that we have the tools and the processes in place to enable us to do that.
You mention making customers happy, what elements of your role do you enjoy?
That’s a difficult question!! I have really enjoyed recent internal projects designed to drive improvements, and just generally spotting how we can do things better. Implementing something, whether it’s a process change or a new tool, and actually seeing us working better as a result is really rewarding. On the flip side, I enjoy the external facing aspects of my role too, because I am really involved with a lot of our customers in a customer support capacity, and occasionally on the project delivery side. From a pre-sales perspective, I’ll often support sales efforts in terms of product demonstrations or business case presentations – it’s great to be able to draw on the knowledge that I have from all the existing engagements/customers and bring that to the table in a sales meeting or sales capacity.
And anything you’d change about the role?
I think one thing would be that although I do like working remotely, as it obviously has many benefits, is that I do miss the regular face to face interaction with colleagues and I think it’s so important for building friendships and meaningful working relationships because you spend more time with the people you work with than you do your own family.
And looking at the next 12 months – what lies ahead?
At the moment as a company, we are looking at the investment side of things which I’ve been involved in. That presents a really exciting time and opportunity for the business because we’ll be looking at scaling further, which will involve bringing more people into the business, and making sure that we as a business are ready for the next step in our in our growth. It’ll also mean that naturally there will be an opportunity as well to expand my own team, which will be great as it ultimately will help me excel in my role and start taking on new responsibilities, and learning and growing as an individual, and supporting my team to do the same.
One thing I hugely value is this growth. I think that there’s something really interesting and unique about working at a small organisation because you do wear multiple hats, and I like the versatility of that.
Any thoughts and advice to anyone thinking about joining a start-up tech company like NexBotix?
I would say it would be a great move for someone who’s interested in working within an industry that’s constantly evolving. It means you’re constantly learning, and I personally find that stimulating. So, I think a start-up like ours is perfect for someone who is motivated by learning new skills and technologies.
I think NexBotix is a brilliant company to work for as it’s a diverse organisation with a great mix of people. We embrace diversity and cultural differences which is important as everyone feels that they can be uniquely themselves. And that’s a really positive thing.
And finally, how would you summarise the last few years at NexBotix?
The word challenging springs to mind – in a positive way – as it’s good to be challenged.
I’d say fun, especially when we all get together as a team. I come away so energised and pumped from it.
And finally, I’d say supportive. Everyone’s just super willing to support each other.
To reach out to Gemma or find out more, check out her LinkedIn Profile or visit www.nexbotix.com.
