Indigo Career Path Q&A with Holly Fisher, Salesforce Programme Manager
In just a few years, Holly’s career progressed from a service desk role to data reporting analyst. Now she oversees Indigo’s Salesforce deployment and is responsible for finding ways to maximise the investment and all the data it generates. She contributes to the strategic direction of the business, liaising with the company’s directors and stakeholders, and identifying opportunities for improvement and growth.
How did your career path take you to Indigo?
Not sure what I wanted to do when I left school, I ended up working for a telephone equipment vendor working in a number of roles across service and resourcing. I was there for three years, got bored with the job but at least it gave me skills that were transferable. When a position came up in Indigo for a GSD (Global Service Desk) Call Handler I applied and was successful. I eventually moved into resource coordinating on the project side of the business. What transformed my career was the introduction into Indigo of Salesforce, the cloud software for sales, customer service and marketing automation.
How did using Salesforce impact your career?
Having one single source of data changed the way I work. I was in the resourcing role when it was implemented and saw the benefits first hand. I was used to working on loads of different spreadsheets in a role that was administration heavy. With Salesforce Field Service, I could track everything ‘live’. Automation took away a lot of the manual administration and gave me time to do more interesting things.
Have you had any training?
Yes, initially on my own. Salesforce has loads of online materials, so you can teach yourself for free. I started to develop a much deeper understanding of the product. Then Indigo paid for me to do a Foundation Certificate in Business Analysis. Next, I plan to do the Salesforce Administrator certificate with Indigo covering the cost of the exam. Additionally, the support & mentoring from colleagues (in all roles) has been invaluable.
How has your career progressed?
Through the training and using it every day, I learned to do more with the data in Salesforce and went on to become a Data Reporting Analyst in Indigo’s IT and Systems division. I was able to work on a lot of different use cases. For resourcing you can quickly see who’s best suited for a job and are better able to see any skills gaps, things that would took much longer with spreadsheets. As my knowledge & confidence increased, I was promoted to a Salesforce Admin Developer. Now as Salesforce Programme Owner I get to work with developers and admins every day, finding ways to get more value out of our Salesforce subscriptions.
What does the day-to-day job involve?
It’s a multi-faceted role so I flip between business analysis, product ownership and project management. I act as a sort of translator between the business and the technical team. Typically, I work with our developers and administrators on new projects, from initial ideas all the way through to delivery. Along the way it goes through a number of phases – discovery, development, testing, release, training and support. We use the out-of-the-box Salesforce functionality wherever possible, but we’ll customise to our needs as well. My role is to fully explore the possibilities and make sure it all makes sense to the design and development team. The last piece is user acceptance, making sure it’s adopted.
What do you like most about working at Indigo?
I love what I do. I had no idea that such a job existed when I left school and I’m grateful for Indigo for helping me find a career path that I really enjoy. I like both the autonomy and the collaboration: the autonomy to work alone and make my own discoveries, and the way I get to collaborate with directors who prioritise what they want to get out of Salesforce. They might have a particular work stream they want to watch and the challenge for me is to deliver that and contribute to the bigger business strategy.
Want to know more?
If you are interested in developing your career with Indigo, please get in touch today.