Meet Sean – People Not Products

Here we have our colleague, Sean Kiley, in our new series of People Not Products team interviews. Sean joined us at Aspen Solutions back in February 2016, so celebrates a 9 year tenure at the company. He was just promoted to “Warehouse and Fulfilment Manager” at the start of February and is doing extremely well in his new role!

1. Can you tell us a bit about your career journey and what led you to Aspen Solutions?

Although my higher studies were centred around marketing and business I found myself continuing a career in retail primarily in the stock control / inventory teams of various well known companies before making the move to Aspen Solutions. I followed a colleague from my previous employer who shared the vision and future plans at Aspen Solutions where we could once again partner and help the company grow as we had successfully in our past team. 

2. What does a typical day in your role look like, and what do you enjoy most about it?

My role has recently changed so I am spending most of my time looking after our photocopier operations which entails organising machine installs, movements, dealing with customer enquiries, consumable ordering and maintaining stock optimisation for spare parts amongst other activities. I enjoy the varied nature of the role. Every day is different and you get to test your abilities to help customers in a lot of unique ways.

3. What’s been your most memorable moment or achievement at Aspen Solutions so far?

A few years ago I got to play an important role at Cop26 as Aspen Solutions secured a significant contract to supply vast quantities of IT equipment, furniture and print options for the event. It was an exciting and challenging event to be part of having Covid restrictions to navigate as well as managing the logistics of such a global event during which we were able to cater for hundreds of delegations from around the world.
More recently we provided print services for the Alfred Dunhill Links Golf Championship in St Andrews which was a huge success equipping the event with around 30 photocopiers across various sites within a relatively short space of time. 

4. What skills or qualities do you think are essential for success in your role?

I think some of the key skills required for this role are strong communication, problem solving and being flexible on a daily basis. Things can change quickly at a moments notice so you have to be ready for that and adapt accordingly. A recent example of this was one our largest clients had a fire on site a few weeks ago. This meant they required replacement equipment sourced, set up, and delivered promptly. We were able to turn the new kit around in a few hours allowing their team to resume operations with limited loss in productivity. 

5. How would you describe the culture at Aspen Solutions, and what makes it a great place to work?

Aspen Solutions is a fast paced and challenging place to work which offers great opportunities for personal and professional growth. One of the best things about how we operate is having the freedom to really customise our service for every scenario. No pun intended but nothing is really off the table if it helps achieve the best ‘solution’ for our customers and that flexibility to work isn’t always something I have witnessed in other organisations. The team has also grown significantly over the last few years in all departments with a lot of talented and hard working colleagues becoming important elements in Aspen’s success.

6. What advice would you give to someone looking to build a career in your field?

Be organised and prioritise your workload effectively! An old saying I often refer to is ‘slow down to speed up’. If you don’t take the right amount of care and time on a task in the first place you may end up giving yourself a lot more work and problems later down the road.

7. When you’re not at work, how do you like to unwind and relax?

My favourite thing to do in spare time is grabbing a good coffee and heading outdoors for walks and hikes when the weather isn’t totally horrendous. I’ve always had a keen interest in photography too which goes hand in hand with being in nature.