Welcome to our latest meet the team blog

Welcome to our latest meet the team blog. Today we introduce Chris Minett who joined Bedford in September 2019. Chris Minett is our Solution Consulting Director and in his spare time enjoys spending time with his two young daughters and has recently taken up golf as a new hobby.

What made you consider joining Bedford?

Bedford was my first career move after being at my previous company for 9 years. I was looking to expand on the skills and experience I already had but working with a new technology and a wider range of use cases. That initial requirement was met by the Anaplan platform, but it was the approach, direction and the culture of Bedford that made me want to join the team here.

What are you most proud of?

I am proud of anytime I am able add value to Bedford and directly to our customers. Helping to bring new customers into Bedford and Anaplan or expand the use cases in existing ones, and then hearing of the impact created is always rewarding.

What’s your favourite part of working at Bedford?

The variety. Every day is a chance to work with and understand a different company, see different challenges and opportunities, and work out how we can best work together.

Describe Bedford in 3 words

Innovative, Supportive, Partnership

What’s the company like? How would you describe the team culture?

The company lives by its core values. We are now four times the size we were the day I joined, but the original culture I saw in my interviews still runs through the business. Everyone is always ready step up and to share their knowledge with others and that leads to huge synergies across the company.

How would you describe a typical day?

Every day is a balance between the immediate requirements of ongoing sales cycles such as demonstrations and workshops, and looking longer term at how we can improve the process, the models, and our knowledge for the next one.

What’s the most important skill that someone will need to succeed in your role?

Adaptability. Each customer in unique and their needs will vary, so the ability to listen, understand, empathise and then to adapt our approach, communication style and solutions to different situations is key.

What is the biggest challenge that someone in this position would face?

In Solution Consulting, it is vital to balance technical, business, and interpersonal acumen. We need to be experts in the platform, but also be able to be able to translate technical features, functions, and solutions into clear value propositions for the customer that meet their needs.

What have you learned in the last six months?

Recently I have been challenged on projects of different use cases, and this gives me an opportunity to expand In the last 6 months I have been able to work closely with the Professional services team to develop new accelerators for customers that create faster time to value by distilling best practices learned from hundreds of projects into models that form the starting point for new projects. I have gained great insights into our customers use of Anaplan, where each customer is different and importantly where there are similarities and learnings to be taken to the next customer.

Why do you stay at Bedford?

Bedford are a rapidly growing company, and with that growth continues to bring new opportunities and new experiences. Since joining 4 years ago I have been promoted twice into roles that did not exist when I joined. As we have grown, the original culture I experienced has remained and that combination makes Bedford a great place to be.

To meet some other members of the Bedford team, click here.