Welcome to our latest meet the team blog

Today we introduce Jana Koleschnik who joined Bedford in 2021. Jana is a Professional Services Consultant in our DACH region. In her spare time, she enjoys exploring dancing, bouldering, yoga and travelling. Jana was born in Kazakhstan and then migrated to Germany and grew up there whilst also living in other countries, such as Spain, Cyprus and Switzerland.

What made you consider joining Bedford?

I always wanted to make a tangible difference with my work. I realised that at Bedford, I was able to help customers every day to enhance their planning and business processes by implementing Anaplan. Besides, I got a good understanding about the company’s culture during the interview process, which has since proven to be right – and a great fit for me!

What are you most proud of?

What fills me with pride is supporting our customers by building great solutions for their use cases and thus, improving their lives by reducing manual work. This makes it possible to them to focus on other value-add parts of their job. Speaking to a happy client after looking at what we have achieved as a team, is an especially proud moment.

What’s your favourite part of working at Bedford?

I like being part of such a friendly, yet ambitious team of fascinating and supportive people from all over Europe. Besides, building in Anaplan is fun since there is always something new to learn.. Overall, I really do enjoy my daily work.

Describe Bedford in 3 words

Expertise, Quality, Teamwork

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

The company´s culture is very supportive, and all colleagues appreciate each other’s work. It is a quite diverse team, as people come from numerous different backgrounds and countries, which contributes to the high quality of work here. Even while Bedford grew rapidly over many countries, the culture is still very people centric.

How would you describe a typical day?

Although, most days are different a typical day often starts with a daily stand-up meeting with the team, where we check in on the project-status and plan for the current day. Usually, in my role as a model builder, I then start by creating Anaplan items. Later I typically have meetings to discuss questions with colleagues or customers. Some days might also include a sprint review or a training-session with the client. Thus, the work never gets repetitive.

What did you wish you knew before joining?

The saying is true: There are no bad questions! Ask as many questions as possible any time, but especially in the beginning of a new project or a new role. The better you understand the customers business and their pain points, the better you can help them to improve it.

What’s the most important skill that someone will need to succeed as a consultant?

I think the most important characteristics are curiosity and flexibility. You will face new topics and use cases in every project. Requirements can change regularly, as is normal in agile projects, so it is important to adapt to those quickly and to enjoy this fast-paced learning every day.

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

There are technical challenges in our job every day, but those can usually be solved. I think in the position as model builder a bigger challenge is to ask for support when it is needed and to not be afraid of new situations. Every use case is unique, so it is natural to look for support from the team.

What have you learned in the last six months?

There is a long list of things that I have learned in the past months within Bedford. Most importantly, I have experienced how project learning never stops with Anaplan, as the platform develops, new features are added, and technology improves rapidly. Also, through working with new clients of various companies I get to learn about their industries, their business processes and backgrounds.

Why do you stay at Bedford?

I enjoy my daily work applying/using Anaplan as well as working with the clients. Every week is different, and I find that very enriching and interesting. Even more important, however, I appreciate how we work at Bedford: respecting and supporting each other, living a positive and healthy company culture with values, I identify with.

Stay tuned for our next meet the team blog.

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