Job Title:
Implementation and Support Consultant

Organization:
KineMatik, Ltd.

URL:
www.kinematik.com

Job Function:
Derek Hayes is an implementation and support consultant for KineMatik, which offers enterprise solutions enabling life science organizations to capture, manage, and reuse data and information. In his role, Hayes works directly with customers to gather requirements, perform business process re-engineering, define how KineMatik solutions will be implemented, define feature requests, and implement solutions. Hayes moved to the U.S. from Ireland in March 2008 as part of the company’s effort to have more consultants on the ground for its North American customer base.

"Our group bridges the gap between our internal software engineering group and the scientific community," says Hayes. "I work closely with our customers—researchers, scientists, and engineers—and their managers to ensure that the KineMatik software solution is configured correctly to meet customer requirements and expectations." Hayes observes that the end-user environments can be quite varied, ranging from academic R&D labs to corporate enterprise settings. "It is challenging to find the best fit for the software," says Hayes.

In A Day’s Work:
Hayes’ day usually starts by 7 a.m., and it always includes a cup of coffee. He says, "A day can be filled with a multitude of tasks, ranging from on-site customer support at a U.S. or European customer, fielding customer questions, or sitting at my desk analyzing a new way that the software might work to meet specific customer requirements." Hayes spends nearly every other week visiting and working on-site with customers throughout North America.

Most Memorable Customer Encounter:
"Being on a customer site involves hosting meetings to keep implementation schedules on track. At one site, I was told that in-person meetings could not be held on specific days, as part of a corporate effort to cut down on meeting time. We ended up scheduling teleconference meetings, which were regarded as phone time rather than meeting time—between people who were sitting right down the hall from one another."

View From The Desk:
The best view is the one from his desk at home, where he can see what is happening in Pacific Beach, Calif. (near San Diego).

Outside Interest:
"Anything to do with sports, whether watching or playing. I like to play football—soccer to some—and golf as well as trying to keep fit on the road either by running or hitting the gym."

If Not Econtent, Then What?
"As my primary qualification is in biochemistry, I would definitely be back in an R&D lab, at the bench performing experiments on some novel research topic."