Today we have selected Bobby Floujeh to take his interview. He is the CEO of Function Point.
First of all, how are you and your team doing in these COVID-19 times?
Thanks for asking. The team is doing well. We implemented several work-from-home strategies to ensure our staff remained connected and healthy during the pandemic. The leadership group ran weekly pulse checks and wellness surveys to understand how our people were doing. I also made routine phone calls to check in on each member of our staff personally. I care a lot about the well-being of our team.
We heard from our team that everybody was missing the social outlet from working together in the office. To help combat isolation, we created FUNction Point, a weekly social event for the team. Each Friday from 3-5 pm, we would host a virtual group activity and invite the entire staff to participate. One week we took a guided virtual tour of aquariums in the US, another time we played Function Point Family Feud, and some weeks we would have Cheers Hour, where we could virtually socialize as a team over drinks and snacks. This turned out to be a great morale booster for the team, and we received so much positive feedback that we are planning to keep FUNction Point afternoons even when we are all safely back in the office.
Tell us about you, your career, how you founded or joined this company?
I started my career as a technical helpdesk analyst and learned through experience how important customer service and operational delivery are to a company’s success.
I spent almost 10 years at NCR, moving up the ranks. I was responsible for service delivery in Canada, the Caribbean, and Latin America, accountable for large accounts such as RBC, McDonald’s, OLG, CIBC, Sabre, etc. Before joining Function Point, I spent 5 years as Vice President of Customer Care Operations at Trapeze Software Group.
In 2018, Function Point had just been acquired by Volaris Software Group, and they were looking for a people-focused leader. I moved from one of Volaris’ sister companies to join Function Point as the new CEO.
Function Point is truly a well-respected software leader in the creative agency space. When the opportunity came along to join the company, I knew that I had to make a move. I saw this as a chance to take a great organization and turn it into a truly high-performing one. Plus, I love working with new people and developing teams.
How does your company innovate?
Function Point innovates through its employees and customers. One of our core values is being ‘people obsessed’ by empowering them and providing ongoing training resources. As a result, they will listen to your customer’s challenges and develop innovative ideas to help them. We regularly host focus groups that dive deep into our current service offerings to facilitate continuous improvement and innovation.
Earlier this year, we also established Function Point’s first Customer Advisory Board (CAB)- a group of select Function Point customers who meet every quarter to discuss where the creative industry is headed and the trends that are shaping its future. These discussions are quite different from those we have as part of our product focus groups. The CAB was designed to understand what the industry’s thought leaders need in the long-term, 3 to 5 years out, and how Function Point can align its business goals and product roadmap to match those needs.
From an external perspective, we contribute to thought leadership by presenting at industry conferences and sitting on multiple boards. The team at Function Point actively seeks out challenges to bring our clients the latest solutions in agency management software. I personally contact clients weekly to listen to their concerns and pain points, which helps me better understand their needs and drive innovation.
How the Coronavirus pandemic affects your business, and how are you coping?
At Function Point, we like to think of our clients as our business partners, meaning that their success equals ours. The pandemic impacted our clients in many ways, some experienced transformational changes that resulted in new business models. I am proud to say that Function Point supported each of its clients and took a flexible approach to navigate their needs to understand that maintaining a long-term relationship was most important. I was committed to doing whatever I could to help our clients in a time of need while ensuring our shareholders understood that we remained on the right path.
Did you have to make difficult choices, and what are the lessons learned?
Fortunately, we did not have to make difficult decisions related to our staff, but we did have to move people around. We took the opportunity of a slower-than-normal time to really focus on our product and clients. This led to shifts in positions and the creations of new job titles.
The pandemic has taught me the importance of being a good listener. We cannot rely on the same communication cues that we would use during a face-to-face conversation in a virtual environment.
The pandemic has also taught me how important it is not just to assume things are okay. By nature, people tend to be a bit nervous when it comes to asking for help. This is where I found that making an effort to call and talk with each of my team members regularly was incredibly valuable.
What specific tools, software, and management skills are you using to navigate this crisis?
Luckily, Function Point had already gone through a digital transformation, so we were set up to work from home when the pandemic hit. We use Microsoft 360 suite to stay connected and even our own Function Point system to manage tasks and projects.
Your final thoughts
These are unprecedented times. However, as we begin to emerge from the pandemic, I have realized that it has left our team closer and more resilient than ever before. By truly listening to the team’s concerns and implementing plans to address their needs, we have managed to create a high-performing virtual culture that continues to provide exceptional client service. Function Point is a complete SaaS solution that allows its clients to work remotely and more effectively. It makes their lives easier and improves overall business performance. To learn more about Function Point and its services, contact:
Jimmy Wu
Director of Sales and Marketing
jimmy.wu@functionpoint.com
1-877-731-2522
- Spokesperson: Bobby Floujeh
- Company: Function Point
- Website link: https://functionpoint.com/
