CBO Academy: Meet Joe Moorby
For a business that champions proactive and future-focused approaches to work, it is only right that we practice what we preach here at CBO.
That is why we created the CBO Academy – to ensure a pipeline of new talent that would secure our business for years to come.
With the CBO Academy initiative, we identify and nurture individuals with potential to become ERP consultants and commit to a comprehensive training programme to equip them our unique approach.
In doing so, we provide graduates with the knowledge and skills necessary to carry our business forward long into the future.
Here we sit down with one of our CBO Academy success stories, Joe Moorby.
Joe joined the business in 2017 as our first Academy entrant and is now a fully-fledged consultant.
He takes us through the qualities needed to succeed in the role, skills that the Academy provided him with, and how the CBO ethos has influenced his work.
Q: Tell us about your education and work experience before applying for the CBO Academy?
A: Education for me was always IT focused but I made the surprising decision of studying Travel & Tourism at university.
I’ve always been a people-person and wanted to travel abroad, so I spent time overseas in Australia and Texas with help from the University of Sunderland. I took part in a study exchange programme and an international internship in hospitality.
All of this relied on soft-skills, good communication and building relationships.
After a while, I felt I’d travelled as far as I could with hospitality, and I wanted to come back to the UK, so I moved back to London and got a job in IT support for a bathroom company.
As chance would have it, they were running an Epicor product, but I didn’t realise it at the time!
Q: How did you find out about the CBO Academy?
A: I moved up North and was looking for a new challenge when I saw CBO advertising for a job in ERP support.
At this point, I felt I had enough experience in first-line IT support with my troubleshooting skills, as well as the experience of working with people from my hospitality role, so knew I’d be a good fit.
I sent off an application and the rest is history.
Q: What was your pathway through the CBO Academy?
A: When I started, I was exposed to the different areas within the software, including finance, technical and application, with the opportunity to specialize in one of these further down the line.
I didn’t have a grounding in finance (although that has certainly come a long way thanks to all the lovely finance managers I’ve interacted with over the years!) but problem-solving and coming up with solutions had always been my strength.
The Academy was new to both parties – myself and the people hiring me at CBO.
The first step was to get me through the certifications needed to work with the software and to give me the confidence I needed to be able to carry out the role.
The certifications took around three months, which I considered to be a good sign, as CBO was willing to invest the time and energy into my development rather than expecting instant results.
By the time I was part of the support team I had been exposed to all aspects of finance, technical and application modules and had gained the skills needed to support businesses with their ERP queries.
Q: Was it important to develop those skills rather than jump in at the deep end?
A: You have to remember that, because the product itself is so complex, it wouldn’t be realistic to allow a recent trainee full exposure without the proper experience first.
Of course, you can develop confidence from experience, but it can also be generated through knowledge.
The CBO approach was to equip us with the skills we needed to succeed before throwing us in at the deep end. Once training was complete, we could be asked a question by the customer and recognise the issue from work done in test environments.
Q: How has the CBO approach influenced your work?
A: From the first day within the business, I have loved how the senior figures conduct themselves. I feel there is genuine honesty and integrity from everyone involved and these qualities are valued highly within the business.
We will move heaven and earth for our customers. Of course, most businesses would say the same thing, but it feels real here at CBO. In that respect, it is totally unique.
Q: What sort of person is likely to succeed with the CBO Academy?
A: Experience is less important than character and personality.
Obviously there has to be an interest in technology but most of the skills will be taught to you as part of the training scheme.
The most important characteristics are to be inquisitive and learning focused.
At the start, there will be a number of problems that you don’t know the answer to – which is understandable. The challenge is to put the time in to find those answers out independently (although there is always someone you can call if you ever get stuck). Every day in this job is a school day!
The other thing is having an appreciation and enthusiasm for software and how it can transform businesses. Being the kind of person that gets excited about making things work better is obviously a major plus.
Communication skills are important as well, because it’s not enough to identify problems – you also have to articulate the solution to a range of different people and to bring them on board with you. Combining hard and soft skills is essential.
Q: What have you learned since arriving at CBO?
A: My people skills have obviously been refined, and I’ve gained an appreciation for the art of listening and asking the right questions.
So much of the job is about understanding customers’ problems, but in order to get to the root cause, the first step is to understand what they are trying to achieve so the best course of action can be planned and tested.
Setting expectations is crucial when engaging with a customer; explaining what is required, what the output from the activity will be and what the next steps are (if any). I’ve found this makes the overall project progress better, as everyone is aligned – which was another important lesson.
My experience with the software has obviously improved, as I did not have much before and I’ve witnessed first hand the importance of good business processes and proper disciplines within an organisation are fundamental to a successful implementation.
The last thing has been an appreciation for the work that manufacturers do and the quality and history of manufacturing here in the UK. It is not spoken about enough!
We sometimes forget about the expertise we have here or fail to appreciate it, but every day I’m impressed by the people and businesses I’m fortunate enough to work with!
Are you a recent graduate looking for a change or career or to build skills in ERP software, IT support and consulting? Feel free to get in touch here and to learn more.
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