FEATURED EMPLOYEE
Vincent Yick and the art of slowing down
Role |
Senior Technical Consultant |
Division: |
Technical Consultant Team |
Location: |
Tokyo Office |
Expertise: |
D365FO, Dynamics AX (Development related), .NET and SQL |
Experience: |
5 years at SYSCOM |
Hobbies: |
Cameras, Travels |
In his five years as a technical consultant in SYSCOM’s Tokyo office, Vincent Yick has learned one important lesson: the quick solution isn’t always the right one.
“I think the most important thing is what the clients want,” says Yick, but he knows that doesn’t always mean what they think it does. “I provide technical support and advice to the customers, and sometimes their request isn’t actually possible to implement on their system, or they haven’t considered the impacts of something after it’s been implemented.”
He sees his job as listening to what they say they want, figuring out what’s keeping it from happening, and advising them on what they need. “Sometimes they want something really complicated, but it can’t happen as they’ve described without impacting the system, slowing down the components, or being unstable.”
Giving the customer exactly what they ask for the moment they ask for can be a quick way to happy customers, but it rarely makes for long-lasting partnerships. It’s something Vincent has picked up on in his time at SYSCOM, and it’s something the company applies to its customer relationships as well—a topic that’s been covered in Employee Spotlights quite extensively.
But Vincent’s picked up on an inversion of that principle, and he found it in a curious place: his own office.
“Everyone in the company is kind and sees each other as a team,” he says. “We have the space to express our thoughts, instead of just following orders without thinking about what is best for the project.”
Vincent appreciates it personally, but sees the business value in this approach as well. “If only one person decided everything, they may not have the whole picture. They could miss something. At SYSCOM, we can all provide our thoughts, and we can come to a better solution together.”
At SYSCOM, we come to a better solution together.
Vincent Yick
Senior Technical Consultant
Not only is there no top-down directive offered from on high, his team actively discourages that approach in favor of groupthink and brainstorming. And it has made a world of difference to Vincent.
“SYSCOM does things more simply than other Japanese companies,” he says. “We focus on real work, and we don’t have the kind of old culture in Japan. We’re focused on the projects.”
“Everyone’s a friend. This allows us to deliver work to clients with higher efficiency, and makes working for SYSCOM better.”
It’s a strategy that makes sense, when you think about it. How could any one person, no matter how high up the corporate ladder, be expected to always have the right answer in every situation? The better answer is always found when more input is encouraged.
Their openness at the office translates into better customer relations, too. “When I go to the client, I know my SYSCOM teammates have already analyzed the project,” says Vincent. “I know they support me, and I have confidence when communicating with customers. If there’s a question I can’t answer, my teammates will back me up.”
Better working relationships, better work, and a better representation for the company? What’s not to love?
“When I first joined SYSCOM, I was a junior consultant and focused on development. But as my experience grew, I started to share it with others.” Vincent knows what he has, and wants to pay it forward. “Now, if a technical consultant in Tokyo has a problem or needs something, they come to me. I provide that advice.”
He shared some of that advice for this column, too. He’s very excited about recent advances in AI. “I am quite excited about Copilot for Dynamics 365 Finance,” he says, noting how its ability to analyze data can reveal unseen opportunities for optimization. “For example, in warehouse management, the system may identify items with a high turnover rate in a given period, and recommend relocating them to some storage locations that are easier to access.”
Vincent sees the democratization of data in AI as a massive benefit, not only to business, but to how his clients understand their actual business needs. “AI has become more popular and accessible than in the past. With Dynamics 365 Finance or other Microsoft ERPs, data from different systems can be accessed, and Copilot can generate analysis based on it. Users and management can understand much more about the business and their future,” helping him and his team make better-informed recommendations that get implemented.
But is he worried about AI replacing the human role he and his colleagues play in a consulting setting? Not at all. “With AI, the purpose of humans is to build the questions, to determine what is good for the company and what is not. The human is still required in business.”
Outside his work, Vincent is a photographer, shooting with a mirrorless camera and his own iPhone. In fact, he won our recent internal Cherry Blossom Photo Contest earlier this year with a photograph of a city nightscape with cherry blossoms in the foreground and Tokyo Tower in the back.
“One day after working at the office, I went for a walk with my colleagues,” he tells us. “I saw this cherry blossom collaborating with the Tokyo Tower and I thought it may be a good shot so I took it.”
When asked if he sees a connection between being able to recognize an instance of beauty and shoot it like that, and being able to take the time to see the real solutions his customers need, he says: “I don’t really have stress working for SYSCOM. After work, I can go for a walk near Tokyo Tower.”
“Working for SYSCOM is good. I can have those moments.”
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