We as Guardians get to do a lot of very interesting work throughout the day, which is not purely selling, pitching or project management, but rather an eclectic mix of all of these things, seen through the lens of strategy & consultancy.
A Day in the Life of a Ayudante Guardian – Dean Govender (Business Development Manager – APAC)
Now before I open the door to the why and how of being a Guardian at Ayudante, let me give you some context as to what that is.
In a typical business, you would have the Sales Team, the Operations & Delivery Team and so on. However, at Ayudante, we don’t like silos or traditional name tags, we like results. So the thinking here is that we as Guardians act as the conduit for our projects, between our clients and Ayudante’s Integrators (Team Avengers), Analysts (Team DC), Solution Architects (Team Firestorm) etc. – who I fondly refer to as our “Sparklers.”
To say the Guardians wear multiple hats is both accurate and not, as the Hogwarts sorting hat would have no idea what to do with us…
We work hand-in-hand with our clients and their various Business Units (BUs) to understand where Data, the Analytics of Data, and the flow + ease of System Integration for Data, can be best optimized and utilized. From there we consult, strategize and create roadmaps where we can lead our clients down the Digital Maturity path, through to fully enlightened Data Saint. Our input does not solely lie where Ayudante can work with our clients, but also helps them understand the processes and MarTech stacks they can put in place, which will ultimately benefit them for years to come.
Once projects and initiatives are outlined, confirmed and approved, Guardians then take a dual account and project management role moving forward. We get to not only work with some of the absolute industry Superstars (my aforementioned Sparklers) in resourcing requirements, project planning and deadline deliverables, but we also work very closely with multiple client POC’s and stakeholders to deliver projects that will (as we say) “move the needle” within the business.
Now if you are sitting there thinking – Hold on, I work for a start-up and this sounds remarkably like what we do – then you would be right! No, we are not a start-up, but we will continue to act as if we were one. Through the pursuit of efficiency, innovation & the need for some “good ol’ fashioned elbow grease,” the close relationships we have built with our colleagues and clients have resulted in us delivering a greater level of service than you would find at any typical Digital Analytics Agency.
So what does the mini-essay above really tell you about “A Day in the Life of a Ayudante Guardian?” We as Guardians get to do a lot of very interesting work throughout the day, which is not purely selling, pitching or project management, but rather an eclectic mix of all of these things, seen through the lens of strategy & consultancy.
