Joining Lancom directly out of Auckland University of Technology where he studied digital design, Aaron Corney wasted no time making his mark in the company. Initially starting in a graduate systems engineer position, his aptitude for appreciating the intricacies of the help desk and support saw him elevated to a candidacy for helpdesk team leader, then service desk manager. He has used that experience to play a pivotal role in the creation of an entirely new service offered by Lancom: Product Support, and now serves as Product Support Manager.

“After completing Digital Design, I realised that it was fun doing design for myself, but not so much doing it for clients,” laughs Corney. “So, I pivoted into IT and was lucky enough to land a position with Lancom.”

That was back in 2017, and in an industry notorious for short tenures, he’d clearly found his niche. Of course, it helped that Lancom provides its people with multiple pathways to explore their personal potential, and indeed Corney successfully put his hand to several vocations. “At one point I moved over to Melbourne back before remote work was as common as it is today. Even then, Lancom was along for the journey and in fact it was that move which gave rise to the Product Support role,” he explains.

Working closely with CTO Phill Claxton and others, what started as an idea turned into reality for the organisation, with the launch of an offering in this space, targeting Independent Software Vendors that create (markets and sell) Software as a Service. “The reality is that most developers want to create code and new features and so on. Customer support most certainly doesn’t get them excited,” notes Corney. “And that, really, has given rise to a new department within the company. Our customers are SaaS vendors. They do the dev, we do the Level 1 and Level 2 support, allowing them to focus on what they do best.”

Part of what the division does, continues Corney, is ‘pseudo playing the product owner role’ and acting as the voice of the customer. “We’re better positioned to do this; we can see common problems and frustrations coming through on tickets, and we provide advice and insights in that basis, advocating for the customer, and acting as a bridge between the worlds of the developer and the user.”

It’s an exciting time not only for Lancom, which is once again pushing the boundaries of the possible for its Managed Services offerings, but also for Aaron and his team, which makes for a strong case watching this entirely new space.