Interview Flashcards
A. What do you think are your key attributes that would make you a good fit for this role?
“Technical: When it comes to this technology I have the highest design certs in the country so I think I bring a great understanding of the technical componants of our SD-WAN, LAN, and WLAN products. I think if somebody has a question on these types of technolgies they will come to me.
Customer Experience: Ive had the SD-WAN conversations so i understand the various pain points of different customers and what they currently expect in these products.
Stakeholder management: I know a lot of the people i will be working with on a daily basis very well. I understand their pain points and i know how to get the best from them.
Interest in the technology: I have a genuine interest in this stuff. Im applying for this job as i think its a fanstatic role and a chance to shape our strategy. Im applying for this role purely because i find it so interesting and i think its a role i can add a lot of value to”
5 key SD-WAN requirements from customers:
“So theres the obvious answers customers want control, speed to rollout and visibility.
They are shifting their resources to the cloud – Compute, storage, VDI, AWS, Azure even active directory. I’m finding more and more customers moving key resources to the cloud and away from the traditional DC HQ and this will eventually become the new ‘as a service’ model. This makes the standard WAN traffic flows suboptimal and pushes a lot more traffic from the edge to cloud.
So what does that lead to? Bandwidth increases at the edge and I think they are doubling every 3 years. 6 years ago we were putting 25 Mb contended wireless at the edge. No we are putting higher speed 4 and 5G links in as tertiary links. There is also an opportunity for Vodafone to try and hunt edge upgrades when we are selling SD-WAN. Now is the time that customers will need to refresh their edge. This means wireless, LAN and security is on the table when we are discussing SD-WAN so I think there is great opportunity.
Security at the edge: This one ties into the edge. Secure access service edge is the latest abbreviation that people are talking about when it comes to WAN. This is not new to us here at Vodafone through our use of products like Clearpass but its key to SD-WAN. This is something we need a story for. With all of these edge connections, local breakouts and critical, sensitive information now egressing from edge sites straight to the public internet there are major concerns.
The move to software defined wan means that we need to also get rid of legacy security techniques like restricting access based on IPs and subnets. Now we need to know: who exactly is connecting to our network, what role they have within our network, what rights this role grants them on the network. We need the same for devices what is on the network and what should it have access to?
“
What are some things you think you could do to help?
“Push the Meraki SD-WAN product. Its tried and tested and has a support model. Expand the Meraki portfoio to include wireless. Bring Cisco back into conversation.
Hold back on the Aruba product until the impact on Silverpeak is known. Stand up lab build and start to test before we agree to new customer. Add sites to Fexco, if stable then we can progress.
I dont think we need to productise the likes of Clearpass but i think we can standardise. We need to narrow the scope and build a strong amount of dependencies.
Get my own head around the full differences around the pricing model for group SD-WAN strategy. Get out to customers and start building up a feature wish list. Analyse wish list compared to what Aruba and Meraki are offering and compare.”
A. Can you give me an example of a time when you have had to adapt quickly to change whilst ensuring that the needs of the business and individuals were taken into account?
“S: No WAN designers and I was UC
T: Learn WAN tech
A: Did CCNA, learned from stakeholders what they required
R: Became one of the main WAN designers for team
Tell me about a time when you came up with a new idea or innovative solution and convinced others of its value?
“S: Incorrect fibre orders, lack of understanding of cheaper options
T: Find a better way for Vodafone to win more business
A: Created mailbox for requests
R: Successful with sales teams
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A. Tell me about a time where you had to go above and beyond in order to succeed.
“S: VF needed accreditation
T: Get the accreditation
A: Study plan – reach out to network – weekends and evenings
R: Two day exam passed and first person in country to achieve the highest design cert
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A. Please provide details of a time when you were part of a cross-functional team and had to deliver against demanding objectives.
“S. Framework OGP or HEAnet responses.
T. Analyse where we drop points and look to fix issues - combine skill sets - no job description
A. Engineering responses - work with them to resolve and rewrite
R. We are scoring 100% marks on implementation sections for the last year or two on my responses”
Describe an occasion where you could have shown more tolerance for differing needs and viewpoints.
“EDRA2 sessions
S. There was obviously no EDRA2 before so we never needed to justify or present our solutions internally. ECS had been in full growth mode so it was sell sell sell.
T. As the business grew and EDRA process started we started to see our designs get rejected based on support issues and as its no something we really considered before at the time i probably seen it only a blocker and something that was restricting growth.
A. Learn more about why solutions could be pulled apart and make sure i done all of my canvasing ahead of time.
R. In doing this i actually learned a lot about service design and the effects of selling non supportable solutions to our support desks. Now its one of the most important voices in the room for EDRA and i think its been a key element of a better customer experience.”
Tell me about when you have influenced a broader or more senior group of individuals to your way of thinking.
S: TU Dublin – tender response - we were not incumbent - we were not expecting a win
T: How to change our approach to tender process based on offering a tech uni something cutting edge
A: Try and tie in the wired and wireless business to the same vendor by offering dynamic segmentation - risky strategy but playing safe wouldn’t get us very far
R: We won the business and have an amazing reference which has led onto Blanch IT, AIT (Full IPv6), and others
Describe a time where you have identified potential risks and benefits to the business and environment.
“S: Started on WLAN path
T: Had run into a few coverage issues by doing desktop surveys only
A: Had to convince ECS on the requirement to do site surveys up front.
R: Site surveys are no a pre-requisite for all deployments
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Tell me about a complex problem you have encountered recently and how you went about resolving it?
“S: CIE ticketing opp was midstream but not by us
T: Show a value add using what is already there
A: Create a proposal to use a new technology to meet requirements
R: Successful implementation of cutting edge technology that saved the customer money
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“A. Please can you tell me about a new idea that you have had, which made a significant improvement to the performance or efficiency of your team or organisation.
What led you to come up with the approach/idea?
B. Can you describe a situation to me where you have come up with an innovative way of doing something that was implemented and adopted by others?
“
“S: I was only one working on LAN & WLAN and WAN opportunities and wanted to create a knowledge share.
T: How best to assist my and wider teams skill up quickly on the tech. What would I have liked?
A: I put together questionnaires and flow charts for WLAN, LAN and WAN opps. I then did for new starters. Clearpass guides – how to handle objections
R: well received documentation that is still used.
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“A. Can you tell me about a time when you have not only met, but exceeded a customer’s expectations?
What were the benefits for you and the customer for going that extra mile?
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“S: Teagsc Tender issued with 1 week to fully design and submit. It was 50/50 if we were to bid or not.
T: Get a massive tender document done. Get a design drawn up. Get ARP approval. Get EDRA2 approval and get into EDRA3 in time to review commercials.
A: The action to complete this was to work late nights for a full week to get a response formulated and submitted.
R: After a tough week we were ready for submission. We had very few pre-engagements with the customer and a pretty low win percentage but we submitted. The feedback we got from Teagasc, who are a difficult customer, was that it was the best tender response they had ever received and we won the business. I think with a weeks’ notice we exceeded the customers’ expectations but I think I also went above and beyond for the wider Vodafone team.
“
“B. Could you tell me about a particular occasion in the past when you have struggled to form a relationship with one of your customers?
On reflection what might you have done differently?
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“S: Irish Ferries had removed last pre sales and I’m brought into an escalation to complete a full design with one days’ notice for a core upgrade. Once I get there I have a customer screaming at me.
T: We needed to win back trust, particularly in my team and what we can offer.
A: What I did was bring the customer back into the fold by – (COMMUNICATION – my house, picked up phone and brought customer team into conversation. Gave honest assessment of where we were – Put the onus on them – Always be chasing the customer)
R:: A customer with a new core and a new respect for my team.
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“A. Please tell me about an occasion when you increased the profitability of your organisation by applying your understanding of the competitive environment
What was the impact of your personal contribution?
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“S: TU Dublin bid. We are not incumbent.
T: Innovation
A: I needed to take a different approach to winning business. Leverage the tech from the controllers
R: We won both the wired and wireless tenders.
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