Meet Dane Smith, Education Manager at Enghouse Interactive
Tell us about your history with Enghouse Interactive?
I was hired in 2008 as the sole installation and support engineer for a Nortel based operator console. During that time I also developed training/promotional videos and eLearning for various product suites.
After a few years, I moved from the engineering side of things into a strictly training focused role where I’ve been delivering on-site and remote training, producing online e-learning/video and developing new training curriculum for multiple products suites.
I’ve been very fortunate to work with and learn from amazing colleagues, especially our amazing Professional Services team and the former Education Manager, who have all been an intricate part of my development. It’s been a fantastic journey thus far and I look forward to being a part of taking the Enghouse Interactive Education department to the next level this year.
What is your favorite part of your job?
As cliché as it may sound, I’d have to say my favorite part of the job is meeting new people and traveling to interesting (and sometimes not so interesting) places that I would’ve never seen had it not been for Enghouse. I’ve been very fortunate to visit some pretty neat places including Rio de Janeiro in Brazil where I discovered my love of boiled quail eggs (weird, I know), Quito, the capital of Ecuador where I visited the equator and ate guinea pig (that didn’t end well), and Kingston, Jamaica where I worked with the Jamaican Customs and Border Protection just to name a few.
In the US, I’ve been to a major Beverly Hills talent agency where there were Hollywood stars coming and going like it was nothing, I worked with (and stayed at) the Waldorf Astoria hotel in NYC. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do go to some places that wouldn’t seem very exciting on TravelAdvisor.com review however those places have been where I’ve met and becomes friends with people I still stay in touch with today. Travel really is what you make of it. If you don’t take a chance and meet new people, you miss out on other people’s perspectives and lifestyles that you may not have even been aware of.
What is the most gratifying part of your job?
Oh, that’s an easy one! For me, the most gratifying part of my job is getting to see those “a-ha” moments for people when something finally clicks in their brain and they “get it”. Typically I see this the most in our 3 and 4 day CC Administration courses where we have the time to really delve into advanced topics that may have been a bit confusing before we met. It really is a great feeling!
What’s on the horizon in the world of training?
Additionally, I’m very excited about the new Partner Portal that the Marketing team is building and will be working closely with them to integrate our eLearning courses.
There’s also a bit of geek excitement buzzing around about our new training environment that is currently being redesigned and rebuilt with some pretty awesome technology. Although behind the scenes, it will allow our training teams across the globe access to a centralized training environment for classroom training and content collaboration.
Moving forward, you can expect the continuation of our free monthly webinars as we roll out new training online for Communications Center v.10 which will include TouchPoint v.10 and QMS v.7 integration. Information on our webinars and classroom courses can be found at http://www.enghouseinteractive.com/services/training/customer-training/
This will be an exciting year for Enghouse Interactive education!
How have you seen the Enghouse training programs evolve since you’ve been part of the team?
I think the biggest evolution within our Enghouse training programs has been our collaboration across regions. As a global organization, Enghouse places a focus on bringing a consistent message to the marketplace globally and now we aim to do the same within Enghouse Interactive training. By bringing the teams together when designing training curriculum we are able to draw from a wealth of knowledge and hands on experience from the different Training departments across the globe.
Tell us 3 fun facts about you!
- My father worked for IBM and we moved around a lot while growing up. I’ve lived in Seattle, WA, Spokane, WA, Richland, WA, Atlanta, GA, Boca Raton, FL, Boston, MA, NY, NY and now Raleigh, NC. When living in NYC, my apartment was in Times Square with a balcony looked out over 42nd Who needed TV when I had Times Square out my window?
- I was a child (stage) actor. In my early teens, I toured worldwide with a Czechoslovakian black light theatre troupe. During my travels, I learned mime at age 12 from Marcel Marceau while backstage in Singapore and learned to juggle from The Flying Karamazov Brothers while performing in Montreal. That all feels like a lifetime ago but I can still juggle.
- I have a collection of around 150 or so bonsai trees, ranging from gnarly old Japanese pines to crazy flowering imported dwarf azaleas to junipers to maples, that live outdoors year round on benches and stands throughout my backyard. Each tree has different requirements in watering, so I wake up at the break of dawn every morning to water each tree individually based on its specific needs. Every year I study with a few different Japanese bonsai masters who come to the states to do private training sessions. I kind of geek out over tiny trees.
To learn more about Dane’s free monthly training webinars please contact Dane at Dane.smith@enghouse.com
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