A seasoned professional in the IT field service industry since the early 1990s, Carl Gittings has held a variety of positions, such as managing installs and inventory for Via Cable and becoming the Vice President of SDC inc, a national service provider for numerous VSAT and commercial TVRO firms. Gittings and CLOUDWORK|PRO founder Mike Mudd formed TechLink Services in 2008, where Gittings served as President for a decade. Given Gittings’ vast professional experience, it was a natural fit to have him join the CLOUDWORK|PRO family as a Technician Network Advisor and be the primary point of contact for the twelve technicians around the country who will make up CLOUDWORK|PRO’s newly established Technician Advisory Board.

We interviewed Gittings to learn more about The Technician Advisory Board (TAB) and what’s in store.

CWP: Why do you think it’s important for CLOUDWORK|PRO to have a Technician Advisory Board?
CG: When CLOUDWORK|PRO is humming along, the management at CWP won’t have a lot of necessary interaction with the field technicians that will be using the platform since the customer will be working with the technicians directly.  Because having a connection to the technician users and getting their input and feedback on how CWP is doing is very important, the TAB will be that connection to the field technicians so that we are able to get the necessary feedback needed to make CWP the best it can be for all the users.

CWP: What types of backgrounds do the members of the board have?
CG: We have a very diverse board. Some of the members started their field service business with satellite. Several came from large electronics retailers to the field services. Others have degrees in computer science or a related field. All the board members have a solid background in whatever their specialty is, which could be anything from digital signage to cabling. These board members are the standouts in their field, from both customer service and technical perspectives.

CWP: In a nutshell, what do you think the board’s main purpose is?
CG: The main purpose of the TAB is to provide feedback from the technicians using the marketplace to the CLOUDWORK|PRO team so that the software works well and does everything needed to make the technicians successful. If we have successful technicians, we also have successful and happy customers and everyone wins. 

CWP: What do you hope the board will achieve and what are you most excited about?
CG: In the short term, the feedback that is provided by the TAB will help the continued development of the CLOUDWORK|PRO marketplace. This is very, very important right now.

Longer term, I am most excited about the potential of this board to raise the quality and standards of communications of IT field service technicians that are using CLOUDWORK|PRO. The board members are all very experienced and knowledgeable in their technical specialty and are successful business owners and I think they have a lot to share with other technicians that will make them more successful. 

CWP: What are some of the struggles of technicians when working with on-demand field service marketplaces?
CG: This is a great question, and it is funny you ask because it is at the top of our agenda for our next meeting. I think that if CLOUDWORK|PRO can understand what these challenges are we can start finding solutions. If we can eliminate some of the challenges that technicians face, then they are in a much better position to serve their CLOUDWORK|PRO customers. 

CWP: How will the tech advisory board help address these struggles?
CG: The key to addressing the struggles is for CLOUDWORK|PRO to understand exactly what they are.  This is exactly why the TAB is so important, to provide that feedback to the CWP team so that we can help technicians and customers connect and easily get the work done.

If you’re a technician or client that would like to experience CLOUDWORK|PRO, you can sign up today and access the on-demand IT field service marketplace.