Staff spotlight series: Michael Lewis

Continuing our Staff Spotlight Series, we shine a light on the people behind Leighton O’Brien who make the company tick. This month we’re lifting the curtain on talented team member Michael Lewis!

Describe what you do and the best part about your job?
I’ve been with Leighton O’Brien (LOB) for 5 years and currently work in our  SIRA and Wetstock Operations team as Wetstock Accounts Team Lead. I’m responsible for managing our Account Managers ensuring our clients’ KPI’s are being met and their voices are being represented with the business. An important part of my role is to also gather feedback to scope and prioritise which upgrades are applied to either the entire product or tailored to a specific client’s needs.

What do clients love about your work?
I like to think my clients appreciate my eagerness to collaborate with their operations teams to ensure reporting and investigation workflows are finding issues, and looking at how we can improve our platform in the process. For example, by working closely with them, I can understand where a new report and alarm upgrade would be most beneficial, which in turn enables them to get the most out of our Wetstock system.

What key thing have you learnt from working at Leighton O’Brien?
I come from an environmental science background and thought that my career would be spent quietly performing monotonous experiments all day. Instead, during my time at LOB I’ve learnt the value and importance of managing professional relationships.

It’s been fascinating to understand how much information a client can get out of a service such as monthly SIRA compliance reporting. From these reports we’ve been able to highlight a wide range of issues for clients including leaks, meter drift, stuck probes, pump mapping errors, delivery shortages and more.

What’s one item you want to own that you don’t?
A Pomegranate tree that actually produces fruit! Mine just sits in the backyard taking up space.

Name one thing from your childhood that kids these days wouldn’t understand
The sweet harmonic sound of dial up internet attempting to connect.

Where is the best place you’ve traveled to and why?
Mt Everest base camp. I was lucky to be a part of the first group of the season to go for the 2017 season where we had the entire track to ourselves apart from the odd yak. While each day was physically exhausting, the beauty of the Himalayas makes each step worth it 10 times over.