01732 759725 INTERVIEW 20 Matt Houlden, Operations Director, Vantage Online shares his experiences over the past decade, what he’s learned, and the highs and the lows of our unique and challenging industry A decade in print hasn’t it? At Vantage and Asolvi we had it easier than many did and on a personal level I was lucky to avoid some of the challenges and losses that many others experienced, but not something any of us want to experience again, I’m sure. PITR: What (or who) has had the greatest impact in the sector in the last 10 years? MH: I would have to say the inexorable rise in cloud computing. The pace of change has been remarkable and, on balance, the impact on our products, our business and the ability to deploy solutions at speed and at scale is something that is almost unimaginable compared to when I started all those years ago with Service Accent. PITR: If you could change one thing about the last decade, what would it be? MH: I’d like some of my hair back! But other than that, there really isn’t anything of any real substance that I’d like to change. PITR: What has been your proudest moment of the past 10 years? MH: The birth of my daughter. Like many other parents of children who are on the autistic spectrum, she has given me a fundamentally different perspective on life. She’s also a bit bonkers but makes me laugh every single day. All children are special, but she’s a constant source of inspiration as well as a reminder that a life well-lived cannot be counted in bits of paper, financial achievements or many of the other things we are conditioned to view as ‘successes’. PITR: Sum up the decade in three words. MH: Resilience. Innovation. Connectivity. https://www.asolvi.com/vantage-online PrintIT Reseller (PITR): You’ve been working in the print and IT industry for more than ten years. What led you to enter the sector? Matt Houlden (MH): From an early age, I’ve always enjoyed taking things apart, understanding how they worked and then putting them back together. A close friend worked for a local copier dealer and told me they were on the lookout for a junior engineer. Fresh out of A-levels and with no clearly defined plan in my head it sounded interesting, so I read up a bit, blagged my way through an interview and practical exercise, and landed the job! The first few months were spent in the workshop prepping new, reconditioning returned machines, and attending training courses. And I got my first company car! That business used an early service management and billing system and there’s a straight line from there, to working with Tony Milford, Vantage, and then Asolvi. PITR: What was your first job? MH: My first foray into the world of ‘proper jobs’ was working a couple of evenings a week, plus Saturdays/ Sundays in a Bradford clothes shop. Paid in cash every week…lived for the weekend. Good times!! PITR: What has been the high point of the decade? MH: Bringing our Vantage Online solution to market at the start of 2017. For me personally, it was an immensely proud moment to see this project through from inception to completion. Three years of hard work, early starts, late nights, occasional arguments, and plenty of laughs along the way. PITR: And the low point? MH: It’s got to be COVID and lockdown, Matt Houlden
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