Interview with Mauricio Martínez, Pre-Sales Manager, Ikusi Colombia

Mauricio was an employee of Ikusi on two different occasions. The first time as a pre-sales engineer. He later left this role to work for another company in the technology sector. In January 2023, after a call from César Villamil, CEO of Ikusi Colombia at the time, he returned to Ikusi as pre-sales manager. A return to his origins he was very happy about. He says it has been very enriching and has allowed him to transfer all the knowledge and experience gained during his career at operational level, in pre-sales and leadership to his new role.

A true Medellín native, he is delighted to have his operational base in Medellín, although, as national pre-sales manager, he travels regularly to Bogotá.

Ikusi is a relatively new arrival to Medellín. How does it plan to gain a foothold in this market?

It’s true that, in terms of time, we’ve only recently launched in Medellín. But Ikusi’s advantage is that it’s not starting from zero. Quite the opposite, in fact. In addition to the new sales hire, gaining the professionalism and experience of Erica Triviño, the pre-sales team has transferred to Medellín all the experience and specialized knowledge acquired in Bogotá. Which is substantial. We’ve been working for many years with some of the country’s leading companies, especially in the finance sector, and this experience, recognized by the market, has opened the door for us in companies in Medellín.

Today, Ikusi is present in the main economic hubs in Colombia and, from a qualitative perspective, I would say it is firmly established.

And in terms of specific results?

Well, in just one year we’ve managed to consolidate our presence in Medellín. Now we have contracts with major accounts in the city, in the finance, education, industrial and transport sectors. It was difficult, but we’ve achieved it. As I mentioned, we didn’t start from zero. Customers in Medellín looked for references about Ikusi in Bogotá and verified it as being a trustworthy partner.

Our strategy now is to win accounts in the retail, health and energy sectors and, of course, to continue to grow our existing accounts to further consolidate the company.

What value did customers in Medellín see in Ikusi?

What is happening in Medellín can be extrapolated to Colombia as a whole. The difference lies in what we call the differential value of Ikusi’s service. Let me explain. We are experts in telecommunications and cybersecurity technology infrastructure services. We collaborate with different manufacturers, mainly with Cisco in Colombia. Our job is to transfer this technological knowledge to service projects, in which we highlight the consultative ‘layer’ provided by Ikusi.

We analyze our customers in depth, to find out what their business needs and why, so that we can propose solutions and services that will drive the growth of their business. This approach goes beyond the technology chosen for designing a particular solution.

This was our strategy in Medellín, and the results have been very positive.

How do you develop a relationship that goes beyond that of customer-provider?

We believe that the entire organization should be invested in achieving customer satisfaction. In terms of securing new contracts, the pre-sales and sales departments spearhead the process. Followed by the delivery areas, project department and the services department. But our aim is for the cycle not to close there, but for all this customer knowledge and work experience from the operation feeds back to the pre-sales area, thus achieving a deeper understanding of new needs and technological challenges that the customer may be experiencing in their business. It’s what we usually call the virtuous cycle of the Ikusi service, which enables us to renew customer trust and hence repeat of the service. Our objective is to retain customers.

In this respect, I want to mention other departments at Ikusi, without whom we would not be able to achieve our aims. The people who work tirelessly to attract and retain talent. Finance, who are always looking for the right formulas to make our projects with customers come to fruition. And Marketing, with their ability to position Ikusi and its differential offer.

Unity and teamwork are the secret ingredients behind the trust we instill in our customers. Each and every one of us at Ikusi, in both Medellín and Bogotá, has the same goal: to meet the needs of customers and to provide solutions and services of value that help them to grow their business.