OpFocus Spotlight: Celebrating Employee Success

In 2015, OpFocus nearly doubled in size, added a successful SteelBrick practice and expanded into another country with Canadian headquarters in Toronto. To say the least, 2015 was a big year. However, our success is attributed to the brains behind the scenes: a delivery team with 60+ certifications in SaaS technologies and project management. To celebrate, we're highlighting a few key players that make a difference in our customers' businesses every day.

"OpFocus values ongoing education and a collaborative work environment. This year I witnessed our team challenge one another to provide the best solution for our clients, while improving their skills in the Salesforce ecosystem, marketing operations, data management and reporting. They solved challenges and ultimately improved our clients' business operations." - David Carnes, CEO and Founder

• Brenda Sullivan: She customizes Salesforce to fulfill on business and marketing operation needs specific to our clients' businesses.
• Matt Samela: He tackles and solves our clients problems using Salesforce and other SaaS technology, while following and teaching best practices.
• Ross Safko: He's a Marketing Automation expert. When it comes to Pardot and Marketo, Ross and his team help marketers create systems that truly revolutionize the way they operate.
• Jarin Chu: She helps prospects and clients discover the core issues they're looking to solve, while providing high level recommendations to kick off the OpFocus relationship.

Brenda is a Senior Force.com Developer at OpFocus. 

What is one thing you learned in 2015?

"I have learned a lot this year so selecting only one thing is tough. I would say that the area in which I have learned the most in the past year is how to build a website. Previously, I focused on backend server work, not the front end. Through the use of Visualforce Apex tags that handle a lot of the nitty-gritty details of HTML and Javascript, I was able to quickly build high-functioning pages with the Salesforce look and feel. Over the course of the year, my knowledge and grasp of Javascript, its event-driven model and the ability to integrate 3rd party libraries with Visualforce has significantly improved."

What is the most rewarding project you worked on and why?

"The most rewarding project would probably be a client that needed visual indicators on the standard Opportunity view page for a set of activities that were different (and configurable) for each Opportunity Stage. We built a custom Opportunity View page that rendered a row of all activities for that Stage, with each activity name being displayed in a color to indicate its status. In the midst of the project, there was a change in management, but we persevered, continuing to handle and meet their ever-changing, growing and complicated set of requirements. Ultimately, OpFocus gave this client a solution that met all of their needs. They're extremely satisfied. It was a rewarding project for me personally as I was involved from the inception through completion, including designing and architecting a solution, learning new technologies along the way. I also enjoyed working with both the client and OpFocus project managers."

Did you earn any certifications this year?

"Yes, I received the Force.com Developer Certification."

Matt is a Sr. Business Operations Consultant and Team Lead at OpFocus.

What is one thing you learned in 2015?

"While every business and sales process is different, there are key elements that can be applied to simplify processes and drive success for every client. For example, I've worked with clients in eCommerce, oil and gas, non-profit and healthcare who've all had complex sales processes. However, with organization, alignment and the the right tools, this process could be simplified."

What is the most rewarding project you worked on and why?

"One of my clients was still managing their pricing and quoting process on paper. Transitioning this to Salesforce helped streamline their efforts and drastically improve their day-to-day efficiency."

Did you earn any certifications this year?  

"Yes, I earned the Sales Cloud Consultant and Salesforce Advanced Administrator certifications."

Ross is a Sr. Marketing Operations Consultant at OpFocus

What is one thing you learned in 2015?

"I learned not to judge a book by its cover. Huge businesses have small business problems, and small businesses have big business problems. Approach every project with a clean slate and be ready for anything."

What is the most rewarding project you worked on and why?

"Working on EverSeat was rewarding for me because I was surrounded with awesome people. Everyone I interacted with at Everseat was genuine and understanding. They were extremely passionate about their company and the project, and were willing to defer to me as a thought leader on the platform. Overall, all of these charismatic people were a blast to work with."

Did you earn any certifications this year?

"Yes, I became a Marketo Certified Expert and Certified Pardot Consultant."

Jarin is a Business Development and Operations Manager at OpFocus.

What is one thing you learned in 2015?

"I learned internally, that in order to grow from a $2 million company to a $5 million+ company, the amount of support and infrastructure required for a successful team is exponential. At $2 million, you don't need strict processes and defined escalation procedures. However, at $5 million, all of a sudden you need to double or triple the amount of people you have on the team. This exponential effort is not something we can underestimate."

What is the most rewarding project you worked on and why?

"A deal where we had spent over a year educating the customer on the benefits of using a structured system vs. a loosey-goose excel sheet. The customer was growing exponentially, opening new locations and rapidly bringing on new people. But, they couldn't see the vision of a world without excel. To be able to invest that time with the customer to gradually help them on a day-to-day basis using more powerful tools, and seeing our developers work their magic to make something out of nothing to fit their unique needs, was a great experience."

Did you earn any certifications this year?

"Yes, the Data.com Certification."