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Joan Loo: Hunger, harmony and happiness

Regional Manager, South Asia

Joan Loo is happiest helping clients and teammates.

“Whenever I am able to provide them with a solution, that makes me happy. Whenever I see them happy, I’m happy.”

Over more than 25 years in IT, Joan – now Insight Regional Manager, South Asia – has seen plenty of happy customers and  teammates.  

Her start in IT wasn’t quite so enjoyable. After graduating from Staffordshire University with a degree in computer science she spent less than two years as a programmer. It wasn’t, she admits, a good fit as she found it ‘boring’ coding by herself.

She leapt at a chance to move into sales, and found her happy place, talking with customers, building rapport and solving customer problems.

Before long she was heading up a small team and honing her skills in coaching – something key in her current role heading up Insight’s South Asia team. 

It’s a role she took on eight years ago when Insight was transitioning in Singapore from being a software seller to an end-to-end solution and services provider – a transformation Joan is justifiably proud of. The business has a slew of vendor awards to show for its work.

Nowadays there’s less customer facing work and more strategic planning for Joan. 

“I oversee not just sales but operations and even finance related work, sometimes even legal and compliance related work.

“But the majority of my time is still with sales because that is where we have to generate revenue to make sure we grow the business.”

She thrives on the need for continual learning to keep up with the rapidly changing market. 

That curiosity is a key attribute needed for anyone in technology, she says.

“You need to be dynamic enough to keep updating yourself and going after the fast pace of the change in technology.”

Teamwork too, is crucial. “I like this team because we are small but we are very united and all of us bring in our company values of hunger and harmony.

“This industry is about the individual, your attitude. Trust yourself, be ambitious, take the challenge and just do it!”

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