Insider Thoughts | February 2021
In February, our monthly Insider Thoughts blog explores the remote SaaS company, Real Time Intelligence. We sat down with Danielle Kowalkowski, Chief Operating Officer, to hear about her role and thoughts on the culture and strength of the people behind Real Time Intelligence.
Can you tell us a little about your role at Real Time Intelligence?
My role focuses on ensuring our business operations are efficient, effective, and streamlined. After all, that’s what we are trying to help our customers with – so we must lead by example. I am here to ensure we are continually delivering value and that at the end of the day, customers walk away and think of us as an extension of their own team.
What is your favorite thing about working at a remote SaaS company?
One of the great rewards of working in an environment like this is that you get to watch customers who may have started with an area that they needed real help with efficiency. And after working with our team, using our product, you get to witness the development and growth in their company and the savings they are seeing as a result. It’s gratifying to see that type of change and know you were a part of it. One of my favorite comments that we recently received from a customer was that “we were the best professional decision they’ve ever made” That’s a huge reward for our efforts and is precisely the reason I’m excited to come to work everyday!
What about the others behind Real Time Intelligence – can you share about the culture?
Our team knows that everyone gets an opinion. Many companies have a team where you can’t voice your opinion, or it’s discouraged to disagree. We actually encourage disagreement; we applaud it because we know that’s how we will get to the best product.
I think that’s why we have such a great team; we have brilliant people who always want to become better. They love being around people who make them better. It’s vital to us all that the company is getting better, we are getting better as individuals, and we have a lot of fun along the way.
What is one of your strengths you see as a team?
One of the strengths of our team is our diversification. We are creative and utilize team-think a lot. We have a saying that if there are three of us together, our fourth brain is stronger than any individual one. It is important to us that we all support each other. We also challenge each other. Part of challenging is holding each other accountable, which is great!
How do you maintain the culture and collaboration that you shared with most of your team being remote?
We’re a tech company – we might be a remote SaaS, but we interact like we do in-person. And if we find in-person is still better – then we make it happen. We’re all only a short ride or flight away from our headquarters. Plus, we view it as more of a strength than a weakness. Being a primarily remote company, we can utilize the best talents from around the country. It also allows our team to have a better work/life balance when they can get the kids off the bus, enjoy a meal with the family, or easily workout at lunch. When you have that type of environment that encourages balance, you have happier and healthier employees who know they are valued and work hard as a result.
