Opinion

24 Hours With… Lotame APAC MD Alex Sibois

Alex Sibois24 Hours With… spotlights the working day of some of the most interesting people in Mumbrella Asia’s world. Today, we hear about a day in the life of the Singapore-based APAC MD of data management platform Lotame, Alex Sibois.

6.15am Wednesday. Early start to get myself to the gym for a session with my coach at 7am.

6.40am I book a car on Grab and on the way, I check and reply to some emails from my US colleagues so I can get their feedback before they call it a day.

7.00am The gym session starts with some free weight exercises. After 40 minutes of an intense routine, my coach convinces me to do another 10 minutes of cardio before a final 10 minutes of stretching.

8.00am On my way to the shower I pass by this poster which says ”Earned Not Given” and I feel good about it.

8.30am I stop at Ya Kun in Clarke Quay Central where I order four eggs and a large iced lemon tea with no sugar. I check email from my Australian team before I call the commercial director for an update on the latest deals. We discuss the terms of the contracts still pending and how to present them to our legal team for the quickest turn around.

9.10am Walking from the bus stop along Keong Saik Road in Chinatown. I pass by the colourful facade of the Sri Layan Sithi Vinayagar temple and smile at the active worshippers. I continue past buzzing local eateries next to the trendy bars and restaurants which are still quiet.

9.15am Arriving at the office, I grab a large bottle of mineral water and go through my emails while writing down the key results I want achieve today and the process behind it.

10am Discussing the latest updates with my team to plan for meetings later this week while sharing some of the information I received the night before from HQ. We are finalising the budget for next year and there will be a big push for APAC.

We have an aggressive recruitment plan to accelerate our growth and support more strategically our clients so I am keen to understand what they see as the best profiles for the task. They debate about the skills and I remind them that it is also as much about a culture and personality fit than anything else. I confide that I also want to find more female candidates as they will give us a different perspective and they will be key to our success.

10.47am – I whatsapp Miranda from the IAB Singapore to find a time to discuss the next format of the committees in 2017.

10.50am – I reply to a couple of new emails. Good news, one of my prospects in Indonesia has resurfaced and is keen to proceed. We agree to meet in Jakarta before Christmas.

10.52am – A partner pings me from Malaysia where we need to renew an important deal. The decision makers cannot meet before the end of the contract so do we give them more time or do we apply some gentle pressure so they stick to the initial agenda?

11am – I jump on a call with my country manager in India. He is quite an early bird considering the 2.5 hour time difference between Singapore and Mumbai. Many people reach their office at 11am or even noon to beat the traffic. We discuss a specific case with a client who is repetitively late with their payments and the communication of our last warning before we temporarily suspend their account. How do we remain supportive of clients when some of them do not play by the rules?

11.30am – Quick call to a friend of mine who works in Bangkok. I need to know how to dress during my next trip to Thailand considering the recent passing of their King. I am told black trousers with a white shirt will be fine. I will add a personal note with a black ribbon pinned to my chest. I wonder how small publishers have been surviving the last two months without any advertising revenue as it was banned across the country?

11.40am – I ping one of our client agencies in Singapore to review their support to a large banking client who deployed our data management platform. What a great use case and the potential to scale across the whole organisation and in multiple countries is very real.

11.45pm – Stepping out of the office for a quick lunch at The Lokal, where they serve a wonderful warm mackerel salad. I am meeting with an analytics company who presents great synergies with our data services for a greater adoption of our platform by our clients. It’s a new model and I am not sure yet how such partnership will scale across my region but never mind, let’s work on a concrete case together. Let’s make sure the client sees value, then we can work out specific terms with the partner.

After working for many years with Israeli companies, I have learnt the importance of demonstrating the value of a solution first before spending time on theorising on a relationship.

12.50pm – I have planned an hour with our solution engineer to rework some marketing collaterals that need to translate some sophisticated use cases inherited from the US. We are interconnected with over two hundred marketing and data platforms and our visuals need to resonate with our local audience.

2pm – I need to plan my next few trips. I book my flights and hotels and identify the best route between meetings so I can see as many people in one day. I will maximize my time with early breakfasts, meetings at the hotel when possible and late flights home.

2:35pm – Back on emails. I am behind again with answers. I speed up some discussions on Whatsapp.

6pm – Rushing out from the office to catch the bus home. The next 40min will help me with some more emails. I catch my boss and CRO of the company who has an early commute into NYC.

Communication is quite clear on whatsapp. I give him an update about the next deals to close in the region and why we need to hire more people to support them.

I ping my European counterpart in London to pick his brain about an agency deal he closed that should easily be replicated in APAC.

6:40pm – Arrive home, drop everything and play with my son who has just finished his bath. We switch off the light of the fish tank and decide on 2 books to read. Mental note that I need to find new stories as my son is getting into the human body and planets. Growing too fast…

7pm – The little one is almost asleep, and it is time to be with my wife. We sit down for dinner and discuss the day. We watch the news from the BBC and wonder what has become of Europe and how the US presidential elections will impact the global economy.

8.30pm – Back into my vault where I check more emails. Getting ready for our monthly KPIs call with HQ to discuss how we are globally on target.

9.30pm – Legal pings me as they have more questions following my morning reply. I inquire about some pending Australian contracts and help with some points as it is now too late to connect with our Sydney colleagues. We discuss a new process to give more window to the APAC team.

10.15pm – Our chief client officer calls me as he wants to elaborate on the options available to tailor global initiatives to our local markets. APAC has the most diversified client portfolio of all regions between brand, agency and publisher clients so we need to work slightly differently here.

10.40pm – Last chat of the day with marketing on Hangout. Budgets for 2017 are confirmed and communicated to me. I am happy as this is in line with what I had asked for. They recognised the need to multiply local events and involve more our clients. Happy that our name will be out more next year.

11pm – Off to bed. I read a few pages of my book ‘Gandhi before India’ by Ramachandra Guha or I listen to my new meditation app ‘HeadSpace’ and I go fast to sleep.

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