People of Kainos: Jamie O’Reilly

Read our profile of Jamie, our Business Development Manager about his typical day in the Workday Practice—what motivates him and why he chose Kainos to progress his career from Workday Consultant to Business Development.

When did you join Kainos and what was your first role?

I’m Jamie and I originally joined Kainos in 2015 as a Workday Human Capital Management (HCM) Consultant. As I progressed in my career as a consultant, I went on to lead the Application Management Services (AMS) team. By 2018, I had moved away from Workday HCM to work as a Workday Financials Consultant, which led me to progress into a role as the Lead Architect for Workday Financials. Now, thanks to the career flexibility offered at Kainos and encouragement from my peers, I am working within the Business Development (BD) capability at our Workday Practice.

What was it about Kainos that impressed you before you joined?

I have always admired Kainos as a company since my days at university completing my Master’s degree. From an outside perspective, Kainos stood out as a successful indigenous company who happened to have hired many of my close friends. They spoke very highly of Kainos, and I had also noticed Workday was a household name, particularly as they began appearing as sponsors of some of my favourite sports events!

What were your day-to-day responsibilities in your previous role?

In my previous role as a consultant, my day-to-day consisted of configuring software for our customers and working closely with stakeholders to do so. This role is a great opportunity to work with senior people, like Finance Directors and CFOs in many different types of organisations, from Fintech Startups to large government departments.

Generally, in the consulting role you are working day to day with the customer to make sure that what they’ve purchased and what they think they are implementing is what they are going to get at Go-Live. A lot of that is a very collaborative activity of communicating and listening to the customer, as they might not know Workday that well and want to learn from our expertise with the system.

What prompted you to consider a change within the company? - was it an easy decision to make the move?

In my previous roles within the consultant sphere, I had some exposure to the pre-sales environment in which you start to build relationships with customers and explain how Workday can satisfy their requirements.

This was my first experience with the sales cycle, and I found that I really enjoyed working with customers in my day to day, building relationships and making a direct impact to win business and alleviate customer concerns.

After realising I was interested in Business Development (BD), the next step was focusing on how I can build my skills to prepare for a BD role and then waiting for an opportunity to make the move.

When did you start your BD role and what are your current day-to-day responsibilities?

Working within BD for the Workday Practice at Kainos, my role is focused on having conversations about Workday with the customer. I am responsible alongside my team for building momentum in the sales process and reassuring organisations that we are the best partner for their Workday deployment.

It’s all about understanding the internal and external landscape of opportunities before we engage with the customer, working in close partnership with Workday along the way.

In summary, my day-to-day responsibility is to help organisations understand what Workday does, what the key drivers are for them to move to a new system and understand what their requirements are – to ensure those are met and allow us to be well positioned to exceed their expectations.

How do you think your background is benefiting you in this new role?

A lot of the time when a customer asks me a question, I can confidently answer with authority as I previously worked with the system in depth as a Workday Consultant – providing me the experience needed to know what works and what doesn’t. This has made it easier for me to personally build a rapport with our customers.

If you could highlight one thing you enjoy most about your role in BD, what would it be?

My BD role is full of variety, which has given my career a fresh new perspective. I particularly love the process of engaging with the customer and seeing a sales opportunity progressing. Regularly meeting new people is really a highlight of the role for me, as I get the opportunity to learn about them and their business and make new connections whilst doing it.

If you could provide advice to anyone considering the move to BD at Kainos, what would you say?

Kainos is a fantastic organisation to work for. I have seen my career grow from strength to strength, and Kainos has supported my every move, from delivery to BD, giving me the experience and skills required to be the best I can be.

If you’re interested in a BD role at Kainos, I’d say, go for it!

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