Welcome Aboard: Paul Shea, Business Development Manager

It’s our pleasure to welcome Paul Shea, Business Development Manager, to 365 Technologies Inc.

Paul started on Monday, Nov. 6, and has an extensive background in customer service, sales, and technology – in addition to being a world traveler.

We are delighted to welcome Paul to the 365 Technologies family, and he and his family to Canada.

I’m originally from Winnipeg. After graduating from the University of Manitoba, I had the travel bug and hopped on a plane to Thailand to teach English for a few years. While I was in Thailand, I met my wife, Catherine, who is from England. We moved to South Korea together and then Taiwan. We got engaged while on holidays in the Philippines.

We then got married in the Dominican Republic – a nice beach wedding – between Canada and England, so all of our family members could attend. After we got married, we moved to England for about six years. I started working in IT at an Oracle and OpenText reseller called Explorer.

Explorer had very high standards and expectations, which are reasons why I wanted to work at 365 Technologies. It’s very important to me to work at a company with high standards, professionalism, and with people who work hard at what they do and for their customers.

We have two children – a girl and boy. Chloe is four next week and Dominic is two and half. Dominic was born on July 2 – the day after Canada Day.

Not the weather. England is grey, damp and wet, and summer is gone in two weeks. As for Winnipeg winters, I much prefer -30 rather than +30. I actually enjoy the cold.

Catherine is finding it cold. She didn’t think it was going to be this cold. It’s her first Canadian winter. When she tells people it’s her first Canadian winter, they either tell her to be careful and stay warm – or laugh.

Chloe and Dominic find the winter interesting. The first few days of snow they liked it, now that it’s -15 they don’t like it quite as much.

They have some challenges about learning how to cope with cold weather – for instance, how do you hold someone’s hand through mitts while walking them to daycare?

We came to Canada for family, and there are better work opportunities here.

I’ll be working to bring new clients into the 365 family. I’ll go to a lot of events and luncheons to represent and present 365 Technologies, how we do things and how we work. I’ll meet with potential clients to educate them on the benefits of using 365 Technologies for their IT.

It’s very professional and streamlined – done by the book. There are great personal touches throughout the office, including Tucker the office dog. Everyone is very friendly and professional. 365 Technologies definitely does exactly what they say they do: when our Help Desk team members close a customer’s ticket, the customer receives a survey to rate their experience – a happy green smiley face, a neutral yellow face, or a frowny red face. The board is filled with green smiley faces. It’s great to see.

I hope to bring extra insight into how IT works for potential customers, and to expand 365 Technologies’ footprint in Winnipeg and the greater Manitoba area.

How difficult IT can be if you don’t do it properly. If you have someone doing it well, like 365 Technologies, then it seems effortless and simple. If you don’t have someone doing it very well, or you are trying to do it yourself, IT can be an absolute minefield. I think everyone knows someone who can’t work technology and that person always assumes it must be the technology, not him or her. IT is not meant to break, it’s meant to work and if you have someone handling it like 365 Technologies, it will work.

My family and having the opportunity to travel. I’ve lived in five countries (Canada, England, Thailand, South Korea, and Taiwan), and travelled to various locations throughout the world – India, Australia, and Mongolia, to name a few. It’s been a great experience.

It all depends. Every place is good one for different reasons: Thailand for the beaches, Poland for the amazing variety of perogies and endless Vodka flavours (including chocolate), Malaysia to get to see wild orangutans and trek through rainforests, and England for the best breakfast sausage.

I speak a little bit of Thai – I can ask how to get around and give directions and speak enough to go shopping at small stalls where there is no English. I also learned to read and write in Korean – it’s ridiculously easy to read and write. I never learned many words, so although I could read, I didn’t always understand it.

Travel and “real” football (not soccer). Go Blue Bombers! My wife is a European football fan (soccer here in Canada). There is lots of confusion in our house about the word “football” – the Canadian version or European?

• “Work to live rather than to live to work.”
• “You should do things to make yourself happy rather than always aiming to please others.”