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In our Team of the Month section, we highlight some of the important faces from across the industry who perhaps aren’t always in the public eye. This month, we speak to Cooler Master.
Who’s in your team?
Katie Pinnock, UK country manager, Adrian Liu, EU online business manager, Ronil Bhimjiani, channel marketing executive, and Gavin Lau, online content executive.
What have been your biggest successes of the past 12 months?
We have had involvement in many projects over the past 12 months, but to pinpoint a few of the highlights, it would have to be: the Cooler Master Eco Systems (case, PSU, cooling, peripherals) powering Intu’s Virtual Winter Wonderland. This was a VR experience that was free for Intu customers to use at the Nottingham Victoria branch, where they were able to decorate a Christmas tree in virtual reality. We worked closely with Apache (VR/AR developers), and HTC Vive to make this happen and it was a huge success.
Another would be a few collaborations we have executed with the likes of NVIDIA with the MasterCase Pro 5 NVIDIA Edition case (which will be present at the upcoming NCC Conference), and MSI with the brand new MasterBox 5 MSI Dragon Edition. This has allowed us to reach out to more SI partners and create brand related builds that have worked really well.
Lastly, it would have to be our successes at the many events we have already done in 2017 including the Maker Faire UK that we were the headline sponsor of and showcased two of our famous modders, Photon Storm from US Battlebots. There was also Insomnia 60 and the Virtual Reality Show London.
What’s the funniest or most memorable moment of working in your team?
Day to day work is fun but we spend a lot of time out of the office separately, visiting customers and flying up and down the motorway. So when we all get together to do an event, and execute it together, by the end while we’re packing down, preparing to come home, it’s a proud moment we share as we can see all our hard work and team efforts in one place.
What’s the best part of working in your team?
It has to be the banter. We all get along so well that our office chats turn in to banter which turns into mick taking which is always fun, even if you’re on the receiving end of it!
What’s the hardest part of working in the tech industry?
Every day can be different which is not necessarily a hard thing, but we have to deal with so many different factors such as current country situation, Brexit and the dollar rate fluctuating, end user demand, direct competition and more. Tech changes so quickly and is constantly improving so we have to ensure that our products reflect this and most importantly that the market can see we are moving with the trends.
What is the team working on at the moment?
We are currently planning for Computex, where we will have some industry changing, innovative product launches to wow everyone. We are ensuring that the launches that happen over in Taipei are reflected to our UK customers to the best of our ability, ready to get the stock into the Channel and let the demand take its share of the market that it rightly deserves.
What are your thoughts on the current state of the UK tech retail space right now?
The beginning of the year was slow for most in the industry. It is now picking up and we are on the right road to really connect with the end users and show them what we have. The industry is tough therefore it’s vital that you have the right team, right products, and right attitude to play the industry games, show off your brand and be the best.
Who makes the best cuppa?
Despite being Northerners, we don’t drink cuppas that often, and when we do, we have a little Nescafe machine that does it for us, so our mechanical friend makes the best cuppa!
