By Sarah Cade
Seasoned onboarding specialist, Shelly Mayne, has been part of the Avondata family for seven years. His role has evolved throughout his time with us, some of you may know him as the voice behind our training videos.
We caught up with Shelly to find out more about life, in and out of the office.
Great to speak to you Shelly! Can you tell me about your career to date?
My experience has mostly been hardware-focused. I started off working for companies like IBM and AT&T, putting in systems for banks and building societies, whether it be cash point machines or servers. I progressed and started handling corporate training for companies like electronics telecommunications and broadband provider, NTL.
Before receiving the opportunity to join Avondata and train staff from hotels on how to use our software. I used to visit our hotel clients, sit with their teams, and show them the power of our software.
My role has now changed into what’s called an onboarding specialist. This means we handhold clients from inception to a time they feel comfortable after going live. We make sure that we’ve got all the information we need to build a system and will then answer any questions and guide them through the training if they need it. I’ve developed a series of online training videos to support both onboarding and aftercare. You’ll even hear my voiceover on those videos
With the advancements within cloud-based PMS, how has your role changed in the seven years you’ve been with Avondata?
Initially, I came on as an install trainer. I used to visit hotels, install servers and configure software to their needs, and then train them on how to use it. Now, we’re focused online, and Rezcontrol is all about being able to work in the cloud. I still build the systems, but I build them in code first.
As a result of the pandemic, all our training is currently delivered online so that we can keep everybody safe. In the future, I’d like to do some more hands-on training locally.
What do you think 2022 has in store for Avondata?
In the future, we are looking to grow Rezcontrol beyond the UK. Some of our hoteliers have shareholders in different countries, and they’re already using our remote system to log on from different locations, which is something that was not able to happen previously.
Exciting times ahead! What do you do in your downtime when you’re not working?
Until recently, my wife and I ran a podcast, which was rated in the top 1% globally. It is about anything to do with anything paranormal or unexplained phenomena. We’re taking a hiatus from it as it has been active since 2017.
I’m now focusing on my martial arts training. In the past I set up my own charity, where I started training young people from disadvantaged and disaffected backgrounds. In another one of my past projects, I was working with vulnerable women. I found it quite empowering to give women in that position the self-esteem to be able to protect themselves more in the future.
If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?
I would like to take my wife to Rome. She’s American and loves anything European. She also wants to go to Paris, but I’d like to go to Rome or Venice if the opportunity presents itself.