As we learned from speaking to Hélène Deckx van Ruys, co-leader of the Women in AI think tank, on our podcast series Welcome to the New Normal, the issue reaches beyond the workplace. However, at Powell Software we’re convinced that a balanced workforce brings benefits to every employee.
We’re not the only ones to think this way.
Achieving a Gender Balance in the Workplace
According to a study by the Montaigne Institute, the recruitment of women represents a real performance lever to companies. In fact, the stronger the female presence, the more companies gain in performance, growth, and productivity.
That’s why at Powell Software we’re trying to do our part in achieving gender equality and recruiting more women in tech.
In this focus feature, we are going to highlight the career paths and profiles of four inspiring women at Powell Software.
In focus: Camille, Pauline, Marine, and Esther.
Camille Gorce – Head of Professional Services
”Inspires women who want to enter the tech field”
Camille is 26 years old and has been working for Expertime/Powell Software for over 5 years. She is currently responsible for the Professional Services division of the company.
Coming from an engineering school (ISEP), Camille knew how to make a place for herself in a world occupied mostly by men, by joining different associations. Alongside this, she took every opportunity to participate in University events such as open doors and fairs. She took it upon herself to promote the values of the world of computer science and reassure female students hesitating to embark on the engineering adventure.
Camille spent the final year of her degree gaining practical experience working with Expertime, which specializes in the creation of SharePoint sites. Not being familiar with this Microsoft solution, she was able to learn and understand the tool thanks to tutorials and help from her colleagues. Over time she became an expert on the solution which allowed her to bring important answers to technical meetings with customers. Getting her voice heard as a young woman in tech meetings was not always easy, but motivated to change the status quo she knew how to argue to make a place for herself.
Shortly after her arrival, Expertime created Powell Software’s first product, an intranet portal based on SharePoint. Camille started deploying the Digital Workplace by combining her SharePoint knowledge with the Powell Software tool. From her first project, Camille was passionate about the richness of the product and evolved as a Digital Consultant deploying projects from A to Z, sometimes for companies with over 10 000 employees. Thanks to her close contact on projects she had the opportunity to conduct interviews and testimonials, telling the story of her work and aimed at recruiting new talents and awakening the technical appetite in women.
When Powell Software became an independent publisher, she chose to participate in its development. In January 2020, having a perfect technical and functional knowledge of the products, Camille took a 90° turn and was appointed to create a new Customer Success Management department within Powell Software. As the department did not exist before, she had to define the processes and rules, improving it on a daily basis according to customers’ feedback. She also needed to recruit a team. Camille has become a technical reference for our customers, who are sometimes surprised by her profile as a young woman in the digital world.
Connect with Camille on LinkedIn
Pauline Guiot – Key Account Manager
“Unfailing ambition”
After finishing her studies, Pauline started her career at Microsoft France in the marketing and communication teams. For two years, she contributed to the implementation and development of complex marketing campaigns and digital events aimed at specific audiences – education and partners.
At the end of this experience and after a year spent in a Microsoft partner company, Pauline decided to develop her international experience and went to Dublin for two years as a start-up & ISV sales representative for Microsoft in Dublin. This experience was a real personal and professional gas pedal.
It was during this experience that Pauline had the opportunity to take real initiatives that were praised by her managers, such as the creation of a pilot team dedicated to developing partnerships between innovative start-ups, software publishers, and Microsoft. This pilot has been widely adopted by other foreign teams within Microsoft.
When Pauline decided to return to France, it was only natural for her to continue to evolve within the dynamic and innovative environment that is IT. For almost a year now, Pauline has been contributing to the development and influence of Powell Software in France with large groups in the financial and industrial sectors.
Within Powell Software, Pauline was able to quickly find her place and understand the workings and challenges of her role. From the start, she was able to capitalize on her experience and her good relationship with Microsoft to develop new opportunities and find new projects with medium and large companies for herself and her team.
Today, Pauline’s goal is to develop her skills even further by continuously learning from her peers and sharing her customer experiences in a continuous learning and enrichment process. She never hesitates to share feedback from her clients when it can contribute to the development of her company’s solutions and value proposition.
Connect with Pauline on LinkedIn
Marine Fournier – Head of HR
“Motivation and change are his watchwords”.
Marine has been working in the technology field for 15 years. She is known to be open-minded thanks to her travels and has been able to adapt easily to the new roles and environments she has had to face. Motivated by projects and change, throughout her career she has been able to analyze her strengths and weaknesses in order to fully appreciate her career. She has always loved novelty in both her professional and private life, which led her to the technology sector, which is constantly evolving and has allowed her to continually engage in different projects.
From sales and marketing to customer service, from operator to manager, from production to functional roles, Marine gained a 360° view of a company’s organization. The diversity of roles was invaluable when she joined Powell Software as HR manager.
Marine joined Powell Software when the company became independent from the Expertime group. She then had to rebuild everything, and quickly, to allow the company to build on new solid foundations: an HR department to create, a corporate culture to redefine, common values to establish, processes to implement, and of course, strong waves of recruitment to manage.
When the pandemic hit in 2020, Marine saw the trend of wellness in the workplace. She was keen to ensure the protection and employees’ mental health and business continuity. Marine has created an ecosystem based on listening to employees, empowering them to grow, communicate, learn and thrive.
In an ever-changing world, HR is at the heart of the company. As an HR person, Marine believes it is important to put your ego aside and maintain a sense of objectivity when a situation arises.
Her advice is to connect to HR networks, as this will help you compare different HR cultures, trends, and experiences.
Connect with Marine on LinkedIn
Esther Daga – Head of Marketing
“Pushes her team to always go further”
In 4 years at Powell Software, Esther created the company’s marketing department from scratch by personally recruiting its various members, defining its marketing strategy and branding, while putting in place all the processes, operational tools, and reporting systems needed to make the department work. By building a solid, efficient, and creative team, Powell Software’s marketing department has been able to considerably extend its impact and its reach on the company’s results: while it mainly targeted the French and American markets at its creation 4 years ago, it now addresses the whole world by integrating Powell Software’s 8 international offices in its action.
Esther has built a high-performance, committed, agile, and culturally diverse team of 6 different nationalities, spread between the US, Germany, Northern France, and the Head Quarters in Paris. Long before covid-19 changed the way companies were organized, Esther was leading her team in a hybrid way with different time slots in order to coordinate the international employees virtually and those in the French headquarter in person. Esther has created a very close-knit team that communicates and brainstorms continuously during one-to-one meetings and weekly team meetings where the entire team gathers.
In order to achieve her vision – to position Powell Software as a leader and gain top-of-mind awareness in each of her markets – Esther’s ambition is to continue to grow and professionalize the marketing department by providing new support, training, and resources so that everyone can continually excel in their roles. She creates a continuous learning environment, opens up opportunities for team members to learn and challenge their knowledge to increase their marketing culture and stimulate their growth. Each team member is encouraged to go beyond their job description to expand their scope of action and participate in both the operational and strategic development of the marketing department. Some team members have had the opportunity in less than a year to progress from a marketing manager position to a managerial position thanks to their commitment to making their mission a real team and company project.
Connect with Esther on LinkedIn
Interested in helping Powell Software achieve our mission of creating a diverse and inclusive workforce?