Interview with:Viktor Bogdanov [itsourcingeurope]
PROFESSION
 | What is your profession? What is your title printed on your business card? I'm both Managing Director and Senior Research Coordinator with IT Sourcing Europe |
| What did you study and why did you choose to study that field? I studied foreign linguistics and marketing. I've always been interested in foreign cultures, music, literature and began to learn foreign languages back in my school days to be able to read books in the original and understand songs, films etc. But as I grew older, I became extremely interested in technology and innovations, but more as a user than as a developer/geek. So, as the social media boomed, I began to study online marketing and digital PR to be able to effectively integrate innovative web and mobile solutions to public relations |
| What is expected of you in your job, and how do you accomplish it? In my job I'm expected to manage and coordinate IT market research, watch trends and promote the independent research outcomes via social media, professional communities, traditional media etc. I'm also expected to help link ITO service buyers with ITO service providers, ensure a symmetric 2-way interaction between them, assist in development of the long-term proactive ITO strategy etc |
| What links do you have on the Internet: website, blog, social networks? I'm trying to be present online in all most popular media and, besides a corporate website, am running a blog (hosted by wordpress.com), have active accounts in Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Xing, Flickr as well as social bookmarking sites such as StumbleUpon and Newsvine |
| Are you satisfied with the education that you received? Yes, but there's always room for improvement, so I'm trying to develop myself on a regular basis and am currently attending some PR and market research related workshops and seminars |
| In which tasks are you good at, and in which could you better yourself? I'm pretty good at online PR, social media marketing and optimization, but am not very good at sales (( |
| Do you usually attended seminars or coursework to advance your professional work or would you consider yourself a more self-taught person? yes, I do! |
| When did you realise that your work was being considered important and that it could possibly take you places? after I was invited as a special guest to several IT events in Europe (UK, Sweden and Ukraine) and began to be contacted by some professional organizations and communities with requests to share our market research outcomes with them |
| With which types of persons do you feel you work well with as a team? creative, hungry for knowledge, unbiased, polite, responsible |
| Which goals have you focused on in your professional career? to become an opinion leader |
| Which publications associated with your field do you regularly read? IT and IT outsourcing reports by Gartner, Everest Research, PMR Research |
| Which languages do you speak, and how have you learned them? I speak Russian, Ukrainian, English and German |
| How do you feel about speaking in front of an audience? What experience have you had in this arena? In the past I was a bit afraid of making public speeches, but then I got used to it and now feel OK speaking in front of the audience. |
| How are you different from others in your professional sector? Unlike other research organizations, we never sell our materials and Intelligence Reports and share them with respective business communities absolutely for free |
| Do you feel your hobbies serve to elevate your career? My hobby is screenwriting that definitely helps me be more creative |
| What are the things you least like about your job? Delayed feedback from organizations / prospect companies |
| What is the most important thing you have learned from experience? If you choose to go online, you should be able to interact with your stakeholders on a 24/7 basis and sacrifice a lot of spare time! But eventually, it becomes rewarding! |
| When you were young, what did you want to be when you grew up? journalist |
| List any credits, publications, competitions, etc. I hold a Business Writing Skills Certificate from Expert Rating |
| Your Bible? "Master and Margarita" by Bulgakov |
| How do you handle customer complaints? I'm very proactive and have no customer complaints, truly! |
| Someone wants to ask for a pay rise and they ask you for advice in how to approach the matter with their boss. What do you tell them? To create a list of things they've done over a certain time span to benefit the company and to show how exactly the company has benefited from those actions |
| What do you do to manage stress? I write movie scripts and leave this world for the imaginary one |
ART
| Which websites do you frequently visit? Gartner, BNET and a bunch of technology related ones |
MULTIMEDIA
| Do you have a website or blog where we can see something of your work? Sure, you can see my press releases, news, white papers, reports and case stories at http://itsourcingeurope.wordpress.com/, http://www.itsourcing-europe.com/ITO_Knowledge_Center.html, http://www.itsourcing-europe.com/European_Outsourcing_Report.html and http://www.slideshare.net/itsourcingeurope |
MODELING
| What is the most characteristic work you've done in your career? I've helped more than 10 UK and Western European companies (IT service providers, mobile developers and innovative startups) leverage their IT spending and save up to 50% of OPEX via extending their in-house IT teams nearshore and/or outsourcing some elements of their IT/SD function to reliable vendors.
Besides, my hobby is screenwriting and I have 2 short scripts developed into actual short movies (genre - social drama). |
TECHNOLOGY
| Please list web addresses where one can see something about you. BNET, PR Log, PR.Com, Information Week, Das Outsourcing Journal, Ngi etc |
MARKETING
| Please list web addresses where one can see something about you. Website - www.itsourcing-europe.com
Blog - http://itsourcingeurope.wordpress.com/
Twitter - @itsourcingeurop
LinkedIn - http://uk.linkedin.com/in/viktorbogdanov
XING - https://www.xing.com/profile/Viktor_Bogdanov
FB - Viktor Bogdanov |
BLOGGING
| Are there any blogs you follow daily or regularly? Horses for Sources (www.horsesforsources.com), Outsource Buzz (http://www.outsourcing-buzz-blog.com/), Pragmatic Outsourcing (http://pragmaticoutsourcing.com/), http://technobabble2dot0.wordpress.com/, Outsourcing Insider (http://www.blog.infinit-o.com/) and http://blog.outsourcingleadership.com/ |
CONSUMER
| What brands do you think are up and coming? In terms of technology - those that are able to provide powerful cloud / SaaS solutions |
| What brands do you think are on the way out? those that don't invest sufficient resources in / underestimate the role of online and digital PR and social media marketing |
PPRR
| Do you blog or twitter? Blog - http://itsourcingeurope.wordpress.com/
Twitter - @itsourcingeurop |
| What professional organizations or online communities are you involved in? Mobile Monday London / Amsterdam / Stockholm
Outsourcing Verband (German speaking countries)
Dutch Independent Association of and for ICT Professionals (Ngi) |
| 
695 visits Whohub
Viktor Bogdanov
Coventry / UK
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