How Antonia Helps Execute Enterprise Project Management at Revel
To date, we’ve had the chance to spotlight four wonderful employees on the Revel team, with each contributing differently to help power the “People POS.” We hope these spotlights have given readers like you a glimpse at just some of the talented people who make up Revel’s global employee network—from Atlanta, GA, to San Francisco, CA, to Vilnius, Lithuania, and beyond. Our latest spotlight takes us to one of the team members who contributes to enterprise project management at Revel. Most recently we featured Vaiva, a user experience (UX) product design expert who has helped craft the quality user experiences associated with some of Revel’s latest releases. Check out her feature to learn more about how Vaiva applies logic and analytical skills to create designs that Revel clients love. Antonia—one of Revel’s enterprise project managers—is up next. Antonia brings vast industry knowledge and heart to the table during every enterprise implementation she helps execute. Read on to learn more about how the passion behind her work makes her an integral contributor for both clients and Revel employees.
Meet Antonia
Antonia grew up in the restaurant industry because her father was a chef. She began working in his kitchen in high school, and realized early on that operating a restaurant was so much more than serving great food. “I was always curious about how you could use technology in restaurants to make operators’ lives easier,” Antonia explains. “I don’t know a chef or manager that wants to be in the back office analyzing financials; they want to be on the front lines. It’s important to let chefs be chefs, managers be managers, and so on.” She may not have known it early on, but this curiosity sparked a career for Antonia. Each day she explores how to help ease the operational burdens on restaurant operators and allow them more time to engage with their customers. For so many of her clients, she strives to bring them closer to the very reason they entered the industry. First she spent eight years focused on training and development for restaurant clients. Then she tried her hand at running restaurants. Most recently, Antonia landed at Revel, where her industry knowledge really shines. As a Senior Enterprise Project Manager for nearly three years, Antonia manages the on-site implementations of some of Revel’s largest and most intricate clients alongside a host of “People POS” superstars.
A Closer Look at Enterprise Project Management Today
Antonia’s enterprise focus at Revel means the implementation projects she manages are often custom solutions; no two look exactly alike. She crafts implementation strategies for long-haul projects that typically last a minimum of one year. Throughout implementation, Antonia and her team work directly with the client to help fully customize Revel’s enterprise-grade solution for their needs. At the same time, they work to ensure everything is optimized for streamlined multi-location operation. “Generally, the projects I work on are not just a typical replacement of a point of sale (POS). It’s an entire end-to-end solution update,” she explains. “This often consists of updating loyalty platforms, gift card platforms, the way payments are taken, and even introducing entirely new back office systems.” For Antonia, a typical work day can mean working across four different time zones. She’s up for the challenge though, and enjoys getting the chance to work with various groups to accomplish major project milestones together. “We have a lot of heart in each project, which I know is weird to say. But we are truly invested in making these franchises successful across the board,” she says. “My team and I sympathize with [restaurant owners] and we try to help make an impact everyday.” As projects evolve, Antonia adds that the partnership that forms between the implementation team and the client is what helps keep everyone working in lockstep. The strength of these partnerships, she says, is what really backs up Revel’s claim to be the “People POS.”
How Antonia Brings It Home
With the onset of COVID-19 in early 2020, Antonia and her enterprise project management team were faced with a very new set of implementation challenges. And while working from home was not new—because she’s been a remote employee since joining Revel—travel constraints certainly were. “It was definitely a challenge that I’ve never experienced in my career. Rolling out an enterprise solution for a client has a lot of moving pieces,” she explains. “We sat down collectively as a team and figured out how we could reach out to clients in a new way. How do we get installers into locked down states? How do we best support someone who is trying to make payroll and put in a new POS system?” After assessing the changes brought on by COVID-19, the team experienced little down time and successfully pivoted to keep projects moving. Antonia’s background working on the front lines of restaurants fueled her drive towards finding a solution. “My heart really goes out to all of the restaurants right now who are pivoting. They’re finding a way to keep their lights on and their employees paid,” she says. Her background allowed her to better understand exactly what restaurateurs were experiencing—and continue to experience—as a result of the pandemic. She’s proud of the work her team is doing around the clock to help Revel’s enterprise clients. The idea is to keep clients moving forward, and help them feel empowered by the flexible technology powering their locations.
Noteworthy Extras
From Antonia’s perspective, team work truly is absolutely essential when working through enterprise-grade projects and long timelines. She’s quick to give credit to the dozens of teammates that help make her job easier, and create a positive install experience for clients. “This work is not done in a silo—I get the chance to work with key teams across the company and it’s really exciting,” she says. “I’m also blown away by the mutual respect and trust our internal teams have for each other. I’ve never heard anyone say ‘that’s not my job’ or ‘that’s not what we do here.’ I’ve only seen team after team focus on the client experience first, and our Revel family always gets the job done.”During a typical enterprise project, Antonia interacts with people across the Revel network. Her own project management team reaches out to every franchisee, walks them through the onboarding process, and helps navigate the contractual side of the project along with deployment scheduling. Revel’s operations team steps in to help review contracts, and the fulfillment team—the unsung heroes according to Antonia—often ship out 30 to 40 terminals per week just for her projects alone. “I always say that my team has a lot of fortitude, and a lot of heart. It all comes down to genuinely want to do a great job for our client,” Antonia shares. Together, everyone has come together to help dozens of clients with 50 or more locations successfully implement Revel as their POS solution.
What’s Next
When Antonia first interviewed at Revel, she was sold by the people she met behind the technology. It didn’t hurt that she shared a similar background in the restaurant and bar industry with many of her future teammates. “What really excited me about Revel was the people. I actually interviewed not knowing if I was ready to make my next career move, but I was super impressed by the people that interviewed me,” she recalls. “I really loved the amount of customer service, passion and heart that they had for the clients.” She remembers thinking that Revel might be a place that she wanted to call home, and after one additional meeting, she was sold on joining the enterprise project management team. Most recently, Antonia has been impressed by the new releases Revel’s product engineers have fast-tracked to market for clients. “We knew we needed to help prepare clients, more than ever, for a digital-first world. And that’s really what we did with our recent 2.66 release,” she says. “We focused on the experience for customers. Our goal is to make it easier for clients to navigate this new world with our digital-first products.” After a few years on the job, Antonia confirms that her initial sentiment remains unchanged. Revel’s team-oriented, client-first approach is what helps drive critical projects—big or small—over the finish line.
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