Ido van der Wolf has been working at Volkers since July 2018. After completing his studies in Industrial Design Engineering in 2015, he started with separate assignments and then ended up at an export packing company in the position of office sales. “That actually didn't suit me very well,” he says. So he went looking again and found a role as a workflow manager at Volkers. “Over time, the position pleased and expanded into what it is today: consultancy, application management, product owner.” As a Consultant Artwork Connect & application manager, Ido is now an indispensable link in the development and optimization of internal systems and customer-oriented software.
IDO's working day has no fixed structure. “Every day is different, to be honest.” He answers customer questions about Artwork Connect or internal questions about the ERP system. When there are no urgent issues, he focuses on the further development of these systems. “For Artwork Connect, I then try to combine customer needs, the vision from Volkers and the input from the developers into bite-sized blocks to develop.” To keep his knowledge up to date, he closely follows market developments: “I have to say that there is so much to learn that I never feel like I'm really 'up'.” However, sharing knowledge is just as important. “I provide training and demos to customers, but also internally, so that colleagues understand how customers use our software.”
What Ido is most proud of? Without a doubt, the construction and deployment of the project module in Artwork Connect. “That was a major release that we've been working on for almost a year. It ultimately succeeded, including phased training and deployment to customers.” He's also already looking ahead: “In concrete terms, it would be great to be able to launch the new ERP soon.” But his ambition goes beyond just completing projects. “It would be great if we could take the company and thus the packaging industry to a higher level with the software we build.” And what, in his opinion, is the secret to 100 years of Volkers? “The long-term relationship with customers builds trust. And the Volkers family remains strongly involved and believes in the company, even when the going gets tough.”
