Welcome to Templafy, Jean-Marc Chanoine!

Jean-Marc recently joined our New York office from Accenture, where he was a Senior Strategy Consultant. We sat down to hear more about Jean-Marc’s experience as a consultant and lawyer in the US Navy – and of course why he chose Templafy as his next career step!

Tell us a bit about your experience at Accenture:

I had a wonderful time at Accenture. The leadership was phenomenal, that’s where I learned what digital transformation was all about. I worked as a strategy consultant focusing on organizational re-design and process improvement leveraging the best available technology. I learned how to dissect large scale organizational issues – focusing on the human element, and not just the technology or process. My time at Accenture made me a well-rounded professional and ready to take on the world.

You’ve helped Accenture lead companies through digital transformations and organizational redesigns. What are the common challenges and opportunities you’ve noticed for enterprises undergoing digital transformation?

The most common challenge centers around change management. A company can buy the best technology, have excellent organization design, and great process but still fail to truly harness the full benefits of their digital transformation efforts if end-users fail to adopt the redesign. In the past companies would buy software and think about available features instead of how employees would use the product when faced with real life problems. Digital transformation requires taking into consideration how professionals will adopt the transformation coming their way.

Leaders need to understand how end-users work with the technology. A mindset shift is needed here. Implementation of new systems can be relatively straightforward, however, getting people to change the way they work can be difficult. The important question is how will end-users react to the change? Will they find work-arounds? As they say at Templafy, “employees want to do the right thing but will often take the path of least resistance.” The point is to make doing the right thing the path of least resistance with platforms such as Templafy.

How do you think a SaaS platform like Templafy fits within this new infrastructure and organizational change?

A great opportunity I see is changing how enterprises share information. Leaders will spend millions creating content and perfecting a brand, while relying on inefficient means to distribute this content. Even worse are circumstances where individuals store information on their hard-drives where the data is available only to those in the know. A lot of effort on creation and very little on efficient distribution. Templafy is an excellent way to get the right content to the right people in your organization.

Templafy fits perfectly at the center of creating and distributing content to the right people in an easy and intuitive way. It integrates well with other platforms and ALL organizations can benefit from Templafy. Templafy lives organically within the user interface of the Microsoft Office tools we use the most. Templafy is designed to work seamlessly with office applications. Users do not have to go out of their way to harness Templafy’s power. Users have instant access to the latest greatest content the company is generating and then users can perfect that content with Templafy’s productivity tools. Musicians, artist, and athletes are often obsessed with getting the best out of the tools of their trade, Templafy allows business professionals to get the best out of theirs – pushing Word, PowerPoint, and Outlook to their full potential.

What compelled you to make the move from consultancy to enterprise account management?

That is an interesting question…. I didn’t make the shift from consultancy to enterprise account management, I made the shift from consultancy to Templafy. Once I saw Templafy in action I was compelled to make the change. I think it’s just a matter of time before the world realizes Templafy’s amazing potential.

What advice do you have for other consultants or lawyers hoping to make the move to a growth-stage tech company?

Keep an open mind and be ready to change the way you work. You must be able to quickly adapt to dynamic, changing environments and create structure for yourself. However, remember that you were hired for a reason so don’t be afraid to share what you have learned over the years.

You were a Lawyer for the US Navy for 5 years: how does your background in law – and in the US Navy – influence the work you do now?

The US Navy taught me to create the purpose of mission with my teams. The Purpose of Mission means a singular drive towards a unified goal. Growing fast requires the team to unite and move in the same direction. Templafy’s quick growth is definitely propelled by a shared vision. What is key? It’s to pause for a moment when you realize the team is not on the same page and then push forward again. At Templafy it feels like everyone has the same mission of growing the company, delivering excellent service, and creating state of the art technology for our customers.

Our new colleagues starting in our US and Berlin offices make a pilgrimage to our Copenhagen office. Tell us about your experiences and impressions of Templafy so far:

It’s been awesome! Who doesn’t want to go to probably the happiest country on the planet – Copenhagen is a beautiful city with very welcoming people. Everyone at Templafy has gone out of their way to help me understand the product and the nuances of best delivering value to our customers. It’s great to be in a place where people don’t wait for you to come to them for help, they come to you. You feel extremely welcome and part of a something greater than yourself. You can feel that people are passionate here. You feel that management cares. There’s nothing like it.

So, in a nutshell, why did you join Templafy?

The reason I joined Templafy is two-fold.

First, it’s an excellent product! I truly believe Templafy will become a critical part of doing business around the world. I see it as a competitive advantage that will have immediate impact on the bottom line. Devices and technology should be easy to use and Templafy is extremely easy to use and maintain.

Another reason is that the founders of the company are very hands on and that, to me, is everything. The leadership is 75% of why I joined. I believe in them. The founders secured the help of an extremely experienced CEO in Jesper and it made me realize that the company was more important than personal objectives or titles. I wanted to work for these kinds of leaders.