Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/599730
20 The PCB Design Magazine • November 2015 lieve our location, Silicon Valley, is a strategic advantage for us. This is still the hub of technol- ogy and innovation. Paper: The city of Fremont has really trans- formed itself into the manufacturing hub to Silicon Valley. Matties: And you're sitting right next door to tes- la, which is a driving force. Garcia: Fremont has been great for us. Since Tesla moved here the city has really seen a lot of growth in terms of technology companies relocating here. We feel like we're a couple of steps ahead of everybody right now with what we're doing internally. It all goes back to the customer experience. That's the most important thing to me is that every one of our customers love us. I want them to love us. We need to be as seamless and as easy as possible for them. I think that's our driving force. and because we deal with such a variety of customers, we see a lot of the challenges that our customers see. We take that data, and we want to fix it for the cus- tomer without them really realizing it and in- troduce these tools that make them say, "Wow, this makes my life easier." Paper: You know how you have that consumer buying experience that you almost think is too easy or too seamless? Like if you buy that some- thing on Amazon and it shows up on your door on a Sunday. That's the type of experience we think customers should be having, and I don't think anybody's accomplished that in the in- dustry yet. There's still tons of room for growth to try to improve that part of the buying experi- ence. Matties: do you think that's an online experi- ence, or are you talking salesperson to customer? Garcia: I think it's across the board. Take the quote process for example. You've got to wait for a quote, and when you receive the quote then the buyer has to issue a P.O. and that whole pro- cess. That takes time. I think in this day and age it should just be seamless for everybody. Matties: With the Web model it almost builds a wall between you and your customer though, in that they can just go and put in an order. they press a button and then the boards are going to arrive at their doorstep. is that pretty much how it works? Paper: Yes. Matties: Where do i get the user experience other than that? how do i build that relationship with you? Paper: We offer multiple options in terms of buying. We have the account managers if you need that extra level of service or support with your order. Some of our account managers have been with us for more than 30 years. They un- derstand the business, and they've got a depth of knowledge that's helpful for customers. We offer that experience, and some customers pre- fer that. We also have this growing base of…I was going to say millennials. I don't know if they're all millennials, but a lot of them have just started with PCB design. They're makers. They're hobbyists. Some of them are profes- sional design engineers that just don't want to pick up the phone and talk to anybody. It really just depends, but there's definitely demand for an online experience. You could call it a walled garden or whatever you want, but people want that experience. They want to be able to be in their house at 3 a.m. and sub- mit an order and not have to go through that process Stephen described where they're wait- ing for a quote to move forward with an order. GOOD IN, GOOD OuT: BAY AREA CIRCuITS DISCuSSES DATA STRATEGIES feature interview