Meet the Team: Behind the Scenes - Alan

Hello and welcome to our second series! This month, I, Paloma (you may remember me from our previous series), will be interviewing the one and only Alan!

We will start with the obvious.

Name:

Alan Long

Position:

Managing Director of Creatio

We know that you’re the “big boss” but what do you exactly do at Creatio?

Well, as the Managing Director, I get to wear many hats! From overseeing the company's operations to setting the strategic direction to fostering a culture of innovation and creativity within the team, my role is diverse and ever-evolving. 

What’s your favourite part of your job?

My favourite part of the job is being able to create new things and doing things differently from the rest and before they even consider doing it. 

I enjoy being able to work with the team to come up with innovative ideas and solutions that make us stand out from others in the sector. It's an incredible feeling to see ideas evolve and come to life and positively impact our clients.

And this is what motivates me each day – more so this year in our 15th year as a company, as much as it did when I first set up the business. 

What’s your background? (we all know you worked for QCA, booooring, talk about pool and other stuff)

Yes I had nearly 10 great years at QCA before they became Ofqual and loved the job. 

Before then I had a random and varied background from working in my dad’s pub back in the 80s and 90s to labouring, roofing, working in Douglas Hogg’s Ministerial Office at the time of the BSE/Mad Cow Disease crisis and helping to prepare Ministerial and Prime Minister briefings, to teaching IT at a college in London.

But what most people find interesting is that I used to be London pool champion and got to the National Finals a few times. I'm still passionate about pool and truly believe it helped me in my career and here at Creatio. As in pool you always have to think one, two, three shots ahead. 

So with staff being in the office less due to post-Covid ways of working, I took the opportunity to get a pool table for the team to enjoy – and of course myself. When I'm alone in the office, you would undoubtedly catch me playing a game or two while brainstorming solutions and singing along to some cheesy classics from my pool days, like Don McClean's American Pie, the Monkeys' Daydream Believer, or Inner Circle's Sweat – A La, La, La, La Long.

What energises you at work?

What really energises me is seeing the team come together and work collaboratively on a project or to solve a problem a client has posed to us.

Their creative and innovative spirit and dedication to their work and clients is contagious, and I'm constantly inspired by the passion that everyone brings. It's amazing to see what and how they achieve things and continually push the limits.

They truly embody our company’s core values on a daily basis:

• client-focused, 
• always looking for a solution, 
• be the best, and 
• have fun and enjoy. 

It really is fun and inspiring to work with them. 

I have the easy bit - they do a lot of the truly amazing stuff.

And now is where the fun starts, and you get to meet us a bit more in-depth.

What do you like to do when you’re not working?

When I'm not working, I enjoy spending time with my furry best friend Chewie – named after Chewbacca due to his looks and the fact that I was a big Star Wars fan as you can see from the picture.

He keeps me busy with his walks. We constantly get stopped by people asking what type of breed he is as he is pretty unique. In fact Chewie won Best Male in Twickenham at last year’s Twickenham Dog Show – we were walking by and they asked us to enter and I couldn’t believe it when we won.  

What is the most interesting/unique or fun fact about you?

One of the most interesting things about me now is that I live on Eel Pie Island - famous for music concerts back in the day – the Rolling Stones played there amongst others. It's a quirky and fun place to live, and it's just a short walk to the office, which is convenient.

Also I was named after Sir Alan Sugar – true fact. My mum and her sisters worked for him in his first factory back in the 70s and hence they all liked him and the name! 

Your most “useless” skill.

Well, it's not entirely useless, but I can carry four pints without spilling a drop, thanks to my experience working in my dad's pub and being half-Irish.

We know you are the real Star Wars geek of the company, but let’s be honest, how many Star Wars Movies/TV shows have you watched, and how many times?

I've watched all the Star Wars movies multiple times. Although for me – the original three cannot be beat.

Not going to ask if you are a Spurs fan because we all know the answer, the question is, WHY?

Yes, I'm a huge Spurs fan! I grew up in North London near Tottenham and hence became a Spurs fan and I love going to the games – although at times that love is tested due to the way we play. But hey I live in hope that one day we’ll win something again soon! 

Your favourite podcasts/books/albums you can’t stop listening or talking about.

Before Covid I wasn’t really into podcasts but since then I’ve got into listening to various self-help/motivational podcasts. I even went to see Derren Brown recently – amazing show - and have just signed up to go to Tony Robinson’s “Unleash the power within’ conference in July. I’ll let you now how I get on with the hot-coal-walking at the event.

Music-wise I listen to all sorts and the staff here are like my kids – forever taking the micky out of my old school and random taste. Since moving to Eel Pie Island, I bought a record player and started building my vinyl collection. 

I guess you could say in this post-covid world I have gained a newfound perspective on life, priorities, and balance, and have come to appreciate them in a whole new way. That and the fact that I’m lucky to work with an incredible team here as we embark on the next exciting phase of our journey.

I think that’s a good place to end it for today. Thanks Paloma for the interview. 

And that is it for now! Thank you for joining us in this monthly series of "Meet the Team: Behind the Scenes".