Meet the A-Team: Derek Lim, Director of Operations
Curious to learn more about the people behind all the best solutions AVOW has? In this series we give you a glimpse of what it’s like to work here, and insights into our team’s biggest achievements.
This time, we sat down with Derek Lim, Director of Operations, who has been with us from the beginning, to learn more about his day to day tasks and motivations to keep improving our systems.
Could you tell us a little bit about your career journey to date?
I started out as a client developer for mobile games and worked on some of the more prominent titles like “Big Hero 6 – Bot Fight” and “Chain chronicles”. There, I have witnessed and contributed to the life cycle from game development to the actual launch of the title. Afterwards, I was given the opportunity to pick up product management in the mobile advertising industry where I have experienced another kind of application development in the mobile advertising world. With all the knowledge and skill sets I have gained over the years I found myself in a great position to contribute to AVOW in terms of technology and processes to ensure the optimal efficiency on day to day operations.
You are responsible for AVOW’s BI, Ad ops and info tech security. What keeps you motivated and pushing forward?
The reason I joined AVOW in the beginning was due to the fact that I have worked with the team in my previous job and I believed strongly in their vision and work ethics. I understood clearly the importance of my role and the absolute trust the team has in me to bring the company to the next level.
Tell us about the most exciting day to day challenges as a Director of Operations at AVOW
Like any other operation managers, one of the keys to success is to eliminate any admin work that is killing the efficiency of the company. To do this, I need to constantly seek out the optimal processes for all teams. Be it – using automation, project management or even creating our own Business intelligence tool, we need to make sure that it brings value to the team and makes their lives easier.
The current challenge is to centralise all reports and that those reports are accurately stored in our BI tool so that we can monitor any shortfalls or even predict what are key problems we will face in the near future.
What should someone bring to the table when pursuing a career in Business Intelligence (BI) and Operations (Ops)?
Depending on the actual role itself, there are different specific skill sets but in general, one should possess good analytical skills, pragmatic problem solving skills and inquisitive mind in order to excel in either operations or BI.
It is very important to know the mechanics of the business in detail but more importantly, he or she should be an independent thinker and have the desire to seek out ways to improve the current operations and should not shy away from providing ideas and suggestions to the team.
What are you doing in your free time? 🙂
When I feel like doing something productive, I will read up on some articles related to the latest technologies in order to keep myself up to date. Other than that, I am still a typical gamer who likes to try new games on the mobile phone. On the side, I love to cook and I enjoy experimenting with new recipes such that I can enrich the options of meal choices to the typical question of “What should we eat today?”
Any tips on what to do around Berlin when you are new in town (best Chinese:)?
For food, there are a couple of favourites when it comes to Chinese cuisines. Dan’s Dim Sum and Shan Shan on the streets of Gleimstraße. On Sundays, flea markets are a thing in Berlin. From awesome street food to creative handcraft work.