People in Lighting: Debbie Connolly
Companies are defined by the people who work for them: for over a century, Schréder has been at the forefront of lighting thanks to its employees worldwide. While our lighting solutions, from the Champs-Élysées to NorthConnex, a nine-kilometre long, two-tube, twin-lane tunnel in Sydney, are extremely visible, a lot of the work behind the scenes isn’t. From logistics to HR, there’s a huge team behind getting the lights working - and Life@Schréder tells the stories of the people who make Schréder what it is.
Debbie Connolly provides systems support at Schréder in Sydney, Australia. She just celebrated her 30th work anniversary; her team became part of Schréder in the 2020 acquisition of Gerard’s Sylvania lighting division. After several years in the finance department, she took on a project role to make the most of her encyclopaedic knowledge of the company and its processes. Dedicated to improving the way things work, she’s been involved in numerous transitions, and plays a vital role in the latest one, as Schréder transfers to a new company-wide Enterprise resource planning (ERP) system.
I sit between the users and the technical team…
Even though I’m IT, I’m not a programmer. I understand how things work, I can interpret both sides, I’m kind of the bridge. We implemented Movex, our ERP system, managing communications between the experts and our team. At the time, Gerard Lighting was growing by acquiring other companies, so I was involved in moving them from their software to our ERP software, so I was involved in eight implementations at least.
My job is continuous improvement…
I support our ERP system, I support our Customer Relationship Management (CRM) system, and I understand how all the pieces of the business hang together. If I don’t know the answer, I know who to ask! If we want to improve a process, I understand how it all flows through. Our job in our department is to enable everyone else to do their jobs efficiently.
I like the ethos of Schréder…
It’s been two years and I like what I see so far! I’m from a finance background, so I like the structure they have, and the questions they are asking are the right ones ahead of the big integration. I also like the environmental goals they have. There’s been a real emphasis on reducing unnecessary waste, cutting back on packaging, saving energy… it’s great to see we’re doing our bit.
And the fact it’s a family company…
Gerard Lighting started small: after I came back from maternity leave the whole team watched my children grow up, the management were like family. Over the years we became part of a bigger group, so it’s nice that it’s a family company again.
We’re a very small team…
I manage a team of three and we look after many different areas including the database for all our products. Peiying, our boss, calls our department the “Swiss Army Knife” because we get everything done. If there’s a transaction that looks a bit complicated, I play detective, if there's a report that somebody needs, I’m involved in that. We’re just training up a new logistics coordinator… there’s a real variety.
There’s no such thing as a typical day…
That’s why I’ve stayed in this job so long! No two days are the same. I would get bored doing an ordinary job, I think. I’m currently working out what colleagues need from the new system and getting training on how to provide it.
I’m really proud of…
I don’t have a big “look at this sports ground” moment, we’re beavering away in the background. One of things I am proud of is the way we’ve moved our systems across during the integration with Schréder. We went live just as we went into COVID lockdown, we moved office into a different suburb of Sydney at the same time, and our team kept everything running. That’s quite an achievement!
The next challenge is coming…
The Schréder Group will soon be implementing a new ERP system to streamline business processes and improve the customer experience worldwide. For the last 20-odd years I’ve been moving people onto our system, now I’m going to move our system on to somebody else’s. It should be good, I like learning new things. Our current system, Movex, doesn't have all the bells and whistles, although it’s still very reliable! So our focus now is on data cleansing and getting best practices in place ahead of the shift.
Schréder has a good approach to work/life balance…
Outside of work, I do dragon boats, cross-country mountain biking and hiking, and my husband and I also do the Mystery Box Rally every year. It’s great fun. You get a car which is 25 years old and go on a five day rally through remote parts of Australia, with mechanics to support you. This year we took a 91 Nissan Pulsar from Port Lincoln SA, along the Oodnadatta Track through to the Flinders Ranges. Best of all, it’s all raising money for cancer research.
Connect with Debbie on LinkedIn.