The Team Behind The Tech: Ashley N Maynor

For today’s The Team Behind The Tech interview, we’re chatting with Ashley N Maynor, Implementation Manager for EnCore (Back Office Billing Solutions) at Routeware.

What might an average day look like for you?

I assist with getting new clients into the system, getting into EnCore and signing up and deploying their systems, helping the data get in there and configuring it, and then training the staff and getting the tool live.

An average day is open to close. Nothing but meetings, and lots of work, spending time internally knocking stuff out and doing work for the clients.

Lately I’ve done a lot more of helping our process internally, as with my team growing, they’re able to take more of the implementation role.

When did you start working at Routeware, and what led you here?

I think it was a little over 7 years ago…it’s a funny story.

I was actually a hair stylist for Super Cuts at that time, and one of my clients was Tom Miller (former Director of Client Support Services). We got to talking, and he asked me if I wanted to come in to support.

He got me a foot in the door here, and being a single mom, it really helped a lot, and then I just kept working. He helped me learn everything there is about computers, and reports and data, and just all of that and kind of built me up from there.

What excites you the most about your work?

What excites me, or or what I’m interested in the most in our industry, is really the processing of materials. Clients that have transfer stations, landfills, materials recovery facilities, and the like, I love being able to watch how they run their entire business.

I think my favorite part would be just the customer, actually probably watching them when I go on site. I really enjoy watching how each client does everything differently.

It’s the same industry, you know, but how everyone goes about it can be so different. It’s fascinating. I really enjoy going from implementing our system to watching the customer run their entire business, and seeing the impact we’ve been able to have.

What would you say is the most interesting or important thing you’ve learned in your work ?

Even though every client could have the same service, they all do it differently.

They all bill differently. They all service differently. They route differently, you know, and so I think that that’s just really interesting, that I’ve learned the industry, and I’ve learned the terminology, but I’m constantly learning about how customers are serviced, you know. So that’s actually really really cool. I’m always learning something new.

The terminology changes from place to place too, and that can be fun. What you might call a roll-off container, Minnesota calls it luggers, and other places might call them open-top containers, skips, or dumpsters.

It is really interesting, and there’s also the fact that EnCore is mostly private haulers, not municipalities. They’re clients that their great grandfather started the business years ago, and then it’s gone through their family.

I think that is really important, because they have better values for their customers, and so they hold us to a higher standard, which I love.

It’s also been really cool and fun to be able to learn the other business units. ReCollect, and Easy Route, the industries they operate in, understanding their processes and making one big system is pretty sick, and it gets pretty cool.

When did you first feel like you were making a difference in your work?

Honestly, it was like a year and a half of being at EnCore before I felt like I had a solid understanding of the full system, because it’s such a massive system, you know.

That said, the wheels turned and I was on site with central Ohio. It was my first client and I wasn’t even ready. But Nate, the owner, he just said, “Hey, you want to go? Go. Be a rockstar.” We needed someone there, and the guy who was doing it before, I transitioned right into his position.

I realized I actually knew what I was doing when questions were coming up and I could answer them without having to ask someone, when I just had the answers stored right up top.

It was that moment at Central Ohio Contractors, for sure, and they come to WasteExpo to give me a hug, every year too. 5 and a half years later, it’s like it was just yesterday.

It’s because these independent haulers, when I go and travel and see them, they take me to dinner, I meet their family, we’ll have dinner at the house, they’ll take me to football games. If they want to go get beers afterwards, it’s tough to turn down, because I’m a beer drinker.

So yeah, I love to connect. That’s my favorite part of the job, connecting with the clients. For sure.