Meet Saranyan Kugapiragasam, elementsuite’s very own Graduate Delivery Consultant.
Saranyan joined our growing elementsuite family in January 2022, after graduating from The University of Warwick with a degree in Maths and Physics.
Though he has only been with us for a short 11 months, Saranyan has proved himself to be an invaluable member of his team and elementsuite, leading client training workshops and supporting other modules in the software delivery.
But instead of us telling you about how amazingly well he has settled into his role – we asked Saranyan to tell you a little about his journey so far, himself…
What attracted you to work at elementsuite?
Coming out of university, I knew straight away that I wanted to be part of the digital revolution. So when searching for a role in the technology industry, elementsuite stood out amongst the majority of potential employers I was interviewing for.
Not only is elementsuite a UK based company with big clients such as McDonald’s and Krispy Kreme, but it is always bringing out new features to upgrade the software. That’s when I knew that this is a company that values innovation. A company that is going to move forward with the times. And that’s the type of company I wanted to work for.
But to be honest, the fact that elementsuite is a small (but fast growing) company also appealed to me. By joining a small company with big ambitions, I knew it would give me the exposure to different areas of the business than I wouldn’t typically get at a larger organisation.
What was your first week like at elementsuite?
This is my first corporate job and as you can imagine, I was quite nervous walking into the office on my first day.
I remember within my first few hours, my manager at the time had shown me around the office and introduced me to everyone. While at first I was nervous, wondering if I would fit in – everyone was so welcoming. I instantly felt a sense of belonging and that really added to the whole experience.
During my first week, I was also enrolled onto an ISO course. While it was a lengthy course, it really helped understand the importance and value of effectively handling sensitive HR data. And I can’t express how happy that I was enrolled on to the course, because when working for a HR software that holds highly confidential people data, you need to know how to upkeep the upmost security.
Besides meeting my colleagues and training, I got really lucky in my first week at elementsuite. One of our clients had just been onboarded on to the delivery team, and I was invited to sit in on my first EVER client call!
It was great to see how our team operated and the kind of work that we did. I also got to meet the client, which was really cool.
Thinking about it, the timing of me starting couldn’t have been any better! As during my first few months, I have had the opportunity to see how the client’s journey has progressed with the delivery team – from start to finish.
What does a typical day as a Graduate Delivery Consultant at elementsuite consist of?
Its hard to say, as every day is different. We have various different clients and no two clients are the same in the delivery team.
To give a bit of background, the aim of the delivery team is to implement elementsuite’s HR software into our clients businesses. So a typical day usually involves: quite a lot of testing, workshops, and client training.
Internally, there is also a lot of interaction and collaboration with different teams to get things running as smoothly as possible. For instance, during the delivery process, it could be that we need to make a change to the code, or fix an identified bug. That’s where we would turn to the development team who manage the code of the software.
The beauty of being part of a small company is that everyone knows each other, so it’s easy to build relationships and get the help when you need it.
Unlike other graduate roles in the SaaS industry, you were client facing within your first month at elementsuite. How do you feel that you have benefited from this client exposure?
There is one thing that being client facing has made me realise, and that is how the elementsuite software is very people-centric. By that, I mean that the software is more about meeting people’s needs, rather than just a process to implement a HR software.
Speaking with client’s face-face (or virtually) has helped me understand the people and their business. And having that understanding is really important in my role. As it makes it lot easier when doing the configuration because you understand the clients business processes in more detail.
So personally, having that client exposure has been key to helping me be better at my job and help our clients get the product that meets their individual business needs.
What has been the highlight of your journey at elementsuite so far?
A few months ago, I was given the opportunity to lead a few client training workshops on our recruitment module.
It was such a great experience, as I would have never imagined that so early in my career I would be given the opportunity to lead not only one client training workshop, but multiple client training workshops.
That was probably the biggest highlight of my elementsuite journey, so far.
But I can also say that working on the payroll module was also interesting. As a Graduate Delivery Consultant, I am still learning the different modules of the software. So getting to learn more about the functionality of the payroll module really gave me insight into how important getting payroll right is for clients and how our HR software can solve that.
Where would you say a graduate’s role sits within driving the success of elementsuite?
Recently there has been a huge intake of graduates within elementsuite. And to be honest, it is really nice to see young people like me coming into the business.
As graduates, we may not have a wealth of experience in working in HR technology, but we are used to learning and taking in new information. That mentality that we bring to the table is second to none. Because we graduates strive to continuously learn and improve not only ourselves, but the operational processes and the product.
That’s why I would say graduates play a huge role in driving the success of elementsuite – to help it grow into the future.
If you could give one piece of advice to a new Graduate Delivery Consultant coming into elementsuite, what would it be?
Don’t be afraid to ask questions. I know that sometimes asking questions can make you feel vulnerable. But asking questions is really important for your learning.
And what I would also advise, is to ask that question to more than one person.
See, everyone will have different knowledge sets. So if you ask two different people the same question, you are likely to get two different viewpoints of the same thing. And that at the end of the day, will help you understand your question a lot better.
Also, I recommend you get talking with different people in the business. Everyone is so friendly and by speaking to people in different departments, you will get a better understanding of the businesses as a whole and how all the different teams fit in together.
