An interview with Wendy Maisey, Customer Relationship Director, ICC Solutions

When and why did you open the Toronto office?

Our office in Toronto opened in June 2007 partly in response from our clients in North America who expressed an interest in ICC Solutions to have a presence there.  We are centrally located at First Canadian Place on King Street West.

Are you directly involved with the daily running of the Toronto office?

Absolutely!  Although I'm based in the UK I travel to Toronto once a month to meet with our staff and clients.  I try to personally attend any industry events happening in the GTA area.

What is your role at ICC Solutions?

As Customer Relationship Director I meet and guide clients through the sales cycle from initial enquiry to the delivery of our tools.  This involves liaising with our Technical and Business Development Departments to ensure that the clients requirements are fully satisfied.  Although our tools are 'off the shelf' and available immediately, prospective clients enjoy having the opportunity to discuss their requirements - which sometimes turn out to be completely different from the initial enquiry submitted.

Who typically are your clients in North America?

Any organisation implementing chip basically.  We are confident ICC Solutions has the largest market share in Canada for application level test tools.  Of course this makes sense as our portfolio has the largest selection of certification tools available on the market today.  Many customers buy our 'off the shelf' test tools but we also worked to implement bespoke certification packages too.  Click here to see a selection of our North American clients.

Why Toronto for your North American Head Quarters?

Strategically the Board of Directors at ICC Solutions felt it was the best location based on Canada's commitment to roll out chip.  It is also one of the shortest flight times from the UK making it easy for commuting.  We are a global company with 70% of our tools sales being exported from our Corporate Head Quarters in the UK.  A large portion of these sales are to The Americas, so we are now delighted to share our expertise with this Market.  Many mistakes and lessons were learnt from the UK chip implementation and we as a company are keen to see these same mistakes aren't made in Canada - at least in our field of play anyway!

Tool sales aside what do you feel are your biggest achievements in North America?

We were delighted to be chosen by Interac Association to assist with the development of requirements for test tools and certification processes for cards and devices.  Equally pleasing was being selected by two of the largest Canadian acquirers to provide test tools to enable their Merchant Certification process.  We also work very closely with Visa in San Francisco and are delighted to be the only vendor to supply the ADVT qVSDC test kit for North America.

How does working over in Canada differ from your role in the UK?

It's very apparent that the Canadian's enjoy meetings face to face, even if it's just for a quick coffee and chat over dinner.  Being so centrally located in Toronto I can meet 5 or 6 city based clients in one day.  In the UK I'd be lucky to meet with more than 1 in a day.  I find that I can be more focused and productive when working out of Toronto.

What do you do in your spare time over there?

There is never much spare time!  That said, over the weekends in summer time I enjoy walking and cycling around the Harbour and visiting the Islands.  Winter is a different ball game though, I'm confined to the running track at the gym.  I don't think I'll ever get used to just how cold it gets in Canada!

And the downsides to working out of Toronto?

Actually there aren't any!  I have however realised I spend about 1 hour a week waiting for elevators... but it's a small price to pay to work in such a wonderful city.