“Right from the start, I have been really impressed with Marco. He has a well-rounded set of skills well suited to consultancy, is able to tackle technical challenges and have business conversations, and he is a true ‘T’ shaped resource, willing and able to perform a range of functions across delivery requirements. I can really relate to his attitude of building his own toolbox of skills which he can apply to the trade when needed.”

Iain Falconer – Senior Business Manager and MuleSoft Practice Lead

Tell us a bit about your role.

I’m an Integration Consultant. My role is to provide leadership, design and development expertise in the field of MuleSoft integration.

As part of my role, I work very closely with our clients to ensure that we’re delivering value to their business and are continuing to look for areas of improvement. In the fast-changing world of integration, I find it rewarding to see our clients be able to adapt quickly to meet the demands of their customers – and achieving this through connectivity. The result of this from the customers’ perspective is that they get timely and relevant information so that they can access all the services they need very easily. Integration enables us to orchestrate data from disparate systems and present underlying information in a useful format.

Tell us a bit about your background, your mission in life, what gets you out of bed in the morning…

Ko Marco tōku ingoa. No Piripini ōku tīpuna. Kei te noho au ki Tāmaki Makaurau.

My name is Marco. My ancestors are from the Philippines. I live in Auckland.

The question ‘what is my mission in life’ is a hard one, because it’s difficult to distill this into just one statement. I would describe myself as someone who is goal-driven. The recurring theme of my goals is self-improvement and being able to help other people, and sometimes these two things are intertwined, because to be able to help other people you need to help yourself.

What brought you to Davanti, and what are you most looking forward to in your role?

Before joining Davanti I worked in the health IT sector as an integration developer, and was part of the same development team for more than 11 years. While I enjoyed the role and extremely thankful for the experience I’ve acquired, I wanted change. I set a goal to be a cloud-first developer within a year and found an opportunity at Davanti. I learnt they are a trusted leader in delivering cloud solutions and growing their integration practice.

When I worked in the same sector for over a decade, it didn’t afford me the opportunity to explore other areas. With Davanti I can work with clients in different industries which excites me and I enjoy having variety in my role.

Finally, having worked here for a few months now, I’ve found the people I work with are very skilled, professional, kind, and helpful.

How do you help customers achieve connected experiences, and how does this improve their lives or achieve business outcomes?

Businesses of today are actively looking for ways to meet the needs of their customers in a world where almost everything is available on-demand. One classic example is banking. We used to interact with a teller by physically visiting a bank and now most of us merely interact with a mobile app. This is how significantly customer experiences have evolved. In this, there is a greater level of expectation on virtually all businesses to offer on-demand convenience to customers.

Davanti plays a key role in helping our customers deliver solutions, ensuring their services are available at the user’s fingertips. Integration supports this by enabling timely and relevant information to be more accessible.

In your conversations with customers right now, what’s the one thing they’re thinking about and focusing on this year when it comes to transforming their customer experience?

Customers want more accessible, more intuitive, and easier experiences. Our clients are adapting to meet this demand. One of the ways they achieve this is by delivering greater convenience through a connected mobile experience.

Outside of technology, our clients are looking for ways to better relate to their customers. I find that they are perceptive of their customers’ diversity and unique needs.

When you’re not busy helping our clients get closer to their customers, how do you spend your time?

Fitness makes up a huge chunk of my free time. Out of lockdown this is primarily weight training, but when I don’t have access to fitness facilities, I improvise. I take up new challenges every now and again. I ran my first half marathon this year for example. I often joke that if I run another half marathon I can start telling people I’ve done a full one!

I’m also a big fan of comedy. Watching stand-up comedy has always been a guilty pleasure of mine.

What are you reading at the moment?

Because Internet: Understanding the New Rules of Language, by Gretchen McCulloch.

This book talks about how language is evolving, and how internet culture has changed the way people communicate. I have experience in writing and my tendency is to stick to very strict conventions around grammar and structure. This book is a reminder for me that for language to be valid it doesn’t have to stick to very tight rules.

Favourite quote or mantra?

“Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic” – Arthur C. Clarke

Marco Tabago is an Auckland-based Integration Consultant in Davanti’s Integration team.