Esther is one of the newer recruits to the Tacton family, and works as a Product Manager handling the Tacton document engine and SAP-integration. As a native German she is one of many employees at Tacton with experience from working, and growing up, in another country.
As a Product Manager, what do you do at Tacton?
Basically, I make sure the requests, complaints, and feedback from our customers makes their way into updates of our products.
For example, I visit customers and sit by them as they work with our product to learn how they really use it. For example, do our customers actually use that new button we added and if not, why not? This is very enlightening but also a great way to find out about problems before they turn into complaints. Outside of that, I also have regular meetings with representatives from our customers in a more formal setup where we discuss issues with the product and possible improvements.
With this type of feedback from our customers, I can distinguish the changes needed for the product and promote these functionalities towards our development department. After the functionalities have been developed we perform new usability tests and finally release the updated product back to the market. The whole idea is to make sure important new functionalities are implemented into the product as soon as possible after the need has been discovered.
You work with Document Generation. What is that?
An important part of CPQ is to dynamically create documentation based on the product configuration. The slightest alteration of a product configuration could have large implications on everything from details in the user manual to legal documents related to the product. In addition to that, changes of the product also change the product images, the Bill of Material, technical specifications, quotations etc. The Tacton CPQ generates these documents on the fly and it is my responsibility to make sure it all works.
You are also responsible for Tacton’s SAP integration, could you tell us something about that?
Tacton CPQ can integrate with SAP ERP to create quotes and orders, among many things, and I am responsible for these and similar products. The work with these products is a great challenge and a lot of fun.
I am currently working with a development team of highly experienced integration and SAP VC experts for a research project where we dig deep into the topic of SAP integration. This project is just about to go live with SAP integration options for our products Tacton CPQ and Tacton Extensions: Business Data for SAP and Business Logic for SAP, so I have my hands full at the moment – but that’s how I like it!
“My feeling is that Tacton picks the best people, no matter where they are from.”
What is your impression from your first time at Tacton?
My strongest impression has been the people working here! There is an amazing work culture at Tacton with fantastic, smart, and creative people. People are quite unique and have very different backgrounds, which creates an interesting workplace.
I have also noted that many of my colleagues, just like me, have backgrounds from different countries. My feeling is that Tacton picks the best people, no matter where they are from.
What is the difference between working in Germany compared to Sweden?
In general, I find the workplaces in Sweden to be less formal and not to be very hierarchical. Something I like about working at Tacton specifically is that there is a good balance between work and the rest of your life priorities here.
On the other hand, I believe decisions too often need to be consensus based in Swedish companies. I think German companies are better in that aspect.
What do you do when you’re not working?
I do a lot of sports: running, squash, biking, and yoga for example. I also like to cook and listen to opera, especially when I travel to new cities.
Esther Bergmark
Product Manager | Magister Degree in Media Sciences, Sinology and Political Science | Stockholm | 11 months at Tacton
Passionate about: Sports, cooking, and opera