At Interpath Services, we pride ourselves on the highly trained specialists and experts that make up our team - whether on the road or in the warehouse. Ashleigh Foster began her career at Interpath in 2019 and has since become an integral part of operations.
What's your career background?
I’ve worked in administration for close to 20 years mainly within the local government sector. I came to Interpath on a temporary contract as an administrator, and after being with the business for 3 months, I was hired full time - then 6 months later, I was promoted to Team Leader of Customer Service before progressing to Customer Service Manager shortly after.
It was a role I wasn’t looking for but I'm glad the opportunity presented itself for me to grab with both hands.
Tell us about your role.
As the Customer Service Manager at Interpath, I deal with customer relationship management alongside supporting my team with order management, enquiry filtering and corrective action administration for our customer base.
My involvement with the business during the pandemic has given me an elevated understanding of many products that assists with providing a higher level of support to my team and the customers. My vast administration background has allowed me to be of assistance with system implementations, analysis of data and the creation of new processes to enhance our customers experience which includes moving forward digitally.
What most do you like about your role?
The people and the purpose behind what we sell.
Our products make their way into hospitals, pathology and research institutes who are doing amazing work within the industry. Knowing that our service and the products we supply are part of many projects alongside aiding the hospital networks with daily operations makes me proud of what we do and how we do it.
When you started with Interpath what most surprised you?
The different types of products and the industries that can utilise the same product in vastly different wants.
As an example, swabs are used in many industries such as medical, veterinary, food processing which I wasn’t aware of the specifics prior where the same product is used but for different testing requirements.
What are some of the challenges you see the market is facing?
There is a lot of the same product categories which makes it a competitive market. If delays happen, my team reassure our customers that we are managing this for them. They value this greatly and this sets us up for success.
What are your main priorities for the year?
Moving forward digitally within our customer orders and systems space which is paramount to providing an even higher level of service to our customers. We have moved up to 80% over the past two years allowing us to spend more time to support our customers with other queries and value-added discussions.
What do you expect the big industry trends to be of the year?
Instrumentation and automation being introduced to pathology and laboratory customers. This requires more technical and experienced support for our customers, leaning these new trends and developments comes from our strategic supply partners.
What’s the biggest challenge facing the industry right now?
Funding in academia can be a challenge within the university and research sectors again creating a competitive market. With reduced money hitting the sector our customers are looking for cost management solutions whilst maintaining high quality research outcomes.
We provide high quality products that support research for cancer treatment, cell culture development and diagnostic solutions, so its important meet these needs.
What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned over the past 12-18 months?
Every day is a learning experience, we should always strive to do our best as obstacles promote development and growth. A positive outcome comes from a positive approach.