More McCormack
Chief Technology Officer
Bluedge (formerly NRI)
When does custom beer brewing and mountaineering add up to the Chief Technology Officer?
When it’s More McCormack at Bluedge!
An interesting combination to be sure, but More McCormack, Chief Technology Officer at Bluedge says his love of the outdoors and custom beer brewing have a lot in common with his role in technology at Bluedge (formerly NRI).
“Everything you do out on a mountain, especially in the winter, needs to be done purposefully and very carefully so you don’t fall or fail.” That’s the best way he can relate his hobbies to his role as CTO at Bluedge. The same goes for his beer-brewing hobby, “It’s really quite a technical process, and it fits my nature.”
More’s role at Bluedge is as varied as a mountainside. From a sales perspective, “I own the technology piece” he says. Presentations, understanding prospect requirements and determining what the right technical solution is for them—these are all within his scope of operations. Demonstrating particular Bluedge technologies for both prospects and clients are included in his day-to-day duties as well. He is the “go-to” guy for technology at Bluedge.
We posed a few questions to More and here's what he had to say:
On your LinkedIn profile, your featured skills and endorsements are in the cloud computing, solution selling and enterprise software industries. How does this help your clients?
These are just a few of the skills I have. I’m a strong advocate of cloud computing for Bluedge and moving things to the cloud for a current successful project. Solution selling is where I have to go in and meet with the client to understand what their business problems are--from a non-technical aspect--then interpret that conversation into a solution with technology.
You’re an outdoorsman who lives in Brooklyn. How does your hobby of mountaineering/ ice climbing/rock climbing/cross country skiing help you at work?
Well, it’s all very technical. It’s almost scientific in certain aspects, so that when you’re out in a crazy environment hanging by a pair of crampons (spiky boots) and a couple of ice axes, you need to move carefully and move with purpose so you don’t fall or fail. Everything you do out there--especially in the winter--you need to move with purpose and carefully. It’s the same with my job: I need to move wisely. That’s the best analogy of relating the job to the outdoor climbing experiences.
What are your biggest assets at work?
Certainly my longevity here is very helpful—19 years! I have lots of legacy information and my ability to be very forward thinking is useful. I’m not afraid of change and I’m not hung up in the past. I came up through the ranks at NRI, so I know everyone on the shop floor--from Doug Magid down to the porter!
How does your Architecture degree help you at work?
That gives me a lot of credibility when I’m in front of the client, I understand their business and they pick up on that very quickly.
What is your advice to others in the digital printing industry?
Stay on top of the new technology and don’t stop being inquisitive about what’s available and what’s out there for you to use. If you become afraid of change, you’ll become irrelevant in this industry very quickly.
What amount of your time is spent investigating better operational efficiencies and do you think every company (large or small) needs to do this?
Right now it’s probably 65% of my time. We’re in the beginning phases of implementing a new ERP system. An ERP system is Enterprise Resource Planning—the software that runs your business from start to finish. Everything is in this—from CRM to estimating to moving the job through production and out the door. It’s a major project that will take me about a year.
Do you employ any special techniques in time management?
I put together a list of tasks every morning that I want to get accomplished by the end of the day. That’s a primary thing, I stick to it as close as I can.
Can you relate any of your expertise with specific products/services that Bluedge provides to customers?
I have a lot of input into our 3D services, but I’m not as relevant because the technology has pretty much stabilized. We’ve built a strong online portal so we can compete with others in the 3D parts arena. And because we’re part owners of Sepialine, I help to develop the Printerpoint and Argos software products and take them to the next level, hopefully influencing their direction.
Do you like to disconnect and if so why?
Yes I do! That’s why I go out in the woods! We live in such a connected world. In order to stop and smell the roses it’s good to turn off the phone.
We hear you brew your own beer, tell us how that fits into your life?
Again, it’s something that’s a very technical, scientific process. It fits my nature. I do lots of cooking and I have a fairly large vegetable garden where I grow my own vegetables. I can and preserve my own food as well plus I dehydrate food.
And so we’ve finished this where we started. The technical aspects of navigating the outdoors combined with the scientific properties of beer brewing make More McCormack a very interesting Chief Technical Officer at Bluedge!