Team Feature – Chris Banks Solution Architect

Our solution architect Chris Banks has discovered he isn’t just a tech geek after ‘morphing’ into a client-facing role, he is actually a people person.

“If you had told me I would be working in the sales team, I would never have believed it,” he said. “I was always the person sat behind a computer writing code and I had never thought of myself as client facing.”

In fact, Chris’ role takes him way beyond the demands of a traditional sales job. It’s his task to understand issues and challenges surrounding accurate vehicle inventory including missing information and discrepancies, such as price inconsistencies which can lead to Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) non-compliance, and integrations with the variety of disparate systems in operation in dealerships.

“We made the decision a while ago that we would always send a tech person with one of our sales people to see a client or potential customer,” Chris explained. “It provides the client with a wider understanding of what we deliver, what’s achievable and we can gain a deeper understanding of their tech set-up.

“I want to be honest with customers. If I don’t think what they want to achieve can be delivered, I will come up with an alternative solution. I want customers to think about issues and solutions they wouldn’t necessarily have thought about and pivot their approach to come up with a different angle.”

Chris has worked in development since 2000 initially starting his career with a design agency providing corporate websites around the time of the dot.com boom. He began his automotive retail journey when he joined 2nd Byte in 2006 which was subsequently acquired by Auto Trader. In 2015, he was one of the founders of TheDevHouse and Autofinity in 2015.

He said: “I enjoy solving complicated problems and I like talking through a customer’s issues with them, the situations they face and the set-up they have in place. I ask the questions they are unlikely to ever ask themselves because they don’t necessarily know it is something they should be thinking about. 

“I think very visually so I will often draw diagrams and work flows whilst I am talking and then draw how I think a problem could be solved.

“I have often been told by clients that I am particularly good at translating tech and I like to think of myself as making tech friendly and accessible for our clients.”

Chris added: “I can speak muggle and I help people understand some of the wizardry in the background.”

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