Serhii Huzenko, CEO & Owner of Wezom, shared his experience of building his own company and working in war conditions, insights into the organization of processes in Worksection, as well as advice on how to create a successful company of 250+ people.
About the company:
WEZOM is a well-known player in the global IT market, whose clients include John Deere, Aptive, Cooper & Hunter, Toyota Material, Roshen and many others. Over 23 years, WEZOM has successfully implemented more than 3,500 projects. The company specializes in various sectors including logistics, oil and gas, supply chain, real estate and e‑commerce. The WEZOM team was one of the top 100 web development and services companies in the US in 2023.
About the Western market and work during the war
Before the full-scale invasion began, we had certain goals regarding Western customers. We had classic methods of lead generation, including website, SEO traffic, paid advertising, etc. And then — calls with the customers.
When the full-scale invasion began, we started working with a more or less targeted customer base that I had once acquired. Living four of us in one apartment (it was safer), we had been calling potential clients for 8 hours a day. In total, there were about 60 Zoom calls with the presentation of our services. The problem was that the customers did not know us at all, so the conversion rate was low. So we went the following way: provided a free Discovery Stage and held a few more calls. This is how clients saw our work and after that began to buy services.
How did the company come to Worksection?
We found Worksection pretty quickly and didn’t even hesitate. We searched for a CRM for a very long time, tested a lot, and with Worksection — we found it and bought it. We assign tasks in the system, especially for internal projects, on a daily basis because there are a lot of cool tools that we enjoy using. We also give access to our clients if necessary.
How to “accustom” employees to the time tracker?
This was a problem, and still is, to some extent. We have an accounting software that “pulls” data on time spent from Worksection for a certain period. After that, the managers open the report for each department and see the fact sheet for hours worked.
This way, the manager can see the time the employee spent for work. If it is less than planned, the manager finds out the reason directly from the employee. It is convenient to monitor this during the month, because if the malfunction “emerges” at the beginning of the next month, it entails losses. But if there is still some time left before the end of the month, then the employee can complete the required number of hours, and thus reach the planned profit values, marginality, etc.
How to build a company of 250+ people?
Everything was created on one’s own mistakes, of course. Knowledge is needed to run a company, but the most important thing is people and their skills, so I and all the employees at Wezom do our best to make the customer satisfied. And we are all human, so humanity and customer care should be invested in the product and work.
The law of success is perseverance over a long period of time, trials, errors, actions. That’s the only way something can work. The problem is that 99% of people are not ready for this. Wezom is 24 years old, but I learned to make money about 19 years after it was founded. I had mixed thoughts about quitting and going to a place where I could earn 10 times more with my skills. Maybe someone else in my position would have done it faster, but it took me 19 years to understand how things work and persevere.
“We never intended to stop using Worksection…”
We’ve never thought of stopping using Worksection, and we’re not thinking about it now. It has soul and I enjoy working with your system, as all my 250 people do.
Watch the full video interview with Serhii Huzenko on our YouTube channel.
Watch the full video interview with Serhii Huzenko on our YouTube channel.