Caroline Thompson – Ask Bongo Business Development Manager
Caroline Thompson is a successful business executive who possesses impressive professional accomplishments. She is strongly motivated to explore various types of opportunities in mobile information and other technology-based industries and this is what led her to come up with Ask Bongo, a SMS information service based in Australia where she is the Business Development Manager.
The SMS service utilizes highly sophisticated software and is managed by a team of motivated experts and researchers who have helped keep it functional. With the experience she has gained, Caroline came up with a Bongo persona, an intelligent monkey that answers queries sent through SMS.
Here is an interview with Caroline that should help you get more information about her life and company.
What are some things that you love?
I love exploring things that bring fear into others, and because of my curiosity and courage, I have been able to establish myself as a successful business executive.
Furthermore, I love researching and learning new things in the tech industry that I can use to help me excel in my career.
I came up with Ask Bongo as a trial at first and many people told me that I wouldn’t be able to turn it into a success. However, I remained motivated, kept exploring different options, and now it is one of the most established SMS services.
What is your favorite type of food?
Food, now this is a good topic.
I love pizza, especially the ones that are available in America – who knew there were so many options!
I also love most Australian dishes, however, when I’m working I make sure I go with healthy choices such as kale and fruit.
During my off time, you can bet I’m loading up on comfort food to help me relax – yes, this includes pizza.
What are your aspirations in life?
I aspire to be able to handle any task that comes my way head on. For example, I want to continue developing Ask Bongo so it becomes a service that is embraced worldwide. I would love to see people using it in countries outside of Australia!
My goal is that people come to it first for everything ranging from getting information about financial records, stock quotes, to the latest news in different markets.
I’ve always dreamed that I would be able to create and/or be a part of something that changes the way people interact with businesses when they are looking for information.
What is one thing you have learnt since starting your career?
Since starting my career, one of the main things that I learned was that it is so important to keep up with what goes on in the technology space. That is, if you want your business to grow anyways.
Technology changes so rapidly and it impacts businesses on multiple levels.
For example, in my space, I have to make sure that I know what’s happening with technology so I can keep my business relevant, offer innovative solutions to my customer base, and make sure their needs are being met and/or exceeded.
The second thing I learned is that you have to be passionate about what you’re doing.
Passion is the key driver behind successful businesses. My passion about technology and current trends is what helped keep me going in my early days when everyone else told me I was just setting myself up for failure and disappointment.
What’s one piece of advice you can share with others?
My best piece of advice is that you need to learn from your mistakes and adjust quickly. Additionally, as I touched on earlier, it’s important that you keep tabs on the current technologies and be conscious of issues about cost and profitability that come as a measure of your success. Lastly, make sure you’re always learning.
