Congratulations to Debbie Hotchkiss who is celebrating an amazing 40-year Long Service milestone this week.
From left to right: Sharon Moreno, Debbie Hotchkiss and Debbie Barton.
We caught up with Debbie Hotchkiss to find out more about her time at OGL so far:
“Where do I start? Cast your mind back 40 years – there aren’t many of you who can do that now. It was a time before mobile phones, sat nav and the internet. How did we survive? Somehow, survive we did.
It was a world where Oliquip only dealt with customers inside a 50-mile radius of Kidderminster, which, in hindsight, was probably a blessing. All support was completed either via telephone (proper telephones on desks!) or by travelling to site. There were lengthy debates about whether we should upgrade the Lesser Brothers server from 10 to 20 megabytes of hard disk space. Yes, you did read that right – 10 to 20 megabytes.
My working life has taken me through almost every sector of the business: Sales, Technical, Accounts, Installations and Stores, Reception, Development as a Tester, and many guises within Software Support.
I’ve had many conversations with Sharon that start with, “We have a challenging situation…” which usually means I’m on my way to a new project and a new experience – but that’s exactly what keeps things interesting.
Whenever the opportunity arises to move internally to a different team, I’ve always believed in grabbing that change with both hands. It’s a chance to gain a deeper understanding of how the company really works, to work with different people, and to extend your own personal growth.
I know everyone says it, but I genuinely do work with a great team of people – people I can still learn from every day of the week.”
COO, Sharon Moreno commented: "Wow - celebrating 40 years of outstanding service! Words simply cannot capture the invaluable role Deb has played over the past 40 years. Whether you've been with the business for one year or many, you will know exactly who Deb is and how essential she is to all her colleagues, and especially to Mr Byrne!
Deb's OGL career began under the guidance of the incredible Neil Morris, an absolute perfectionist who set the highest standards. In those early days, Deb worked on an electronic typewriter before progressing to an Olivetti ETV260 word processor. There were no automated spellcheckers back then, Neil wielded his beloved red pen with precision, and Deb spent countless hours correcting oversights marked with bold red crosses at the start of each line. I know she remembers it well because I do too. Neil's rigorous standards played a pivotal role in shaping Deb into the exceptional OGL employee she is today.
Her time with Neil prepared her beautifully for her next chapter as a Word Processing Trainer. In this role, Deb travelled regularly by train (we wouldn’t let her out in a company car!) to Birmingham to deliver training to staff at Wragge & Co, an international law firm that purchased many word processors from us back in the day.
As technology advanced, Deb moved into the world of Windows. I'll never forget when we were first introduced to Lotus, the precursor to Microsoft Office. Like Office, it featured email, spreadsheets, and word processing modules, but it absolutely terrified us! How on earth would we master this product? Off we went to Lotus' UK headquarters in Staines, a journey that required navigating the M25. Here's some advice for you all - never put Debbie Hotchkiss in charge of map reading! We ended up going the wrong way around the M25 and arrived covered in milkshake after a McDonald's pitstop. This mishap resulted in an impromptu shopping trip, which, as you all know, I thoroughly enjoyed, so Deb's navigational challenges had a silver lining! In the end, we both loved supporting and training Lotus products and had wonderful times working with our customers.
We then approached Deb about learning something completely different, ERP software and support. Her initial reaction was, "I'm not sure if I can do that!" But with a little persuasion, her ERP journey began with prof.IT, and she hasn't looked back. Support became her home, and she has now successfully provided exceptional customer support across prof.IT, Finisher, prof.ITplus, and Profit4. Today, she has embraced a people coaching and development role, where she truly shines. For those she works with daily, Deb leads with infectious enthusiasm and a genuine drive to impact their careers, ensuring they benefit from the wealth of knowledge and experience she has accumulated over four decades.
It is an absolute honour to have been asked to write about Deb's remarkable 40 year journey with the business, and I am privileged to call her my friend.
Thank you, Deb, for everything you do. As I said at the beginning, words fall short of expressing the amazing contributions you have made to OGL, but I hope these come close."
CEO, Debbie Barton added: "Congratulations Deb on your 40th year anniversary at OGL! How can you put into a few words the impact you have had on our company over the years, it’s impossible! There are precious few people now who you can share the history of what it was like in the old days and you’ve certainly seen some changes over the years. We sat down recently at Sue’s retirement and shared so many stories of people and customers from days gone by; a real trip down memory lane.
Deb, your contribution to our company is immeasurable, I cannot thank you enough both on behalf of me and your friends and colleagues at OGL, but I know that Dad and Neil would join me in that appreciation. You are a legend, Deb, loved by all – okay your driving has been a constant talking point over the years but you cannot be outdone on a Christmas buffet! Enjoy the appreciation Deb, you deserve it!"
