Aina Huseby, Customer Success Manager at Orbit, originally studied economics. From there, she took a shipping class and realized how interesting the field was. This curiosity turned into a passion and led her to work for multiple different companies over the years–Rio Tinto, Shell, and Western Bulk, to name a few–in operations.
After moving back home to Norway and working for various operations companies, she got offered a job at Orbit to be a Business Operations Manager, which is how she switched from the operations side to the business side. This all happened 2.5 years ago, and the rest is history.
When asked about why she has stayed at Orbit, Aina emphasized that the work is always changing, and therefore, always interesting. With constant developments and new clients, it’s motivating to be part of a company that always has something new. She also said that her background comes in handy even now: “I got to use my background from the shipping operation part to seeing it the way the operator does.”
We then started discussing data and the human side of an inherently technology-dependent industry. Data certainly lies at the center of all the work at Orbit, but more than that, quality work is the priority. Gathering valid, quality data is the critical starting point–but any good AI can gather this information. Aina stressed that Orbit aims to build exactly what our clients need, and the way they do this is by working face-to-face with each client.
Alongside Nathan Balakrishnan and Captain Sujit Padhye, they meet directly with the clients and then decide what the development team and support team need to work on. Aina also works specifically with the development team to make sure everything is working smoothly and they have what they need. Her day-to-day work is filled with client meetings, team check-ins, platform testing, improvements, and writing user guides–and each day is an exciting mix of each.
We dove deeper into what an average client meeting looked like, where she emphasized how each client is different: “Even though a ship is a ship, there’s still different ways of working, different aspects of the industry.” Despite end goals being similar at times, it’s hard to compare client needs. In each meeting, she tends to show them any new updates with products and how they work.
Overall, Aina’s goal is to make sure that clients feel “in the know” with the work being done and are understanding the process of deliverables. Because there is always something surprising in an industry as dynamic as this one, it’s important to maintain solid relationships between company and client and keep a strong line of communication and understanding throughout work.
A great way Aina maintains these professional relationships is by trying to meet in person as much as possible. Given that people at Orbit work across the world, meeting with clients in person as much as possible is an essential part of creating a healthy working environment. Everyone works towards the same goals together, which makes for a great work culture.
Aina left our meeting with a great piece of advice on how to succeed in the industry: “Have a mentor and go out, seek people in the industry, talk to people, learn the different aspects, learn what they are doing. So because there’s so many things you can do in shipping and work with.”
