The Employee: Dion Watson (Little Rock Office)

The Client: Arkansas Municipal League

By the time the Rave Review Editor calls Dion Watson first thing on a Wednesday, he’s already in route to the Arkansas Municipal League. A firmware issue has the organization’s IT team scrambling a bit, but Watson’s extensive technical training, and his deft use of logical thinking, will be put to good use in resolving the issue in less than two hours.

“Every time we walk into an office, there’s a different situation, a different setting, different equipment to send and receive and print from,” Dion says. “It’s a lot better to know your resources than try to know everything in your head. Using logic is how all these things are based. As long as you’re logical, you’ll find the answer.”

Logic and troubleshooting: It’s a skill set he picked up long ago when helping his father renovate kitchens and bathrooms, working in electrical and plumbing; and later as a specialist with the Arkansas Democrat’s offset press. Save for a few months in front of a computer at the newspaper, Dion’s been a “hands-on” guy for his entire 25-year career in the offset and digital printing industry.

And certainly his approach to resolving issues applies today as a lead technician at Datamax. That and, of course, training. Lots of training.

All In on Certifications

Dion is full line trained on every piece of Konica Minolta Equipment that Datamax sells, from desktop to office to production equipment. Every single one. The master-level technician is also fully trained on Fiery Controllers as well as the Canon Wide Format series.

“Lots of school,” Dion says. “That’s 329 training modules in the Konica Minolta outward training program. But that’s what we do. We’re always as a team working toward that master level. When there’s nothing else for us to be doing on a given day, we’re training.”

Dion was named “Konica Minolta technician of the month” for the Datamax Arkansas region in Dec. 2017.

“The training is always a benefit in helping you get to your answer,” Dion says. “Whether it’s the website, or service manuals, or anything else, using every resource you have available is a critical part of my job.”

All In on Creating Raving Fans

Which leads back to the Arkansas Municipal League on  Wednesday morning. Dion evaluated and discovered the issue, found a viable solution to the firmware issue, and had the IT department check, just to make sure the equipment was fully running again.

“It worked on the first try,” he says. “Their IT staff are happy customers. We always do everything we can to  fully take care of them.”

Plumbing or production print, Dion takes it upon himself to do the job right, every single time.

“Basically, it’s the ability to troubleshoot that’s helped me more than anything else,” Dion says. “As a lead technician, I always take responsibility for the machines I’m working on out in the field. I feel as though I’m on the front line of defense of us growing and maintaining all our accounts.”