By Jessica Rao
Cindy Jaudon has always thought big. As Student Body President of Batavia High School, she put on the largest parade her hometown had ever had seen. More recently, as President of IFS North America, she presides over a company profitable for the first time, under her watch.
For years, IFS North America, subsidiary of a provider of software solutions to medium to large companies in industries including aerospace, defense, automotive, high-tech and construction, was a cost center for its global parent company. In 2005, after one year as President, Jaudon took the US division of the Swedish software boutique from red to black. Today, they have a solid, growing presence in the North American business software market and now, the applications provider plans to fill a growing need for intra-enterprise visibility.
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Part of Jaudon’s success has been her collaborative approach to IFS employees and customers. She is not the type of executive to sit in her office issuing directives. She is out meeting with people, closing deals, inspiring creative solutions, building consensus and communicating the company direction. There is nothing she delegates that she would not do herself. That attitude infuses the organization and has contributed a lot to building a strong team.
“I don't think I possess any exceptional talents or abilities,” she said. “I was never the best athlete or the most intelligent student. I think I realized early on that I was able to organize and motivate people.”
Without diminishing the importance of her people skills, it’s clear that Jaudon has correctly chosen to focus only on business that was the right fit for IFS and for its product, IFS Applications. “As a result, we were in a position to walk away from deals that we were not likely to win.” Today, they pursue business in a handful of strong vertical industries and are developing deep inroads there. This clarity has helped increase their win rate, decrease their cost per sale and increase their level of customer satisfaction.
Jaudon added, “I think our move in this direction speaks to more than just my management style. In the early days, a generic solution might have been successful in the market. But now, companies are looking for solutions specific to the needs of their industry.”
Born and raised in western Illinois in a small farming community, Jaudon had an idyllic childhood. Her father worked for Caterpillar most of his life and her mother worked for the school district. “Everybody knew everybody,” she said. She thrived in the uncomplicated small town atmosphere, and recalls herself as a carefree child.
Bolstered by supportive parents and her nurturing older brother, the student body president and homecoming parade organizer was a natural people person. Jaudon's mother played a big part in building her self confidence because she made it clear that her daughter could do anything if she worked hard and put her mind to it.
Jaudon landed her first job in technology during her freshman year at North Central College in Naperville, Illinois. She was working at the local grocery store when she read an article about Batavia Digital Systems in the paper. She copied down the address, made a cold call and walked in off the street. She walked out with a job.
That job paid for her education. She worked there during school, taking a few classes at a time and sometimes attending at night so she could continue to work. It took longer to finish but she saw it through, starting out as a psychology major, but graduating with a degree in Information Systems. “I often look back and wish that I had done things differently. I would have liked to have attended college in a more traditional manner. I'm sure I missed out on the social experiences and camaraderie many people take away from their college years. "
However, working her way through school helped her in other ways because she had an earlier start in the workforce. (An advocate for an ongoing education, in 2000, Jaudon went back for her MBA in organizational psychology at Benedictine University.)
After graduation, Jaudon worked at a series of tech companies growing her skills and responsibilities. It was the President at Effective Management Systems (EMS) who gave her the opportunity to lead big accounts. “He saw past the fact that I was a woman and past the fact that what I was doing was thought to be a man's job at that point.” The confidence he showed in Jaudon taught her even more about motivating others.
At IFS (based in Linköping, Sweden, with North American headquarters in Chicago where she lives and works), Jaudon is in her element. She relishes seeing her team execute. “I love it when we are all rolling in the same direction. The more the team works together and succeeds, the more motivated I am.”
Cindy acknowledges that the larger deals IFS has signed reflect the efforts of the many who drove the sale. “We are kind of like ants that work together to carry a heavy load,” she enthuses. In their breakthrough year, Jaudon saw the tides change when they signed a deal with automotive supplier Linamar Corp. and entered a partnership with Oracle Federal to deliver product to the United States Air Force.
And like so many women at the top, Jaudon cherishes her husband and two daughters (Ellen, 14, and Madison,10) more than anything. She considers her greatest accomplishment the fact that she has managed to maintain her personal life while having the professional satisfaction of working in a demanding, global environment. "Managing is the key word in this regard. It takes close attention to detail and timing to have success in both areas without missing out on opportunities in either.
Jaudon admits that it has not always been like that and there was a time when she was hardly home. “At that point I had two small children, and I was working for a company that was facing a number of challenges. I was engaged in a number of initiatives designed to surmount these challenges. Those were the days before high speed Internet, so working virtually from home was not an option as it is now.” She’s grateful to technology for allowing her to spend more time with her family while not taking away time from her responsibilities at work. “It has really enabled me to build in some balance."
During the week she is very work-focused. If she’s not traveling (which she does about thirty percent of the time), she is up at 5:30 and on e-mail to Sweden. Then she goes for a run or takes a Pilates class, gets the kids off to school, and goes to the office. At the end of the day, she gets in a little time with her family and is back on the computer late night. On weekends, she works before everyone else gets up, and before the running of the kids to their various activities.
Within two years, Jaudon's goal is to see IFS achieve the status of being recognized leader in at least two of the industries they serve. In five, she is gunning to make IFS the leader in all of its targeted industries, and perhaps begin targeting some additional market verticals. Her current challenge and greatest challenge? Brand recognition. “We have a great product and people, but we are still - at least in North America - a low-profile company…almost a secret.”
Today, Jaudon wholeheartedly believes that she is judged by her past and present accomplishments as well as her future potential – just like any other successful executive. She thinks women interested in a high tech career should not focus just on technology, but work on becoming well-rounded managers and professionals. “Our economy is changing, and the ability to work with different people is becoming a lot more important than having alpha, geek-level technology skills. Twenty-five years ago any alpha geek could get a job. Now that alpha geek may be located somewhere else on the globe, working remotely, so what matters most is one’s ability to also solve problems for the customer at home.” |
