In a world that’s all about data, the chemical industry is only now starting to catch up, Introducing Derek Morgen

For the past few months, I have been publishing short interviews with my colleagues at Agilis to give you an idea of what kinds of vibrant, diverse, enthusiastic and dedicated people make up the core of this dynamic start-up. I have been putting off doing my own introduction for a while, but I guess it’s time to tell the world a little bit about myself and how I ended up doing all-things-marketing at Agilis.

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Let’s start by how I got here…

As any good Finance and Economics major at the Rohrer School of Business at Rowan University would, I took a few service marketing classes… and I was immediately hooked! As a sophomore, I started my own digital marketing venture helping local business owners boost their internet presence and reach the student body at Rowan. When I applied to the Entrepreneur Roundtable Accelerator (ERA) for a summer internship, I was paired with Agilis for an interview, where Jay, our Founder and CEO, captivated me with a concept of bringing much-needed technological innovation to one of the oldest and most established industries. I knew right away that I wanted to be a part of this company, and shortly after graduation I joined Agilis as a digital marketing specialist.

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If you have ever worked at a start-up, you can imagine how my role changes day-to-day, and sometimes even hour-to-hour. I help Chintan, our platform manager, onboard new users, interact with customers, and participate in planning and design sessions. But most of my time is spent on designing, building, developing and executing marketing campaigns through e-mail, social media, and customer support channels. This is where I can really use my proficiency with numbers and data analytics to monitor campaign performance, uncover most effective avenues for customer engagement, and really understand what our customers are looking for in an eCommerce solution.

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Today’s world is all about data. Whole industries have been transformed based on the information they collect about their customers. Yet, in the world of chemical buying and selling, most transactions are still conducted the old-fashioned way, through emails and phone calls, with little visibility into where the product goes after the sale is made, what opportunities exist for upsell and cross-sell, or what potential new uses and users can be found for the same products. Only when transactions are digitized, can businesses fully realize the value of having actionable data from the entire supply chain. This is what Agilis does – we give each client their own platform, a branded portal, that they can securely conduct transactions on. Once producers or distributors have their product catalogs online, they can streamline operations, find new customers, track transaction details, and find ways to grow their business through both direct and indirect channels.

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I am a firm believer in data and technology. Not only because, like many of today’s “digital natives”, I have grown to rely on it in so many ways in my everyday life, but also because I believe that it has tremendous potential to revolutionize how we do business. I think the main reason I joined Agilis is because it gives me a rare opportunity to witness this impending transformation for the chemical industry. Every day, I see customers go from initial skepticism about digitization to great enthusiasm about what the future can bring for their business. And we at Agilis get to be a part of that future.

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