While it has been with us for quite some time now, the world of analytics has garnered mainstream attention, particularly in the last 10 years, as we seek to measure opportunity and success through numbers. Perhaps this is an oversimplified interpretation of the movement, but there is no denying its growing impact.
Colin Regina
vice president of Technical Services Group, Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America
Some people have taken the art of predictive outcomes to another level. Colin Regina, the vice president, Technical Services Group with Sharp Imaging and Information Company of America (SIICA), takes the path of combining the analytic with the creative to encounter new ways of development and seeks to mentor others in this regard.
“Mentoring has a lot to do with it,” said Regina, a 2017 ENX Magazine Difference Maker. “It’s finding like-minded individuals who are equally motivated to tackle difficult concepts and continue to move an idea or project forward, even if it means changing direction and not necessarily doing what you started out to do.”
Electronics flowed through Regina’s veins starting at an early age and indirectly started him upon his future career path. While playing Moog/ARP electronic keyboards as a youngster, he would tinker with and learn the basics of electronics and how the sound was recreated using electronic circuits, such as oscillators and voltage-controlled filters. That opened a world of electronic theory and repair to Regina, which was a “booming and vibrant industry back in the 70s and 80s.” That mixture of electronics and creativity has played a significant role in Regina’s development.
During the course of his career, Regina has always sought to be a solutions provider, being the person who finds the answer, gets the job done and closes out the task. In a collaborative environment, it’s a matter of seeking the optimal outcome.
“The idea is to be able to deliver alternative solutions to those originally offered and be flexible in your thinking, which means to continue to search for the best possible outcome,” he said. “Simply put, don’t bring more problems to your superiors. Offer sound solutions.”
Becoming a solutions provider is something of a mindset that has been instilled in Regina from numerous sources, including one particular nugget born of sage wisdom. Early in his career with Sharp, Regina told his Aunt Lucia that he would be in great shape if he made $50 more per week. Her succinct reply of “spend 50 dollars less” has stuck with him throughout his career.
The past two years have been particularly exciting for Regina and SIICA. Its MICAS electronics monitoring device, which is currently installed on more than 100,000 Sharp MFPs, is being considered by Sharp as a global solution for all of its subsidiaries. Regina’s team also reaped a complete rebuild of its broadcast studio at its new Montvale, NJ, headquarters, which it had been without for the previous two years.
“It is our opportunity to advance sales, service and product e-learning and assist with marketing and promotion with professionally-produced videos in-house,” he said.
Moving forward, Regina’s team will continue to add intelligence to MICAS that will make it more predictive and specifically visual. Answers need to be readily available in a visual presentation, he notes, and this is where the videos come in as opposed to being simply read in a manual.
For Regina, the path to the future is paved by education. “Ninety percent of what you don’t know, someone else does and is usually willing to share (that knowledge) on the internet in group forums,” he said. “Unless your job is to invent something that doesn’t exist, there is always a chance you will find an answer out there and can adapt it to what you need.”
Away from the office, Regina loves to spend free time with his daughter, Chloe. “She makes it all worthwhile,” he said.
