Alana Gordon Former Board Member of the ABCS & Partner at Swedish Frames
Alana Gordon is a former Board Member of the ABCS and a longtime contributor to the group's community.
Since arriving in Sweden in 2010, she's consulted for several Swedish brands like IKEA, Scania and Ericsson, helping them create new and sustainable digital experiences.
We recently sat down over a zoom call to speak about her time in Sweden, experiences with the ABCS and what the next chapter in her career holds:
How did you end up in Sweden and in contact with the ABCS?
I left Melbourne in 2003 to move to Scotland. I enjoyed working there for six years, and then I decided to come to Sweden for a holiday. What I had planned to be a six-month stay turned into 13 years.
In 2017 I was approached by one of the ABCS' current members to come along to a wine tasting at the ambassador's house. I thought, how could I refuse that! After our first glasses of wine, everyone was asked to stand up and present themselves. This made it easy to meet people and gave the meeting a professional atmosphere; I knew it was a group that I'd like to associate with.
Since your time on the ABCS board has recently ended, do you have reflections about the term and what you enjoyed about the experience?
The term with the ABCS was a great experience. I really enjoyed adding value to the organisation by taking an outside-in approach, using in member surveys and in-person interviews to find out what our members and corporate partners appreciated most and then working to give it to them.
There were also some challenges to overcome during my tenure, namely the restrictions caused by the pandemic. This caused a shift in how we operated; moving some of our events online, but this helped to expand our reach and attracted new members in Malmo and Götenberg.
From my own perspective, I really appreciated the high-level connections I took from the position. Interacting directly with the ambassador, embassy and other high profile organisations in both Sweden and Australia that help facilitate professional exchange between the two countries has been great for expanding my own professional network.
Having served as a senior leader in several Nordic companies, what would you say to Aussies new to these types of business interactions?
While it's important to respect the Swedish work culture, it's not all about trying to fit in. Australians new to Sweden have a lot to offer with their international experience so adding complementary insight and skill sets to the mix is a benefit for companies. Also, almost everyone appreciates a good Aussie sense of humour.
Last year you took a new position with Swedish Frames; what drew you to this opportunity?
I've been working with digital transformation and content creation for most of my career, helping businesses to create experiences that are market-leading and exceed customer expectations. My passion lies in the innovation and convergence of new technologies and I’m always looking for ways to make the world a better experience using the best in future tech.
When I came across Swedish Frames, it was clear they were so at the forefront of this space, Building applications in virtual reality, 3D and the metaverse in order to deliver the most beautiful visual experiences unlike anything else out there.
A good example was last year, Swedish Frames made a 3D model for one of Scania's new truck engines. It was fully interactive, and users could spin it around and see it from all angles - inside and out. Something that would be impossible in real life.
I started in a consultancy role with the company, but loved them so much I became a partner at the end of last year.
Anything else about the company you'd like ABCS members to know?
I would really love to collaborate with people from the network with the services offered by Swedish Frames. For any business wanting to bring the wow-factor to their brands, it's worth looking into Swedish Frames to see what is possible to create.
We will also be releasing a new product at the end of this Summer, a platform that allows anyone to create professional virtual events regardless of their experience level. It's perfect for our members that work in the B2B space and will be available for both VR and normal devices.