As a service manager at Dysel, I am the first point of contact for our customers. Whether they run into a problem, are in the middle of an upgrade, improve their business processes or looking for extra functionalities; I am there to help. Every day is different and brings unexpected moments and new situations. But that is exactly why I like my job so much. To give you an idea; this is what a typical day looks like in the life of a service manager:
8:30
With my first cup of coffee in my hand, I take a look at our 'project backlog'. This is the list of tasks / items carried out by the project team in the various ongoing projects. I check the list on items that require extra attention and I estimate whether the scheduled work can still be completed with the remaining capacity.
9:00
What follows then is the daily standup with the project development team. This is a short meeting that takes place every morning. Together we discuss the progress since the previous standup, the expected progression of today and we discuss possible obstacles and how we will overcome them as a team.
10:00
Together with one of the business consultants I discuss the results of a diagnosis we have carried out with a customer. This customer would like to upgrade to the latest version of our system and it is therefore important to properly analyze the consequences of this upgrade for the business processes. The diagnosis has proven that the customer will immediately benefit from some new functionalities in the latest version, but some important business processes will change significantly. I finish the report with the business consultant and send it to the customer. Next week we will discuss it together. I receive some phone calls during the meeting. For urgent issues, I immediately put a support consultant to work. Other things can wait, and I will pick up on those later.
12:00
Time for a quick lunch! Then I jump in the car, on my way to our office.
13:00
With a few colleagues I discuss how we can improve our processes internally to better serve our customers. The world around us is constantly evolving. To keep providing the best service to our customers, we must continuously adjust.
14:00
Together with the lead consultant and the customer, I discuss the progress in an optimization project. How are things going, what are the challenges and are we still on track? By talking frequently and openly with each other, we manage the project together successfully.
14:30
After this remote meeting, I discuss a different project with the same lead consultant. We will soon be organizing a three-day workshop at a customer site who plans to expand the use of our system to branches abroad. This requires some attention to the setup. The workshop will make clear what the best setup of the system is.
15:30
In the hallway I run into a project developer. He is struggling with one of the tasks in a project and does not understand the customer’s requirements. After a quick heads-up he knows the right way forward.
16:00
One of our customers recently received a proposal for an upgrade to the latest version. Our proposal contains a detailed description of the activities we carry out together, when we do this and how the division of roles is within the project team. Collaboration is crucial in these projects and we therefore require active participation from our customer. With the customer, I discuss the responsibilities of their people in the project and how much of their time it will take.
17:00
On my way home, I call one of my colleagues. Tomorrow we carpool to a customer who will soon start to work with the customer portal. Tomorrow, we discuss the customer’s wishes with regard to the portal and how we can realize these with the right setup. It’s good to talk about this now, before our meeting with the customer tomorrow.
Once home, I see my mailbox is overflowing… But well, tomorrow is another day!
Teun Arts is Service Manager at Dysel and it is his job to ensure that customers make optimal use of the software, now and in the future.
