ARKK’s Product Support Manager, Laura Kissick, shares how her team have achieved 100% customer satisfaction since the beginning of the UK’s COVID-19 lockdown.
It’s an understatement to say that the last six months have been challenging and without a degree of turmoil. With the COVID –19 pandemic and the world suddenly going into lockdown, we’ve all experienced some level of change. But despite all that’s happened, I can also say that this has strangely been one of the most productive and constructive periods I’ve had in my career. Whilst my team and I have faced numerous hurdles along the way, they’ve been character building on both a personal and professional level.
When Boris Johnson broadcast on Monday 16th March 2020 (where has all that time gone?) that employees should work from home wherever possible, ARKK’s business continuity plan was quickly put into effect. As Product Support Manager, my primary concern was ensuring that our customers were minimally affected by the changes in our working arrangements and could continue to meet their regulatory filing requirements. The team and I worked towards understanding the issues customers faced in their own firms and how these could be reduced, avoided and overcome.
Adapting to a new way of working
Like many of us, my ‘normal’ involved going into the office every day, so working from home was quite an adjustment. The routine of common daily tasks, interacting socially with my colleagues and having them at hand whenever difficulties arose had been turned on its head over night.
Keeping intact the close professional working relationships we’ve developed and the social and personal support network of our close-knit team was very important to me. A proactive approach needed to be taken when completing tasks that under normal circumstances would have been as straight forward as simply turning to my colleagues and discussing the issue.
To help ensure regular communication we set up an 8:45am briefing each morning. This began by discussing any unresolved tasks from the previous day that may need assistance from others, however, we always ended this briefing by sharing a positive update from our personal life.
Supporting customers through difficult times
A knock-on effect of the global pandemic has meant some companies, including our customers, having to furlough staff which resulted in reduced capacity. ARKK’s ability to quickly get setup and assist customers remotely helped with their transition into this new working environment. Customers also required help with various tasks such as setting up software to work on a remote workstation or on a new laptop they had been given.
Depending on their team capacity, some staff were now completing tasks that they’d never done before. To help these staff get up to speed as quickly as possible we offered demos, training sessions and guides on how to use our products on our knowledge base.
We also arranged zoom calls which was a great way to get to know our customers on a personal level. We got a glimpse into their lives and the hurdles they faced on a daily basis; talking about regulatory reporting as their kids yell for help with schoolwork in the background could be a very stressful situation, but an innately human one that many of you can relate to. We were there to help support customers and take the time to go over their queries and put their mind at ease.
Beyond having to adapt to their new working environment, customers still had to contend with scheduled filing deadlines and updates to various taxonomies and validations planned by regulators to contend with. Supporting them on filing deadlines and offering extended support was now, more than ever, a vital part of our service. Keeping alert to regulatory updates and changes being implemented, we quickly created new knowledge base guides which would educate and empower our customers to confidently use our platforms and understand the changes issued by the regulator with ease.
At ARKK we always strive to give the best possible product support, around filing deadlines we push even harder offering extended support hours when customers need it most to ensure they never miss a filing deadline!
100% customer satisfaction during lockdown
The last few months have been a test, pushing both me and customers outside our comfort zone. They’ve also been Product Support’s most successful period to date. Our team has consistently achieved a 100% customer satisfaction rating month on month since March with amazing feedback. Throughout this time, we’ve never wavered from our core goal to deliver outstanding product support and I hope that you, your friends and family are all keeping safe.
If you’d like to find out more about ARKK and our range of products head over to our solutions page.