{"id":11888,"date":"2021-11-03T13:49:53","date_gmt":"2021-11-03T17:49:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/live-clarivate-innovative.pantheonsite.io\/?post_type=blog&p=11888"},"modified":"2021-11-04T15:14:47","modified_gmt":"2021-11-04T19:14:47","slug":"bringing-speed-accuracy-and-empathy-to-customer-support","status":"publish","type":"blog","link":"https:\/\/www.iii.com\/whats-new\/bringing-speed-accuracy-and-empathy-to-customer-support\/","title":{"rendered":"Bringing Speed, Accuracy, and Empathy to Customer Support"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stored in her desk, Hilary Newman has a business card for nearly every position that she\u2019s held at Innovative. From her first job answering help desk phones in 1994, to her current role as Senior Vice President of Global Customer Support\u2014nearly fifteen dogeared cards catalog her impressive tenure with the company.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cA few of them pre-date LinkedIn,\u201d Newman jokes.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

For this interview, we sat down with Newman to learn how a budding junior high school interest led Newman to become an industry-leading library service professional.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This interview has been edited for time and clarity.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Tell us a bit about how you ended up in the library sciences?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I spent so much of my childhood at the public library, it was like a second home. My grandmother worked at the Salt Lake County Library\u00a0system,\u00a0we were frequent visitors. And my mom loved to read, still does, and passed that on to me.\u00a0Summers were spent checking out the maximum number of\u00a0books allowed at a time (10) from the Sprague branch of the Salt Lake City Public library near my house.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I started\u00a0volunteering\u00a0in\u00a0the library in\u00a0middle and\u00a0high school\u00a0and that continued\u00a0into\u00a0my work study job working the circulation desk at the law library\u00a0at the University of Utah.\u00a0\u00a0After college\u00a0I continued\u00a0in law libraries\u00a0where I\u00a0really enjoyed working with advancements in software and technology in managing information and research\u00a0using tools like Westlaw and Lexis\/Nexis.\u00a0\u00a0Working with\u00a0database\u00a0and library automation software\u00a0and how\u00a0effective and productive it was\u00a0at\u00a0managing data,\u00a0doing\u00a0research,\u00a0and\u00a0handling\u00a0content electronically \u2014I was hooked.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The University of North Texas had a program that combined my growing interest in technology with my core love of libraries, so I finally decided to go to library school.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How did you find your way to Innovative?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Looking for my first post-college job, I came across an opening at Innovative. I mentioned it to my\u00a0library school professor and mentor,\u00a0Yvonne Chandler. She had\u00a0met Jerry Kline, the owner of Innovative\u00a0once and wrote him a\u00a0bold letter\u00a0stating,\u00a0\u201cYou should hire Hilary.\u201d\u00a0And they did.\u00a0She was such an amazing coach, mentor, and advocate for her students.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u00a0work hard\u00a0to live\u00a0up to Yvonne\u2019s\u00a0expectations, both\u00a0in\u00a0delivering what she promised I\u2019d do in\u00a0my work at Innovative,\u00a0and in\u00a0following her example as a mentor and coach,\u00a0unabashedly advocating for\u00a0people\u00a0they believe in.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What do you enjoy about customer support work?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u2019ve had\u00a0such\u00a0amazing opportunities at Innovative to work\u00a0across the business functions:\u00a0customer support,\u00a0product management, training, services,\u00a0sales,\u00a0engineering, and back into support.\u00a0It\u2019s been such a great experience. Today I\u2019m so pleased to be back\u00a0in customer operations \u2013 the team delivering on the customer experience.\u00a0Working\u00a0directly with\u00a0customers, user groups, working\u00a0closely with the teams who\u00a0support our libraries.\u00a0This is where\u00a0I\u00a0thrive and\u00a0have the most to contribute.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

I\u00a0strive to\u00a0approach customer\u00a0interactions and problem solving\u00a0with empathy.\u00a0Put yourself in the shoes of the person looking for your help. The person calling in a\u00a0system problem\u00a0might have staff who can\u2019t get their work done or be at the desk with a long line\u00a0of patrons waiting – causing\u00a0them a lot of stress.\u00a0\u00a0Then look to respond quickly and\u00a0accurately. If we can stick to those three things:\u00a0timely, correct, and empathetic\u00a0support, our customers will have a great experience working with us.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

How have you been able to empower your team to be able to meet those expectations?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

A few years ago, I had the opportunity to spend a lot of time\u00a0travelling\u00a0and meeting customers in their libraries and offices and at conferences.\u00a0I\u00a0could meet with them in their\u00a0environment\u2014\u00a0see\u00a0what it looks and feels like on their end\u00a0and hear directly from\u00a0them about their experiences working with Innovative. What I found were\u00a0dedicated librarians who were experts at customer service and delivering the support needed by\u00a0their patrons. What I\u00a0learned was we could do better at\u00a0the\u00a0relationship between\u00a0these\u00a0librarians and our team members\u00a0at Innovative.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

At the time, calling customer\u00a0support a customer might\u00a0get\u00a0a one of 100 people answering.\u00a0Then\u00a0the next call, another one of 100, and\u00a0so on.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s a\u00a0relationship-based\u00a0industry, and knowing your customer leads to better service. So, what we did was change how we were structured.\u00a0Customers are\u00a0assigned to\u00a0regional teams.\u00a0Subject experts are also aligned with customers who utilize their products. So, customers work with the same team members\u00a0repeatedly and build on the relationship\u00a0started in\u00a0prior calls.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We also created a tiered approach to customer support. Our regional teams focus on\u00a0day-to-day solutions,\u00a0and our Tier 2 team\u00a0tackles\u00a0the\u00a0more complicated\u00a0problems.\u00a0With\u00a0this approach, we\u00a0respond more quickly and accurately\u00a0overall and can quickly pull in a deeper bench of\u00a0subject matter experts and engineers to sort out deeper challenges that might take more time.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Have there been other benefits to this approach?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Because we\u2019ve built these relationships, we\u00a0are\u00a0more efficient, we\u00a0are\u00a0faster, and we\u00a0respond with genuine empathy\u00a0because we know the background of\u00a0our\u00a0customer.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

If we focus on the customer, the\u00a0other stuff\u00a0falls into line. That\u2019s an oversimplification, but it\u2019s\u00a0critical.\u00a0We have been able to drastically decrease the number of old tickets in the past year. And it\u2019s rewarding because we can see a direct correlation between the speed and accuracy of our work and our customer satisfaction.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s also not just that we say we focus on the customer. We really do. We take feedback from surveys, customer calls, the IUG, and customer visits, and\u00a0we\u00a0act.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

What\u2019s next for your team?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We are looking to drive more customer engagement through\u00a0high quality,\u00a0relevant,\u00a0documentation, videos,\u00a0\u201chow to\u201d\u00a0training guides,\u00a0webinars,\u00a0and other self-help\u00a0materials. Our clients are librarians,\u00a0in so many cases, they\u2019re going to do the research before they ask. So, we want to provide them with those\u00a0resources.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Just a few months ago, we celebrated the\u00a0one-year\u00a0anniversary of the launch of the\u00a0<\/span>Innovative Training and Learning Center<\/span><\/a>. We\u2019re proud of what we\u2019ve built, but we\u2019re looking to add even more information and tools in the coming year. Anything that will help our\u00a0libraries\u00a0solve their issues faster and easier.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Our team is also incredibly excited about Vega. As we continue to welcome and onboard new clients to Vega, we will take this as another\u00a0opportunity to listen, adapt our support resources, and share what our customers are saying. Because\u00a0after all, our success is library success.\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Is there anything else that you\u2019d like to share?<\/span><\/b>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

This is\u00a0a really exciting\u00a0time to be at Innovative. It\u2019s also\u00a0a really exciting\u00a0time to be in libraries. You think about the impact that libraries have had on people\u2019s lives during COVID-19;\u00a0for many people it was a savior. Getting out of the house for curbside service, still being able to access online content and\u00a0ebook\u00a0services. Being able to help students like my daughter who spent her first year of college working in a back bedroom instead of being on campus. The extraordinary agility of libraries over the past year-and-a-half is impressive. And I think Innovative has also proven to be agile and resilient in our own way. So, it is an\u00a0exciting time in the industry, and I can\u2019t wait to see what we can accomplish next.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A conversation with Hilary Newman, Innovative Senior Vice President of Global Customer Support.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":6690,"template":"","categories":[],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11888","blog","type-blog","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nBringing Speed, Accuracy, and Empathy to Customer Support - Innovative Interfaces Inc.<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"A conversation with Hilary Newman, Innovative Senior Vice President of Global Customer Support.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.iii.com\/whats-new\/bringing-speed-accuracy-and-empathy-to-customer-support\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Bringing Speed, Accuracy, and Empathy to Customer Support - Innovative Interfaces Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A conversation with Hilary Newman, Innovative Senior Vice President of Global Customer Support.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.iii.com\/whats-new\/bringing-speed-accuracy-and-empathy-to-customer-support\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Innovative Interfaces Inc.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2021-11-04T19:14:47+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.iii.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/02\/II21920-123-Edit.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1200\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"800\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"6 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.iii.com\/whats-new\/bringing-speed-accuracy-and-empathy-to-customer-support\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.iii.com\/whats-new\/bringing-speed-accuracy-and-empathy-to-customer-support\/\",\"name\":\"Bringing Speed, Accuracy, and Empathy to Customer Support - 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