Company Spotlight: The Product Support & Solutions Team and Campus Life
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As the month of August ends, we would like to give special thanks to the CampusGroups (CG) Product Support & Solutions Team!
According to CG’s Director of Campus Success, Gina Galland, “our amazing Product Support & Solutions Team members are at the core of what makes our campuses so successful at creating a positive campus life experience for students!”
“Our amazing Product Support & Solutions Team members are at the core of what makes our campuses so successful at creating a positive campus life experience for students!”
They are critical in aiding our Campus Partners make the most of our all-in-one campus management software. The team serve as:
🧑🏽🚒 First Responders- “They are the first line of support, helping clients with everyday functions and features.”
🕵️♂️ Detectives- “They help clients identify, escalate, and resolve issues as they arise”.
The run up to the fall semester is especially busy. During this time, our team works tirelessly to help our Campus Partners gear up for the new academic year. Therefore, we wanted to take this opportunity to introduce our wonderful team.
Our Product Support & Solutions Team Goals
With over 30 modules, it takes time to fully understand and efficiently use the breadth of features the CG web-based platform and mobile app offer. To this end, the team is always easily accessible to Campus Partners.
They help administrators and students:
Grow their system knowledge, including how and why things work as they do.
Use the platform efficiently, supporting as use cases evolve over time.
Troubleshoot and test technical issues as they are reported.
Identify, escalate, and fix known issues quickly and effectively.
Anticipate and prevent potential issues from happening.
Each of these actions helps our Campus Partners streamline processes and better serve students. This contributes to higher rates of student engagement, retention, and success.
While late summer is our busy season, the team works year-round to support CG’s 200+ clients.
Meet our Amazing Product Support & Solutions Team
Our growing Product Support & Solutions Team is currently made up of four amazing team members. Each member brings their unique set of skills to the team.
To date, the team combined has the following experience:
😀 Customer Service: 23 years.
🎓 Higher-Education: 16 years.
📱 Education-Technology: 10 years.
Introducing (from Left to Right):
💙 David South (Product Support & Solution Manager, since February 2021).
💙 Denecia Charles (Product Support & Solution Specialist, since June 2021).
💙 Lauren Taylor (Product Support & Solution Specialist; since August 2020).
💙 Liberty Doyle (Product Support & Solution Specialist; since June 2021).
Below, David, Denecia, Lauren and Liberty tell us about themselves and their role.
How would you describe the role of the Product Support & Solutions Team in overall CG operations and supporting our Campus Partners?
DAVID:
We serve as investigators for our Campus Partners. We are experts at understanding the behaviors and questions they report, serving as their first point of contact. Our aim is to provide a combination of quick and easy answers, as well as asking more technically focused questions to ensure the solutions we provide get to the root of an issue.
DENECIA:
We are a team of skilled problem-solvers. We aim to provide our Campus Partners with the best explanations and solutions to their questions regarding the platform.
For efficiency, we provide additional resources whether through step-by-step walkthroughs or referencing our CampusGroups Help Center articles. We want to ensure that the platform runs smoothly and bridge the way for better student engagement, learning, and user experiences.
LAUREN:
My role is usually described as the foundation or front-line of the company, which I completely agree with. I help provide much needed support for our Campus Partners seeking immediate assistance with our platform. Our partners work hard to ensure they are maintaining student engagement, and I appreciate being a part of this process.
What we do is high-intensity and a lot of people have expressed that they don’t know how I do what I do but I love it! I enjoy continually being able to problem-solve and gain more knowledge on how the platform works.
LIBERTY:
I would best describe our role as an investigative resource for our Campus Partners that is easily accessible and available when they have trouble with the platform. Our team works hard to understand why things function the way they do and are diligent in assisting our partners in learning how to streamline processes.
What do you like the most about working on the CG Product Support & Solutions Team?
DAVID:
I love the challenge of it! Every day there is something new. Even after a year there are things that surprise me and increase my knowledge of our platform and providing Campus Partner focused support.
DENECIA:
If there is one thing I love doing, it’s helping. It feels good knowing that I have the knowledge to help our Campus Partners run their platforms efficiently. As I continue to build rapport with our partners, I’ve seen how confident they feel reaching out. This makes me feel trusted and reliable - especially when I know an issue has been resolved.
LAUREN:
I really enjoy having amazing teammates. We always have a willingness to help one another, and bounce ideas off each other.
LIBERTY:
I would have to say that I love our supportive team dynamic. Within CampusGroups you can research and learn independently. However, our wonderful team makes asking for assistance, or just another set of eyes, so easy.
What do you like the least about working on the CG Product Support & Solutions Team.
DAVID:
Providing multi-channel support can be challenging and stressful given the complexity of our platform and the small size of our team. To continually provide top-notch multi-channel support and meet our Campus Partners needs, we continue to grow our team.
As our client-base expands it is important for our team to grow. Having more incredible Product Support and Solutions Specialists gives us increased flexibility in providing efficient resolutions.
DENECIA:
It’s very hard to say what I like least about working on the Product Support & Solutions Team. I think for now, my hopes are being able to address our Campus Partners even more quickly as our team expands.
Providing a solution is great but providing a quick solution is even better. Luckily as our company grows, our team is also expanding, which means faster returns for all our new and returning Campus Partners!
LAUREN:
It can be overwhelming at times.
LIBERTY:
I really can't think of anything that I do not like about my job. Is it perfect? No, but as a team we strive to continuously grow with our Campus Partners. We are dedicated to being a support system for not only our campuses but also our team. I love the people I work with and the work that we do!
Please provide an example of how you went above and beyond to meet the needs of a Campus Partner. How did the client respond?
DAVID:
Before working for CampusGroups I was a Campus Partner myself! This helps me better understand the perspective of our administrators, as I previously experienced some of the issues they raise.
A few months ago, I assisted a Campus Partner understand how the Dynamic Users and Groups features can help populate workflows. After explaining how these functions work, I helped them go one step further in streamlining their process. Based on my intimate understanding of their end goal, I suggested that they use the Surveys & Forms feature to further simplify the workflow. In response to my help the Campus Partner said: “Thank you so much for your help, David! I was able to set up the form using the process you explained, and I think it’s going to work well for us.”
DENECIA:
Recently, we had a Campus Partner who requested assistance with a user upload of over 19,000 students in a couple of days. They shared that they were nervous about the task and preferred our assistance. Usually, we handle these requests easily. However, this time there were a couple of factors that could delay the upload.
Considering the tight timeline, I immediately jumped on a video call with the school’s Campus Success Consultant to clarify a few things for the upload. I then shared step-by-step instructions and things to look out for in the upload with the Campus Partner. The partner was very thankful and appreciative of our thorough and timely assistance. In response they sent me the following note: “Denecia- Thank you so much!!...I super appreciate your assistance in getting this upload done… I’m so thankful for a great team at CG for helping make sure our campus programs are successful!”
LAUREN:
A few weeks ago, a Campus Partner called in with questions on how to utilize our Tracks & Checklists feature. They were new to their position and nervous about how to properly execute the program they were working on.
I took the time to walk through the feature and answer any questions they had to make sure they understood what they were setting up. This gave them the confidence to present the feature to students. The partner expressed a sense of relief after speaking with me and that they appreciated me walking through the process with them.
LIBERTY:
Through thorough investigation I was able to help a Campus Partner identify the cause of some unintended behavior on the platform. In addition to helping them resolve the issue, I helped educate them on how to properly set things up in the future. They were very thankful for my help and for teaching them what they should do to avoid any problems moving forward. Our Campus Partners are great at expressing their appreciation when we provide them assistance!
How Our Team Supports Each Other
Our Product Support & Solutions Team is amazing at assisting our Campus Partners. They are also fantastic at supporting each other. According to the team “We focus on teamwork and lean on each other’s experiences to learn and support each other”.
The team dynamic is truly exemplary. Some activities and behaviors that the team engage in to foster a supportive work environment include:
Daily standup meetings.
Weekly team building activities.
Having an open-door policy.
Respecting each other’s time outside of work.
Covering and lifting when people have life events.
Our Product Support & Solutions Team works hard to continuously go the extra mile!
With every request, the team focuses on being: Responsive, Empathetic, Proactive, Accurate, Inquisitive, and Resilient.
According to David, “We want everyone who contacts us to have a timely response, feel heard, and get the information and assistance they need. Our goal is for each interaction to be as effective and streamlined as possible so that our Campus Partners can focus on helping students connect and meet engagement goals.”
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