Listening, Helping, Learning—National Customer Service Week

Connecting people with processes and technology in a way that is achievable and easy to understand—that’s the goal in the CIO Division. This dedication is not just exclusive to this division; it expands throughout the entire university, with employees exercising their commitment to supporting customers by providing help, compassion, technical support, and more.  

Within the division, there are twelve units that work endlessly, prioritizing customer support in a variety of ways as the driving force behind what they do. IT is successful because of the link between technology and people. Without those who serve, the department could not run effectively. 

Susan Legg, Executive Director of Infrastructure and Foundational Technologies, provided perspective on the role of customer service in IT from her depth of practice across multiple organizations and decades of experience. “Having been in support organizations for more than 35 years, delighting customers is my happy place!” exclaimed Legg. “The concept is applicable to nearly any human interaction – whether it be IT work, teaching and learning, research, or even our lives at home. The goal is to interact in a way that other people walk away feeling heard and satisfied with the way outcomes are reached.” 

Legg does recognize that in the role of customer service, every result may not necessarily be the outcome the customer wanted. “Even in cases where the outcome is not popular, providing information with integrity and compassion can result in customers having a high level of satisfaction with the interaction. I’m proud of the way the CIO Division embraces this approach and I look forward to the opportunity to thank all of our team members who deliver amazing service to our customers!”

The amazing information resources provided by hundreds of websites across the university depend on our Campus Web Services team to navigate the “front door” to each of our colleges, departments, and divisions. As an external-facing, customer-focused team, they are superstars to many, prioritizing the customer experience as a way of measuring their success and departmental effectiveness. 

“Customer service begins with an organizational ethos around 'service,’” stated Nate Byerley. “I admire the approach that Campus Web Services takes in empowering our clients to successfully manage their website content through training and one-on-one support.”

As much as customer service is about helping the customer, there is no doubt customers have a way of helping our employees. “I have been able to expand my own knowledge because of the work I do for clients,” stated Dana Hertzberg. “They not only push the boundaries of the platform but also share positive feedback about our communication and process style.” The feedback customers share helps the team to adjust, pivot, and perfect their processes to best support current and future customers. 

One of the main things our customers are looking for is expertise. We are fortunate, within the Campus Web Services team, to have a tremendous amount of that. “Owning your expertise is not about being condescending or dismissive of your clients’ input, but rather about using our knowledge to guide and support them,” stated Chris Green. “We can save our clients a lot of headaches down the road if we own the fact that we are the experts in our subject matter and can provide good advice that takes our experience into account.”

Understanding the customer, their needs, and frustrations is a necessary skill and passion, and our Campus Web Services team has a great deal of that quality. “For me, successful customer service is a multifaceted approach which starts with empathy and understanding toward the client,” stated Sanjana Nikolich- Singh. “Being responsive, patient and courteous is first and foremost for our team.” 

Digital Experience Technologies and Trellis are solution providers to students, faculty, and staff throughout the university. Many of these solutions support campus groups in providing their own customer service! A tremendous team of individuals supports and encourages the users of the many applications that fall under their portfolio. 

“Customer service, in my eyes, is not just about solving problems; it's about illuminating a path of understanding,” stated Kayli Hill. Hill went on to address the outcome of users encountering issues in Trellis when connected with customer support. “When users encounter challenges with our software provided by Trellis, my goal is to not only provide solutions but also to ignite a spark of knowledge that leaves our users feeling confident and empowered with all our products.”

The Support Services department is all about supporting the end-user. 24/7 Support Center telephone and chat are staffed by kind, customer-focused individuals ready to help students, staff, researchers, and faculty who are challenged by the technology they need to get the job done. 

Rusty Martin is just one of those special individuals who takes customer service to the next level. “Customer service success is listening to the client/customer and making sure they feel supported and heard. Then, going that extra mile for them, being an advocate for them, ensuring that their answers/requests are completed to the best of our ability. Making sure when the client/customer leaves they are happy with your result.”

The Self Service & Training team works together with the 24/7 Support Center and UITS subject matter experts to provide new and updated articles in the Knowledge Base. “Besides making our jobs easier with clear and concise information, they provide documentation with public facing articles too,” stated Michael Nicolosi. “These help our clients, through searching the knowledge base, resolve issues on their own, answer their questions and guide them to other resources.” 

Several support customers had kudos to share:

• “My attendant was super patient and helpful. I was tense and mildly frustrated, and he was awesome. He put me at ease. Great Job! “ 
• “He was very professional and knowledgeable in navigating me through the issues in which I was having. I must also mention that he was very patient as well. That indeed is an admirable trait to have.” 
• “Thanks to the Academic Technologies Team for the prompt support in providing great knowledge base content for addressing the new email forwarding recommendations for UAGC employees resulting a new knowledge article: Outlook – Adding Multiple Accounts” 
• “Thanks to Francis on the 24/7 support team for providing in-the-moment assistance for triaging a complicated CTS call.” 
• “Thanks to Michael Nicolosi for being so dedicated to sharing customer Kudos with support consultants.”
• From a ServiceNow survey: “The IT folks at UA are 2nd to none. What an efficient, smart, friendly group of folks...observed over many years and compared to innumerable other IT organizations. Thank you!!!”

Another department that takes customer experience to new heights is the Information Security Office. The Information Security Office is often behind the scenes with carefully crafted cybersecurity tools, watching, waiting for the bad actors to try and strike our university’s digital network. As defenders of the cyber-universe, they also train us how to avoid the bad actors and keep safe in the office and at home on our personal digital network. 

This unit does incredible work in customer service but recognizes helping others is a university-wide initiative. “Customer service does not live in one department; it's a shared responsibility throughout the entire organization,” explained Wendy Epley. “By empowering all units to share information across the organization, it contributes to a great customer experience and strengthens the university's cyber risk management strategy." 

“Successful customer service is the most rewarding part of my job,” said Teresa Banks. “My favorite thing to do is make it easy for someone to find what they need so that they can get back to serving the mission of the University of Arizona.” 

This week, and every week, our dedication to the customer will always take priority, and the Division of the CIO appreciates those providing great customer service to ensure everyone has the best, most well-informed, and streamlined experience in IT.