Ensuring that customers get the service they deserve, and more, is vital to us at Send. Whilst keeping track of how our products are evolving, and ensuring post-implementation success, Head of Operations, Naynesh Patel, highlights just how important it is to be there for a customer in need, even in off-hours.
Leading a constantly expanding team across multiple locations, Naynesh understands that training is a key component for internal and external progress. We are proud of our growing team, they are hungry to learn and develop in order to be the best for our clients.
All of the above is just a part of Naynesh’s wide-ranging role, so what else is involved and how does he use his skills to support our Underwriting Workbench customers?
Q: The Head of Operations role can be quite broad reaching, can you tell us about some of the key areas you get involved in?
The primary part of my role is ensuring that our customers are well-supported post-implementation, and that any issues that arise are actively and efficiently managed through to resolution. Another important aspect is expectation management, making sure that our customers are aware of where things are and what they can expect in terms of responses and problem-solving. A lot of what my team and I do is ensure that we build a strong relationship with our customers. This enables us to have honest conversations. We don’t want a simple vendor/customer relationship, it is important that we build a partnership.
Other more internally-focused roles involve establishing efficient processes to support the implementation of products and the development of our employees. We are a growing business, so we need to make sure new starters are well-inducted. We do training and onboarding for new joiners, so they can hit the ground running.
It’s my team that also completes all the checks and balances to ensure that any updates to products, or new components have passed testing and quality assurance before going to the customer, in that sense we’re something of a final gatekeeper of product excellence.
Q: Last year you spearheaded the push to get ISO accreditation – can you tell us more about Send’s approach to data security, and why this is important to your customers?
It’s paramount; it’s of the highest importance for us because the ISO is all about information security. This accreditation means that an external body has looked at what we’re doing in this space, and said yes, we are happy with how you’re managing your information security.
It’s so important because we look after a lot of valuable data for our customers. Our customers need to have confidence that we have the right controls in place. We treat their data as they themselves would, we make sure it’s secure, well-managed and with all the appropriate protections in place. Data leakage is a significant concern for all businesses, and we want our customers to know we are trusted organisation.
Q: Send has expanded considerably in the past year, how do you approach operational management on an international scale?
Fundamentally, we treat all of our customers the same, whether they’re here in the UK, the US, or the Middle East or elsewhere, we don’t differentiate. Again, it’s part of building a strong partnership, we’re flexible and work to accommodate customers even if they need us outside of our core service hours.
On the operational side, we have a consistent service transition process. We make sure we have a detailed understanding as to what we are going to be required to look after when the Workbench goes live. Typically, what we would do is embed one of the team members into a project, giving our customer dedicated support to ensure that the product implementation is as smooth as possible.
We make sure we establish all the right connections on the customer side, this involves who we’re going to be liaising with, what the concepts are, what reports will be required, what the approval processes are, any particular windows that work for them and understanding their business cycle. This knowledge allows us to become a close partner that truly understands their business.
Q: We’re lucky to have a team with great expertise and knowledge in order to be there for customers when they may need a problem fixed or query resolved. Do you have any real-time examples of when you and the team have gone above and beyond for your customers?
All the time! I often give customers my personal number, because if they’ve got a major issue that’s occurring outside of supported hours, I want them to feel that we are there for them. I’ve had phone calls from one of our global customers on the weekend. They had a large team working on a problem that needed solving urgently. I took the call and helped them work through the issue pulling in the right people from Send to assist, I make sure I never refuse a phone call.
Sometimes we have had customers make changes to systems on their side that have gone wrong, and though outside of our direct control and scope, they need us to help support them, which we’re happy to do. If someone is having trouble then we’d like to ease that, we want them to know that they can reach out to us. I don’t recall a situation where we haven’t been able to assist.
Q: You were Send’s 6th permanent employee way back when the business launched in 2017, what have been some of your highlights during that time?
A massive one was getting that first customer, a global insurer, over the line and the amount of work we put into making that implementation a success. After that, over time, we have become unbelievably busy and our customer base has grown a lot.
It’s always a highlight to receive positive feedback from our customers, and I’m proud of the great responses my team gets from users. It’s brilliant to see how our underwriting workbench has grown and evolved over the years since we launched, with new components constantly being added to ensure it continues to meet the needs of our underwriter customers.
Another highlight was achieving the ISO accreditation and growing our team. It’s great to bring team members on, and get us into a place where internally and externally, the team is well respected.
Q: What are some of your objectives for the coming year?
To ensure that our growing team is developing in number and skill. I want them to have opportunities to cross skill and build their knowledge and expertise. My team is keen and eager to learn. They want to grow and ultimately for me, it means we can provide a better service to our customers.
We have several new customers coming on board over the coming months, and I want to continually refine our onboarding processes to make that transition smooth for them wherever they’re located.
If you’d like to connect with Naynesh, you can find him on LinkedIn here.