Operations Manager / Industrial Engineer at hearX Group

Job Purpose:

• Optimize the contact center environment with a strong focus on the operational landscape, analytics, agent performance, customer satisfaction, and overall efficacy of the contact center.
• Drive change and optimization objectively, based on various data points.
• Responsible for ensuring the optimal functioning, procedures, systems and data of the contact center, which will include daily operations, capacity planning and reporting.

Minimum education (essential):

• BEng Industrial Engineering

Minimum applicable experience (years):

• 3+ years in Call/ Contact Centers
• 2+ years Management

Required nature of experience:

• Team management
• KPI development and implementation
• Sales reporting
• Operational reporting in call/ contact centers
• Customer relations
• Working within a digital environment
• Process optimisation
• Training 
• Supporting of hardware devices
• Stakeholder management
• International exposure would be beneficial

Skills and Knowledge (essential):

• Excellent English skills, with a neutral accent
• CRM system experience (Salesforce)
• Conflict management
• Understanding of sales, conversion rates
• Process adherence, concerning software and hardware
• BCEA
• Managing and implementing poor performance

Essential Competencies:

• Examining Information
• Interpreting Data
• Adopting Practical Approaches
• Providing Insights
• Making Decisions
• Team Working
• Meeting Timescales
• Taking Action

Important Competencies:

• Documenting Facts
• Developing Expertise
• Exploring Possibilities
• Convincing People
• Challenging Ideas
• Directing People
• Showing Composure
• Resolving Conflict
• Embracing Change
• Inviting Feedback
• Managing Tasks
• Producing Output

Team Management 20%

• Establish, improve and ensure supervisors are actively managing the team’s KPI's and providing frequent and proactive feedback.
• Liaise with training and support staff to ensure there are appropriate and continuous team training initiatives (Including training facilitated by other supporting roles and functions in various divisions of the company) with the end goal of establishing and improving QA activities and benchmarks, and unlocking new opportunities for improvement
• Active monitoring and reporting of performance of team members with scheduled, regular check-ins, performance appraisals and required documentation, based on KPI Scorecards for the different functions in the Hearing Hub.
• Monitor and manage peak times and operational capacity and establish a model to benchmark requirements to appropriately allocate resources in conjunction with/ under guidance of the Hearing Hub Manager and RTA (as a supporting role), by considering inbound call volumes, retention tasks, lead volumes, live chat volumes and general seasonality.
• Manage the CRM and other operational systems through the assignment of tasks, leads and priorities, resolution of issues, and enhancement of operational efficiency.
• Work with the GM:B2C to ensure capacity and resources are recruited and hired in time in order to implement future plans, and to ensure current operational requirements can be met.
• Manage relevant HR related processes (i.e. recruitment, onboarding, offboarding, leave, claims, performance management etc.)
• Enhance and encourage a culture of excellent customer service.
• Cultivate and maintain a healthy and effective team culture, in accordance with the hearX values.
• Ensure other required documents, reports and email accounts are kept up to date and accurate.

Planning & Reporting 20%

• Liaise with top management to understand and articulate strategic direction for the team itself, as well as for the team’s product and system output.
• Steer the direction of the team by communicating the strategy into a workable and efficient plan, presenting assumptions and recommending objectives as required.
• Take ownership of reporting functions including but not limited to sales reports, customer retention reports, customer satisfaction reports, shift reports, and KPI reports, ensuring a holistic overview on the general health of the contact center
• Interpret sales reports and other relevant data, and advise on (and implement) midcourse corrections and/ or improvements. 
• Interpret customer retention and satisfaction reports and advise on (and implement) midcourse corrections and/ or improvements.
• Setup and monitor management-approved key metrics and performance on each metric within a satisfactory range. 
• Report on performance on key metrics to management satisfaction. 
• Ensure the level of performance on key metrics is achieved to management satisfaction and the ever-growing needs of the business.
• Maintain team shift schedule and manage exceptions to the team schedule.

Customer Experience 20%

• Ensure customers have a positive view of hearX and B2C Brand (Lexie Hearing and Go Hearing) and the customer support team and processes by driving engagement, improvement, and overall training across the contact center. 
• Solve problems as effectively and efficiently as possible by reducing the time spent with each query; and encourage the same behavior within the team.
• Conduct business in a professional manner when communicating and interacting with customers to ensure customer satisfaction; and encourage the same behavior within the team.
• Maintain a high ‘customer effort score’ and ‘customer satisfaction rating’ in the Hearing Hub, across the board.
• Ensure agents gather customer feedback via post-call reviews, cases,  and the Lexie Rewards program.
• Actively communicate with other staff members to ensure best practice customer satisfaction.
• Ensure agents reinforce information provided on a call with texts and/or emails.
• Ensure a minimal to zero missed call rate.
• Ensure agents articulate factual and accurate information, portraying the company and brand(s) in the best way possible, ultimately driving a higher conversion rate, a lower return rate, and a high customer satisfaction and customer support rating.

Continuous Improvement 15%

• Provide continuous input on improvement of the contact center procedures and processes.
• Provide continuous input on improving the customer experience and service.
• Ensure key metrics stay relevant and are continuously improved. Where key metrics become outdated or irrelevant, ensure new metrics are identified and tracked to promote the overall success of the contact center.
• Assist with , and maintain ultimate accountability for, individual and team performance through performing audits on communication logs, emails, live chat transcripts, and call recordings to identify areas for improvement.
• Liaise with the Continuous Improvement Audiologist and other relevant support staff to maintain the list of FAQs based on queries logged by customers; and the corresponding responses.
• Alert top management to the needs and desires of our prospective and existing customers. 
• Provide customer feedback on product or training information to the Continuous Improvement Audiologist and other relevant support staff.
• Provide feedback to the Continuous Improvement Audiologist and other relevant support staff on the support material available that could be helpful to customers and staff.
• Ensure agents actively participate in training activities and successfully complete training activities.
• Ensure records are kept of agent attendance to training sessions in line with company QMS processes and procedures.

Sales 10%

• Ensure the team meets sales targets and KPI’s.
• Ensure lead assignment and wrap-up tasks (for example capturing the call outcome and notes) are completed accurately and thoroughly according to applicable procedure(s).
• Ensure agents action inbound sales calls according to applicable procedure(s).
• Drive the upsell of additional products to existing or (and prospective) customers. 
• Maintain a high sales conversion rate in line with historically calculated benchmarks and current standards set by management and apply measures to continuously improve said rate.
• Ensure agents provide good quality, accurate and factual information to customers to ensure that the products meet their needs in order to minimize returns.
• Ensure agents are equipped to assist customers with questions about hearing loss and hearing aid benefits.
• Assist in achieving set revenue goals and targets and drive accountability amongst individual agents to contribute to said targets.

Customer Support 10%

• Manage escalations from the supervisors to solve problems for end users.
• Manage customer cases and complaints in the CRM and other operational systems.
• Handle escalated queries with discretion and efficiency and ensure SLA is maintained.  
• Ensure agents action inbound support calls according to applicable procedure(s).
• Ensure agents maintain a high first contact resolution rate, without compromising customer care.
• Ensure agents provide comprehensive troubleshooting and solve problems for customers to get the products working over either voice or video call, live chat, email or text message.
• Ensure agents obtain and note quality information from the customers to allow for effective management of the relevant escalation.
• Ensure effective query escalation procedures are in place for resolving queries correctly and with discretion, resulting in efficient resolutions.
• Ensure agents offer our customers the best care by making appropriate call transfers, where the knowledge or skills of other team members are required.
• Ensure that the majority of Lexie users have gone through the onboarding process (where possible).
• Ensure agents transfer/relay queries to the Lexie Expert, Fulfillment or Debtors team in a timely manner.
• Ensure agents complete assigned CRM tasks for support calls to customers thoroughly and in a timely manner.
• Ensure the retention programme is actioned appropriately and thoroughly and that retention tasks are completed as scheduled. 
• Ensure that absolute customer confidentiality and protection of personal information is maintained.
• Maintain client records in accordance with procedures and HIPAA.

Quality & Compliance 5%

• Ensure communication is ethical and in line with Company Policy and provided training. 
• Monitor and enforce correct use of internal systems and schedule training for staff where required, ensuring ultimate compliance to company and audit standards.
• Monitor and enforce HIPAA Privacy Requirements.
• Maintain customer records in accordance with procedures and HIPAA.
• Ensure QA procedures are in place and actioned.
• Ensure agents maintain high QA scores, other KPI scores and customer satisfaction rate.
• Maintain absolute customer confidentiality and protection of personal information in accordance with regulations and procedure and ensure the team does the same.
• Keep quality customer interaction logs complete and up to date, on any system, sheet or form as required in accordance with procedure and ensure the team does the same.
• Ensure that the records reflect accurate representations of the customer interactions, and ensure that escalations are recorded with the optimal amount of information for effective and efficient resolution. 
• Ensure other required documents, reports and email accounts are up to date and accurate.
• Ensure proper knowledge is gained and kept on all regulatory, policy and procedural requirements.
• Positively adhere to all regulatory, policy and procedural requirements.