The humans behind Hireserve: Archana

As a member of the Support and Services team customer service is of number one priority within Archana’s role.

After Hireserve’s successful win at the Inspire Awards last Thursday, we are proud to celebrate our achievement of Service Excellence and wanted to dig deeper into what the support team offers our customers.

Hi Archana, can you give me an overview of Hireserve’s customer support and the role you play in it day-to-day?

I am one of the first points of contact for Hireserve customers and support is therefore a key part of my role. I am accessible daily through Live Chat, email and phone and assist customers with their queries.

My role is really varied and I get to work with customers from the user testing stage, prior to the system going live, to working with customers post implementation. I am the link between the development team and the customer, working out the customer’s requirements which can then be passed onto the developers.

At Hireserve it’s really important for us to be able to offer the best possible service to our customers so we make sure we handle all customer requests and queries in a timely and efficient manner. After winning an award for Service Excellence at the Inspire Awards last week it proves that we’re definitely doing something right!

It was a real achievement for all of us and not just the services team. We may be the face of support for our customers but there is so much behind the scenes work carried out by all the other teams here which contribute to this success.

What would you say are the 3 pillars of customer service excellence?

Personalisation – Outstanding service always starts with the human touch. I believe personalised interactions with customers can greatly improve customer service and makes the customer feel that the company really does care about them. It’s important that the customer knows that there is support available when needed and not just an automated system.

Competency and Proactivity – To provide the best customer service it’s important that team members have a strong knowledge of the company and know the product well. Customers also want their service providers to be proactive and reach out to them. For example, if a website is going to experience some downtime, reaching out to the customer and notifying them of this will be hugely appreciated as you are keeping them well-informed of the situation.

Convenience – Customers want to know that they can contact you easily through whatever channel is most convenient for them. This means that your services team should be open to offering a range of communication channels, from phone to social media.

If an in-house recruiter was looking for a new system what would you recommend they ask the supplier about the support available?

1. What channels of communication are available? It’s important to know how you will be able to contact your supplier if you face any difficulties and to know whether this service is provided 24/7 or only during working hours.

2. What Service Level Agreements (SLA) are offered? This will allow you to find out who your main point of contact would be as well as expected response and resolution times to any queries you may have.

3. Can you explain your incident management process? This will help you to understand the level of support you will be offered including whether you will be presented with first and second line support and if you will being using a particular software for support.

What is the most rewarding aspect of your job?

The most rewarding aspect has to be knowing that we have happy customers. We have managed to build really successful relationships because of the services we provide. We have the right team who understands our customers’ needs and are able to identify and implement the right solutions for them.

On a more personal level, the ability to work flexibly and with such a great team and organisation makes a really happy me!

And just to get to know you a little better, have you got any interesting facts about yourself that you’d like to share?

I absolutely love travelling. I get so excited that I end up having my bags packed and ready 5 days in advance! I also love taking photos and wish it were possible to capture every moment. I like being able to design gifts using the pictures I take for my friends and family.

Find out more

Read more about our Service Excellence Award

Meet Hireserve’s Head of Services, Rob

Meet our Database Team Leader, Liam