IFS Customer Success Services all start and end with one key element: a global team of committed professionals. Nadee Jayatilaka, Success Manager for IFS Customer Success, talks to us about her role, different aspects and benefits of consulting engagements, and what she enjoys most about the work.
You’re a Success Manager for IFS Customer Success. What exactly do you do?
Essentially, my role is to be an advocate for the customer, planning, managing, and delivering agreed service outcomes from IFS so that they make the most of the software they have bought.
I work in very close partnership with each customer, developing and implementing a business plan that, through our Guided or Tailored IFS Customer Success engagement framework, reflects their corporate and strategic business needs.
The Customer Success services are subscription-based and run over a three or five-year lifecycle, so as you can imagine over that timeframe we get to understand our customers, and their business and sector challenges, extremely well.
To provide this service, I need to plan in the resources needed. For example, Expert Services, Solution Architects and consultants. I currently manage and monitor IFS Success Plans for two customers.
Can you share some examples of engagement at work?
At present I’m working with two UK companies in the construction sector and manufacturing and services sector. Our customer in the construction sector is expanding their business and wanted IFS to be a part of their road map. They also wanted to move up to a newer version of IFS which is constantly refreshed, or ‘evergreen’, and roll it out across more sites.
Previously they had called on ad-hoc consulting services with us, but realized that, with limited in-house competencies, their strategic plans warranted a more structured partnership with IFS.
By using IFS Success, I was able to work with them to draw up a clear Success Plan with key milestones and timings. In this way we can schedule the resources required and ensure that the appropriate expertise is available at the right time to meet our agreed delivery goals.
Just four months since starting we’ve already seen some very good outcomes and knowledge transfer through workshops and several Expert Services. We’ve already been able to provide recommendations of ways to use their IFS software to better realize more business value. Our Success Plan includes an upgrade to IFS Cloud in the future.
All our Success outcomes are carried out via tickets. For IFS Success, this is pre-packaged as a fixed number of tickets per month/quarter. We track and graph the utilization so the customer can see the mix of competency, operational, and Expert interventions over time.
Another example is a manufacturing customer that’s currently looking at taking Customer Success Services. As a global business with sites all over the world, the company want to see how they can optimize IFS across the organization in a coordinated, strategic plan.
What personal characteristics make good teams within IFS Success?
To be a successful Customer Success Manager, you need to work with a lot of departments internally. We have to work with many, many, people and so need to remain open-minded to alternative ideas and approaches.
It’s also clearly important to be transparent and honest, and to be able to adapt, especially when new variables get added into the mix.
How long have you been with IFS, and what have you done before?
I’ve been an IFS Customer Success Manager for the last two years. Originally, I joined IFS as an undergraduate Software Engineer working on R&D in Sri Lanka. After relocating to the UK, I moved into consultancy with the company, first in support, then in within HR & Payroll. So, in total I’ve been with IFS for 21 years so far.
What’s the most rewarding part about your job?
Definitely meeting people! I like sharing what IFS can do with different people in different roles, and collaborating in partnership with a customer to get a Success Plan working as well and as hard as it possibly can to support their business initiatives and goals.
And passions outside the office?
I do enjoy playing the piano – it’s a great way to unwind. And of course, spending time with my family – we have two children that keep us busy! To keep in shape, I also try and fit in bit of swimming and running whenever I can during the week.
SOURCE : Blogger, G. (2022). IFS Customer Success team blog: Nadee Jayatilaka. IFS Blog. https://blog.ifs.com/2022/01/ifs-customer-success-team-blog-nadee-jayatilaka/
