Amitabh Sharma
Features Coordinator

Michele English basks in the warm glow of sunlight as it trickles through the windows of her office in New Kingston.

For English, who is a Canadian, it is this warmth that drives her to achieve the goals that she sets out.

"I came to Jamaica in April 2006," said English, president and chief operating officer, Flow Jamaica. "It was an opportunity to build the company from scratch and start from the ground."

"There were tremendous challenges, but the opportunities were also in place," said English, in her sparse but well-lit office.

Investing in people
English said it was a conscious decision to invest in the manpower to get the best services. "To start with, there were not very many contractors in place, so we invested in our contractors," she said.

"We believe in giving opportunities to grow. We are investing a lot in training and also ensuring that the employees have their hands on tools and training equipment," English added.

Challenges
English, who worked as director, human resources at the Worker's Compensation Commission in Newfoundland, Canada, said it is challenging to build a world class service, but not difficult, if one has the resolve. "From the service delivery perspective, we want to get the best practices implemented," she said.

"The challenge we face is continued follow-up, which is what makes a world-class service," the president of Flow said.

Delivery
The key to customer services delivery is being polite and courteous and following up, English said. "We encourage the call centre executives to be friendly in dealing with customers," she said. "We monitor their progress and also take assessments and give feedback."

She said there are shortcomings. "We recognise that sometimes the call centre does not have adequate information; we are putting in tools and training for the customer services staff."

Growth and opportunities
English is upbeat about the communications industry and its pivotal role in the future. "ICT will drive job increases in the next couple of years as the new technology rolls out. There would be a lot of interesting things to do in this area," she said.

She projected new opportunities for incumbents. "We are projecting to grow from the human resource perspective," she said. "We are expanding in Mandeville and Montego Bay and would require professionals in customer services, operational and technical support."

Learn from mistakes
It is imperative to identify your weaknesses and try to overcome them, she said, and the key is to be adequately trained. "Training is important to understand the job; one needs to constantly improve not only oneself but also the working environment," she said.

Being on the job is a constant learning process, she said, "it is all right to make mistakes, but to be successful you need to go back and fix your mistakes."

Photo: Amitabh Sharma

amitabh.sharma@gleanerjm.com