Archives for February 2018

I am often asked what customer success is about, and most people picture this role as a contact center position. However, customer success goes beyond phone assistance and traditional customer service. At HCSS, customers are considered the most valuable asset and are the reason we strive for excellence.

The goal of a customer success program is to quickly and effectively resolve issues and enhance relationships with clients. We want to make sure our customers are getting the most out of the products they have purchased. We commit to this, and our goal is to show that we value our customers’ trust.

I joined HCSS just recently as an intern for the Customer Success team. Even though I had previous experience interacting with customers at other companies, I never expected to experience company whose culture included such a commitment to ensuring the success of its customers. At HCSS, the relationship with customers transcends a contract.

Customer success – it is not just a group of individuals working towards the benefit of certain users; it is an objective to which our whole company is committed. From the executive team down through every level of the organization, there is a collaborative way to meet the company’s objectives. It is admirable that the company emphasizes doing things right so that no one is disappointed.

HCSS focuses on creating a proactive interaction with customers in order to create value. We want to understand our customers’ challenges so that we can provide the best answers or solutions and help them achieve their business goals.

When it comes to interacting with customers, we have to be better listeners than talkers, and we have to understand what the user wants to communicate in order for us to select the right roadmap in the search for a solution.

Our goal in the Customer Success team is to be the perfect liaison to transform areas for improvement into opportunities. We want to make a difference by offering helpful and proactive service to our customers in order to build long-term relationships.

I joined HCSS as a Strategy Intern, hoping it would give me some of the “real-world” experience I need when I graduate. It has now become my favorite internship to date because of all the knowledge I have amassed in the span of a few months. Along with that, HCSS has a culture that is unmatched by most other companies, which creates a great environment in which to work. Fellow employees will go out of their way to help someone, and that’s why I’m proud of my company.

I am part of a team working to push a newly-developed product to market. That entails analyzing the market, gathering feedback on the product, assisting in marketing, finding and fixing bugs, conducting market research, managing projects, and other responsibilities. You can see that HCSS doesn’t spoon-feed us and make interns fetch coffee for managers. HCSS gives its interns everything we need to succeed and will help us to do so.

My favorite part of working here is the culture. HCSS works to be more than just a software company. Among other things, it strives to be a valuable part of the community. Another thing I like about HCSS is that it sticks by its values, which are not just words on a wall. What makes this company different from others that I have worked with is that it sets an example. The values and mission statement have meaning here and are not taken lightly. It can be seen in the way people interact and work. For me, HCSS has shown how a company sets an example for people and what others can learn from that.

The best skill I have learned is leadership. When I am in control of my projects, I am responsible for my actions. It has helped me become more decisive and better at delegating tasks. Other skills I have improved upon are teamwork, communication, organizing, and self-management. Since I am also a student at the University of Houston, I can apply my learned skills to my classes and the organizations that I am a part of.

Overall, HCSS has helped me develop as best I can be, and it’s something I can’t thank the company for enough. The key to success is something anyone can create here because HCSS will give you the means to do so. It’s great to work with a team that teaches me something new every day, and I look forward to seeing what we all can accomplish together.

I never thought I’d be working in an internship that is as engaging, inventive, and creative at this point of my life. I was given the opportunity to work at HCSS, a software company, as a Learning Management System summer intern, and, to be quite frank, I had no idea what to expect. I was extremely nervous since this was my first internship at a big company, and I had very little experience applying my skills outside of school.

However, all my doubts were quickly diminished once I started working. I was given small tasks to start off with, and then my supervisor set up a meeting with a representative from the learning management system (LMS) that HCSS uses. In this meeting, I was able to see the ins and outs to what I’d be primarily working on, which is the HCSS Academy. After I became familiar with the Academy, I started editing videos and organizing courses within the LMS.

Projects

I started off by being handed some small internal projects within the company. My first task was to create a PDF for a course by the Cloud Services team, and I got to debut my design skills. I was then given the responsibility to re-design certain elements of the LMS. My supervisor gave me free reign on the design, and now it’s going to be the new look of the LMS. (On a quick side note, HCSS actually allows their interns to make decisions and have their work integrated into the company and its products.) Coming from a previous job where my work as an intern wasn’t used a whole lot, I was extremely excited when my design was going to be implemented into the LMS.

Another unique project that I worked on for a couple of months was actually for the support department. I was asked to create support stickers that were going to be used as a form of recognition and achievement throughout the support department. It was a great way to meet more co-workers and actually work with them to create what they need. With this project, I was actually able to enhance my graphic design skills and creativity in a way I’ve never done before.

Now I’m currently working on creating a software certification exam, and I’m also re-designing the HCSS Community website. As a Digital Media major at the University of Houston, I am constantly building and improving my portfolio of work, and having an internship where I can keep adding more and more to it is extremely rewarding.

New Technical Skills I’ve Learned

Through this internship I’ve also been able to acquire some new technical skills. I learned how to use Camtasia, a video editing software that we use to create the training videos for the LMS. I learned how to use Adobe Captivate to create simulation trainings that also include tests and quizzes. And I learned how to work in the Skill Jar platform and understand how it works to form the LMS. As an LMS Intern, I now know some basics to e-learning, which is an up-and-coming concept in this digital age, and I already have some hands-on experience with it.

HCSS Culture & Experience

I love what I do as an intern, but the culture at HCSS makes it even more worthwhile. It’s exciting to wake up and see what’s new at work. HCSS is always incorporating new things into the workplace for their employees, and that makes employees feel special about working there.

One particular thing I enjoy at work is going outside with a few coworkers and getting to play with dogs. (HCSS allows employees to bring their dogs to work and keep them in kennels outside.) It’s such a fun way to take a quick break, and I also get to socialize with some of my coworkers.

HCSS genuinely cares about their employees and really knows how to give us an excellent work life. My overall experience here has been extremely rewarding, and I am very grateful to have this experience. I’ve been able to learn so much and grow my skills, and I’m excited that I get to continue into the spring semester.

 

Credit: Photography by Josh Espinoza