‘Go to’ for software support and software requests ‘go between’

|
Helping customers with software enquiries; getting to the bottom of an issue; relaying software requests through to our developers... it’s all in a day’s work for Lydia Rider, Wolf Systems Software Support Analyst.
Prior to joining Wolf Systems almost three years ago, Lydia was a complete stranger to the world of timber engineering software. “I didn’t know what a truss was,” she laughs, “and while my background included customer service experience, I had no formal IT qualifications.”
|
Clearly Lydia’s personality, aptitude and winning way with people shone through - and continue to do so - in what is in important front-line position: assisting customers with any software-related enquiry, issue or request. The role calls for strong communication, organisational and problem-solving skills, not least the ability to get under the skin of the software.
Technically minded and intensively trained in-house in Wolf Systems’ Enterprise, WolfWin and Horizon software – the three packages in which Lydia specialises – she is now one of the ‘go to’ people that customers can contact should they need advice or assistance. “The learning curve’s been a steep one and in some respects, every day’s a ‘school day’ as the software just keeps on developing and I have to keep up with it,” Lydia says. “It’s the diversity of the role that keeps me on my toes. No two days are ever the same and I can be busy with anything from finding a fix to a problem, to handling a customer request for a software feature.
“As a customer’s first point-of-contact for anything to do with Wolf software, it’s my job to resolve any issue as quickly as possible, to minimise customer disruption. I use a really helpful tool, Team Viewer, which lets me remotely show a customer what they need to do if it’s a training issue. I can also grab a copy of a job, screen shot or a job file to see if I can fix something they may be struggling with, either on the spot, or by replicating it here and getting back to them as soon as I’ve arrived at a solution.
“Thanks to the depth of my training I can answer many customer questions and resolve the majority of problems fast. If the issue is of a more complex technical nature, I can speak directly with Wolf’s developers and programmers, who based within the same office, are always at hand for advice.”
With ‘making the engineering easier’ core to the Wolf way of working, Lydia, like all her colleagues, genuinely cares about being as helpful as possible. “I find getting to know our customers really rewarding,” she says, “and the more we understand each other, the easier it is to get to the bottom of an issue. It feels good to be able to help our customers and make tasks easier.”
Simple things can make all the difference and it’s the problem-solving nature of her role that most inspires Lydia. “It’s a great feeling when you get to the bottom of a problem and are able to say to a customer, ‘we can fix this’ or, better still, ‘it’s sorted’.”