James Cox

Malmesbury, Wiltshire, SN16 james@jamescox.org

Profile

An experienced Service Desk Manager, with several years experience line managing staff members in challenging customer-facing roles, leading teams to deliver excellent levels of service. Recruits Service Desk staff; monitoring and managing the Service Desk to agreed targets. Sets up workflow procedures and schedules work plans. Carries out performance appraisals and produces reports based on statistical analysis of call volumes and trends, customer feedback and product issues. Provides support to internal teams for the provision and configuration of applications on the desktop and to carry out trouble-shooting and repairs to workstations. Manages 3rd party contracts for the provision of support to IT within Data Centres and to remote workers. Supports the Marketing Department by proof reading copy for printed catalogues, direct mail marketing and web shops. Checks technical specifications and compatibility information for new products. Assists with creation of product data sheets and delivers briefings for key new products to sales and customer service staff. Demonstrates products to school teachers and ICT Coordinators at Educational Trade Shows. Delivers technical information and terminology to non-technical people in written and verbal forms. Career History Sherston Publishing Group Technical Support Manager/Service Desk Manager Senior Technical Support Coordinator/Test Manager Technical Support Coordinator Achievements Successfully recruited and trained First Line Support staff to the Service Desk resulting in a professional and timely level of support to teachers and ICT Coordinators in 20,000 UK Primary Schools. Coached and managed First Line Support staff and other members of the Customer Service team in delivery of customer service excellence. Since 2008, more than 150 customers have written in to thank us for our help (extracts available). Successfully resolved complex or sensitive customer issues that have been escalated; liaising with other departments, Senior Managers and 3rd party companies. Introduced Service Level Targets with regard to response times, as a result 99.5% of emails and web based queries received are responded to within 2 hours. Established a Weekly Activity Report that summarised all aspects of the Service Desk performance; including volumes of calls answered, emails responded to, complimentary customer feedback and revenue generated. This enabled tighter control of the Service Desk activity and resulted in improved levels of customer service. Joint technical involvement in winning supplier status to join the government run Home Access computer scheme. This involved demonstrating compliance with FITS operational framework for the customer helpdesk. Generated 5M turnover on approx 10,000 computers sold since February 2010. Directed the integration of support for all CD-ROM based Granada, Blackcat and Semerc titles from the previous support team after a company merger. Managed, coached and developed a team of software testers which resulted in the timely release of over 40 CD-ROM and online products, generating 5M + revenue for the company. Developed and maintained compatibility matrix for more than 300 products and created a knowledgebase of technical issues / Known Error Database with in-depth documented resolutions. Proof read many product catalogues and marketing material suggesting improved and corrected copy and supplying technical information for inclusion. Dec 2002 to Jan 2012 2008 to Jan 2012 2004 to 2008 2002 to 2004

TM Property Services Apr 2002 to Dec 2002 Customer Support Analyst Supported solicitors and their conveyancing teams in the configuration and use of TMs e-conveyancing software and web services. Assisted clients by telephone regarding the installation and configuration of web browsers, plug-ins and mapping software. Telephone trained new users in the use of the services, explaining functionality of complex tools using non-technical terminology. Quantica Technology Feb 2001 to Apr 2002 IT Recruitment Consultant Managed Key accounts, dealing mainly with Helpdesk/Service Desk Managers in selecting and interviewing 1st and 2nd line customer support staff. Gateway Computers 1999 to 2001 Systems consultant / Sales Executive Advised over 600 customers in the design and specification of custom-built PCs. Gave technical support to customers by telephone and face to face, analysing technical issues and escalating to hardware teams as required. Trained novice users in-store and in-home in the basic use of Windows, web browsers, office applications, printing, scanning and photo editing. Great Western Trains (prev British Rail) 1988 to 1999 Promoted to Duty Manager in 1993, after several other customer service roles. Ensured station standards achieved specified SLAs. 24x7 service operations management. Trained, coached and developed a team of 20 customer facing team members. Recruitment advertised vacancies, interviewed and selected customer service staff. Performed 10+ interviews on local radio, championing the companys public profile. Education 4 A-Levels, 2 A/O Levels, 9 O-levels including Maths and English Language Technical skills Windows 7, Vista, XP, 2000, NT4, 9x Mac OS X 10.2 to 10.6 MS Office to 2007 Outlook 2003/07/10 OpenOffice.org Web browser configuration Google Apps suite MS Server 2003 Active Directory MS Dynamics NAV (Navision 5.0) SonicWALL VPN Client iPhone iOS5 Bendata HEAT Zendesk Help Desk Citrix GoToAssist Mikogo Remote Assist WordPress Weebly Professional Google Site Builder Caphyon Advanced Installer packaging Virtualization (MS Virtual PC, Oracle VirtualBox, VMware Player) RM Community Connect 3 & 4

Training ITIL V3 Foundation certification gained December 2011. CompTIA A+ exams being taken in February 2012. Workshops for Health & Safety, Managing Change, Coaching/Development and Media Interview Skills. Interests I am passionate about motor racing and have attended many national and international events, including a trip to the Le Mans 24 hour race. I have also driven Formula Ford racing cars and a Ferrari 355 road car at Thruxton; the UKs fastest circuit. I have more recently taken an interest in photography and am enjoying learning the intricacies of a Digital SLR camera. In October I attended a fantastic course at Westonbirt Arboretum where I had the opportunity to advance my photography skills in this beautiful environment. I built my mothers business website and assist her with marketing www.pershorenaturaltherapy.co.uk Personal details Married with children Full, clean UK driving license I am available for new roles immediately having recently taken advantage of a severance package.