Quality Of Service: Don’t Shoot The Messenger
How this fun-loving team delivers a hard dose of reality
When Bob and Ilija pay a visit to their colleagues, they aren’t usually greeted warmly. “It’s like… oh damn,” Bob says with a chuckle. “And, there’s always panic,” Ilija continues. “In an ideal world you will not meet us.”
It’s a curious reaction because Bob and Ilija seem to be the kind of guys you’d love to run into around the office. They both have a laid back vibe, with big smiles and laughter that punctuates nearly every sentence.
“Humour is our greatest strength,” Bob says with his reliable grin. So what is it about these two affable characters that elicits anxiety in their fellow colleagues? In their own words, “We nag about incidents. When we show up it is usually because people have messed up.”
Bob and Ilija comprise half of the Quality of Service team at FedEx Digital. They manage issues reported to FedEx Digital and help the team associated with the problem to prioritize the resolution. They also monitor all FedEx Digital services to track any error trends and act as a liaison when mistakes are caused by external factors. As if this wasn’t enough, the team provides 24/7 support.
“I think most people think we are only dealing with internal incidents,” Ilija says. “I don’t think they see how much we are involved in externally.”
To their colleagues, the Quality of Service team might seem like the squeaky wheel. However, according to Bob and Ilija, they are the oil that keeps the engine running smoothly.
“I don’t like to bring bad news,” says Bob. “I try to explain in a way I hope can be understood and meet people where they are. In the end, I want to make everything better.”
In order to ensure quality of service, the team is positioned in the middle of everything that goes down at FedEx Digital. They’re the objective party faced with responding solely according to the facts in front of them. Bob tells why this sometimes involves delivering a hard dose of reality to innovative ideas.
“We have to look at why things aren’t working in the moment, not in the future. But, we don’t use our gut feelings. We are very fact driven and that’s why our team is also respected.”
That respect has been built up over the past two years. Bob and Ilija worked together at KLM and both eventually made their way to TNT, the company that is now FedEx Digital. At that time, there wasn’t a set procedure for logging and tracking customer experiences. Ilija explains that developing this system was their first big challenge to overcome.
“Now that we are tracking, we are challenged to examine the processes which are causing errors.” But, he also finds this work a lot of fun. “I like analysing complex problems and diving into things that other people haven’t been able to solve.”
The team says the overall feeling they get from working at FedEx Digital makes tackling thorny issues much more enjoyable day-to-day. Although their colleagues might duck under their desks when Bob and Ilija enter the room, the team describes the office culture as actually very open and supportive. “People take ownership of the problem and they are responsive to taking care of it.”
Bob appreciates working for such a high-profile, international company. “You can move around and grow within the company. You can also get acquainted with every step of the process.”
When it’s time to take a break from a long day of inducing anxiety nagging kick-ass problem solving, the team hits the foosball table down in the office canteen. If you are living in the ideal world, as Ilija says, perhaps you haven’t met team Quality of Service just yet. In that case, we recommend heading to the foosball table to share some laughs with some of the most good-humoured, all-around gregarious guys you will find at FedEx Digital.
Want to share your great sense of humour or foosball skills with FedEx Digital? We are always on the lookout for fun-loving colleagues.
