Get to Know: Jeremiah Kunze, Manager of Implementations
Joined Everbridge
April 2013
Location
Burlington
Let’s start with the basics. What does the Implementation team do at Everbridge?
We’re the client’s first point of contact after they join, and our job is to train them on how they can get the most out of Everbridge. Each member of our team is a trainer, a consultant, and a project manager; we all know the system inside and out. We need to be able to take a platform that’s fairly complex and break it down into parts according to what the client needs and can digest. I’ve never worked as an IT or tech person, but I know this one product really well.
What does your role look like as a manager?
I make sure we’re working towards the company’s overall objectives, which primarily means I’m there for my team when they need help. I have a lot of faith in them; I hire people who I believe can do the job well, so I try to step back and act more as a guide. I don’t need or like to over-manage. The people who flourish here tend to be very proactive, and I try to support them in that.
I also help plan implementations for some of our larger or more complex clients. For example, the entire state of Florida is implementing Everbridge right now, so I helped plan how we would roll that out. I’m also helping to build and enhance our customer success initiatives that will help customers thrive in the long run by providing ongoing account reviews, technical training, and consultative support
How does Implementation collaborate with other teams?
We collaborate with most of the teams at Everbridge in one way or another, Product Management being a team we work particularly closely with. Because we interact with clients directly, we’re in a good position to provide feedback on how we see them interacting with the system. We also share similar responsibilities as Professional Services and Sales Engineering, which leads to a strong working relationship.
We also talk a lot with our account managers, who are the main advocates for our clients after they move on from implementation. They keep us posted on how clients are doing months down the road; that feedback, along with the customer surveys we send out, is really valuable because it can be difficult to put a data point on what we do. We do track metrics like monthly case closes, hours spent and length of an implementation. However, measuring success is about more than just numbers. It’s critical to do a qualitative assessment, not just a quantitative analysis.
What were you doing before Everbridge?
I was working in Emergency Management. I majored in emergency management at Massachusetts Maritime Academy, which operates a lot like a military school — there’s a regiment, we wore uniforms, and we sailed on a 600-foot ship for part of the year. It was a unique experience. I did internships in things like hazardous material remediation, corporate security, and also did an internship at the Y-12 National Security Complex, which is responsible for maintaining the US nuclear weapons stockpile.
After I graduated, I worked for the Conference of Boston Teaching Hospitals. I was the external emergency management liaison between the state and 18 hospitals in the Boston area. I had my hands in a little bit of everything, including helping to set up flu clinics during the H1N1 outbreak. Then I moved to California to be the public health preparedness manager for Santa Clara County. My team there prepared for mass casualty events like pandemics, epidemics, and biological attacks. There was more day-to-day stuff too, of course.
What made Everbridge interesting to you?
Everbridge was looking for people with experience in emergency management to join the Professional Services team — people who had been in the clients’ positions and could speak their language. I saw it as an exciting opportunity to have an impact on people across the country, instead of focusing on just one department or location.
That’s one of the things that amazes me here; our software touches the lives of far more people compared to working in traditional emergency management. We work with the entire Washington, D.C. region, the entire state of Florida, and the entire Bay Area, for example.
I think so many people who come to Everbridge stay for years in part because we’re reminded every day of the difference we make. Just a couple of weeks ago, I got a text message from a client’s system about an Amber Alert for a missing child — within an hour, I got a follow-up message saying “Child was found. Thank you for your tips.” It’s amazing to know we had some small hand in that.
How was the transition to the corporate world from the public sector?
In government, you generally have a very defined mission — contain this fire, secure that chemical spill. The corporate world is much more fluid; your job description might change depending on what’s going on in the company. Managing in this environment can be a bit different too. Your approach might change based on the goals, backgrounds, and working styles of the people involved. We’re not only reaching many different kinds of people through the platform, but also within our team and as clients — everyone from software developers to firefighters.
We know you’ve been working with Team Rubicon. Tell us about that.
Team Rubicon is a veteran-based nonprofit, international disaster response and relief organization. It pairs first responders with former service members; I think about 80 percent of the members are veterans. Sometimes, when people leave the military, they may feel a loss of sense of purpose, community, camaraderie. Team Rubicon empowers veterans to use their skills to help people in need, at no cost to the homeowners or the communities.
I actually learned about Team Rubicon through Everbridge; they’ve used our software pro bono since 2013, and I ran their implementation shortly after I joined. After a few years, I asked if I could get involved even though I’m not a vet. I didn’t realize that many of their volunteers were civilians. Given my emergency management background they said, “Yeah, absolutely.” A month later, I was in New Orleans on my first national deployment, helping the city recover from a string of tornadoes.
There was a man we helped on that first trip who I’ll never forget — his name was Ray. When we got to his house it was in rough shape; part of another building had landed on his roof and driveway, and the tornado had blown debris right through his home and knocked the bricks out of his front wall. He didn’t think there was any way he could rebuild, and he told us he’d probably have to sell it after the cleanup was done. But when he saw it three days later after Team Rubicon had cleaned it up, he was in awe. He said, “I’m going to rebuild.” What a cool experience, especially for my first time out.
What’s it been like using Everbridge during your Team Rubicon deployments?
It’s be great to get to experience it from the user side so tangibly. It’s led me to explore new ways Team Rubicon and other clients can use Everbridge. Right now, it’s used to communicate with volunteers and coordinate deployments. But we’ve also started to test it in the field, sending out safety messages and daily action plans. We tried that out on my last deployment, so I got to see the process taking shape.
What happens if a disaster happens before a client finishes their implementation?
We think ahead of time about what our clients will need in those situations, so if it happens, we’re prepared to kick it into high gear. Hurricane Matthew is a good example; some counties in Florida weren’t done implementing when that storm hit. We basically went to battle stations to make sure everything worked for them during that response. Many of us put in extra hours, but it went really well. It’s challenging, but it’s also a chance to make a major impact, which is one of the things I love most about this job.
