| Key words : professional opportunities, a good knowledge of the product range, patience and courtesy |
| « I was the first CSC agent! » |
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Who are you, Lalitha? |
| I’m an Electronics and Communication engineer from Bharathidasan University, in India. I’ve been in Dubai with my husband and seven years old son Adarsh for almost ten years now. Because of the huge traffic jams and long driving times in Dubai, only on weekends I have time to enjoy cooking, reading fiction and painting Tanjore Art which is a special style of painting in South India. |
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You’ve had an interesting career, from Chennai to Dubai, and from electronics and telecommunications to electricity and management. How did it happen ? |
I started in India as testing engineer with a Telecom company. Then, after my marriage, in 1996, I moved to Dubai where my husband had a job. As there was no work in my field of expertise, I took a job with a local panel builder with whom I remained for three years. It was a small company with a opportunity to do everything, which gave me a lot of confidence. |
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How did you get to join Schneider Electric? |
A friend of mine working at Schneider Electric approached me for my CV and I was quite excited because I knew I would get better professional opportunities there. It was in early 2005 and they were recruiting for the Customer Support Centre opening in Dubai to cater for the Gulf countries: UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain. At that time it didn’t include Saudi Arabia, Pakistan and Yemen as it would later, in June 2006. I went through the interview process and within two weeks, I got the job: I was the first CSC agent! |
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How did you learn about your new job as a CSC agent? |
| It all started progressively: I joined in February and we started in March, after one month of introduction to the Schneider Electric range. At first, the centre only catered to internal queries. Also, customer support was something new in the Gulf: somehow, the CSC, customers and agents all started together from scratch! |
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And now, what skills would you say are critical in this job? |
| On top of a good knowledge of the product range, and being well versed in the tools we use for answering queries, there are also behavioural qualities: patience and courtesy. One important point is that we must always keep an eye on Key Performance Indicators and answer within the same day as much as possible. In July, we achieved 99.9% success on commercial, logistics and technical requests, discounting claims. |
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That was as CSC supervisor? |
Yes, I was appointed supervisor in July 2006 and my current role is to manage our team of agents, motivate them and enrich their knowledge through guidance and training, to meet corporate KPI’s. I also monitor the answers sent to customers, to make sure they are professional and accurate, and I prepare reports for management. |
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Do you feel like pursuing a manager’s career? |
I still have to achieve a lot more as CSC supervisor. But, after a couple of years, among other possibilities, I would see myself as Technical Level II support for variable frequency drives in the Regional Technical Service Centre: it’s more challenging technically speaking. But I’m in no hurry! |
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Can you compare Schneider Electric with other international companies? |
I would say that Schneider Electric is special as it provides equal opportunity for people from any country: it’s different from all other companies where there is discrimination according to the region of origin. The company provides a professional atmosphere whereby every colleague enjoys coming to work, which makes it very unique in comparison with others. |
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