PLS 3rd Learning, Buffalo, NY
Company: PLS 3rd Learning, Buffalo, NY
Company Description: PLS 3rd Learning is an education technology organization that co-creates custom solutions to elevate teaching and learning globally. Our team of close to 50 educators and developers design standards-based content and resources that deliver professional development and innovative resources to create and improve curriculum, instruction and assessment
Nomination Category: Customer Service & Call Center Awards Team Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Front-Line Customer Service Team of the Year - Technology Industries
Nomination Title: PLS 3rd Learning Support Team
Tell the story about what this nominated team achieved since the beginning of July 2012 (up to 525 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms. Be sure to mention obstacles overcome, innovations or discoveries made, and outcomes:
Not only does our team know the technology behind our applications for teachers, they also know education! The PLS 3rd Learning Tech Support Team has provided truly outstanding customer service to the over 300,000 registered users of our various online platforms and projects for educators throughout the United States.
In July of 2012, our company launched a curriculum management system that replaced one provided by a previous vendor. Our Tech Support Team eased the transition for over 100,000 users as they logged into the new system for the first time. Confronted with a variety of questions ranging from, “Where can I build and locate my lesson plans?” to “What’s a URL?” and “What does vertically aligned curriculum look like?” our team provided informed, consistent, and useful responses and strove to meet the needs of each individual user. Team members Joel, Julie, and Jeremy also developed an array of support materials including quick guides, video tutorials, and FAQs. The Tech Support team has produced training videos that provide meaningful, engaging tutorials on our systems’ most used tools. Further, the team has continually met to anticipate future support needs as enhanced functionality was rolled out to end-users.
In the wake of Hurricane Sandy, the November 2012 storm that left thousands of New York City homes and businesses underwater, wind damaged, and without power, many area schools had no way to communicate with staff and parents about regular school activities. With his school district in crisis mode without phone access, our client, Lynbrook School Superintendent Dr. Paul Lynch, reached out via email to the PLS 3rd Learning Tech Support Team at 7:34 a.m. EST on November 6 to set up an emergency web site within their NYLearns account where staff and community could receive updates. By 9:01 a.m. EST that same day, thanks to our Tech Support Team’s troubleshooting capabilities and diligence, their requested emergency site was up and running – a real-time answer to a potentially dangerous problem.
By reorganizing our Tech Support sites and streamlining the process for responding to inquiries and issues, the team has positively transformed our approach to customer service. Additionally, using the analytics available through our support tracker, the team has utilized tagging systems to identify common issues, making informed suggestions about how our team of web developers and designers can improve overall user experience. They have truly become an asset to our overall development and design process.
The real testament, though, to their accomplishments, are the voices of our end-users. One user from Brazoria, Texas wrote in about one of our team members, referring to him as a “cyber angel.” And Amy Martell, Curriculum Director of the Northeast Bradford School District, sums up the experience thousands of our users have shared, “The help desk is wonderful, and every issue that we have had has always been resolved quickly and efficiently!” Our satisfaction rating remains high, and our average first reply time remains under six hours. Both of these metrics far outperform the industry average.
With new and innovative thinking and streamlined processes for responding to users’ inquiries and issues, each member of our Tech Support Team has exemplified outstanding, responsive customer service.
Provide a brief (up to 125 words) biography about the leader(s) of the nominated team:
Jeremy Hurlburt is PLS 3rd Learning’s Customer Service and Community Manager. Jeremy provides content for our projects’ social media communities, and creates our vast array of Help Desk videos, video tutorials, and user guides, all while personally responding to Help Desk calls and emails. He received his Bachelor of Arts in Journalism and Mass Communication at St. Bonaventure University. After college, he moved to Los Angeles, to begin a career in filmmaking and television production. In 2011, he completed his first feature film, Zeus, which he wrote, directed and edited. Zeus was accepted to the Atlanta Underground Film Festival and the Buffalo International Film Festival in 2012.