Columbia Sportswear Hails ServiceChannel ‘User-Friendly’- NewsChannel, May 2016
ServiceChannel
Customer Spotlight
Columbia Sportswear Hails ServiceChannel ‘User-Friendly’
Being an industry leader in outdoor apparel and products for more than 70 years takes a certain kind of toughness and passion. As Retail Facilities Manager, Roger Hernandez oversees the maintenance and repairs of Columbia’s retail stores and showrooms, which showcase the brand’s market-leading apparel and accessories. Roger helps Columbia’s store managers maintain the appearance and functionality of their stores by tracking facilities tickets so the managers can focus on sales.
A big part of Columbia’s brand identity is its Pacific Northwest roots. For Roger, in trying to manage locations remotely, it can sometimes become “difficult getting specific information from store managers or vendors.” Roger uses ServiceChannel technology to create reports and gather information to pay bi-monthly vendor invoices. “We also check in on Fixxbook from time to time to make sure that our vendors are compliant.” One of Roger’s biggest challenges is “trying to get all vendors to add good notes so that I don’t have to spend time following up on tickets. Trying to maintain our standards while keeping costs down is also a challenge.”
Being situated far from most stores means that Roger doesn’t have a lot of in-person contact with his vendors. “It’s easiest to communicate through email, although an occasional phone call is always helpful to make sure we’re on the same page. Ideally they provide good notes through ServiceChannel so that we are always up to date on any ticket.” This year, Roger attended the PRSM National Conference for the first time and had the opportunity to meet his vendors face-to-face.
Roger loves the simplicity ServiceChannel offers, offering him and his stores the most user-friendly portal in the retail maintenance world. “The reporting tools are a great way to help evaluate our business at any time.” For training, Roger has store managers watch videos on how to create and track tickets. “This educational avenue is the easiest way for our retail team to learn. It’s a step-by-step tutorial that allows our teams to learn at their own pace. The YouTube videos are the ones we use the most.” Roger knows how important training is. When he first started as Columbia’s Retail Facilities Manager, he registered for a few of the LearningChannel training modules. In fact, Roger likes ServiceChannel so much he recently introduced the platform to a co-worker who will begin supporting stores when he takes time off.
It should come as no surprise that someone who spends his days surrounded by activewear spends most of his free time around outdoors, specifically at his kids sporting events. But it’s not all watching. Roger also gets in on the action; he coaches his daughter’s 16U tournament fastpitch softball team.
Employee Spotlight
Tomasz Piwowarski’s College Thesis Turned Into a ServiceChannel Career
Tomasz Piwowarski has one of the more unique stories about how he came to work at ServiceChannel: His college thesis was based on a project he was doing with ServiceChannel while earning his bachelors degree in Computer and Information Science. Tomasz went onto work full-time with ServiceChannel as a web and application developer. Over his 15 years with the company his responsibilities have evolved to include building web and database servers, and configuring and maintaining them for production critical operations. According to Tomasz, “I’ve worked with fellow developers and co-workers to develop processes that allow our staff and clients to manage their data and integrate systems for B2B and E2E operations.”
For a while Tomasz had been a project manager for Client and Contractor Integration, but as ServiceChannel grew, Tomasz moved into being a Database and Data Systems Administrator. Today, Tomasz builds, supervises, maintains, and improves all of ServiceChannel’s database systems. Tomasz says, “They are essentially the beating heart of ServiceChannel, Inc. I make sure clients’ and contractors’ data are readily available, and safely and securely accessible for all our subsystems such as Web, BI reporting, IVR, XML, and eInvoicing.”
Although working with data and databases can be intimidating to some, Tomasz relishes the challenge. “It can be very complex, stressful, and difficult, but extremely rewarding most of the time. If I’m doing my job well, clients and vendors do not notice my databases and me. I like being ‘invisible.’ It means I’m doing something right and providing seamless service to our end users,” says Tomasz.
Tomasz is also “uncle” to “two little rascals: Osito, a dachshund also know as “Death from the Ankles Down,” and Louie, a mellow half-Shih Tzu and half-Cairn terrier.” In his free time, the last place Tomasz wants to be is in front of a computer or indoors; instead, he tries to spend as much time as possible outdoors. “I love gardening and have my little backyard full of fresh veggies, herbs, flowers, and shrubs,” notes Tomasz. “I also love hiking in the mountains.” Recently, Tomasz took on a new “addiction”: cyclocross biking, which is a hybrid road, mountain, and gravel bike riding. Tomasz observes, “NYC seems to be a prime example of the terrain. Some of our potholed roads require a nearly full-suspension mountain bike.”
Featured Products
Localization
New Languages for ServiceAutomation and Fixxbook
Now you can toggle German, Portuguese, and traditional Chinese on all ServiceAutomation and Fixxbook pages in addition to the many languages we already support.
Email Notifications in Other Languages
You can now turn on translations for WO Dispatch, WO Reassignment, and WO Notes in the following languages:
- French
- Canadian French
- Italian
- Dutch
- Mandarin
- Japanese
- Brazilian Portuguese
- Spanish
You can enable these on a provider-by-provider basis. Please speak to your Account Executive if you are interested.
Tip of the Month
Dashboard Issues Solved with Mobile Work Order App
If you have a lot of problem lines in your Dashboard Issue list that require photos, you should encourage your users to use the ServiceChannel Mobile Work Order App. When you create a work order on the Mobile App you are able to take a photo or choose one from your existing photos while you are creating the work order.
For You, About You
White List Our IP Address
We have recently upgraded our internal email platform. Please whitelist our IP address to continue to receive communications from ServiceChannel. In addition, please also add the following email addresses to your sender list as indicated below.
You can do this by simply forwarding the below information to your IT department.
The IP address to be whitelisted is:
94.143.106.119
In your email platform “add to sender” our sender addresses below:
ServiceChannel@servicechannel-info.com
thefixx@servicechannel-info.com
sshetty@servicechannel-info.com
tBuiocchi@servicechannel-info.com
Calendar: Upcoming Events
May 5 – ServiceChannel Luxury Retail Cocktail Party, New York, NY
June 8 – LEARN&LEAD at Raising Cane’s HQ, Plano, TX
June 14 – LEARN&LEAD, New York, NY
Check out our Events Page for more local events near you!
LearningChannel
LearningChannel is composed of interactive courses led by expert instructors on ServiceChannel products. These courses are perfect for when you need a refresher, when you have a new employee onboarding, or when you want to learn best practices to get the most out of our products. Each course lists the skill level necessary (from Beginner to Advanced) and the target audience, so you can mix and match courses based on your needs.
Available Courses
May 3 – Dashboard 101: How to Use the Service Request Dashboard
May 5 – A Day in the Life of a Facility Manager: WO Creation & Mgmt
May 10 – The Power of Analytics
May 10 – RFPs, Proposals, and QuickView
May 11 – Fixxbook for Contractors: Best Practices in Profile and Account Management
May 12 – Service Automation Reports and QuickView
May 12 – Invoicing and Invoice Reports
May 19 – PMs (Preventive Maintenance) Module: An Overview
