Customer Service Manager

Mark H. Fratus

**** **** ***** ******. . ********, OH 43212

***/***-**** . ***********@*****.***

http://www.linkedin.com/pub/mark-fratus/3/8ab/979

Senior/Executive-Level Management / Business Strategist & Leader

. Technology Solutions & Leadership . Customer Care Operations

Dynamic leader of successful technology and customer care operations with

proven record of developing cost effective solutions (people, process and

technologies) to solve business challenges. Effective at aligning the

vision, mission, and strategy of IT and Customer Care activities with

strategies and goals of organizations. Develops and delivers innovative

technology solutions, program initiatives, budgets and forecasts, and leads

of customer service initiatives. Focused on managing and improving overall

efficiency, quality and productivity of teams managed and supported.

Competencies include:

Strategic & Tactical Vision / Strategy / Execution Remote Site/Team

Business Planning Management

Budgeting / Planning / Performance & Profit Call Center

Forecasting Improvement Operations/Technolog

y

People Development Technology & Infrastructure Cost Reduction &

Development Control

Executive Decision Support Project/Program Planning & Team Building &

Execution Leadership

Extensive experience directing operational and technology teams as well as

leading multiple departments with project and product accountability.

Spearheads strategic planning, cost/expense management, product

development, technology advancements, performance improvement, and

training/development.

Credentials: Masters in Business Administration; Bachelors in Business

Management

Experience Summary

AFNI (1998-2009); Bloomington, IL

Director, Call Center Services Solution Delivery . 2007 to 2009

As the Division Chief Information Officer, led the Information Technology

team and business process improvement initiatives for the Call Center

Services division at AFNI (an outsource provider of customer care services,

receivables management and insurance subrogation services). Managed a $9.8

million Information Technology budget in support of 3500 FTEs (nine call

centers). Directed staff responsible for operational and technical support

of critical technologies, integration of new processes/technologies/clients

and achievement of financial and customer satisfaction goals. Managed

vendor and external client relationships. As a senior member of the

leadership team daily activities included short/long-term forecasting and

planning, capacity modeling, call routing design/implementation (ACD, IVR,

Dialer). service-level management, incident management, application

development, and business analysis/reporting. Responsible for directing

multiple project initiatives as well as full sign-off approval.

. Business Alignment: Restructured Information Technology team to more

closely align with business unit and its customers. In conjunction with

key stakeholders developed technology road map to support strategic goals

of the business. Implemented best practices to include service level

agreements, a support model/process to enable the business to capitalize

on opportunities quickly, and simplified communications. Increased

customer satisfaction, reduced expenses and contributed to increased

profitability of the business unit.

. Expense Management: Consolidated functions, right-sized staff, reduced

software/hardware expense and renegotiated contracts to reduce annual

Information Technology spend by $1 million.

. Revenue Enhancement: Developed desktop application to improve call center

agent call handling performance resulting in $2.8 million increase in

operating income. Led an effort to optimize call routing which enabled

the business to handle more calls with the same number employees. Led

the start-up and ongoing support of 20 new client projects each year

enabling the business to grow annual revenues by 30% over a two year

period.

. Project Management: Lead successful large scale projects to include ACD

and PBX replacements and upgrades, Dialer implementation, migration to

VOIP, Speech Recognition/IVR deployments, agent desktop software

development/deployments, new call center construction, workforce

management and quality process re-design and enhancements, and new client

integrations.

Senior Manager, Business Systems Integration . 2002-2006

Led team that provided technical and operational support for all critical

call center technologies and related processes to include workforce

management, employee time keeping, reporting/business analysis and

telephony (ACD, IVR, Dialer, and Quality Monitoring). Developed and

managed peripheral technology budget. Managed vendors and external

partnerships. During tenure team was migrated to Information Technology

team and assumed leadership of Information Technology customer service team

(helpdesk and password management teams).

. Business Enablement: Developed team of subject matter experts who trained

and aided call center sites workforce management, operations and quality

teams in the day to day understanding and use of tools. Actively sought

opportunities for new technologies that benefited the organization.

Implemented formal project management processes and trained staff to

improve cycle times and deliverables. Automated call center reporting and

identified key metrics to enhance performance at all levels of the

organization.

. Expense Management: Spearheaded deployment of new technologies that

reduced operating expenses and improved CSR efficiency/productivity to

include the consolidation of ACD environment which resulted in a annual

Afni cost savings of $100,000 and annual client cost savings of $130,000.

. Performance Improvement/Resource Reduction: Improved resource management

by partnering with other business unit and information technology

leadership to improve process and reduce staff expense. Through the

implementation of better tools and call routing enabled workforce

management team to reduce headcount by 15% (and improve performance).

Automated system id provisioning which decreased id creation cycle time

from 10 plus business days to 48 hours which improved training process

and reduced lead times.

Senior Operations Manager . 1998-2001

Directed multi-site (3) 600 employee customer service organization.

Managed a $26 million portfolio of programs to include inbound/outbound

customer care, inbound/outbound receivables management, service

provisioning and technical support. Led workforce management, operations,

training, quality and reporting teams. Responsible for the hiring,

training and development of management team and subordinate staff.

. Operational Efficiency: Managed the growth of programs to six million

calls annually while focusing on the improving overall performance in the

areas of transaction/interaction quality, service level, call handling

efficiency, forecast accuracy and schedule adherence.

. Creating Customer Value: Led consulting engagements for external clients

to improve operational effectiveness. One engagement's recommendations

saved a client $100,000 in annual operating expenses and helped cement

Afni's long term relationship with the client.

. Employee Engagement/Retention: Focused on development of front-line

supervisory staff and implemented focus groups to improve employee

satisfaction. Employee churn rate in managed programs was 130% lower

than company average resulting in better program performance and lower

expense (reduced new hire training expense).

. Workforce Management: Implemented "performance based scheduling" policy

for call center employees creating a more competitive work environment

and an overall improvement in productivity of 11%.

360 Communications (1998 to 2004); Chicago, Illinois

Manager, National Distribution . 1997 to 1998

Call Center Support Manager . 1996 to 1997

Regional Call Center Manager . 1994 to 1996

Customer Care Representative . 1993

Sales Representative . 1990 to 1992

. After three successful years in sales, I chose to learn other parts of

the organization and was rewarded with a series of progressive and

challenging leadership positions in Customer Care, Information Technology

and Marketing

Wendy's InternationAl (1989); Marysville, Ohio

Assistant Manager

PhoneWorks (1988); Columbus, Ohio

Sales Representative

United States Army (1984 to 1998); Lawton, Oklahoma/Bamberg, West Germany

Field Artillery Officer

Education, Professional Certification & Other Information

University of Phoenix; Las Vegas, Nevada

Masters in Business Administration . 1996

University of Dayton; Dayton, Ohio

Bachelors in Business Management. 1984

Certification:

. Call Center Manager Certification, Purdue University . ACD System

Administration . Leadership Program, Illinois State University

Technical skills:

. VOIP technology and implementation . Cisco Networking . Blue Coat Proxy

Appliance . ACD systems and Middleware, Aspect, Nortel, Genesys . IVR

systems: Syntellect, Virtual CSR, Aspect . Recording Platforms, Etalk,

Envision, Nice, Racal .Workforce management: IEX, Aspect . Microsoft

applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Access, Project, Visio . Application

Development: C##, SQL, Websphere, Composite Applications . SAS70 . Project

Management . ITIL . Waterfall and Agile Development

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