“My role is very diverse. Among other things, I am responsible for Gemba’s service desk. There, a self-managing team provides daily operational support to customers. I handle the follow-up. Does everything happen on time? And do we, for example, have all the information to properly manage a new software solution for a customer? In addition, supplier management is my responsibility; it’s nice to be on the other side of the table for once. The most important part of my work concerns the SLAs that we contractually agree with customers. How do we guarantee the agreements on the service level?”

“For me, it doesn’t stop at achieving service levels and creating reports. What I want is to improve things. To show that we as Gemba can mean even more to our customers and propose improvements, from a long-term vision. Ultimately, we all do it for the people who use our solutions. It is nice if they can perform their work more easily and quickly, for example with digital work orders instead of paper ones or through a software upgrade. Meeting the service levels is sometimes not enough to keep customers satisfied. They then remember just that one time that something went wrong. I enjoy working on that from the soft side, from the relationship.”

“I worked for Schiphol Group for more than twenty years, first in a technical role and later in service management. After an organizational change, I became responsible as duty manager for the 24/7 operational IT service provision at Schiphol. That was a coordinating function; in the event of malfunctions or escalations, I directed the parties that had to provide a solution. But I missed the improvement aspect in my work. I knew Gemba as a supplier of IBM Control Desk, which we used for our IT service management. When I was looking around, I saw the vacancy for service manager at Gemba. For me, it was a great opportunity to go back to service management and have contact with customers again. In addition, I could work in a daily routine again and didn’t have to be stuck in traffic as much.”

“Very good! I’ve only been working there for a few months, but I’m already fully involved. Gemba is a small organization, where you quickly see results from what you do. Not only what you achieve with a customer, but also how you contribute to Gemba itself. Gemba has large customers and therefore a unique position for a company of its size. The culture is very straightforward, which I already knew from the Gemba consultants I got to know during my time at Schiphol Group. The people at Gemba are very different but value each other. You are appreciated for who you are and what you do. That is pleasant.”

“On my agenda, for example, is the automation of monthly SLA reports to customers. That will save us a lot of time. I also want to have this ready for new customers. A second point is to expand our relationship management. In addition to our sales people and consultants, I hope that customers will know how to find me as a point of contact for further improving our services. By sitting down together, I know what is going on and I can see what else we can do to help them.”