When you think of mergers, what do you think of? You probably imagine two huge establishments making agreements over millions of dollars. The merge between the Fulfillment and Customer Support departments at Interfolio is slightly different.
In my current role, I’m a Scholar Advocate. Before the merge I worked as part of the Fulfillment team as an Intake Document Specialist. I quality checked all of our incoming documents, assisted in scanning copies of documents received via paper mail, and processed conversions (conversions are a packet of documents also known as a “credential file” that we receive from an institution’s career center).
Our Fulfillment team was great at processing the document and delivery commitments for scholars who submit applications through Interfolio. Our Customer Support team was great at listening to and resolving our customers’ issues when they are having problems with our product. However, there were many situations that called for actions from both teams in order to satisfy the customers’ needs. Coming together, we have created the Scholar Services department. Scholar Services now has the ability to perform all essential functions to provide our users with the best experience possible.
Throughout the past 5 months, former Customer Support Advocates and Fulfillment Specialists have stepped up to the plate as we started to undertake cross-training efforts between the two teams. Before the merge, a scholar’s electronic credential files were sent to me, which meant that only I could process and keep track of these documents. After the merge, we gained the ability to ensure that all team members are aware of users whose files have been sent, and the ability to have more than one member of the team work on these documents. It is a great feeling to know that you have extra hands to help out and more members of your team understanding the process it takes to get the job done. Each member of our team is now well-rounded and understands each function it takes to achieve a common goal. By merging, the team is now able to work through the amount of mail we receive and meet promised delivery times, and is also able to hear our scholars concerns by responding to emails, voicemails and phone calls. By combining the two teams we have avoided preventable glitches we occasionally saw when we were separated, and built stronger communication, which means a quicker response to users’ concerns.
By cross-training each member of our Scholar Services team, we have established a common level of knowledge and created a better flow of productivity and operations within our team. We now have a greater ability to listen to our users concerns, as well as to notice issues and fix them in a timely manner. Our team is now stronger than ever before!