The Community session is where Brightspace Technical Account Managers (TAMs) part of Optimization Services illustrate their diverse roles and how they cater to the unique needs of the K-12, Higher Ed, and Corporate sectors. Whether you're an educator, administrator, or corporate trainer, the information from the event provided valuable insights into the role of TAMs and how they can support your success with Brightspace.
Panelist:
- Darren Kirkwood – Technical Lead (K-12)
- Praful Rodrigues – Senior Technical Account Manager (Higher Ed/Post Secondary)
- Andrew Ko – Technical Account Manager (Corporate)
Agenda:
- Welcome (1 minute)
- Understanding TAM roles across sectors (4 minutes)
- Sector-specific Q&A Panel (30 minutes)
- How do you tailor your support and services to meet the specific needs and challenges of your sector's clients?
- How do you stay updated on the latest developments and features within Brightspace to best support your clients?
- What strategies do you employ to foster strong relationships and communication with clients in your sector?
- How do you approach troubleshooting and resolving technical issues that arise for clients, especially in time-sensitive situations?
- Can you provide insights into how you collaborate with other teams within Brightspace to ensure a seamless experience for your clients?
- Q&A by Community members (10 minutes)
The recording of the session:
Remaining 4 questions asked during the session, answered by the panelists afterwards:
How do you handle situations where a client's needs or expectations may differ from what Brightspace offers out-of-the-box?
Praful: I tend to look for solutions outside of Brightspace core product, can we integrate a partner solution or can we engage our customization team to develop a custom solution. Note that both these options require a paid engagement.
We also work with our peers to identify clients that have had a similar request in the past and have found a solution and then connect them together to share their knowledge.
Andrew: There are numbers of cases where TAMs put their heads together with the client to think of a clever workaround to achieve the goal. For example, one of my clients wanted to have a way to get learners’ consent within the course and gather data on it. Since there is no direct tool dedicated to this, my recommendation was to leverage either surveys or checklists for that purpose. It worked out well, but one thing to note is that even though TAMs try our best to find the solution for the clients, it is also our role to set a clear expectation for the client.
Darren: I pride myself on being able to be creative and think outside of the box, but on the rare occasion when I am unable to provide a complete solution, I like to provide my clients with a list of the available options that include pros and cons. This way my clients can choose the option that best suits their needs.
In what ways does Brightspace adapt or evolve to meet the changing needs and trends within your sector, and how do TAMs contribute to this process?
Praful: Apart from collecting feedback from the clients directly, we also connect them to our research groups who request feedback from our clients on their suggestions and ideas for product improvements.
Andrew: TAMs are in a unique position to hear direct feedback from our clients and become our clients' voice. We gather the pain-points and gaps in the product and share it with internal teams, including the product team. We also push hard on items where we believe the item will bring huge value to our clients and relieve pain-points.
Darren: As advocates for our clients, TAMs promote their clients' product ideas through the use of the Product Idea Exchange (PIE) or the new Voice of the Customer program that Andrew mentioned during the call.
What inspired you to become a Technical Account Manager?
Praful: I enjoy talking to people and I enjoy troubleshooting issues. I think these qualities are a perfect match for being a TAM. You get to learn something new every day and get to collaborate with some wonderful people.
Andrew: I love interacting with people and also helping to solve problems. My personality was a perfect match for what I do as a TAM and I'm still loving it!
Darren: I am very passionate about helping people. Assisting our client admins allows me to not only help my client, but also to indirectly assist all of the students, teachers, and faculty within my client’s organization. This makes my role feel extremely rewarding.
How do you collaborate with clients to gather feedback and insights related to the product enhancements or improvements to Brightspace for your sector?
Praful: We have a routine check-in on any features my clients have requested and monitor progress of the same. Often, we have product managers on my calls where they can hear from the client directly and collect feedback. Additionally, keeping my client updated on any upcoming feature that they are looking forward to.
Andrew: This is a daily routine that I practice with my client. With regular meetings and constant communication, clients’ feedback and potential improvement always comes up.
Darren: As a TAM, I often help to facilitate calls between my client and our development and product management groups. This type of collaboration allows the client to have an opportunity to influence our product road map. It also assists our development teams by giving them valuable feedback about what is working well and what might not be working as well as it could.
Thank you everyone for joining us! If you are interested in future events by the Optimization Services Community Group, please join our group:
https://community.d2l.com/brightspace/group/48-optimization-services