When it comes to running your business, you can’t afford to have your carefully selected tech stack not work as intended. There’s nothing more critical than getting the technical help you need just when you need it to keep everything running smoothly.
At Accelo, we take your time and investment seriously. Our Support team is a group of talented, committed individuals who spend their days tackling problems and offering creative solutions to our users. Our Tier II team — internally referred to as Team Rocket — handles some of our most complex cases and is particularly dedicated to those on our Premium Support plan.
Here, you’ll get the chance to meet the people who are poised and ready to guide you through the intricacies of our platform whenever you need them!
Describe your career journey so far.
I went to school to become a meteorologist. I wanted to focus on air quality and environmental issues. I found my way into the air quality testing industry, where I literally used to climb smoke stacks at power plants to access and test particulate matter for regulatory purposes. While I am very passionate about environmental issues, I found out this was likely not the career path for me.
I have always been passionate about technology, especially in cars. I decided to 360 my career and took a job as a product concierge for Mercedes-Benz. Basically, my job was to teach new Mercedes owners the ins and outs of all the technical aspects of their cars. During one of my teaching sessions, I was working with a client who was very impressed with the level of detail and my ability to break down and explain complex tech features easily for a not-so-technical person to understand. This client also happened to be the CEO and owner of a company. They thought I would be a really good fit for their customer service technical department and offered me an interview.
I got the job! During my time with that company, I became very close with the software development team, learning and growing my understanding for software development. I also loved explaining and teaching the software to our clients. Both sides of the spectrum felt natural to me, and I enjoyed this middle ground.
The time came when my fiancee (now wife) wanted to pick up and move to Colorado. That is when I started looking for a new job and, ultimately, landed at Accelo on the Tier II technical support team. About three weeks after I got the job, we moved from Cleveland to Denver to start our new life adventure — and my career with Accelo.
Where are you located?
While I am currently located in Cleveland, Ohio, I spent many years in the Denver office. Shortly after COVID and before the Denver office was back in full swing, my wife and I decided to move back to Cleveland to be closer to our family and friends. Working in the Denver office was amazing. It was fun and very collaborative. Great office views, great location! While it is convenient to work remotely, as I do now, I miss going into the office every now and then.
What time zones do you serve?
Working remotely out of Cleveland has many benefits, but the main one is being two hours ahead of Denver. I can get to tickets and calls with our East Coast clients quicker, as before we did not have Tier II support on the East Coast.
Wider ranges of coverage are very helpful to our Support team. We can assist clients across the US and Canada who fall in our respective time zone ranges but still are able to collaborate with one another and with the Australia office efficiently over Zoom calls. If I’m working with a client in Australia or in the Pacific time zone and things just aren't working well because of that time difference, I can easily assign the ticket to a more geographically suitable engineer, who will gladly assist. We collaborate very well together, and honestly, the fact we are so spread out is more helpful than not.
How do you feel you’re making an impact on professional services businesses?
My job is to make their lives easier. I am extremely tech savvy and know the Accelo software like the back of my hand. I understand our client base is just trying to do their job, and when they run across an issue with the platform, it stops them from being able to do that job. The faster I am able to provide assistance when clients have a question, the faster they can get back to work.
Being able to break down and provide simple solutions to complex issues for those who are not super tech-savvy is key to their success.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I love mountain biking, snowboarding, hiking with my wife and watching and attending sporting events with my friends and family. Go Cleveland Browns, Cavs and Guardians!
Describe your career journey so far.
In the early stages of my career, I earned an entry-level certification in IT support called CompTIA A+. With this, I was offered a support position at a local startup that provided eCommerce software to help customers to manage their inventory across multiple online retailers.
Not long after that, I packed my bags and moved from my hometown in the UK to Australia, where I rejoined the IT sector as a software support associate for an online ticketing platform. While I enjoyed the experience, the lack of career opportunities and small client base meant I couldn’t grow out of entry-level customer support. I set out to return to my startup roots. Enter Accelo!
Accelo presented an opportunity for me to work on more challenging, escalated support issues and grow into a senior technical support role. After getting a taste of the company culture, I was more than excited to be a part of the team!
What’s it like working in the Australian office?
Not only am I fortunate enough to be a part of an amazing global company, but I’m very lucky to have my colleagues on the Support team, too. Even before the pandemic, I was the sole team member located in Australia, so not much changed in terms of camaraderie — we’ve always managed to have plenty of fun virtually! Our team lead and Director of Support will often organize a team lunch before meetings and are never afraid to get the team together for a Zoom team photo!
Our team is always on the same page. For example, our quarterly goals are team-based, ensuring we’re always aligned to achieve great results. One of our team goals is to maintain a high level of customer satisfaction, and our team culture enables us to easily get together for a daily stand-up to help each other with tough issues. Because of this, we can get back to our customers quicker and with the answers they need.
Zooming in locally to the Australian office, I am in a unique position where I get to work (and sit) closely with members of each team under the Customer Success umbrella, including Account Management, Professional Services and Support. This means I get an exclusive look into what’s involved in those roles.
The Wollongong office is home to the majority of our engineering team, so I often get a peek behind the curtain of what’s in the pipeline for our platform. I also get to celebrate with the team when we have a major milestone release, like the upcoming Accelo v4.
How are you making an impact on Accelo users?
Support is who customers go to when they have a problem, big or small. My tickets vary from tasks as simple as granting user access to the platform to helping a user repair an automation to solving an error from an important invoice that’s syncing with a customer's accounting software.
My job is to give clients peace of mind, to test systems and to be there when they’re stuck. By having these processes in place, our customers feel at ease because their carefully curated client work management platform continues to be operational and trustworthy. In a way, I guess you could say my work indirectly gives professional services business owners confidence!
What do you like to do in your free time?
Last year, I became a father for the first time, and I’m more than happy to say that I spend a lot of my “spare” time playing with my toddler and being with my family. However, once bedtime rolls around, I love listening to music and getting out to a live gig when possible. During the days of lockdown, I finally decided to give playing the guitar a shot — a hobby that has continued post-pandemic.
Describe your career journey so far.
I spent 10 years as a paralegal before going back to school to enroll in web development courses. I've always loved helping people, solving problems and learning how things work. My professional "why" for a long time has been providing solutions to problems with a unique and well-researched approach. After a conversation with a teacher of mine and an Accelo team member, I was sold on the world of support and Accelo.
What’s it like working in the Denver office?
The Denver office has an upbeat and positive vibe, and the office dogs are amazing. It's hard to have a bad day here!
The people are great, too. Having members from both the Sales and Success teams in the Denver office allows for some great impromptu meetings to help solve client issues. Working with both teams allows me to help clients in all stages of their Accelo journey.
The Support team itself is a small, tight-knit group that loves to help our clients solve issues. The team is spread across the globe, but with daily Zoom calls, our collaboration makes it feel almost like we're in the same office.
What do you like to do in your free time?
I'm a pretty active person in general, and I love playing and watching sports. You also have a great chance of seeing me leaving a donut or pastry shop with sweets and coffee.
Are you a current Accelo user looking to expand your team’s breadth of knowledge and efficiency in the platform? Get access to additional support channels and quicker responses with our Premium Support plan. You’ll get to know Jon, Nick and Broc on a first-name basis!
