Customer Success at Axway keeps coming! Lou England, our new Director of EMEA Customer Success brings a fantastic commitment to Axway’s customers. Lou is responsible for our Critical Account Managers and Customer Success Managers.
This is no small job! With this immense responsibility, the team is in charge and dedicated to the success of our clients. This includes on-premise and cloud-based solutions.
Customer Success to Axway
The new Customer Success organization is a new division within Axway. Going forward, it will be up to the team and Lou to align themselves with Axway and our client’s strategic directives.
As a team, they are accountable and must make certain that our customers get the most from Axway’s portfolio. This helps to bring about building true partnerships with our clients, as well as enabling them to go forward.
Lou’s Axway background
Lou has been with Axway for over 19 years. In the early days, Lou started out as a Technical Support Engineer, then moved on to become the first Critical Account Manager in Europe when Axway first introduced Mission Critical Support. Lou’s entire Axway career has been centered around bringing the best possible service to the client. This enables Lou to show the real value of customer service wherever possible.
Prior to Lou’s new position, she was the Senior Manager for the EMEA MCS team. She ensured the success of over 60 Mission-Critical Support clients across Europe.
Lou is based out of Uxbridge, but she spends a lot of time in France and Germany with both the team and clients. She now has teams in the UK, France and Germany. This comprises 16 people.
Lou’s approach
Lou brings several excellent approaches to her position. Depending on the situation at hand, her two main goals are to “listen and gather information, both internally, including my Management, Peter Flynn (SVP–Customer Success) and Roland Royer (Chief Customer Officer). As well as externally, meaning our clients.” Lou calls this “getting the 360.”
When you work in Customer Success, it is important to make a sound decision and give sage advice. These skills require having a full understanding of the situation and being fully aware of the client’s expectations. For Lou, there is “no such thing as a bad question, only bad answers.” This is great advice one can learn from and apply to their position.
Lou’s second approach is to “let the world turn,” before making a final decision. Lou feels that “not every decision is urgent and if it’s tricky, you will often find the solution presents itself if you let it come naturally.”
The best part of Lou’s job
For Lou, the best part of the job is “everything”! Lou loves working with the team, clients, as well as the variety that comes with the position. Lou’s Axway career has been based around client-facing. This is something Lou enjoys very much. It’s amazing to think Lou has been working with some clients for over 10 years.
Not a day goes by that the team isn’t challenged. Lou says they come up with new and creative solutions to “push the boundaries even further.” The entire team is highly innovative and motivated. They often come up with original ideas that benefit the clients. A win-win for Axway.
Lou’s advice
Lou’s career path comes with terrific advice for those starting out. Lou says that “people think you need to be technically good to succeed in Customer Success.” Lou feels that this is simply not the case!
For certain, this can be beneficial, but in Lou’s opinion, a strong work ethic is where Customer Success really flourishes. You must be reliable and honest, as well as a good listener and a hard worker.
If you possess these skills and can remain calm in a crisis, then you have a perfect foundation to build upon for a career in Customer Success. Lou also feels that you need to be very flexible with your hours. A “can-do attitude” is essential to succeed.
Philosophy of life
Lou takes “each day as it comes and tries to enjoy every day.” A little fun and good food never hurt anyone—so true! She is also a strong believer in “change.” Change is a great catalyst and encourages growth. Lou feels “that you should never be afraid of change, it’s rarely a negative concept.”
Lou’s downtime
Life is not all work and no play! A year ago, Lou started taking golf lessons because she wanted to join her husband on the golf course. Lou was unprepared for how hard the sport is. She had an instant “reality check.” Lou is progressing nicely but feels “it’s a lot tougher than you think.”
Like all things Lou does, she is committed to keep on practicing. She is determined to be better for spring and summer 2019. A great goal that Lou will achieve!
And, if that wasn’t enough to keep Lou busy, she likes to run. She completed three half marathons (although she never broke sub-two hours, which was always Lou’s goal). Lou’s real goal will be trying to convince her husband that they should adopt a sausage dog (Dachshund), a real goal in progress. Good luck, Lou! Something tells me you will succeed! Read another Customer Success story here.
Thanks to all the great skills that Lou brings to the Axway table, we salute Lou England for her wonderful Customer Success story.
Learn more about Axway’s products here.