ISC service(s) or programs/projects: PennFlex eFax Services, Contact Center
Length of time in ISC: Joined ISC in 2008
Previous work experience: IT Technical Support Specialist at AT&T, Enterprise Account Manager at MetTel in NY, telecom administrator for Realogy, a nationwide real estate title company,
Tell us about a challenge at Penn that made you proud to be part of ISC.
For the past five years our team has been working on the PennFlex unified communications program. We were all assigned different tasks to complete, from data validation to meeting with the clients remotely. We talked with them about how to duplicate features they depended on from the existing system in the new system, as well as what new capabilities they would have. Each of us was assigned our own area to prepare—different Schools and Centers. We met with the LSPs, gave feature demonstrations, and developed requirements. Then the team came back together to brainstorm what feature sets would work best for the various working environments. So we were gathering information, sharing information, and then conferring together to work out the best way to satisfy the greatest number of clients. We kicked off the implementation phase in 2021, which was challenging. But with a solid hybrid environment we came together as a team and accomplished our goals.
What’s an interesting technical or business problem you’ve faced with ISC?
We can come in on any given day and the phones might not be working somewhere. So we have to find out what's going on. There could be many reasons for the crisis. So we’re like detectives, collecting all the information from the clients and from our team’s internal data and analysis. Then we package all that up and send it to the vendor so they have the information they need to troubleshoot and resolve the issue. The key is the time crunch, because we all want our phones up and working. So there’s a lot of understandable pressure from our clients. For instance, once our vendor deployed an updated software release overnight. The next day when we came in, the phones weren't working. The update was not supposed to have affected the phones, but it did, and we heard from our clients. The vendor wasn’t aware of the issue until we as their customer reported it to them. So we sent them all the evidence and they determined that it was in fact related to the update that they’d made. So then they had to scramble to try to fix it. And we had to stay in the loop until it was fixed. This is actually not an uncommon situation
What do you like best about working with colleagues across Penn?
I love working with clients. I enjoy helping them learn new technologies. I try to put myself in their shoes, since not everybody’s comfortable with technology. Sometimes you have to take it one step at a time, work to understand their questions, and then share your knowledge in a way that’s accessible to them. If I have an irate customer, I find a way to calm them down while I learn how to help them. So by the time I hang up with them, it’s a happy environment. That’s really satisfying. Our customers are mostly local support providers at Schools and Centers throughout the University. My motto is “customer satisfaction is my number one priority!”
How do you stay connected with colleagues in our hybrid work environment?
I'm usually in the office two days a week. There aren’t too many people in in my group, but we're not all in the office at the same time. When we are, I try to meet everyone that I can. We have conversations in the hallway and the kitchen area, work-related and non-work-related. I want to see how everyone is doing. That’s the main thing. We also have staff meetings that we attend once a week, so we all get together there. We talk about what we have accomplished in the prior week and what our current projects are, so we're all on the same page and know what each of us is doing.
What do you appreciate most about the time you spend on campus?
I love walking around the campus. The moments I love most are in the spring and fall. The beautiful trees during the autumn, the colors, Penn campus and University City. During lunchtime, I'll walk around campus and just admire it. And be thankful that I have the opportunity to do that. I have two boys nearby—one is at the University of the Sciences and one is at Drexel, but the only time that I actually get together with them is when one wants food from his mom. So I'll bring food from home to campus. Sometimes one will have a special request, so I’ll make that and bring it. When he comes to pick it up, we'll just have a few minutes’ chat together. And then he'll take the food and leave! That's the best part of me being here—being able to bring stuff to them while they’re having classes or at the apartment. So yeah, I do get to see my boys.
What are you passionate about in your free time?
I love spending time with my family and Rico, our dog. And we’re very observant Hindus. We all go to BAPS Swaminarayan temple every Sunday. I teach Gujarati at my temple to grammar- and middle-schoolers, first through eighth grade. I teach them how to read, write, and speak Gujarati, my native language. I can also speak and read in Hindi, so I’m multilingual. We are a small community, so we volunteer for different services. We have a Red Cross blood drive that we help out with; we have a walkathon that raises money for the breast cancer center at Cooper University Hospital, and for planting trees to help offset climate change. It’s very important to me that I participate in the walkathon because I’m a breast cancer survivor. We volunteered to help build one of the largest Hindu temples in the United States, in Robinsville, N.J.: BAPS Swaminarayan Akshardham Temple. My husband and I and my kids all continue to volunteer there. This is how we like to spend time together as a family.
What else would you like people at Penn to know about you?
I'm a very quiet person. I never liked to socialize much, but I believe coming to Penn has broken the ice. I don’t claim to be 100% better, but I’m almost there. My husband is the complete opposite! Penn has molded me in a positive direction. It’s a privilege to work here. People ask where I work and I say I work at Penn, so they ask what I do there. I can say I work for Information Systems and Computing and it’s something to be proud of. I'm thankful that I have the opportunity to do that in my life.