Company: Information Builders, New York, NY
Entry Submitted By: LEWIS PR
Company Description: Information Builders helps organizations transform data into business value. Our software solutions for business intelligence and analytics, integration, and data integrity empower people to make smarter decisions, strengthen customer relationships, and drive growth. Our dedication to customer success is unmatched in the industry.
Nomination Category: Support Categories
Nomination Sub Category: Support Staffer of the Year

Nomination Title: Susan Sams, Account Support Manager

Tell the story about what this nominee has achieved since January 1, 2014 (up to 650 words). Focus on specific accomplishments, and relate these accomplishments to past performance or industry norms.

Susan Sams is one of Worldwide Customer Services’ most dedicated and effective employees. As an Account Support Manager in the Premium Support group, she is directly responsible for supporting some of the company’s most demanding customers in the strategic Federal Government and Healthcare sectors. Her unwavering commitment to the department is evidenced by the quality of care she provides to her customers, ensuring that each and every one receives the support needed to be successful.

Customer Rollout Support

Two major enterprise class customers in the Federal marketplace were the first Premium customers to migrate to Information Builders’ new flagship product, WebFOCUS 8 in early 2014. Susan provided direct, high-touch support for both of these customers through the process. The end-to-end support she provided included not just the migration but implementation of a new security model, remediation of the applications, and custom code updating. Susan also replicated the customer’s environment in-house for use in quality assurance, development and demos, which were used heavily throughout the customer’s rollout efforts. With a customer rollout process that included weekends, nights and holidays, Susan went above and beyond the call of duty to ensure these customers received the highest quality of support expected from Information Builders.

All Hands on Deck

In 2014, Information Builders consulted with Memorial Health on an InfoApp project, for which Susan was a critical component. Her skills augmented the Information Builders’ Professional Services team as the project quickly approached its completion deadline. With much development still needed to bring it to the finish line, Susan jumped in mid-stream and began contributing immediately. Calling on her WebFOCUS application development skills, Susan ultimately wrote major portions of the applications to improve performance and usability. She was indefatigable, working long nights and hours for three straight weeks to meet the deadline while managing her regular workload. The result can be viewed in this video, created by the customer to market this solution to its users: http://youtu.be/AH2MdMVA4bM. Her dedication and tireless work on this project is a testament to her unwavering commitment to both the customer and Information Builders’ success.

Perfecting Project Development

Susan, along with other Information Builders field resources, was integral in building the first portable Healthcare InfoApp. The project had a four-month rollout, during which time Susan developed the app while managing her daily responsibilities. Throughout the process, she took great care to understand the customer needs and provide excellent support. She met with the customer to gather specifications, reviewed each phase with the customer, and incorporated the customer’s feedback into the InfoApp. Ultimately she delivered a solution that the customer loved. The result has since been used by several other Information Builders customers and inspired many Information Builders consulting projects.

Susan Sam’s dedication to Information Builders is evident in everything she does. Her tireless efforts to support the teams and projects she works on are a testament to her commitment to customer service and delivering high quality solutions. She is a shining star within Information Builders’ Worldwide Customer Services.

In bullet-list form, briefly summarize up to ten (10) accomplishments of the nominee since the beginning of 2014 (up to 150 words).

• Susan provided direct, high-touch, end-to-end support for two of the first Premium Support customers to migrate to WebFOCUS8 through the process. She replicated the customer’s environment in-house for use in quality assurance, development and demos, which were used heavily throughout the customer’s rollout efforts.
• Susan jumped into a client InfoApp project mid-stream, writing major portions of the applications to improve performance and usability. She worked tirelessly for three weeks on this additional project, above and beyond her normal workload, to ensure the project was completed on schedule for the customer.
• Susan was integral in building the first portable Healthcare InfoApp. The project had a four-month rollout, during which time Susan developed the app, consulting with the customer at each step along the way, all while managing her daily responsibilities.