Continuous Improvement with Ai and to escape it all I play the best sport invented to never be perfect at, Golf!
Riaan Coetzee
Senior Customer Experience And Digital Program Manager
Brisbane
Summary
I am a dynamic and enthusiastic individual who enjoys operational change and project management roles. I have a proven project and change management experience across both business and IT areas. I effectively communicate and provide insight and delivery to new and existing processes, procedures and business change initiatives. My experiences have often involved a number of significant and senior stakeholders, including external vendors and executive management, therefore shaping and adapting my workplace practices over the years to include strong degrees of relationship management and strategic planning, including change. In all aspects of my management, I strive to create and support constructive team relationships, whereby stakeholders are actively involved in the journey of strategy, vision, development and benefits realisation, so that implementation is successful and defined objectives achieved. Additionally, I proactively familiarise myself with ongoing development of both a personal and professional nature, ensuring that current considerations and methodologies are practiced for the purposes of ensuring quality outcomes and stakeholder satisfaction.
Overview
24
24
years of professional experience
Work History
Sabbatical
My Family, Our Health and Travel
04.2025 - Current
- Traveled the world with family, creating lasting memories and experiences
- Spent quality time with family to strengthen connections and enhance well-being
- Embraced new challenges in personal and professional life to foster growth
Senior ICT Project Manager
JBS Australia PTY Ltd
05.2023 - 04.2025
- As a strategic business partner, I play a pivotal role in driving our corporate digital transformation journey by collaborating closely with internal business divisions.
- Built trusted relationships by establishing and nurturing partnerships with internal business owners, vendors, and digital technology subject matter experts, ensuring alignment and successful project execution.
- Demonstrated leadership and collaboration by effectively working with diverse teams across Australia, the Philippines, and the USA, fostering a collaborative environment that bridged gaps across various disciplines and technical experiences.
- Engaged with senior executive management and stakeholders through clear, concise, and tactful communication, significantly contributing to successful project delivery.
- Building Trusted Relationships: Establishing and nurturing valued partnerships with internal business owners, vendors, and digital technology subject matter experts to ensure alignment and successful project execution.
- Leadership and Collaboration: Demonstrating strong leadership and interpersonal skills while working effectively with diverse teams across Australia, the Philippines, and the USA. I focus on fostering a collaborative environment that bridges gaps across various disciplines and technical experiences.
- Effective Communication: Engaging with senior executive management and stakeholders through clear, concise, and tactful communication, which has significantly contributed to the successful delivery of multiple projects.
Information Communication Technology Project Manager
Lutheran Services
11.2022 - 04.2023
- Supported Lutheran Services with Resident Manager Care Management System and Home and Community Care System Replacement Projects, impacting 1100 FTE.
- Managed PBX Cloud migration and Nurse Call projects across Lutheran Services, facilitating seamless communication and execution.
- Implemented sound project management practices within the project and aligned the team of Business Analysts, Change Managers, and Training Specialists on deliverables and objectives.
- Collaborated with the respective vendors and internal technical specialists to verify that integration and transitioning aspects met the scope.
Business Design Lead – Customer Engagement
UnitingCare Queensland
02.2021 - 10.2022
- Delivered a range of technological system implementations from concept, design to implementation across customers for Blue Care and UnitingCare. Inherited business project management responsibility for the Genesys PureCloud implementation across 200 FTE in multiple divisions.
- As the business initiative owner, I was heavily involved and leading the project across all areas of the project including requirements, change management, UAT and implementation of the solution.
- This included an omnichannel solution that provided a full PCIS-DSS compliant solution and a full WFM solution across 200FTE operational support staff. Significant and effective stakeholder engagement both with internal and external customers ensured the successful implementation of the Genesys PureCloud solution. The role required engagement with internal stakeholders across the business, including Groupe Executives and General Managers and across multiple vendors.
- Led the customer engagement design for the new Alayacare Cloud Care Management Solution across Blue Care.
- The scope was to redesign and optimise all existing standard operating processes in accordance with the solution features and capabilities. This resulted in the project scope being widened to include the design, integration and implementation of the Salesforce CRM for Customer, together with integration into a customer portal being developed internally.
- Major Achievements:
- Successfully Project Managed the implementation of a Genesys cloud based omni-channel solution across 3 customer support divisions. Adopted as Enterprise solution for wider business.
- Managed implementation of e-Fax solution (Fax to email gateway) for all customer divisions, ensuring seamless integration with existing systems.
- Successfully Managed the AlayaCare, Care Management Solution and the Salesforce CRM solution across Customer for BlueCare.
Contact Centre Manager Change & Experience
Blue Care Customer Service Centre
07.2019 - 02.2021
- Delivered a range of highly visible and engaging projects and programs that fostered a culture of continuous improvement and aligned the Customer Service Centre with business level strategic objectives.
- Led a team of experts and specialists, to design, develop and implant an effective customer service and experience framework to enable achievement of operational and financial targets and support a high performing team culture delivering world class outcomes. Categories of responsibility include Leadership and Development, Business Analytics, Workforce Management, Knowledge and Content Management, Customer engagement and experience, Continuous Improvement Framework implementation, Project Management, Process Optimisation and development, Business Support and Systems Support Management.
- Supported the centralised intake services for the Queensland operation in community and residential aged care. Managed internal and external stakeholder relationships effectively. Focused on customer centricity in all designs and deliveries.
- Introduction of RPA to the Aged Care Business that has been endorsed by the CIO into the enterprise framework. Project Managed the entire SOW.
- Successful development and implementation of CX/Customer Quality framework across the customer service division that has subsequently been adopted by other divisions.
- Successful development and implementation of a Continuous Improvement framework across the customer service division.
- Implementation and upgrade of all hardware and operating systems across Customer as business owner on the project post UnitingCare’s Cyber incident in April 2021.
- Managed project for Customer Contact Centre building enhancement, resulting in doubled building size.
Operations Support Lead
Blue Care Customer Service Centre
01.2017 - 06.2019
- Role accountable for the establishment, design and implementation of Operational support functions within the centralised Customer Service Centre. Areas of responsibility include WFM, business analytics, D&T systems support, Telephony management and support, Knowledge and Content Management, Budget Forecasting and management, Project Management, Business Continuation Process design and management, Federal funding reform process management and recruitment. The centre supports centralised intake services for the whole of the Queensland operation in both community and residential aged care business.
- Managed internal and external stakeholder relationships as a key aspect of the role.
- Managed the cultural change initiative across the centre to align staff with best practice call centre operations.
- Established and implemented workforce management protocols and standard operating procedures to enhance operational efficiency.
- Conducted preparation of budget forecasts to ensure effective financial planning and resource allocation.
- Assisted GM Customer Service in identifying risk areas to mitigate potential issues
- Supported leadership team by analyzing people performance trends and behaviors to inform decision-making
- Support GM Customer Service with identifying risk areas
- Support leadership team with people performance related trends and behaviours
- Support wider business teams with work force management, compliance and technical expertise
- Manage and support Cisco Telephony & D&T Related aspects
- Managed relationships with internal and external stakeholders to foster collaboration and enhance communication.
- Internal and external stakeholder relationship management
- Support the operational administrative functions in the CSC
- Support the My Aged Care portal administrative functionality across BlueCare
- Achievements:
- The role is part of the local senior leadership team and is part of the extended leadership team reporting into the GM. I was responsible for managing the cultural change piece across centre to get our people to align with best practise call centre operations.
- Internal and external stakeholder management forms an integral part of my role. Customer centricity is at the heart of all that we design and deliver as a team.
National Workforce & Compliance Manager
Careers Australia
02.2016 - 12.2016
- Role accountable for the establishment, design and implementation of all workforce management and compliance protocols across the rapidly expanding sales and customer service contact centres. The centres were located in Brisbane, Gold Coast, Sydney and Melbourne and had a total size of 540 FTE. I relocated from New Zealand to head up this division for them and to instil best practice. Compliance has been the area of major focus and successfully instilled this across our multinational contact centres. WFM focus has gone hand in hand with the compliance piece as it forms part of the 4 R’s so to speak of WFM. Right thing, Right time, Right Place and Right people.
- Developed compliance SOPs for centres, ensuring adherence to legislative requirements.
- Development and rollout of training material across all centre staff.
- Established compliance and quality assurance model across centres to standardize practices.
- Created training material for all centre staff.
- Development of scoring methodology to track and measure effectiveness of staff performance.
- Introduced calibration across leadership, L&D and compliance analysts.
- Developed effective consistent reporting and communications with operations.
- Development of more transparent and consistent reporting across the centres.
- Successfully introduced flexible shift patterns that provided a better work life balance and better efficiencies for the business in terms of results.
- Design and implementation of outbound Dialler system that operates within our CRM, Salesforce. Project Managed this end to end within my role. Verint 360 Cloud solution.
- Business went into administration and hence I secured alternative employment opportunities.
Service Designer Operations
Infratil NZ Bus
08.2014 - 01.2016
- The role functioned to assist the business to maintain operational excellence and ensure consistent and effective communication between senior management and ensure consistent customer experience through our operations. Effective communication between senior management and operational teams was essential to support the successful outcomes to EX / CX. Focus was to deliver a reliable and punctual service to the public and in turn increase patronage and profitability for the business.
- Optimise operational resources for the 2 regions across Auckland. (700 Drivers)
- Developed and maintained relationship with key stakeholder Auckland Transport to optimise operational performance within contractual guidelines.
- Analyse operational performance against contractual SLA’s.
- Developed effective consistent reporting and communications with operations.
- Optimization of network related aspects for the assigned geographic area. This included network design, duty construction, reliability metrics and reporting, as well as ongoing analysis. Stakeholder management and relationship management played a vital role in the overall effectiveness of my role.
- Handled project management tasks related to tender processes, ensuring timely completion of deliverables.
- Trapeze Planning & Scheduling solution SME. ( Schedule optimisation incl Rostering efficiencies)
- Achievements:
- The Executive leadership tasked me with producing various workforce optimisations models as part of the employee collective negotiations. Delivered a better work life balance for employees and cost saving to the business. This contribution was very well received and adopted in the collective agreement by the unions.
- Developing reporting tools to improve decision making by providing consistent communications and aligning information with the strategic direction of the business.
- Developed reporting tools that improved decision making by providing consistent communications and aligning information with strategic direction of the business.
- Optimised refuelling process, achieving annual financial savings of $800,000.
National Operations Support Manager
Brand Developers Ltd T/A The TV Shop
03.2013 - 08.2014
- As the Operations Manager Support for Brand Developers Ltd T/A The TV Shop, a highly successful multi-national DRTV company. The TV Shop trades in New Zealand, Australia and in the USA. It's a multi-site operation operating 365, 24/7. BDL is the largest direct response television company in the Southern Hemisphere, running 12000 ads a week across most TV channels in Australia and NZ. Senior leadership accountable for all support functions of the Sales, Retention, Debt Management and Customer Service centres.
- My role was accountable for all the support functions within the 4 multi-site contact centres. The functions included Leadership & Development, Work Force Management, Leadership & Development, CX and Quality Assurance, Business Analytics and Payroll. The operational support functions played a vital role in the overall success of the business and in my tenure the business did experience a rapid growth period where the business grew from $160m to $400m and the FTE grew from 240 to 540 across the centres.
- Our core focus was to develop, support and equip best practices across the multiple areas of customer facing team members to deliver consistent and effective outcomes. The team of specialists was there to build trust and respect with the team members that we served. By delivering enhanced EX through consistent support it ensured consistency in customer experience and in turn enhanced business outcomes.
- Developed strategic sales plans that drove market expansion and revenue growth.
- Managed the Leadership & Development, Work Force Management, Quality Assurance and Payroll functions in a 539 FTE multinational direct response television company call centre. 24/7,365 operation.
- Directly responsible for a team of 29 professional staff with 5 direct reports.
- Business analytics and subsequent data trends optimised and utilised to drive operational resources effectively, reducing waste and maximising profitability. Allowed for effective and role specific communications and reports, resulting in increased staff performance levels and revenue growth.
- Developed, implemented and monitored incentive schemes and subsequent bonus payments. Resulting in outbound sales, debt management and retention teams producing consistent sound financial results.
- Continuous development of effective and compliant sales/ retention scripts, focusing on effective cross and up selling techniques. L&D, Quality assurance and team leaders worked together to ensure effective roll out.
- Developed and implemented best practice sales, customer service, retention and debt collection training.
- Implemented tailored coaching techniques that enhanced team development and aligned with diverse learning styles.
- Ensure workforce management objectives meet the demands of the aggressive marketing campaigns. (Optimiser 360 )
- Monitored the performance of personnel against KPI’s, identified training needs and revamped working aids related to everyday duties. Ensured best individuals were utilised to maximise profitability for the business and reduce waste.
- Implemented processes to improve quality of service by calibrating centre leaders, trainers and quality assurance and to minimize risk of waste.
- Developed sales agents and team leaders through coaching and training to achieve sales targets and excellent levels of customer service.
- Quality team focus was to shift away from “police-like” quality assurance and focus on extrapolating best practise in sales, retention, debt management and customer service centres alike.
- The Quality team ensured that compliance and regulatory aspects were audited regularly.
- Administered quality checks on calls to ensure integrity, reduce errors, and track performance metrics.
- Conducted disciplinary actions up to and including termination.
- Managed recruitment and selection processes and addressed initial HR issues on site.
- Instrumental in the successful implementation of customer satisfaction information process, NPS across our centres.
- Aligning all support functions in to one cognitively aligned team with effective communication and regular calibration sessions. Ensured that they complimented each other and drew on each other’s strengths and reduced waste.
- Outlined key accomplishments
- Development and implementation of sales scripts, training and coaching across contact centres. The business saw annual sales grow from $240m - $400m during the period of June 2013 – June 2014.
- Staff attrition reduced from 67% - 28% pa resulting in savings in resourcing, training and initial development.
Business Performance Analyst
AA New Zealand - Business Performance & Improvement
03.2011 - 02.2013
- Built rapport with stakeholders to understand business strategies and develop effective support strategies that met SLAs.
- Strong focus on membership growth trends and opportunities, membership support and service levels against SLA’s.
- Identified opportunities to optimise staff productivity and enhance sales performance across sales and customer service functions.
- Contentious focus on effective and relevant communication to teams to assist them in understanding the role they played in the overall team result.
- Managed a multi-site, 365 days per year, 24/7 national operation.
- Supported the contact centre (90 FTE), the business vehicle solutions team, national road service team, dispatch, and the contractors team.
- Utilising my technical and telephony platform skills to develop consistent and relevant information.
- Development of reporting requirements providing visibility for agents, service officers and management.
- Accountable for the forecasting, roster scheduling and leave administration functions of the contact centre.
- Implemented and managed various projects within the business, adding value to the overall centre management team.
- Implemented a self-service IVR as a member of the project team.
- Developed a culture of continuous improvement in sales and member support.
- Development and implementation of a National KPI matrix for all of AA Road Service Officers. Optimising the scheduling of rosters in order to provide the best work life balance to all concerned.
Sales Manager Customer Contact Centre
Smith & Smith Glass
09.2008 - 02.2011
- Managing a team of 28 FTE who supported a national operations network by converting sales enquiries by delivering convenient, first call resolution service to the public. The service included automotive and house glass solutions and included the convenience of us facilitating the insurance claim process and scheduling the service at a convenient time and location for the customer.
- Responsible for the day to day operational running of the centre, ensuring that SLAs were achieved.
- Managed sales centre operations with focus on inbound/outbound sales and retention KPIs.
- Responsible for insurance validation process and aligning with compliance regulatory requirements. Close working relationship with insurance companies, system developers and internal stakeholders to ensure that the service was effective and compliant.
- Strong emphasis on sales conversion and achieving it with the focus on great customer service experiences.(NPS)
- Initiated and successfully managing the retention function within the sales centre, adding to the overall success of the centre.
- Oversaw business analytics by developing and maintaining centre performance reports for the contact centre manager and national operational managers.
- Produced and conducted KPI feedback sessions with the team.
- Developed and implemented sales and customer care training, including induction and planned sessions, to align individual and team efforts across the centre.
- Strong focus area was to support our teams training around delivering consistent customer experiences and to share best practices across the team.
- IT Department point of contact to assist with telephony, hardware and server support functions. AVAYA certified. ( IT Department based in Sydney)
- Ensuring that every member of the team understood how they were contributing towards the team sales goals.
- Staff engagement was vital in determining the success of the team and this was a key part of my role. This was achieved by aligning everybody’s focus to that of the team with effective and clear communication.
- Achievements:
- Sent to Australia sister company (O’Brien’s Glass) to analyse their Insurance validation process as part of the internal centralization team appointed by our Senior Leadership Team. Tasked with determining best practice and build the SOP using best practice and LEAN methodologies. This system is still utilised today.
- Implementing and developing a “Resuscitation” division in the contact centre. Converting non-insurance customers into sales. Was successful and at the time of my departure from the company we had 2 FTE doing this full time.
- Won 2009 Team of the Year during the annual national conference.
- Awarded with the Managers Gold Award, highest achievement in Smith & Smith.
- Nationally recognised for my Leadership and commitment to the business in 2010.
- Recognised for achieving the lowest Abandonment Rate in the Belron Business in 27 different countries.
- Received the Managers Gold Award from our sister company in Australia, O’Brien’s Glass IT Department, for my commitment and support to ensuring that IT was managed competently.
- Gaining the nickname “Little Battler” in the process for my determination and commitment.
General Manager
1CallCartage and 1CallSteel Works
12.2005 - 08.2008
- The business was founded by myself after identifying an opportunity to use my skills obtained from closely working with fleet owners in my previous roles.
- Invested in heavy commercial trucks and skid steers to supply and distribute building materials to construction industry.
- Diversified business by manufacturing skips for Mercedes Benz factory assembly line, adapting to market needs.
- The business evolved and eventually I diversified in to the steel assembly business by manufacturing Skips for the Mercedes Benz factory assembly line in our local town.
- Sold business for significant profit upon decision to immigrate to New Zealand.
Sales Manager
Queenstown Nissan
09.2002 - 11.2005
- Led a team of 4 sales executives selling both private and commercial vehicles.
- Supported, motivated, and developed sales executives to meet sales and customer satisfaction targets.
- Managed relationships with internal and external stakeholders to ensure effective communication.
- Developed marketing and sales strategies to enhance brand awareness and expand customer base.
Education
Business Commerce Business Management and Economics, PRINCE 2 Practitioner, Avaya Certified Administrator
University of Port Elizabeth
Port Elizabeth 04.2001 -
Skills
Aged Care Management and Leadership Experience
Strong focus on training & development of people and continuous learning
Excellent stakeholder engagement and communication skills
Advanced process development, design & implementation skills
Proficient in risk management
Proficient change management expertise
Development of effective sales strategies
Solutions building & creative problem solving
Compliance and quality assurance
Continuous improvement framework development and implementation
Coaching skills
Experienced project and change management skills
Strong technical system experience
(Successfully designed, developed and implemented UIPath automation, resulting in enterprise adoption)
Experienced ICT project management skills (e-Fax implementation, CMS - AlayaCare design and implementation, CRM - Salesforce design and implementation, Windows 10 implementation, SAP)
Excellent vendor management skills
Proficient in workforce management solutions (Genesys WFM, Verint 360, Trapeze and Kronos)
Proficient in workflow optimisation
Proficient in business analytics & sales trends
Interests
Timeline
Sabbatical
My Family, Our Health and Travel
04.2025 - Current
Senior ICT Project Manager
JBS Australia PTY Ltd
05.2023 - 04.2025
Information Communication Technology Project Manager
Lutheran Services
11.2022 - 04.2023
Business Design Lead – Customer Engagement
UnitingCare Queensland
02.2021 - 10.2022
Contact Centre Manager Change & Experience
Blue Care Customer Service Centre
07.2019 - 02.2021
Operations Support Lead
Blue Care Customer Service Centre
01.2017 - 06.2019
National Workforce & Compliance Manager
Careers Australia
02.2016 - 12.2016
Service Designer Operations
Infratil NZ Bus
08.2014 - 01.2016
National Operations Support Manager
Brand Developers Ltd T/A The TV Shop
03.2013 - 08.2014
Business Performance Analyst
AA New Zealand - Business Performance & Improvement
03.2011 - 02.2013
Sales Manager Customer Contact Centre
Smith & Smith Glass
09.2008 - 02.2011
General Manager
1CallCartage and 1CallSteel Works
12.2005 - 08.2008
Sales Manager
Queenstown Nissan
09.2002 - 11.2005
Business Commerce Business Management and Economics, PRINCE 2 Practitioner, Avaya Certified Administrator
University of Port Elizabeth
04.2001 -