Michael is available for hire
Hire MichaelMichael Warren
Verified Expert in Engineering
Troubleshooting Developer
Alameda, CA, United States
Toptal member since December 30, 2024
Bio
Michael is a support management professional specializing in tools like Zendesk to optimize customer service workflows and drive operational efficiency. Skilled in workflow analysis, escalation management, metrics and analytics, and technology training, he helps businesses streamline processes, improve performance, and enhance customer experience. Michael focuses on customizing solutions, refining workflows, and empowering teams to leverage tech for better service delivery and growth.
Portfolio
CX Press
Slack, PagerDuty, Data Security, Data Encryption, Troubleshooting, TCP/IP...
PayPal
Analytics, Data Security, Zendesk, PagerDuty, Fraud Investigation...
WorkSpan
Zendesk, Slack, Salesforce, Analytics, Knowledge Bases, Website QA, Google...
Experience
- Workflow - 20 years
- Technical Support - 20 years
- Troubleshooting - 20 years
- Zendesk - 10 years
- Analytics - 10 years
- PagerDuty - 10 years
- Reporting - 10 years
Availability
Full-time
Preferred Environment
Zendesk
The most amazing...
...part of my career has been building support teams and systems that turned customer challenges into opportunities for loyalty, growth, and success.
Work Experience
Owner and Consultant
2017 - PRESENT
CX Press
- Provided workflow analysis and review and created multi-channel ticketing systems from scratch, including escalation processes, analytics, staff training, and migration planning.
- Headed support development and new product launches, including headcount planning and training, development of support materials, and workflow and systems design for multi-channel support.
- Managed daily direct support for highly technical new products, including security appliances and routers, assisting customers in troubleshooting problems and setting up and using the products.
- Planned and managed the integration of PagerDuty with Zendesk to handle product outages and provide optimized coverage for after-business hours service and support.
Technologies: Slack, PagerDuty, Data Security, Data Encryption, Troubleshooting, TCP/IP, Workflow, Analytics, Training, Reporting, Technical Support, Zendesk
Senior Global Support Manager
2021 - 2023
PayPal
- Optimized the Zendesk platform by auditing and improving fields, macros, rules, forms, and automations, boosting team efficiency.
- Created a customer support portal and knowledge base and developed and implemented processes for publishing and managing support categories, subsections, and articles.
- Championed the introduction of systems to measure and manage support quality via service level agreements (SLAs), key performance indicators (KPIs), and customer satisfaction (CSAT).
- Led the escalation management of customer issues and reports, providing oversight and participating in critical customer calls during business-at-risk situations.
- Led a dispersed team of nine technical support engineers in the United States, India, and Brazil, specializing in Simility and other AI-driven fraud and risk management solutions during rapid pandemic-driven growth.
- Managed scheduling, training, escalations, KPI and SLA adherence, and project planning. Recruited new talent to enhance team capabilities. Achieved >95% CSAT score and >95% SLA and KPI targets and reduced support escalation rate by 50%.
Technologies: Analytics, Data Security, Zendesk, PagerDuty, Fraud Investigation, Fraud Prevention, Email, Phone Systems, Chatbots, Scheduling, Management, Workflow
Director of Support
2019 - 2020
WorkSpan
- Cultivated service and support for a startup, adeptly addressing intricate issues sans R&D involvement. Established and trained a capable support team of four.
- Oversaw team operations, quality assurance, and support tasks. Implemented a user-friendly support portal with ticketing and thorough product documentation.
- Linked Zendesk with Jira and Slack for swift support escalations and project coordination. Developed SLA and KPI frameworks for performance evaluation.
- Managed daily ingestion and cleansing of extensive customer datasets, enhancing product functionality for seamless customer uploads, processing, and optimization.
Technologies: Zendesk, Slack, Salesforce, Analytics, Knowledge Bases, Website QA, Google, Amazon, Jira
Director of Support
2013 - 2017
Thales
- Led the development and implementation of support processes and systems using tools like Zendesk, PagerDuty, Jira, Cisco PBX, and AWS.
- Managed validation of customer releases, replicated environments, and resolved issues promptly while meeting SLA and KPI targets.
- Implemented support tools (web portal and CRM) and workflows, optimizing customer engagement and internal escalation and resolution processes.
- Collaborated with R&D and product management to formalize and build product release taxonomy and SLA framework, greatly improving customer expectations and happiness.
- Created detailed weekly and quarterly scorecards for management, offering insights on business risks, support KPIs, and product performance.
- Led migration of critical systems and support processes from Vormetric to Thales, enhancing operational efficiency for a much larger support organization.
Technologies: Data Encryption, Software, Databases, Zendesk, PagerDuty, Slack, Salesforce, Analytics, Web, Phone Systems, Email, IT Systems Architecture, Technical Support, Process Design, Workflow, Reporting, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Service-level Agreements (SLAs)
Senior Global Support Manager
2009 - 2013
Zendesk
- Led Zendesk's initial customer support team, overseeing tier-2 operations, a 10-member support engineering team, and a product training team.
- Managed fraud and abuse workflows and processes and formed a dedicated fraud and security advisory committee to ensure product safety and compliance goals were being met.
- Designed and implemented a tiered support workflow, reducing L1 issue resolution time by 80% to under 20 minutes. L2 resolved 18% of the remaining issues, typically on the same day.
- Conducted monthly 5-day classroom Zendesk product training sessions for all Zendesk employees, fostering a knowledgeable and support-oriented company culture.
- Oversaw business-at-risk customer escalations and directly managed a tier-2 support engineering team of 10, coordinating solutions and participating in critical customer calls.
- Oversaw and managed SLAs, KPIs, and processes and systems, including Jira and PagerDuty integrations. Developed analytics for managers and executives, presenting weekly and quarterly scorecards.
Technologies: Training, Analytics, Reporting, Workflow, Process Design, Management, Zendesk, Zendesk API, Salesforce, Slack, Jira, PagerDuty, Security, IT Security, Service-level Agreements (SLAs), Key Performance Indicators (KPIs)
Experience
Security Appliance Product Launch
http://www.crescendocx.aiWORK DONE
• Learned complex security appliance functionality with limited training and documentation and created in-depth support training for L1 support resources.
• Provided quality assurance product testing to help address product issues before the initial product launch.
• Acted as the resident product expert on behalf of the customer. I managed escalations and replicated product issues from customers.
• Created and documented support workflows for chatbot, phone, and email support, as well as product manager escalations and SLAs.
• This project supported the first customer of a new support AI service (chatbot and voice bot) and required constant updates and QA of that AI-based system for escalated requests as "augmented human support."
• Learned complex security appliance functionality with limited training and documentation and created in-depth support training for L1 support resources.
• Provided quality assurance product testing to help address product issues before the initial product launch.
• Acted as the resident product expert on behalf of the customer. I managed escalations and replicated product issues from customers.
• Created and documented support workflows for chatbot, phone, and email support, as well as product manager escalations and SLAs.
• This project supported the first customer of a new support AI service (chatbot and voice bot) and required constant updates and QA of that AI-based system for escalated requests as "augmented human support."
Workflow Optimization to Address SLA Compliance Challenges
WORK DONE
• Assessed the available hours for globally distributed escalation resources and proposed a revised "on-call" rotation schedule to reduce required staffing for non-business hours.
• Integrated PagerDuty SaaS with the existing Zendesk set up to alert and notify "on-call" resources of escalations according to the new schedule.
• Overhauled the escalation workflow to ensure redundancy and resource availability for timely responses within SLA guidelines.
• Conducted training for support teams, managers, and end-customers on the updated workflow and system improvements to enhance SLA compliance.
• The project was started to address support challenges, meeting promised SLAs where additional resources were not available, which could easily be addressed with process and workflow optimizations.
• Assessed the available hours for globally distributed escalation resources and proposed a revised "on-call" rotation schedule to reduce required staffing for non-business hours.
• Integrated PagerDuty SaaS with the existing Zendesk set up to alert and notify "on-call" resources of escalations according to the new schedule.
• Overhauled the escalation workflow to ensure redundancy and resource availability for timely responses within SLA guidelines.
• Conducted training for support teams, managers, and end-customers on the updated workflow and system improvements to enhance SLA compliance.
• The project was started to address support challenges, meeting promised SLAs where additional resources were not available, which could easily be addressed with process and workflow optimizations.
Dashboards for Live Reporting of KPIs, SLAs, and CSAT
WORK DONE
• Developed metrics and reporting in Zendesk for request totals, escalation volumes by tier, response and solve times, and business-at-risk.
• Created workflows and processes to measure individual and team performance factors (ticket volumes, touch rates, solve rates, and escalation rates).
• Configured systems and processes for closed-loop CSAT surveys on all customer interactions (to measure success).
• Developed live forms for all metrics to pull customized reports as needed (for quarterly or annual results and specific product-based reporting).
• The project was started to provide measurable support for a small enterprise team for a new SaaS enterprise product for finance where compliance metrics were required.
• Developed metrics and reporting in Zendesk for request totals, escalation volumes by tier, response and solve times, and business-at-risk.
• Created workflows and processes to measure individual and team performance factors (ticket volumes, touch rates, solve rates, and escalation rates).
• Configured systems and processes for closed-loop CSAT surveys on all customer interactions (to measure success).
• Developed live forms for all metrics to pull customized reports as needed (for quarterly or annual results and specific product-based reporting).
• The project was started to provide measurable support for a small enterprise team for a new SaaS enterprise product for finance where compliance metrics were required.
Skills
Libraries/APIs
Zendesk API
Tools
Slack, Jira
Platforms
Zendesk, PagerDuty, Mobile, Salesforce, Amazon, Web
Paradigms
Management
Languages
HTML, CSS, SQL
Storage
Databases
Other
Troubleshooting, Workflow, Technical Support, TCP/IP, IT Networking, Process Design, Crescendo, Scheduling, IT Systems Architecture, Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), Service-level Agreements (SLAs), Data Security, Data Encryption, Analytics, Training, Reporting, Chatbots, Phone Systems, Email, QA Testing, Fraud Investigation, Fraud Prevention, Knowledge Bases, Website QA, Google, Software, Security, IT Security
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