Credit: Vodafone NZ Vodafone says the team of 12 people will be based in Auckland and will help solve complex technical issues for customers. “By the end of October we’ll have four X-Squad teams, split between our North and South Island headquarters,” says Antony Welton, acting customer operations director at Vodafone New Zealand. “These technical customer service experts have been handpicked for their people skills and ability to solve complex problems,” he states. Over the coming months, more X-Squad teams will be coming online to help customers, says Welton. “Starting now, customers who have problems that our frontline agents can’t solve will begin to be transferred to an X-Squad case manager. It’ll likely take us until February to hit full capacity but we’re pushing ahead as quickly as possible. “Our aim is to make solving complex issues as radically simple from a customer perspective,” he explains. “The X-Squad is made up of multi-skilled experts empowered to deliver next-level care for the trickiest of problems. Once they get transferred to the X Squad, Vodafone customers will get dedicated case management all the way through to a fix.” The pilot for the X-Squad is a specialist group named the TLC Team. “The knowledge our TLC Team has gained over the past few months has been invaluable in guiding the X- Squad strategy and we’ve been encouraged by the consistently positive customer feedback the team has received,” says Welton. Vodafone had announced in September it is investing an initial $10 million for the X-Squad. Once fully formed, the X-Squad will be composed of multiple teams of selected and skilled New Zealand-based agents from Vodafone and from providers Tech Mahindra and Probe, located in Auckland or Christchurch. As well as case management, the X-Squad will actively monitor for any patterns that might be a systemic problem, and feed insights into other teams responsible for root cause fixes, says Vodafone. Sign up for CIO newsletters for regular updates on CIO news, career tips, views and events. Follow CIO New Zealand on Twitter:@cio_nz Send news tips and comments to divina_paredes@idg.co.nz @divinap Related content how-to How to create an effective business continuity plan A business continuity plan outlines procedures and instructions an organization must follow in the face of disaster, whether fire, flood, or cyberattack. Here’s how to create a plan that gives your business the best chance of surviving such an By Mary K. Pratt, Ed Tittel, Kim Lindros Dec 07, 2023 11 mins Small and Medium Business Small and Medium Business Small and Medium Business interview WestRock CIDO Amir Kazmi on building resiliency Multidimensional resiliency is vital to setting yourself, your teams, and your organization up for success. Kazmi sets the tone at WestRock by recognizing the pace of change, instilling a learning and growth mindset, and being transparent with his te By Dan Roberts Dec 07, 2023 8 mins IT Strategy Staff Management IT Leadership brandpost Sponsored by FPT Software Time for New Partnership Paradigms to Be Future-fit By Veronica Lew Dec 06, 2023 5 mins Vendors and Providers brandpost Sponsored by BMC Why CIOs should prioritize AIOps in 2024 AIOps empowers IT to manage services by incorporating AI/ML into operations. By Jeff Miller Dec 06, 2023 3 mins IT Leadership Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe