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For Waitaki District Council's Customer Services Unit Manager Monese Ball, Suzie Patrick has been a godsend. The period that Council implemented customer contact information management software KnowledgeBase was a time also of organisational change and high staff turnover, pitching Monese into a lot of new roles and responsibilities.
"Not only has Suzie helped us get KnowledgeBase up and running but she's taught me so much - everything I needed to know about hyperlinking, document management and process mapping. She's become a mentor to me really. She's got so much nous - all that experience with local bodies combined with common sense. And she's great to work with. We have a lot of fun together."
As well as regular visits from Suzie in person there had been a lot of informal email contact "off the clock". "No matter where Suzie is, you'll always get a reply," Monese said.

Suzie designed templates to help Monese and her staff input the council's information into KnowledgeBase, but when time was short Monese was surprised and impressed to see Suzie do a lot of the legwork herself, extracting information from the Council staff and putting it into the system.

Suzie helped prepare and execute an inspiring presentation/launch to staff which assisted in getting "buy-in". Her personality was also a big factor in winning staff over. "She's confident, enthusiastic and professional, and somehow you're not scared to ask questions that may come across as blonde!"

A spate of staff changes set the implementation back, but Suzie's flexibility and positive attitude won through. "We are still progressing," Monese said. "The Managers were very busy and KnowledgeBase was not a top priority. Suzie helped us get up and running despite that, on time and on budget. She focused on little wins and it kept us positive."

It was a little early to comment on the project's success. "There's greater consistency of information available to the public, and they are more confident in dealing with front line staff. It also enables the front line staff to be more confident and empowered in their tasks."

There was still a lot to do, including developing a Customer Service Charter which will ensure KnowledgeBase is utilised to its fullest potential. Monese believed Suzie would be just the one to assist in making it all happen.

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