One of the best ways to show what Life is like at SAP is to share our employee stories to provide insight into their experiences and what being successful means to us at the company. I am Heather Walker, and I work on the Global Employer Branding team. Over the last few months I have had the opportunity to speak with 50 colleagues across our Europe, Middle East and Africa region to help share their stories. Here is an interview I did with Heidi Viik.
Heidi, a Customer Experience Director from Finland, studied International Business Management and went on to gain a Master’s in Business Administration, Management and Operations. Despite impressive educational achievements Heidi credits her professionalism at work as the key factor in her career development. She is now about to finish the SAP LEAP program which is a leadership program specifically designed for women.
When did you start working at SAP?
I started at Merlin Systems (100 % owned by SAP) in August 2010 as a Service Manager for a VIP Customer. After couple of years, I was asked to take over our Service Desk also. And year after that we established new team, Merlin Customer Management & Support, which includes our Service Managers and Service Desk personnel and I was appointed Customer Experience Director for this team.
What experience did you need for your current job?
I needed to have knowledge in customer relationship management, the customer experience, understanding processes and project work as well as communication, leadership and language skills. Most importantly was an ability to understand and co-operate closely with our customers in-order-to support their business as well as SAP/Merlin business. As a leader I needed to be a mix of supportive, demanding and appreciative.
What do you think the key skills people need to do your job?
Emotional Intelligence including self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. As a good leader, you must be present, available and supporting. From the technical point of view, as we are offering our customers’ a Contact Center solution so you also have to understand how the system works and also be aware of the current trends like digitalization. But technical and product knowledge can be learned.
What does your career at SAP mean to you?
This is a great opportunity to be part of SAP as a company and help our customers to succeed in their business.
What does success look like to you?
I consider myself to be very career oriented person so success at work means lot to me. I want to succeed in my work but also help our customers succeed. If our customers are happy, I am happy. As a leader and manager, success is also achieved by supporting, encouraging and helping my team members - I can also support them in their career and to success.
To see more Life at SAP stories or learn about open jobs at SAP join #LifeatSAP social community channels on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Weibo and WeChat or visit the career site.
Heidi, a Customer Experience Director from Finland, studied International Business Management and went on to gain a Master’s in Business Administration, Management and Operations. Despite impressive educational achievements Heidi credits her professionalism at work as the key factor in her career development. She is now about to finish the SAP LEAP program which is a leadership program specifically designed for women.
When did you start working at SAP?
I started at Merlin Systems (100 % owned by SAP) in August 2010 as a Service Manager for a VIP Customer. After couple of years, I was asked to take over our Service Desk also. And year after that we established new team, Merlin Customer Management & Support, which includes our Service Managers and Service Desk personnel and I was appointed Customer Experience Director for this team.
What experience did you need for your current job?
I needed to have knowledge in customer relationship management, the customer experience, understanding processes and project work as well as communication, leadership and language skills. Most importantly was an ability to understand and co-operate closely with our customers in-order-to support their business as well as SAP/Merlin business. As a leader I needed to be a mix of supportive, demanding and appreciative.
What do you think the key skills people need to do your job?
Emotional Intelligence including self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. As a good leader, you must be present, available and supporting. From the technical point of view, as we are offering our customers’ a Contact Center solution so you also have to understand how the system works and also be aware of the current trends like digitalization. But technical and product knowledge can be learned.
What does your career at SAP mean to you?
This is a great opportunity to be part of SAP as a company and help our customers to succeed in their business.
What does success look like to you?
I consider myself to be very career oriented person so success at work means lot to me. I want to succeed in my work but also help our customers succeed. If our customers are happy, I am happy. As a leader and manager, success is also achieved by supporting, encouraging and helping my team members - I can also support them in their career and to success.
To see more Life at SAP stories or learn about open jobs at SAP join #LifeatSAP social community channels on Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, Weibo and WeChat or visit the career site.
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