Bob Derezinski came to Skyward in 1998 as a Customer Service Representative on the student side.  In May 2003, Bob was promoted to Customer Service Manager; five years later, in January 2008, Bob accepted a manager position in the newly-created Customer Service Training Department.
 
As a Customer Service Training Manager, Bob oversees four customer service training representatives (two on the student side and two on the finance side), as well as all of the new customer service representatives.  The new department was created to provide new customer service representatives with more quality and consistency in their training, as well as guidance from veteran customer service representatives.  Functioning as a mentor program, the four customer service training representatives’ primary responsibilities are to give guidance and answer any questions the new customer service representatives have.
 
With 10 years of experience in Skyward’s customer service department, Bob was an instrumental voice in the creation of this new department.
 
“I felt that if we created a mentor program, the new representatives would learn how to use Skyward software in a more consistent manner.  This would enhance their ability to move up to a Pro. 1 level of customer service, which allows them to go on site,” said Bob.  “We wanted to be able to send more customer service representatives on site to help with installations, to rotate the schedule between representatives.”
 
The average time for a new customer service representative to move up to a Pro. 1 representative had been over one year, but with the new training department, that number has already decreased significantly.
 
“In the few months that we have been running the new training department, we have seen new customer service representatives move to a Pro. 1 in as little as two months,” said Bob.  “Because of this tremendous improvement, our customers are able to experience better service because our new representatives are learning about Skyward software more quickly and efficiently.”
 
Bob’s role in customer service has allowed him to attend multiple User Group Conferences, including Wisconsin, Minnesota, Indiana, Kansas and Michigan.  At the conferences, Bob gives presentations on numerous student modules.

“User Group Conferences are an eye-opening experience for every Skyward user,” said Bob.  “One district will explain the way they’ve been running a program for years, then another district pipes up and explains a simpler way they run the same program.  Everybody walks away with different ideas on how to simplify their job.”
 
Bob’s favorite Skyward module?
 
“Secondary GradeBook.  I was involved with the module from its inception.  I worked with both customers and programmers during the development, and it has been fun to see how far it has come over the years."