GTT’s 214-strong Customer Care team to be transitioned to Arrowhead business

May 13, 2022 News

Kaieteur News – A total of 214 persons in GTT’s Customer Care team, tasked with servicing its needs and that of other subsidiaries of ATN International (ATN) in USA, Bermuda and US Virgin Islands, will be transitioned to and employed by the new Arrowhead Communications Inc. business (Arrowhead) by June 2022.

GTT’s CEO – Damian Blackburn

Newly appointed General Manager for Arrowhead Communications Inc.

ATN International’s VP Sales and Marketing and Chairman of Arrowhead’s new Board of Directors

In a release GTT announced that this will create the new heart of a world-class operation that Arrowhead will continue to grow providing an expanding level of world class customer engagement and professional support services to its clients.
GTT has been actively involved in the evolution of customer service centres in Guyana, with a history that goes back to over 30 years. In 2021, ATN and GTT announced plans for piloting this new initiative just as a new GTT Chief Executive Officer (CEO), Damian Blackburn, was appointed.
Blackburn immediately began a 21st century customer centric transformation of GTT, by first establishing business units within the company, to focus on specific customers, while restoring care levels by training and employing more customer care agents and introducing pro-active outbound call services.
The outbound calling service was critical to the implementation of industry sector leading digital engagement activities, like the paperless WhatsApp and E-billing service transformation, which has now been adopted by over 77 percent of GTT’s customers.
In Region 3, the Arrowhead pilot created 27 jobs with plans to expand to 40 work-from-home jobs, facilitating operations for Alaska Communications Systems – an enterprise business solutions partner owned by ATN and based in the USA that provides an extensive telecommunications network. Additionally, Arrowhead will also expand its provision of call centre services to Viya, ATN’s subsidiary in the US Virgin Islands.
In its bid to create a transformative Customer Care team, Arrowhead pioneered a work from home model, achieving all its service-level targets.
GTT recently launched its flagship GTT Fibre service and embarked on an ambitious Fibre roll-out plan, including new areas in Regions 3, 4, 6 and 10, allowing for fibre to be available in over 65 percent of its copper network footprint by the end of 2022. This rollout will enable the growth of more Arrowhead Customer Excellence roles and opportunities. The new company will initially target creation of 100 work-from-home jobs in Regions 3 and 6, so that Guyanese in these regions will have an opportunity to commence successful careers in a world-class organisation.
All these initiatives in the last year have led to the creation of 99 new Customer Care roles. This represents a 66 percent increase in staffing to vastly improve the quality, timeliness, and efficiency for all clients (including GTT) that will use the new Arrowhead services. Over 50 percent of our Customer Care teams have also transitioned successfully into a flexible, work-from-home arrangement, which will be key to the business going forward.
CEO Blackburn explained, “99 jobs were created in Guyana this last year to achieve world class Customer Excellence capability servicing GTT and other ATN International telecommunication operations. We now have a 250 strong team consistently delivering Customer Excellence each day and it’s time for us to take the next step and launch our new Arrowhead business.”
Added to this, the Board of Directors of Arrowhead announced the appointment of Guyanese, Shem Erskine, as the new General Manager for Arrowhead. The Board said, “Shem has operated in Client Relations and Customer Success leadership roles for in excess of 10 years. We are confident that with this appointment he will utilise his wealth of knowledge to significantly impact and advance the operations at Arrowhead.”
Erskine has more than a decade of leadership experience in the telecommunications and BPO sectors where he has built a successful career through roles in Business Sales, Client Relations and Customer Operations. In the past two and a half years at GTT, he was instrumental in restoring the company’s service levels to industry standards, deploying critical CRM technologies, establishing, and commercializing outbound capabilities.
In an invited comment, Erskine said, “I am delighted to be leading this new subsidiary of ATN International. ATN has been committed to development in Guyana for more than 30 years and this business will highlight what is now our core competency of customer success for our clients (local and international). In the past year, we have established a business model that has already created repeated success stories through a team of talented Guyanese and the use of best-in-class technology. My immediate focus as General Manager will be capitalizing on these to deliver planned new services and attract new business. Exciting times are ahead.”
Chris Daly, ATN International’s VP Sales and Marketing and Chairman of Arrowhead’s new Board of Directors, said, “We are excited to introduce our new Customer Success business, Arrowhead as a premier supplier of customer success services and products to consumer and business to business service providers worldwide. Arrowhead will create more jobs in Guyana, supported by GTT’s flagship Fibre service to facilitate working from home and decentralise access to employment.”
The Arrowhead business will be operational from June 12, 2022, and will move to transition the 214-strong team, following which, immediate priorities will be to develop a new state of the art physical Customer Care facility in New Amsterdam that will supplement existing facilities in Georgetown but also work seamlessly with Arrowhead’s new hybrid, flexible work from home team; and roll-out new services and attract new clients creating job opportunities for hundreds of Guyanese in multiple Regions.